It appears that someone at Shuttle has finally decided to fulfill my deepest desires for a small form factor PC - namely to have a barebones XPC system feature an HDMI output and support for HDCP. That’s right - that’s exactly what you get with the Shuttle XPC barebones system SG33G5M. This G5M based SFF beauty supports the latest Intel dual core and quad core processors and comes with a beautiful VFD display in the front. It screams “HTPC” all over and most of all, it comes with HDCP support which means you’ll be able to playback your protected high definition content on an HDCP enabled display. Right now, it appears the barebones system is available in Europe but you can bet the system should make it to the US sometime this year. There is a non VFD display Shuttle XPC with HDMI support here in the US but it’s a bit boring looking and it’s not clear whether it supports HDCP. Check out Krunker for additional information on this.

[Check it out via Krunker]

Technorati Tags: Shuttle, SG33G5M, HDMI with HDCP

Engadget is reporting that Hitachi will be introducing their first Blu-ray supporting video camcorders later this year. The new Wooo-branded camcorders will feature a 5.3 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of recording at full 1080p (1920 x 1080) and come with an integrated BD/DVD drive supporting 8cm discs. With an 8cm BD-RE/R media in place, the camcorder will be capable of recording up to 7GB of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video - roughly five times the amount of an 8cm DVD-RAM/RW/R disc.

[Check it out via Engadget]

Technorati Tags: Video Camcorder, Blu-ray

Warner Home Video is planning to release a “Best Of” box sets for both HD DVD and Blu-ray high definition media formats. Each box set will include four film titles ranging from new releases to old classics with three different volumes available in each high definition format. Film titles include “Lethal Weapon”, “Training Day”, “The Last Samurai”, “Blazing Saddles”, and “Goodfellas”. The box sets are expected to go on sale for approximately $85 dollars. The Warner Home Video “Best Of” box sets are slated for release on September 18th.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Warner Home Video, Best Of, HD DVD, Blu-ray

Video Business.com is reporting that Samsung is busy working on their third generation Blu-ray standalone player - the BD-P1400. The company will display the model at the upcoming 2007 IFA consumer electronics conference to be held in Berlin on August 31st.

The Samsung BD-P1400 is expected to have the following features:

• Dolby Digital Plus support
• Dolby TrueHD support
• DTS-HD support
• Built-in Ethernet port

Interestingly enough - if Samsung plans to ship the BD-P1400 after October 31st of this year, the player will have to support several new features not found in current Blu-ray players today because of a new mandate from the Blu-ray Disc Association. One of these features would be picture-in-picture support which basically means having a secondary video stream be played at the same time the main feature film is played.

[Check it out via High-Def Digest]

Technorati Tags: Samsung BD-P1400

It looks like the upcoming Samsung dual format BD-UP5000 player will come out a bit sooner than expected. We originally reported the player was slated to come out in October but now Samsung has supposedly stated the Blu-ray/HD DVD standalone player will come out in Europe by the end of next month (August). Other rumors are stating that the Samsung BD-UP5000 could be priced as low as €400 ($548/£271). Again - that’s JUST a rumor. The BD-UP5000 will supposedly offer full interactive support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles which stands in contrast to the LG dual format player which fully supports Blu-ray but only plays the movie portion of an HD DVD disc.

[Check it out]

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If you don’t subscribe to Home Theater Mag, then you might be interested in reading this article entitled “Blu-ray and HD DVD Face Off“ over on their website. The article first appeared in the June 2007 edition of the magazine and essentially covers the backgrounds of both Blu-ray and HD DVD. They then compare three different high definition players - the Tosiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player, the Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player, and the LG BH100 Blu-ray/HD DVD player. If you’re not familiar with either Blu-ray or HD DVD, then you should definitely give this article a look over as it gives some great background high level information on both formats and the state of affairs of the format wars as it stands now.

Here’s a blurb from the article:

Until the average consumer can buy the cheapest player on the market and rent a disc without looking at the label (”What do you mean this disc won’t play in my player?”), neither format will gain mass acceptance. Regardless, this is going to drag out over years, and there is no possibility that either format (or both combined) will grow as fast as DVD. If Sony, et al, and Toshiba are lucky, they’ll grow faster than VHS.

[Check it out]

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We reported a few days ago that Sharp was going to introduce a new Blu-ray player this fall called the BD-HP20S. Unfortunately, according to PC World, the new Blu-ray player is slated only for the Japanese market and not for the U.S. market. Folks here in the U.S. will have to wait for the BD-HP10U which was announced back at CES 2007 but has yet to see the light of day here. Ah well..so much for a new cheap player from Sharp.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sharp BD-HP20S

CrunchGear has published a review of the Sony VAIO FZ180 notebook here on their website. The FZ180 is a 15 inch multimedia machine featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and an integrated Blu-ray drive inside. Yes - there’s a Blu-ray drive inside which means of course, you’ll be able to watch Blu-ray movies wherever you take this notebook. Unfortunately the display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 which also means you won’t be able to enjoy the full 1080p splendor of Blu-ray movies. I know - it’s a bummer. Anyhow, here’s the verdict from CrunchGear:

This is a media machine. If you’re the type of person who wants to start up a decent Blu-ray library, and also needs a Vista-powered notebook, this may be for you.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sony VAIO FZ180, CrunchGear Review

Sharp Electronics will be introducing a new standalone Blu-ray player this fall called the BD-HP20S. According to this posting on EngadgetHD.com, the BD-HP20S will feature support for HDMI 1.3 and Dolby TrueHD audio. It will also come with a “Quick Start” feature which will play newly inserted Blu-ray discs in a matter of seconds.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sharp, BD-HP20S

Rumors are circulating around the Internet that the retail price for the Sony PlayStation 3 will indeed be cut to $499 from $599. This all started when a Circuit City ad for July 15th was posted onto the net showing a price cut of $100 on the PS3. GameDaily BIZ then confirmed through their sources that the price cut was indeed retail wide and would begin on July 12th. Ads for the price cut should begin showing up on July 15th. No word from Sony as of yet but this is contradictory to what Sony President, Ryoji Chubachi, had stated on Friday - claiming that there would not be a PS3 price cut. It’ll be interesting to see Microsoft’s response should the price cut happen. Could we see a small next gen price war?

For those of you thinking about jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon, this price drop would certainly be a welcome sight to see. I’d much rather purchase a PS3 with Blu-ray for $499 than a Sony standalone Blu-ray player for $499.

[Check it out via Krunker]

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