HDTV Reviews

The Lite-on LX-2B1U is an external Blu-ray writer, the first Blu-ray burner from Lite-on as they have yet to release any internet burners. The LX-2B1U is USB 2.0 based and can burn both sing and dual later Blu-ray discs, and recordable BD-R and rewriteable BD-RE discs at 2x speed. The LX-2B1U can also wrute DVD±R/RW, but no support for good old standard CD-R/RW discs.

The BWU-100A is Sony’s first internal PC Blu-ray rewritable drive.

The BWU-100A drive can write on both single and dual layer Blu-Ray discs, for both single write once, and rewritable. It also supports dual later DVDs and CD’s, so you don’t need to keep your also burners. It has been reported that it will burn a 25Gb Blu-Ray disc in just under 50 minutes.

The BWU-100A drive comes bundled with CyberLink BD Solution, which can capture, author, edit and burn high-definition content captured by a HDV 1080i format camcorder onto BD discs.

The drive is a standard 5.25-inch size and features an IDE (ATA/ATAPI) interface.

The drive is optimised so that any content captured in HDV on a camcorder will be kept in the 1080i format. A 50Gb disc should store up to 4 hours of 1080i video content.

The internal drive features an IDE (ATA/ATAPI) interface and standard 5.25-inch form factor for easy installation inside a PC.

BenQ unveiled an optical disk writer, the BW1000 Blu-ray burner which can handle the new Blu-ray high volume DVD storage format selling for 799 euros ($1,022) from August 2006.

The price of 799 euros, including value added tax (VAT), is aggressive for the first generation of Blu-ray disk recorders. Products from competitors will be priced at up to $1,500, excluding VAT.

Low prices and early availability of Blu-ray devices are important in the emerging battle for the next DVD standard. Blu-ray is competing with a format called HD DVD, led by Toshiba Corp. which has started selling a player at $499.

Blu-ray and HD DVD offer up to 50 Gigabytes of storage on a DVD sized disk. Most Blu-ray and HD DVD players will also play back and burn CDs and standard DVDs.

The LG GBW-H10N Blu-ray writer is a 3-in-1 Blu-ray burner which is poised for release, and not only does it write to BD-R discs at a blistering 4x speed, it’s coming to market several weeks before the BenQ BW1000 . The BenQ model still holds a few key advantages over this unit, most significantly its ability to burn 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs as well as its faster write speeds for most recordable DVD and CD formats. Read more

The BD-P1000 Blu-ray video quality was excellent. No surprise there. The only Blu-ray software I had was Memento–the Blu-ray disc that’ll be included inside the box of every BD-P1000–and a special demo disc that contained a few trailers, a Black Crowes concert, and some great close-up footage of intricate windup watches (?). I viewed all material on a calibrated, 56-inch, 1080p Samsung DLP, the HL-S5687W, in a darkened room with the player set to 1080p output mode.

I ran the BD-P1000 through a few tests from the HQV disc, which we use to help determine how well players convert standard DVDs to higher resolutions via HDMI. The player delivered all of the resolution on the disc, smoothed jagged lines nicely, and engaged 2:3 pull-down relatively quickly. Read more

Sony’s new BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc home player from Sony offers a host of new high-definition entertainment possibilities. The BDP-S1 features 1920 x 1080p output, the highest HD signal output currently available through a HDMIâ„¢ connection. If your HD-capable television does not have an HDMI connection, you can still get the Blu-ray experience – the 1080i analog output allows for HD-capable televisions without HDMI to enjoy Blu-ray Disc features. The BDP-S1 is also compatible with standard DVDs with the added feature of 1080p upscaling through HDMI, which gives new life to existing DVDs libraries3. BD-Java interactivity will further enhance the BD entertainment experience, allowing for development of advanced interactive features. Its sophisticated design, with blue glass front, will compliment any decor. Bring your home entertainment experience to a new level with the BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc home player.

Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Player, the first Blu-ray player from Panasonic is due for relase in September. It will play the Blu-ray disc format and also upconvert DVDs and all other video content to 1080p via HDMI for the best quality. Panasonic’s proprietary P4HD technology performs IP conversion at the pixel level for the finest details. In addition the DMP-BD10 incorporates a 296MHz, 14bit Video D/A Converter that provides high quality 4x oversampling for 1080i/720p output. Noise shaping video processing shifts the noise component to an unused band to further boost the signal-to-noise ratio. Because of technologies like these, the DMP-BD10 can theoretically reproduce up to nearly 4400 billion colors.
It also ncludes Panasonic’s Viera Link HDMI control technology, with can control and work great with the matching SA-XR700 receiver.

Philips Electronics is delivering the ultimateHigh-Definition (HD) experience with the sensational debut of its Blu-ray Disc (BD) player and all-in-one PC Writer. The anticipated consumer electronic Blu-ray Disc Payer (BDP9000) and all-in-one PCWriter (TripleWriter)(TM) will be available in the third quarter of2006.

Philips’ Blu-ray Disc player is loaded with features that providethe most stunning pictures available including an HDMI output thatsupports the latest 1080p resolution. It also supports a componentvideo output that will provide brilliant imagery and DVD upscaling to1080i. Rich surround sound is heightened with multi-channel HD audiodecoding and digital audio optical outputs. Fully backward compatible,it allows consumers to play their existing DVDs and CDs as well astheir Blu-ray Discs.

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Samsung’s BD-P1000, the first Blu-Ray player to head our way has been delayed yet again.

Its has been confirmed that the release of the BD-P1000 on June 25th in USA, however, “unfortunately, the release of the Blu-ray has been delayed until September” for the UK.

Apparently the lucky people who have got their hands on this player report fairly quick 15 seconds or so loading time, but that there might be some quality downgrading 1080p24 to 1080i60 to 1080p60 conversion taking place for HDMI output. You can expect more details of this player to be posted shortly.