Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Those of us anxious to get their Joe Kane-approved tweak on will have to wait a bit longer than originally planned. The originally planned October 30th release has been moved to "early next year," with no details given for the delay. While HD DVD owners can use the previously released dual-format disc, this latest "HD Basics" version was slated for release to both the blue and red camps. The new disc is also the first of the DVE offerings designed specifically for HD setup, and uses a more streamlined menu that is meant to appeal to both newcomers and prosumers. We've found the DVE series to be both practical and educational; hopefully the delay is just Joe Kane poring over the details. In the meantime, there are some goodtips around for dialing in your setup.
Samsung BD-P1200 owners who've utilized the Ethernet functionality to update their firmware, have been able to enjoy Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfersince Wednesday, and now the rest of the owners of both the BD-P1000 and BD-P1200 can too. As promised, Samsung made the CDR image available for download, so we decided to try it out; sure enough, it works, so we can finally enjoy the latest Fox titles. As crummy as this situation is for consumers -- especially those who don't know what firmware is -- we're happy to see Samsung continue to support their first generation Blu-ray player.
In yet another installment of "what took so long" Verizon FIOS is adding A&E HD in at least the Tampa market -- for now -- on channel 842. This is the first HD addition to the lineup in six months, at a time when most other providers are adding new HD channels in record numbers. We're still trying to get to the bottom as to why Verizon is sitting on the sidelines, and then when they finally do add a new channel, they add one with so little actual HD content. Until then, we'll wait for this channel to show as indicated on scrolling message on channel 49. We dont' know when they'll it for the rest of the country, but it's usually Verizon's practice to add channels near their super head ends, just before the national deployment.
With so many college football games in HD this year it can be hard to tell which games will be available in your area. As usual, we can depend on HDSportsGuide.com to figure out which games will be presented in our favorite format, but now they've added links to coverage maps. So now you're only one PDF link away from knowing exactly what ABC/ESPN college football game will be available in your area.
We already had a hunch that ESPN's 24-hour news channel wouldn't be making the leap to HD until next year, but any hopes of it launching sooner have apparently been dashed. Reportedly, ESPN has "already signed carriage deals for ESPNews HD with DirecTV, Comcast and Time Warner Cable (partly owned by Time Warner, parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget), according to network executives." When it finally goes live at the "beginning in March 2008," it will become the third ESPN network to be available in an HD flavor. It's stated that the channel will feature "an innovative HD sideline graphic which will wrap around the top left and bottom of the HD screen" to offer up news and statistics in a format tailored for high-definition displays. March can't come soon enough.
With all the great things we hear about OLED TVs, it's understandable to think that the next display technology is here. Ultra-thin dimensions, eye-popping contrast ratio and low power consumption, what's not to like? The technology does have some big uncertainties, however. According to the link, the most significant isn't display lifetime, but market potential. DisplaySearch projects huge growth for OLED TVs, with a market of $37 million in 2008 to $884 million in 2011. That would outpace the predicted 15% growth in LCD TV demand over the same period. Rosy for OLED, right? Not so fast -- the total market for LCD in 2011 is expected to be $92 billion (with a "b"). When considering these projections, it's easy to see why the president of Samsung SDI says OLEDs are "ideal for portable displays," but holds off on making any TV display commitments. The fact that Sony is committed to producing a set makes OLED more promising than some other next-gen technologies, but we're not throwing out our plasmas and LCDs yet.
Details are admittedly scant on this one, but after Don Eklund, executive VP of advanced technologies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, got done praising the growth of high-definition movies at HDTV DisplaySearch, he also mentioned that the PlayStation 3 was due a firmware update. More specifically, he noted that the PS3 "is expected to soon offer a firmware upgrade to boost its Blu-ray interactivity functionality," but unfortunately, he failed to elaborate. One could hope that the update would bring along at least some of the niceties waiting in Profile 1.1, but until we get clarification (or are surprised by the actual release), we'll leave the speculating to you.
This is the first ever weekly installment of our synopsis of the Neilson VideoScan High-Def Market share report. This will be out every Friday as soon as the results are released, and be very similar to our weekly HD releases post on Mondays. Ohh, and thanks Dave for the inspiration. The biggest title this week is Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer followed by Knocked Up which was 1st last week. Blu-ray pushes back to a 2:1 lead this week after giving a little back to HD DVD last week (1.2:1), while year to date and since inception remain the same. Looking forward, it'll be much of the same next week, as there weren't any big titles this week, but we look forward to the week after when HD DVD's revenge will arrive in the way of Transformers, the biggest Paramount exclusive yet to hit the street.
According to an NPD report, Best Buy is the dominant retailer of Blu-ray and HD DVD media. How dominant? So dominant that for once, NPD is not releasing any numbers and is leaving us to guess what "a wide margin" over second and third place retailers Amazon and Wal-Mart means. Rounding out the top five were Circuit City and Target. A Best Buy spokesman chalked the top honors up to an "audience that loves movies, where they are not casual fans," adding that they "... tend to understand high-def more than the average consumer," which sounds like some people we know. Ahem. That's fine -- we're comfortable being in the 10% minority, right?
When the two camps come together at a certain venue, there's typically some sort of fireworks display. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective), HD DVD and Blu-ray execs managed to mostly keep their cool when facing each other at the HDTV DisplaySearch conference. Interestingly, Don Eklund, executive VP of advanced technologies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, actually stated that the chances of HD flicks (rather than just Blu-ray, mind you) not succeeding was "pretty slim," also noting that while there were "obstacles in getting consumers to appreciate it, [HD would] inevitably roll." Additionally, Alan Bell, executive VP and CTO at Paramount Pictures, proclaimed that "each of the formats creates great picture and sound," but suggested that web interactivity was necessary to truly get people hooked. Of course, there were a few harmless shots taken from each side, but it seems like the camps were on their best behavior at this one.
With October 31st looming, Blu-ray fans are wondering where all the full profile players are. According to LG's product development director Tim Alessi, LG's latest dual format player (BH200) is on schedule to be the first of it's kind. This latest requirement for stand alone Blu-ray players promises to finally bring the Blu-ray camp up to the standards that HD DVD has enjoyed since almost the very beginning, including features like PIP. At this point it seems that most of the other manufacturers are content to wait for CES to announce compliant players, but we'll be on the look out either way. The real question at this point is where's the content? At this point, the only title announced to contain 1.1 features (Resident Evil: Extinction) isn't due out till 2008.
According to a number of new A205 owners, it seems that Toshiba is throwing in an HD DVD demo disc to get users hooked on the format from the moment they fire up their new rig. The unit, simply dubbed 2007 Demo Disc, reportedly includes a "a full 1080p version of the Take the Red Pill HD DVD branding trailer, as well as a series of HD trailers for flicks that are either currently available or headed to HD DVD, including Blades of Glory, Next, Hot Rod, The Bourne Ultimatum, Transformers, Oceans 13 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Additionally, you'll find trailers for Stardust and The Kingdom, both of which just hit theaters in the not-too-distant past, and a seven-page pamphlet which simply plugs the format a little more. So for those eying a new A205, there's likely to be a nugget of enjoyment bundled in, but we wouldn't go throw down our hard earned dollars on eBay just to pick this up or anything.
If you're scouting a decent media server that just so happens to double as a NAS drive and BitTorrent server, we'd probably wait out this weekend. Apparently, the Popcorn Hour website is set to go live in T-minus two days, but an eagle-eyed individual manged to pull down what appears to be a screenshot of the firm's forthcoming Networked Media Tank. The NMT reportedly enables users to "watch, store and share digital content on your home network," and it also allows for "seamless integration between your digital media and your entertainment system." Best of all, buyers can toss in a hard drive of their choosing, and the 1080p output is sure to please the HD buffs. According to the capture (shown in full after the jump), all this functionality will only run you $179 (sans an HDD), but we'll out find out for certain in a matter of hours.
UPDATE: Seems this could be a rebadge of another product -- guess we'll wait and see, eh? Thanks for the update, Gabriel M.