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Posts with tag blu-ray

Oppo joins the Blu-ray revolution with BDP S83 deck

by Darren Murph Sep 5th 2008 @ 10:44PM


Oppo, best known for its upconverting DVD players and universal decks, has apparently decided to join the BD camp with little to no fuss. The BDP S83 was spotted over at the company's CEDIA booth, and while no real details were provided ("it's loaded" is all we have to go on), we can't see any harm in having yet another alternative. Unless it's $350+, in which case we'll roll our eyes and stomp away with our arms crossed.

Integra quietly launches DBS-6.9 Blu-ray player at CEDIA: hands-on

by Darren Murph Sep 5th 2008 @ 4:53PM


If you'll recall, Integra surprised at last year's CEDIA by trotting out its DHS-8.8 HD DVD player; this year, the company has quietly (silently, in fact) released its plainly styled DBS-6.9 Blu-ray deck. While the design may not suit your fancy, it's far from being the ugliest BD player at the Expo, and reportedly, the Profile 1.1 unit will retail for a buck under $600 whenever it decides to ship. We can already tell you're uninterested based on the price alone, but feel free to peruse the gallery if you're hungry for pics.

Cambridge Audio's 640BD Blu-ray deck hands-on

by Darren Murph Sep 5th 2008 @ 1:23PM


Cambridge Audio had a relatively small presence at CEDIA, and admittedly, most of the equipment it brought to Denver was purely audio-related. Thankfully, it did manage to squeeze in its newly announced 640BD Blu-ray player, and for fans of the brand, they'll be head over heels for the design. It's built to match most every other component the company makes, and it only takes a passing glance to see that this BD deck isn't your typical fingerprint magnet. The representative on hand admitted that it should start shipping this January for "under a grand," so 'til then, feel free to flip through the gallery as many as times as you see fit.

Sherwood's BDP-6003 Blu-ray player hands-on

by Darren Murph Sep 5th 2008 @ 10:13AM


Hate to say it, but Sherwood's BDP-6003 was the lousiest looking BD deck on the CEDIA show floor. The entire thing just screamed cheap, and quite honestly, it's not a player we'd be proud to show off. Sure, for $150 or so we wouldn't even give the looks a second thought, but given the $499 price tag, we expect something a bit more attractive than this. What say you?

Sharp's AQUOS BD-HP50U / BD-HP21U Blu-ray players eyes-on

by Darren Murph Sep 5th 2008 @ 3:01AM


The whole Profile 1.0 thing kind of put a damper on Sharp's latest Blu-ray players, but since they were showcased at the company's CEDIA booth, we figured it prudent to take a few snapshots and pass 'em along. Design wise, the two are exceptionally similar, and we can't say with good faith that the HP50U is really worth the extra coin. Hit the gallery below and see if you can pick the two apart... and, go!

Sony's BDV-IT1000ES and BDV-IS1000 HTIB systems hands-on

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 10:53PM


Sony's CEDIA booth was stocked with the outfit's latest pair of Blu-ray HTIB systems, and for those looking to dive into the Blu and get into surround sound at the same time, neither set is a bad choice. Each BD deck is actually customized specifically for these packages, and while the innards are likely similar to the those found in the BDP-S550, the inclusion of an internal amplifier makes 'em special. See which speaker style suits your fancy in the gallery below.

Sony's VAIO JS, LV and RT all-in-one desktops hands-on

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 9:47PM


Rather than taking the circular approach, Sony's choosing more traditional design models to follow with its latest trio of all-in-one PCs. As you can see in the gallery below, the larger of the two were actually mounted up on swing-arms, essentially acting as monitors for watching TV / playing PS3. The small guy didn't do a whole lot for us, but the two hung up on the wall were pretty svelte. See for yourself, won't you?

Eyes-on with Sony's BDP-S5000ES Blu-ray player

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 9:01PM


Sony's latest high-end Blu-ray player was sitting pretty at the outfit's CEDIA booth, so we did exactly what you figured we would -- stop by and snap some pictures. Though the unit wasn't exactly compact, the build quality seemed sufficient and the design was suitably simple. As you very well know by now, the gallery is below.

Hands-on / a look within Pioneer's Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray player

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 7:07PM


Pioneer didn't bring a whole lot of firepower to this year's CEDIA (though it did toss in 16 new speaker models), but the star of its show was definitely the über-expensive Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray player. Thankfully, the company had a couple of units setup for photographing, one of which was dissected within a glass case. Needless to say, we snapped images from each, giving you a rare look at what makes this thing worth $2,199. As with most of its Elite components (HDTVs notwithstanding), this unit was also on the chunky side, but it's still a beauty in our eyes. The gallery awaits your attention.

Hands-on with LG's BD300 Netflix / Blu-ray deck

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 5:31PM


When we waltzed over to have a gander at LG's recently priced BD300, one of the reps on hand wasn't so keen on letting us take close-ups. Not one to just roll over and accept a command, we casually walked over to the other BD300 kiosk, flashed the Engadget gang sign to the much kinder rep, and continued on to snap a few shots of the new box. The unit set up was fully functional and able to stream Netflix movies, and it even detected the network connection before playing in order to deliver the best quality without introducing skips and stutters. Feel free to get all up in your monitor when checking out the gallery below, we won't hassle ya. One love.

Hands-on: Sony shows off prototype 400-disc Blu-ray Mega Changer

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 5:10PM


Once again, Sony's booth was front and center upon entering the CEDIA floor, and while most everything there was as advertised, this one particular unit stuck out. Yeah, maybe it just caught out eye because it's around the size of a small refrigerator, but upon speaking with a company representative, we learned that it's actually a 400-disc Blu-ray Mega Changer. The unit on hand was simply there for demonstrative purposes, but Sony intends to launch the BD-Live-capable, RS-232 port-packin' beast in early 2009. There's no word on whether it will ever interface with HTPCs, but we wouldn't count on it. Tap the gallery for a closer look.

Niveus Movie Library 1.5 offers high-res cover art, wider catalog support

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 12:00PM


Four short months after going gold, Niveus' Movie Library has reached the monumental v1.5 platform. Okay, so maybe it's not that huge of a deal, but it's still notable for those out there with the coin to spend on a Niveus Media Center. The new version of the movie management application includes disc-in-drive support, a 10' interface for backing up movies to the Niveus Media Server and expanded metadata with high-resolution cover art (yes, including Blu-ray). Just to reiterate, the software supports "all possible movie formats" including DVDs, Blu-ray Disc, recorded TV movies, WMV, VideoGiants, Amazon Unbox, etc. Best of all, v1.5 is available to download right now in the Niveus Software Labs. Full press release is after the jump.

Continue reading Niveus Movie Library 1.5 offers high-res cover art, wider catalog support

Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray player officially on the way, eventually

by Richard Lawler Sep 4th 2008 @ 11:42AM


The Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray player -- its first with BD-Live, featuring 4GB of storage -- is finally official. Blu-ray discs will have their video treated to Pioneer's 16-bit video processor, Marvell QDEO and Renesas processing, including 24p support, plus the company's Adaptive bit Length Expansion that claims it restores 8-bit color on disc to the original 16-bit studio master. The audio side is treated to eight Wolfson Audio DACs, delivering full decoding and bit-stream output for all those high-res audio formats the kids like so much in a truly superior fashion. Dual HDMI 1.3a outputs capable of splitting or duplicating the workload, RS-232C control and heavy solid steel construction just further the point -- if you'd like to pay more than the price of a PS3 for a fully featured Blu-ray player, here's a good reason. The only truly sad news is that the $2,199 price and "2008" release date remain unchanged.

Cambridge Audio dips on in, announces 640BD Blu-ray player for 2009

by Darren Murph Sep 4th 2008 @ 8:57AM


Sherwood isn't the only little-known company bringing the Blu to CEDIA -- now we've got a boutique manufacturer joining the crowd. Announced today in Denver, Cambridge Audio has revealed that it too will be producing a BD deck in early 2009. The 640BD will be designed to complement the Azur range of AV receivers, and it will boast full HDMI 1.3 output (including bitstream output of all the latest Dolby / DTS tracks), a full set of analog video outputs, Ethernet, S/PDIF, Toslink and a set of separate, dedicated 7.1 / stereo analog outputs. Unfortunately, that's all the details the company has prepared for this year's Expo, but we'll certainly be hearing more as CES time draws near. Per usual, the full release is after the break.

Continue reading Cambridge Audio dips on in, announces 640BD Blu-ray player for 2009

LG's BD300 Netflix / Blu-ray deck ships next month for $399.95

by Darren Murph Sep 3rd 2008 @ 8:33PM

We hate to say we called it, but our complete in-the-dark guess of just under four C-notes was right on the money. LG has just announced that it's BD300 Network Blu-ray player (and Netflix streamer) will begin shipping to national retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City, Bass Pro Shops, etc.) next month (as in, a month later than initially anticipated) for $399.95. Not the cheapest BonusView-enabled deck in the mix, but given the Netflix functionality tossed in on the side, we can still see quite a few folks joining the BD camp with this one. Matter of fact, we'll just go ahead and ask -- is this your ticket into the Blu?




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