Filed under: Laptops
Those looking to ditch their desktop without giving up a scrap of hard drive space now have another over-stuffed laptop to consider, with Targa introducing a newly upgraded version of its already high-end Raptor-60 laptop. Near the top of the laptop's selling points is its three SATA hard drives, which can be configured in your choice of JBOD, or RAID 0, 1 or 5 configurations, giving you a total of 750GB of hard drive space. The laptop's no slouch when it comes to the rest of its specs either, packing a 17-inch widescreen display, Intel's 965 chipset, your choice of Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme processors, up to 2GB of RAM, dual Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 graphics cards, and an optional Blu-ray drive, among other features. Of course, all that doesn't exactly come cheap, with the various upgrades easily pushing the laptop towards the $5,000 mark, although you can cut that in half by opting for the lowest-end options across the board. 
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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
If you're inclined to go big and multi-room with audio and video, Sony has unveiled some distribution products for you at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, with two sets of high-definition video distribution products -- one for new construction, and one using existing Cat5 cabling. The NHS-3040 rack system is for new homes, and combines various Sony products for a whole-house distribution network: a home theater, XM Radio tuner, Blu-ray player, 400-disc DVD changer, and 80GB music storage and management server, along with support for 13 different audio/video zones. The NHS-2040 model drops you down to six zones, while the NHS-1040 removes the changer as well. For existing wiring, Sony offers up the CAV-CVS12ES HD switching system, which uses a single Cat5e per zone to route your video into up to 12 zones, and supports eight 1080p-capable component inputs. The system supports IR and RS-232 control, and pairs up with Sony's CAV-M1000 line of...

Filed under: HDTV, Storage
Pulling out the 15k RPM card this late in the game would usually be frowned upon, but in the case of NHK, its latest development to spin at 15,000 revolutions per minute has nothing to do with a hard disk drive. Researchers at Nippon Hoso Kyokai are working with engineers at the Science and Technical Research Laboratories (STRL) to create an "optical disc recording system based on consumer Blu-ray disc technology that can spin as fast as 15,000 RPM" without worry of a disc experiencing a complete meltdown and shattering within the drive. The first iteration was reportedly demonstrated just last week, and could purportedly be used to record 250Mbps HDTV streams; furthermore, researchers have seemingly dodged the disintegration issue by "making a flexible disc that is just 0.1-millimeters thick." The disc was co-developed with Ricoh and is "essentially the recording layer from a Blu-ray Disc without the 1.1-millimeter plastic substrate that is used to give ...

We just received word that the Sony BDP-S1 firmware trouble that was keeping you from enjoying your Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-ray discs (I can't bring myself to say "BDs" yet—sounds like underwear) has been fixed. In fact, it does quite a lot. If you or someone you love is suffering from Pirates BD Java issues or just feels like maximizing the potential of the player, consult Sony's support page. And in case you didn't know, a DVD burner is required for the DIY update. – Wilson Rothman
BDP-S1 Firmware Update [Sony]

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Peripherals

If you're thinking of picking up one Sony's new AVCHD high-definition camcorders then you'll want to give the VRD-MC5 accessory a peep. The burner features PC-less, one-touch HD-quality dubbing when connected to over USB to your new HDR-SR5, HDR-SR7, HDR-SR8, and HDR-CX7 Handycam. The unit packs a 2.5-inch LCD, Firewire and S-Video inputs, and plenty of memory slots including SDHC/SD, xD, and compact flash in addition to Sony's proprietary formats. It'll even write to those wee 8cm DVDs just like Sony's DVD camcorders. Sorry, no Blu-ray Discs here, and it won't run from battery. Available August 10th for an estimated ¥30,000 or about $247.

[Via Impress] 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Sharp -- the company behind the world's largest LCD panel -- just introduced the world's smallest blue laser for next current generation optical players. Right, as in Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats -- your choice OEMs. Measuring just 3.3-mm in diameter, the GH04020A4G semiconductor will be available in ¥12,000 ($99) sample quantities starting June 13th before ramping up for mass production later in July. The device will suck 10mW from your laptop's battery while offering at least 10,000 hours of operation before giving up the ghost.

[Via Impress] 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs
Exceptional Innovation's endeavor into the media center PC realm was apparently about more than just fitting in, as the Life|ware Life|media machines pack some seriously potent hardware with matching pricetags to go along. The high-end machines will be packing hardware such an Intel's 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo or 2.4GHz quad-core CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, 4.5TB of hard drive space in a RAID 5 array, CableCARD, NTSC / ATSC tuner options, forthcoming HD DVD and Blu-ray drive choices, optical audio out with Dolby Master Studio decoding, a 28-in-1 multicard reader, NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTS, and a host of ports including HDMI, DVI, S-Video, composite, serial, USB 2.0, FireWire, IR controller, and 12V trigger relays and contact closure devices "for screens, shades, contacts, relays, etc." Of course, all of the units (LMS-300, 400, 500, 600, and 700) will run Windows Vista, and while these Life|media servers start at around $4,500, there's honestly no telling what the ...

Filed under: Home Entertainment
A Finnish court in Helsinki has made a ruling that confirms what we've all known for a long time now; that CSS is completely ineffective as a copyright protection method for DVDs. Legally this adds an air of sanity to the previous European Ruling that banned the "the circumvention of 'effective technological measures.'" This early court decision (it could be / probably will be appealed) places CSS outside of this definition, removing the illegal aspect of circumventing CSS in the EU. If the decision of the entry-level court stands, then there are implications for other copyright protection methods, which will no longer be considered effective protection methods if software which undermines it becomes widespread -- certainly the case with CSS, and potentially the case with HD-DVD and Blu-ray. As the case is currently developing, we'd suggest you keep the champagne energy drinks on ice for now: not that the legal status of backing up your DVDs was an e...

Sony's BDP-S1 (see the see the review here) has just got a two hundred dollar price drop from $999 to $799. While still not the cheapest Blu-ray—Samsung's BD-P1000 is $439 and the PS3 is $499 for the lower version—it does reflect on the lower Blue Laser diodes we reported on before.
If you're curious as to whether the firmware problems that affect this player have been fixed? Yeah, they have—with a firmware update. – Jason Chen
Product Page [Amazon]

If you've just purchased the first two Pirates movies on Blu-ray in order to get psyched up for the third one, you probably came up with a whole lot less Johnny Depp and a whole lot more firmware problems than you expected. Apparently at least two players—Samsung's BD-P1200 and Sony's BDP-S1—have difficulty playing back the first two movies. And by difficulty, we mean they throw up their hands and give up like a fat man at the starting line of a 10K.
Samsung's already released a firmware update here, which fixes the problem. You can either burn the firmware update onto CD or download it via the BD-P1200's LAN connection. Which brings us to another point. Why isn't the Ethernet in the Blu-ray spec?
The Sony BDP-S1 is one of the few players that don't have a mandatory Ethernet port. Unlike HD DVD, which makes internet connectivity mandatory, Blu-ray doesn't tells player makers to go nuts and put it in if they want. That means disc manufacturers can't count on the ...