Toshiba has officially launched their first two HD DVD players today and you should begin seeing these units in stores sometime this week hopefully. As we’ve mentioned before, the two new HD DVD players are the Toshiba HD-A1 which will cost around $500 and the Toshiba HD-XA1 which will list for roughly $800. These are the first ever commercially available HD DVD players and they’re 2 months ahead of the first Blu-ray players (the first of which will be a Samsung BD-P1000.

So the stage is partially set now – the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD but as most people would say – it will probably boil down to content. Which platform gets the most titles will pretty much decide the fate of these two standards. , seven studio houses have already lined up behind Blu-ray while three have lined up for HD DVD. Of course, early sales of HD DVD players may dictate whether additional content providers jump on board so it’s still possible for many others to come out in support for the standard.

Oh yes – while the players themselves will be fairly expensive (is this any surprise? They’re version 1.0 products), the content will also be expensive – at least when compared to DVDs. Warner Bros. is supposedly pricing their HD DVD/Blu-ray content at $28.99 for catalog films and $34.99 for newer films.

 

Finally, I did a quick glance over at OneCall.com and noticed that they had the HD A1 in stock now.

[Check it out]

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Yes.. it’s coming down to the wire for me and hence.. little has been done on Krunker recently. This isn’t to say that I haven’t been doing anything tech related recently. I’ve actually been playing with a couple of software tools for the purpose of creating a slideshow and I’ll talk about them in a few weeks (probably after the honeymoon). 11 more days till the wedding – can’t wait!

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Quataris, a company based out of Hong Kong, will be coming out with a new all in one PC/LCD TV system called the QuaNext. The device can function either as a 19 inch LCD Television set with remote control or a 19 inch all in one PC featuring an Intel Pentium 4 processor running Linux. The unit has front buttons on the display which make it easy for a user to access certain features. It makes a great system for the home living room, kitchen, den, or bedroom. The LCD itself is a widescreen display with a standard resolution of 1024 x 768 but with a max resolution of 1440 x 900. We’re not sure which one is the native resolution but if it’s a widescreen display we would think the 1440 x 900 is the native one. You can pick between 2.8GHz to 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processors and the unit comes with a 220GB HDD, and a DVD combo drive built right in.

 

[Check it out via eHomeUpgrade]

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Well it looks like someone has finally gotten Vista to run on an Intel based Mac – you can see the pics for yourself here on the osx86 forums. Of course there are still some issues – the entire OS X partition had to get wiped out before Vista would even continue to install properly.. and of course there are what looks to be driver issues but if you really want to try Vista on the Mac, you can at least get it working to some degree. Of course a  lot of this is thanks to Boot Camp software from Apple.

[Check it out via GearLive]

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Logitech will be releasing a new portable speaker system designed for digital music players called the Logitech mm32. Although the name specifies the iPod, the speaker system can actually work with any MP3 player that can connect to a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The unit is especially designed for the iPod however, since it comes with an iPod designed cradle which allows it to charge and sync the iPod. There’s a pass through interface which allows it to be synced with a computer. The speakers feature twin neodymium micro drivers and the entire unit is powered by four AA batteries. Those four batteries will deliver around 10 hours of power to your speaker system. Finally, the mm32 works with a wide variety of iPods including 3-5G iPods, the iPod mini, the iPod shuffle, and the iPod nano.

 

[Check it out via GearLive]

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LaptopMag has posted a review of the Iomega ScreenPlay 60GB Portable Media Player device here on their website. If you’re not familiar with the ScreenPlay device – it’s basically a portable hard drive which is also capable of playing back your multimedia content. You can play back movies, music or photographs directly onto your television set with the ScreenPlay – all without the need for a computer. You can select your multimedia content all from on screen menus using a remote control which is also bundled with the unit. The device stores 60GB of space and sells for around $219.95 on the Iomega website here. Here’s the verdict from LaptopMag (and it’s a very short review folks).

 We clocked throughput at 11.05 Mbps, which is decent, and even full-screen XviD movies looked solid. The bad news is that there is no support for Windows Media or DivX, headphone output (nevermind 5.1), or TIFF photos. We also experienced some stability issues with our unit, which connects via USB 2.0.

[Check it out]

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DesignTechnica has published their review of the Apple Mac mini featuring the Intel Core Duo processor running at 1.66GHz. By now, you should know all there is to know about the Mac mini – it’s a super small system which comes without a keyboard, mouse or monitor. Of course the new feature on the Mac mini is the use of an Intel processor – namely the Core Duo processor (although you could get a Core Solo processor if you wanted one). It also now includes a remote control to run with Front Row and various other goodies. Here’s the verdict from DesignTechnica:

The Mac Mini is the Bruce Lee of the computing world – small frame, incredibly fit, lightning fast and able to take on any sized opponent with unflinching confidence.  The video performance was impressive – exceptional in many ways – but could be improved upon.  The integrated video chip is certainly worthy of applause and congratulations but it may not deserve a standing ovation.

[Check it out]

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Sony has announced six new BRAVIA television sets in Japan – three for the V2000 series of television sets and three for the S2000 series. The three V2000 television sets are:

• KDL-3C2v2000
• KDL-40CV2000
• KDL-4C6v2000

These LCD panels feature a resolution of 1366 x 768 and have a brightness of 450cd/m^2.

Other features include a contrast ratio of 1300:1, a response time of 8ms, and HDMI support. 

The three S2000 television sets are:

• KDL-4C6s2000
• KDL-40CS2000
• KDL-3C2s2000

These LCD panels feature a resolution of 1366 x 768 and have a brightness of 500cd/m^2.

The contrast ratio is also 1300:1 for the panels which have a response time of 8 ms.

Some other features common to all the sets include:

• New Sony BRAVIA ENGINE for a high picture quality.
• 178 degree viewing angles
• Slim designs
• HDMI connectors

[Check it out via I4U.com]

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NVIDIA has announced a new dual tv tuner add in card designed for Windows Media Center systems. The card is called the NVIDIA DualTV MCE and you can purchase it on the NVIDIA website for $169.00. Some of the features of this new card include:

• Simultaneous watch and record – record two TV channels or watch one while you’re recording another
• Easy to install
• NVIDIA PureVideo technology – crystal clear pictures with 3D noise reduction, advanced 3D comb filtering, and signal amplification
• NVIDIA MediaSqueeze technology – store your favorite TV programs on your hard drive or DVD
• NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder – DVD and MPEG2 playback with surround sound audio
• Multistream Hardware MPEG-2 MP ML Encode – low CPU utilization when recording
• Multiple inputs – even as an internal splitter to allow a signal be shared to two different channels
• FM tuner

[Check it out]

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I’ve given my fair share of presentations over the last few years and let me just say that having a laser pointer is EXTREMELY handy. However, a laser pointer by itself isn’t good enough when you think about it. You often find yourself needing to go back to your laptop or PC to press a space key to move the slides. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have a device that could be both a laser pointer and a slide show controller? Well folks you certainly can with the Logitech Cordless Presenter. The folks at ATrueReview.com have posted a review of that gadget here on their website. The Logitech Cordless Presenter has the following specs:

• Optical mouse capability (with 2-button clicking)
• No line of sight required (uses Bluetooth wireless technology)
• Carrying case and 2 AA batteries included
• Bluetooth wireless technology for reliable range of 30-plus feet
• Built-in laser pointer lets you highlight specific points

Here’s the verdict:

Due to the high price tag, Logitech’s Cordless Presenter is a must-have only for those who gives numerous presentations. Seamless transition between slides allows the audience to pay attention to the slides, not the person forwarding the slides. Even better the speaker can work the room without fear of not transitioning through the presentation.

Yes.. it is a bit costly at $170 bucks or so… but you know what? If it’s for the company – they’ll pay for it!!

[Check it out]

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