Archive for April, 2008
All-USA girls hoops team stands tall (USA Today)
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Rookie mistakes? (The Sporting News via Yahoo! News)
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Jarjour rallies from deficit, helps Blue Devils to victory (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008AREA SPORTS IN BRIEF: New UDM coach signs his first recruit — a Detroiter (Detroit Free Press)
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008A rosy outlook for Blu-ray tech (JoongAng Daily)
Monday, April 28th, 2008Defining Home Theater with an Hd Blueray DvD Combinations
Saturday, April 12th, 2008Defining Home Theater with an Hd Blueray Dvd Combinations
DVD’s became popular with the turn of the century, with most people upgrading as the technology became ever cheaper and they realized how good DVD’s looked compared to VHS video tapes. With skyrocketing sales of LCD and plasma televisions and several exciting new home theater technologies on their way, consumers are once again able to upgrade to an even better format than DVD. Blue ray is expected to become the dominant home video format in the next year or two, but you can purchase an Hd blueray dvd combinations today to become future proof for tomorrow.
Upgrading Now Instead of Later
An Hd blueray dvd combinations will enable you to start watching high definition content right now. By upgrading later, you’re only forcing yourself to watch low resolution DVD’s in the meantime, and the technology has matured past the point of finding bugs, so the Blue ray technology is very stable. Most of the popular and trusted names in home theater equipment Samsung, Pioneer, Sony to name a few make Hd blueray dvd combinationss already, and they’ll continue to improve their parts and lower prices as the years go on and the manufacturing processes also improve.
So what do you get with an Hd blueray dvd combinations? You get the ability to not only play next generation Blueray discs with 1080p movies, but all players also play standard DVD’s, keeping your old movie collection from becoming obsolete (and don’t think that DVD’s look bad they look good, but Blueray discs just look better!), and most even play CD’s so your Hd blueray dvd combinations can also double as your stereo system.
With hundreds of popular titles to choose from, Blueray is the next gen home video format of choice, and it’s outselling its rival, HD-DVD, by six to one in some places. An Hd blueray dvd combinations allows you to watch incredible looking 1080p movies such as 300 and Casino Royale, among hundreds of others, as you’ve never seen them before. See individual hairs and beads of sweat on characters, and never miss any piece of dust on screen again. The visual and audio fidelity of Blueray is the best out there, and because Blueray discs can hold 50 Gb of data as opposed to 4.7 Gb for a standard DVD, they also feature many more special and interactive features, so you can experience your favorite movies as never before possible. An Hd blueray dvd combinations will recreate your home theater experience.
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The Panasonic Blue Ray Story
Thursday, April 10th, 2008The Panasonic Blue Ray Story
The Panasonic Blue Ray is one interesting success story considering the controversies surrounding the technology and its number one rival HD DVD. The great rift that was created between supporting companies of the two technologies have spurred continuous development of Blue Ray in order to stay ahead of the pack.
Panasonic Blue Ray Development
The Blue Ray disc is a high-density next generation optical disc format that primarily stores digital information. One of the main highlights is its very high storage capacity which allows several gigabytes of information unheard of before in traditional DVDs. The high storage capacity also allows high-definition video or HDV. Although Blue Ray discs were developed by the BDA or Blu-ray Disc Association, several companies including Panasonic has embraced the new technology covered by patents.
In November 2007, over 400 titles were released on Blu-Ray Disc in the United States. Some of the first titles were released in Japan. Panasonic Blue Ray has emerged as one of the top contenders in the ongoing format war as it continues to provide higher limits to consumers. The quality and definition of Panasonic Blue Ray discs is currently one of the best available.
Panasonic Blue Ray Disc Structure
Panasonic Blue Ray discs were among the first to incorporate hard-coat technologies. Panasonic also featured the 100 GB disc readable on standard Blue Ray drives. Other players and drives are said to be able to read the disc as well with some firmware updates. Panasonic uses a blue laser with a wavelength of 405 nm to read and write data. Since the cover layer is thinner and the laser beam more focused, Panasonic Blue Ray discs can then store clearer and more data. Data encoding is currently being developed to further maximize storage capacity.
The data layer of the discs is closer to the surface compared to traditional DVDs making it vulnerable to damage and weather. Panasonic then devised hard-coat enhancements to keep data safe and intact. Engineers are constantly trying to find universal specifications to merge the growing drift between Blue Ray and HD DVD. Panasonic Blue Ray discs are continuing to improve and develop to become the mainstream high-density format.
Panasonic has expanded to regions outside the United States such as Mexico. The company sees great potential in Blue Ray that it will soon become the staple media option. The company focuses on the cores of the technology namely: the layer, numerical aperture or NA and the blue laser.
Choosing Which Format in the HD Vs Blue Ray War
Thursday, April 10th, 2008Choosing Which Format in the HD Vs Blue Ray War
Most next generation formats come with some format war or another (the notable exception was DVD where the opposition to DVD was invited on board to create a single format), the biggest one in recent times being VHS against Betamax, where the former won for a variety of reasons. With the rise in sales of high definition television sets and content, two new home video formats have recently been released against one another in a new format war. Below are some points that may help you decide which format to upgrade to in the HD vs Blue ray format war.
High Def on the Rise
High definition content has been greatly rising in popularity, especially over the past two or three years as LCD and plasma television sales have absolutely skyrocketed, vastly increasing the demand for 720p and 1080p content. In the HD vs Blue ray format war, both formats are capable of displaying 1080p video. Also, they both offer many special features and bonuses, such as directly connecting to the Internet to find out more information about the movie and what went into making it. In the past in the HD vs Blue ray war, HD-DVD’s were capable of displaying more special features, but recent updates to the Blue ray format have leveled the playing field in that regard.
However, HD-DVD’s use technology which is slightly easier to produce (the equipment and the lasers don’t have to be as small), resulting in originally cheaper prices, although Blue ray has also made great strides in that department as well. In the HD vs Blue ray war, Blue ray has two aspects definitely going in its favor. First off, every Sony PS3 comes with support for playing Blue ray discs. What is considered the direct competitor for that gamer market segment, the X-Box 360, only has an addition HD-DVD player which is not required to play X-Box 360 games but costs additional money. With built in support, the PS3 has helped Blue ray climb out on top over HD-DVD. Also, Blue ray discs can hold 50 Gb of data as opposed to 30 Gb for HD-DVD’s. While Blue ray has most of the exclusive titles from major studios, HD-DVD still has about 30% of the exclusive titles, making people cautious about upgrading and slowing down adoption rates. However, the HD vs Blue ray war is expected to be finished over the next year or two.
Blue-ray, HD DVD, or Dual Format DVD Player: What is the Best Option?
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008Blue-ray, HD DVD, or Dual Format DVD Player: What is the Best Option?
In the ongoing format “war”, the consumer is the unwilling or unknowing victim. Both Blue-ray and HD DVD or Dual Format DVD Player has its own advantages and disadvantages. Should a consumer choose one or the other, disadvantages are sure to bring difficulties such that the best option would be not to choose either and be content of what the “old” format has to offer which include restricted quantity of storage and images bereft of quality and clarity. Or is this the only option?
Perhaps this has also been in the minds of the world’s technology giants. These giants have put profit second in their priorities as they placed the consumers content foremost. Some, like the Korean LG Electronics, have taken the driver’s seat in spear-heading the ambitious project of creating a dual format for both the Blue-ray and HD DVD or Dual Format DVD Player optic formats. LG is a supporter of Blue-ray. Its cross license with Toshiba that manufactures HD DVD paved the way for the creation of this hybrid.
Currently, even Samsung, despite its pessimistic views on the dual format, has started production of the hybrid. It has added the strategy of marketing it at a much lower price if only to attract consumers. Samsung is the second to manufacture the Blue-ray and HD DVD or dual format DVD player.
Understandably, the consumers have assumed a wait-and-see stance to evaluate if indeed there will be any advantage of the “marriage” of the two protagonists so to speak.
A great majority of consumers are classified as late adopters. This was manifested when DVD player sales dethroned VCR player sales nearly a decade after the first DVD units were created.
The format “war” has created confusion in the market. Consumers have delayed their decision on what to buy because of fear that they might have chosen wrong in selecting one of the two formats. In the ensuing mayhem, some giant players claim that the “war” will continue for the next several years and it too have assumed a wait-and-see position.
Options in the Blue-ray, HD DVD or Dual Format DVD Player
At this point in time, it is impossible to produce only one type of Bluee laser player, be it Blue-ray, HD DVD or dual format DVD player, or a universal type, to satisfy the consumer. This may entail years of research, study and testing. In this world, anything is possible. But presently, the best option may indeed be this dual format. Who knows? This might be the solution to put the format “war” to a stop once and for all.
Meeting Tomorrow’s Storage Needs with Blue Ray Discs
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008Meeting Tomorrow’s Storage Needs with Blue Ray Discs
Twentieth century storage capacity is quickly falling behind twenty-first century storage requirements. A standard DVD could hold up to 4.7 Gb of data, and traditional, magnetic hard drives have just recently reach a capacity of 1 Tb (1000 Gigabytes). However, DVD’s are incapable of storing high definition video (for longer than just a few minutes at least), so we need a type of disc that can hold entire high definition movies in just one disc. If you calculate just the video requirements, DVD’s play 480p video, which is 640×480 pixels for a total of 307,200 pixels. However, high definition video is 1080p (1920×1080 or 2,073,600 pixels), which is nearly 7x the number of pixels on screen at any given time. Add in digital audio and other special features, and you soon see the need for increased storage capacity. With a Blue ray disc, you can meet your storage needs into the next decade.
Record Data or Play It
Blue ray disc players began shipping in notebook and desktop computers at several hundred dollars a piece. That’s about the price you could expect to pay for a stand alone Blue ray disc player for your home theater, but these drives fit into your computer and allow you to also burn content onto Blue ray discs. As physical media goes, Blue ray is the way to go for unparalleled capacity and transfer speed (although future technologies such as holographic discs are expected to reach several Terabytes in size in the next decade or so). Nearly 70% of new movies are being released on Blue ray discs, much more than are being released on Blue ray’s rival format, HD-DVD, and you can now purchase blank Blue ray discs to record your own content.
When it comes to seeing everything in high definition, you need to go with Blue ray discs. No other disc will allow you to record up to 50 Gb of data, and you’ll get the biggest selection of movies to choose from (and soon you’ll be able to get even more as HD-DVD is expected to become obsolete in the next year or two). Ultimately, Blue ray is the perfect format for the consumer looking to fulfill their mobile data storage needs, and future firmware updates will unlock new features that haven’t quite matured yet. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to record movies, music, or photos Blue ray will help you fulfill your needs. Along with incredibly fast flash memory drives, Blue ray discs will help you meet the data storage needs of the next decade.