Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Looks like Samsung's got another sexy laptop on display at CeBIT to go with the R70, R20, and Q45 that we saw earlier in the show, and this one is aimed squarely at gamers on the go. The company's M-series has always incorporated high-end features -- various iterations of the M55 were among the first on the market with Blu-ray and HD DVD drives -- and the upcoming M60 is no different, sporting top of the line Core 2 Duo processors, Santa Rosa chipsets, BD drives, and most importantly, DirectX 10-compatible NVIDIA cards with 512MB of video RAM. Notebook Review tells us to expect these sometime in May or June, for an as-yet-to-be-determined price. 
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Remember those Total HD discs we talked about back in January? In a nutshell, they were Warner's solution to the format war, super discs that offered Blu-ray on one side and HD DVD on the other. Well, the discs are ready for their 15 minutes of fame debuting this June for "a little more" than the cost of current single-format discs. But there's a small problem...

You see, the first gen discs will have 15GB HD DVD on one side and 25GB Blu-ray on the other. Come August we'll see higher-capacity Total HD discs with 30GB HD DVD/25GB Blu-ray. So what's the problem? 50GB Blu-ray is outta the picture. (At least in the short term). So Blu-ray fans are bound to feel a little burned over that.
No other studios (other than Warner) are backing Total HD right now, so it'll be interesting to see how they do. Technically, Total HD isn't a third format, but to me this just gives me more reason to stick with my DVDs. – Louis Ramirez
First Total HD Combo Discs Could...

Filed under: Laptops
It unfortunately didn't make it to the show floor, but Asus used the run-up to CeBIT to announce its new ASmobile C90S barebones laptop, the first to boast a so-called D-door design allowing for more expansion options than is normally possible with a laptop. One of the few things on the laptop that's not upgradeable is its 15.4 widescreen display, which can be complemented with up to an E6800 Core 2 Duo processor, any standard MXM graphics card, up to 2GB of RAM, your choice of SATA hard drive and, apparently, an "HD DVD and Blu-Ray optical drive," although we're guessing that doesn't mean a combo drive. Rounding out the specs, the 6.8 pound C90S comes standard with a built-in 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a TV tuner, as well as a full line-up of ports including, most notably, HDMI. Pricing will obviously vary quite a bit depending on how you configure it, but there's word yet one what it'll cost you to get going, nor is there any indication of when ...

Apparently Sony and its cohorts are certain that they will own the market in just three years. At least, this is what Frank Simonis, the Blu-ray Disc Association's European chairman, has said today at CeBIT:
"Within three years it will just be Blu-ray" Frank is not only talking about beating HD DVD, but also replacing DVD entirely. In three years. Thanks to "a plan", which includes the amazing success of the PS3. Apparently, they are doing stand-up comedy mornings in Hanover and we are, like, totally missing them. – Jesus Diaz
CeBIT 2007: Blu-ray Association has three-year plan to replace DVDs [IT Pro]

Doth our eyes deceive us? Have we finally happened upon a real life computer with real life CableCARD after all these years? It looks like PC Mag's finally got that early review up of the Dell XPS 410 with ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner (and Blu-ray, to boot!), which we've come to find out is, unfortunately, still just a working prototype (read: not hitting the market just yet). That didn't stop them and their dual CableCARD tuners from jacking into some serious HD cable though. Interesting notes:
Dell claims that the sales rep who takes the order for your CableCARD-equipped Dell box will also schedule an appointment with your local cable company to have the CableCARDs delivered and installed the same day your system comes. (Really? We're skeptical.) The initial CableCARD install apparently took three friggin hours to drop in, provision, and get running; one of the two tuners continually didn't work for PC Mag, which caused lingering issues. Both t...

The Amazon Unbox movie download system is now firmly linked up with the TiVo service, and if you have a TiVo Series 2 or Series 3 TiVo box, now you can download Amazon Unbox movies right into your Now Playing list just as if they were another TV show or movie. We gave it a try, winding through its password protection and DRM (digital rights management) and eagerly awaiting the result.
To use the Unbox On TiVo service you must have both an Amazon account and, of course, a TiVo account. First you make sure your TiVo is enabled for movie downloads at the TiVo site, and then go to the Amazon Unbox area, log into your Amazon account, and if you register for Unbox on TiVo by April 30 of this year you get $15 worth of free movies and TV shows. It's a bit of a pain in the ass making sure you're all registered and signed up on both the TiVo and Amazon sites, but once that unpleasantness is overcome, that's when the fun starts.

There's a wide selection of movies from which t...

The speed-loving researchers at Sharp have just created a blue-violet laser that can burn both double-sided Blu-ray discs and HD DVD discs at 6X speed, the fastest out there to date. Dubbed the GH04P21A2G, it's expected to go into production this May. Too bad they couldn't make it in time to fit it inside this bad boy. – Louis Ramirez
Sharp Develops Laser for Burning HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs at 6X [New Launches]

Filed under: Desktops, HDTV
We've known that LG has had an internal Blu ray burner / HD DVD player combo drive in the works for some time now, but the company has just now let loose the first pics of the format-agnostic device, as well as presumably final release date, in anticipation of its official unveiling at CeBIT. Of course, being an internal drive, there isn't a heckuva lot to see, but those side by side logos should be more than enough to impress anyone looking closely enough. Equally impressive is the price, with the drive, dubbed the GGW-H10N "Super Multi Blue," set to demand a hefty $1,200 when it rolls out in May. While the release date's been changed slightly, the drives specs don't appear to have been, with the same 4x recording speed for Blu ray discs, and write speeds between 6x and 10x for the usual line-up of DVD formats.

[Via Wired Blogs: Gadget Lab] 
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentar...

Walt Mossberg, the WSJ's master chief of gadgetdom, reviews LG's hybrid HD disc BH100 Super Voltron Blue (or whatever). His take is like our take. Most interestingly, Mossberg tangentially points out a very funny thing: The LG is flawed because it won't play HD-DVD interactive content. But LG won't necessarily release a perfect successor because the cominghybrid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray discs threaten its sales. Come again?
To be clear, there's now officiallya format war between the two solutions to the format war. Hilarious. Even The Onion couldn't make up a better joke. Mossy's video review post jump.
–Brian Lam
Mossberg on the LG BH100 [WSJ]

The format war is far from over, but Sony's Blu-ray camp continues to enjoy the lead over Toshiba and the rest of the HD DVD gang, edging them out in movie sales yet again for the month of February. Both formats are competing to be the next high-def disc du jour, but so far in '07 Blu-ray has managed to outsell HD DVD titles in both January and February. HD DVD fans think it's just a fad due to the PS3's popularity (the PS3 is popular?), but for the month of February the Blu-ray folks moved around 250,000 titles versus 125,000 by the HD DVD camp. Does this mean you should buy a Blu-ray player? Not any time soon, as chances are we'll see a lot more back and forth before we get a real winner. – Louis Ramirez
Blu-ray Edges Out HD DVD in February [TG Daily]