Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

I-O Data is updating their Rec-POT series of hard disk recorders to 1TB this morning with this, the HVR-HD1000LE. The recorder connects over Firewire to a variety of devices including Panasonic's Blu-ray recorders, Sharp DVD recorders, HueMAX set-top tuners, and Sony, Toshiba, Sharp, and FORIS.TV televisions to capture hi-def broadcasts direct to disk. Only in Japan starting April 12th for ¥79,800 (about $680).

[Via Impress] 
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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!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Sony has finally officially announced its first standalone Blu-ray player for the European market. Just like the PlayStation 3, a several month delay on the hardware has resulted in a few hardware revisions, however instead of limited backwards compatibility, the new BDP-S1E adds HDMI 1.3 and x.v. Colour support -- for AVC-HD-encoded discs -- to the package. Along with 1080p/24 output from the earlier model, this should make it an excellent player for aficionados demanding that "film-like" experience when paired with any of the new BRAVIAs hitting the market soon. With the BDP-S1E due this summer, no word on a price, or if Europe will ever see the BDP-S300 that should be launching in the U.S. around that time, but since its not a continent of "cheap people", we're sure they'll be able to deal with it.


[Via Crave] 
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be p...

We're finding out more about that mysterious $1 million laptop we told you about last week. It turns out you actually get fairly up-to-date tech for your million dollars, including a 17-inch LED backlit screen, a 128-gig hard disk and a slot-loading Blu-ray drive. Still, that's not quite a million dollars' worth of tech. Things get really weird with its integrated screen cleaning device, which must consist of a little elf that pops out and wipes off the display from time to time.
The jewel in the crown as a huge diamond that you carry around with you, and the laptop will only start if you insert that specific gem into its form-fitting receptacle. Company CEO Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio says diamonds have been used elsewhere in the notebook, but "we have given them purpose." Said Luvaglio, "I didn't want us to simply rehouse a laptop into a diamond-studded casing, or diamond-encrust the entire thing simply to make it expensive. We've put thought in from the keyboard down to...

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

If there is any doubt that the format war is in full swing, we don't know how. It seems that everyday a new device is announced and today it's Samsung's turn with a few new Blu-ray burners. While we don't have many details on state-side availability, they have some pretty interesting devices. The SE-B046 pictured is pretty cool looking, and we hope its performance matches -- we can't ever get enough of that piano black finish. It's an external burner, includes USB 2.0 and 1394 ports, and is no doubt designed to record from your 1394 enabled STB or computer. The next model, the internal SH-B043, can write 4x BD-R and supports all the standard optical discs we have come to expect. For those still using DVDs, Sammy also announced the SATA enabled SH-S203, which sports a whole slew of support including record-breaking 20x DL DVD±R, 12x DVD±R DL/-RAM, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW. While some of these models will be available ...

Filed under: Laptops
The latest piece of tech to join the "costs one million dollars" club could be the above laptop by UK Luxury firm Luvaglio if rumors are to be believed. There currently aren't any shots of the device in an open state, but there are a few pictures of what appear to be renderings of a piano finished laptop next to a slide-open box. As far as specs go, we're hearing that it'll have a self-cleaning 17-inch widescreen monitor with a special anti-reflective coating, a 128GB Solid State Disk Drive, and a slot loading Blu-ray drive, along with the obligatory diamond encrusted power button. Unless you sleep on a pile of notes then you don't really need to know when this beast will be available, and it looks like Luvaglio doesn't feel like notifying our poor asses either with its invitation only website. If you do have the kind of cash to spend on a portable computer that costs a cool million, then let us point you in the direction of the OLPC guys: we're sure if you wer...

I don't know if this is a tragic sign of Microsoft giving in, but the Xbox UK head Neil Thompson said that Microsoft is opening up the possibility of supporting Blu-ray on the 360 someday. Thompson told the BBC: Whatever format wins it is highly likely we will offer a solution. The only debate is if you want to watch Blu-ray movies and pay the extra money for that feature. We prefer to offer the consumer choice. So, Blu-ray DVDs are outselling HD DVDs, Microsoft is offering up Blu-ray support on the 360 in the future, possibly and prices are dropping on Blu-ray players. Is an end to this war on the horizon? –Travis Hudson
Microsoft Admits Xbox 360 Blu-Ray Support Possible [Via Kotaku]

Audio is hard. There are lots of wires and plugs and swearing. That's why HDMI receivers, with their promises of audio and video over one cord, make us so excited.
For today's Frankenfight, two 7.1 HDMI receivers compete for that special place in our heart home theater. Onkyo's TX-SR674 is a worthy contender, but how will it fare against Denon's AVR-2307CI? Hit the jump to find out what the experts at CNET, Sound & Vision, AV Guide, Home Theater HiFi, and the Gadget Guide have to say about these two just-over-$500 systems.


Setup
The Onkyo features an automated setup system, which uses a supplied microphone to measure speaker distances, speaker levels, and to perform the Audyssey room correction. As soon as you plug the microphone in, the Onkyo goes straight into its setup menu. From there it is only a matter of following a simple set of prompts to complete the setup. (4)
One thing that I could not change was an input's name, and thus I was stuc...

Filed under: Gaming
The veritable genius of economic theory that he is, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has finally figured out a flaw in his grand scheme of world domination via the PS3: that hefty pricetag. "If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 sales as the Mercedes of the videogame field," said Stringer. "PS3 is a different audience and it can be whatever it wants - a home server, game device, even a computer." It seems odd that he'd say the PS3 is limited to a different audience and that it can be "whatever it wants" in the same sentence, but who are we to judge? Stringer also praised the Wii as "a wonderful device," and stated that it "has a different target audience" than that of the PS3. Nothing new there, and his statements on the format war were also unsurprising: "We are selling 3-to-1 versus to them," he said. "At some point Blu-ray will take over based on ... this support." Good to see some things just never change. 
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When Sony announced its joint venture with NEC over a year ago (resulting in a company called Optiarc), the company said it would be creating Blu-ray and DVD drives, and may produce HD DVD drives. CeBIT was another story, where the company rolled out no less than five Blu-ray burners at the big euro-show. Will the company also offer HD DVD burners, or, heaven forbid, combo devices that can handle both HD DVD and Blu-ray? Maybe.
Topping the quintet of drives is the BD-M100A (pictured above), a 2x Blu-ray writer for desktops that can also burn single- and dual-layer DVDs. Optiarc also rolled out the BD5500A, 5500S, 5600S, and 5710S, all with the same specs (see the gallery for a full spec list) except for their laptop-sized form factor and serial ATA connectivity on the models ending with "S". Details on all these drives were murky, but pricing is said to start at 599 Euros, or $796, and they'll be available in July. – Charlie White
galleryPost('optiarc', 5...

Filed under: CES, Laptops, Storage

The Optiarc mashup between Sony and NEC has spawned a new brood of DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives. For HD DVD lovin' NEC already seen dabbling in dual-format underpinnings, the addition of Blu-ray Disc drives to their product roster is a notable development in the format war and yet another possible sign of Blu-ray's emerging dominance. No less than four new Blu-ray devices for laptops were launched at CeBIT: the BD-5710S, the BD-5600S, the BD-5500S, and the BD-5500A. The BD-5500A (pictured above) writes at 2x to both single- and dual-layer BD-R, 2x BD-RE DL, 4x DVD-R DL and reads BD at 2x. Also notable is the AD-7191A 20x DVD burner which is also capable of 12x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD±R DL/+RW and 6x DVD-RW. With Sony owning 55% of the joint venture, we're not holding our breath for Optiarc HD DVD drives anytime soon. All the drives are expected to hit in the July timeframe. 
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BOLD MOVES: T...