Panasonic launched the world’s first portable Blu-Ray player enables HD video viewing on the go, the Panasonic DMP-B15. At a time when more consumers are taking to HD – largely because of falling prices of Blu-Ray players and the disappearance of the competing Toshiba HD format – this somewhat expensive portable Blu-Ray player could well be the first in a trend that is similar to the current proliferation of portable DVD players. The latter were also very expensive (costing more than $2,000) when they were first launched. Now, they can be purchased for $100 plus. The B15 can be connected to a HDTV via HDMI cable and comes equipped with an SD card slot (for viewing pictures, camcorder movies in AVCHD and MPEG2 format and downloaded DivX content) and a LAN port. With the Viera Cast function, users can access YouTube, Picasa and other websites from the Viera Cast screen. The B15 is also backward-compatible and plays CDs and DVDs.
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Popularity: 13% [?]

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Samsung has introduced the world’s first wall-mountable Blu-ray player, the Samsung BD-P4600. The BD-P4600 features BD Live (Profile 2.0) and Bonus View (Profile 1.1) support, Full HD 1080p Blu-ray playback with DVD upscaling, and total HD soundtrack support. Standard CD playback, with support for JPEG photos and DivX videos, ensures even more entertainment value for the family. A proud winner of the highly prestigious 2009 CES Best of Innovations Award, the Samsung BD-P4600 Blu-ray player adopts the crystal design made popular by Samsung LCD TVs. It is stylish and décor-friendly at just 1.5 inches thin with a piano black design infused with ruby highlights, and finished with clear, prism-like edging. Even when not wall mounted, an integrated stand enables the BD-P4600 to be placed on a table at a 25 degree angle to up its aesthetic ante.
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Popularity: 18% [?]

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Sony announced its plans to release new firmware for its PlayStation 3 video game console, PS3 Firmware 2.20. PlayStation 3 users would be expecting a firmware update on their consoles to enhance the capabilities of its existing Blu-ray player. The updated firmware enables Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, or BD-Live, to be supported on the PS3. BD-Live enables Blu-ray Disc makers to incorporate additional interactive features including downloadable video content, ringtones, games and more.
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Popularity: 23% [?]

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Sony has unveiled four home theater systems featuring the new S-AIR? technology, Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX576WF, Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX277WC, Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX279W, and Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX275 systems. The S-AIR technology delivers a practical wireless multi-room solution without complicated set-up requirements, such as IP addresses, WEP keys and pin codes. Wireless audio can be transmitted from the main system in the living room to multiple rooms throughout the home — up to 164 feet — simply by connecting a separate S-AIR Air Station receiver/speaker into a power outlet. S-AIR technology also delivers audio wirelessly to rear surround speakers without interfering with other household devices.

The DAV-HDX576WF model includes one S-AIR Air Station receiver/speaker (AIR-SA10) and a wireless rear speaker kit (WAHT-SA10). The theater system offers height adjustable floor standing speakers designed to match the style and height of BRAVIA televisions. The DAV-HDX277WC model includes one S-AIR Air Station receiver/speaker (AIR-SA10) with an option to add a rear wireless speaker kit (WAHT-SA10, sold separately), while the DAV-HDX279W model includes the rear wireless speaker kit (WAHT-SA10) with an option to add S-AIR Air Station receiver/speakers for multi-room audio. And the DAV-HDX275 system is equipped with S-AIR-Ready technology with an option to add a rear wireless speaker kit (WHAT-SA10) and an S-AIR transmitter (EZW-T100) with S-AIR Air Stations (AIR-SA10).
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Popularity: 24% [?]

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The war of High Definition format between Blu-ray and HD DVD has come to the end. Toshiba just announced that they will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video. “We concluded that a swift decision would be best,” Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company’s Tokyo offices. The move would make Blu-ray ? backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and five major Hollywood movie studios ? the winner in the battle over high-definition DVD formatting that began several years ago. Nishida said last month’s decision by Warner Bros. Entertainment to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format made the move inevitable. Warner joined Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox in that move.

“That had tremendous impact,” he said. “If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win.”

Both HD DVD and Blu-ray deliver crisp, clear high-definition pictures and sound, which are more detailed and vivid than existing video technology. They are incompatible with each other, and neither plays on older DVD players. But both formats play on high-definition TVs. HD DVD was touted as being cheaper because it was more similar to previous video technology, while Blu-ray boasted bigger recording capacity. Nishida said his company had confidence in HD DVD as a technology and tried to assure the estimated 1 million people, including some 600,000 people in North America, who already bought HD DVD machines by promising that Toshiba will continue to provide product support for the technology.
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Popularity: 56% [?]

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Gateway has released two new high-end desktop PCs under GM series with decent configuration, the Gateway GM5664 and Gateway GM5662. The GM5662 is a bit low end, while in GM5664, the built-in Blu-ray + HD DVD dual format hybrid drive, give you enjoy titles from both camps. Besides that, the GM5662 comes with 500GB HDD storage, while the GM5664 comes with 1TB HDD storage. The rest of system specs:

• AMD Phenom 9600 Processor (AMD Live!) (2.30GHz, 2MB L3 cache, 3600MHz system bus)
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
• 3GB Memory
• 1000GB 7200rpm hard drive (GM5664), 500GB 7200rpm hard drive (GM5662)
• Hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD player and SuperMulti DVD-RW DL drive
• ATI Radeon HD 2400XT 256MB discrete video memory with Dual-DVI, S-Video and HDMI supported
• Gateway 15-in-1 media card reader with copy button and IR receiver
• Gateway USB 2.0 speakers
• Analog/digital TV tuner

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Popularity: 64% [?]

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DXG USA has unveiled the new DXG-565V 5 Megapixel all-in-one combo digital camcorder/camera/MP3 player/voice recorder/webcam. It features a 2.4-inch TFT LCD screen and 32MB of built-in storage. The DXG-565V has a new sleek camcorder-shaped design and comes in 5 new trendy colors: Metallic Pink, Ruby Red, Deep-Sea Blue, Gun Metal, and Midnight Black to fit everyone?s style, and priced at only $99. It has minimal buttons for increased ease-of-use, while at the same time boasting features normally found in more expensive 5 Megapixel camcorders/cameras, such as a built-in flash in 3 modes, Macro Mode, White Balance, and EV Compensation features. In addition to its fashionable good looks, the DXG-565V also records DVD-quality MPEG-4 video at 720 x 480 D1 resolution with sound and captures still images of up to 12 Megapixels.

The DXG-565V is perfect to take on the road for recording high-quality video with sound or for snapping photos to send to friends or to post on your website or favorite social sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also entertain your friends at parties by connecting the DXG-565V to your TV to view your own holiday slideshows on a large screen.
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Popularity: 20% [?]

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Panasonic has unveiled its latest Home Theater system, the Panasonic SC-PTX5EG-K. It comes with 2.1 system (2 speakers and a subwoofer), but the cool thing is it can give the 5.1 system sound effect. The main features include 1080p upscale, Viera Link (all your Panasonic devices at hand with only 1 remote), DVD player, MP3 support and more (DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM/-RW/-R/-R (DL), +R/ -R (DL)/ +RW, SVCD,Video CD, CD, CD-R/RW, HighMAT (Level 2), WMA, MP3, JPEG, MPEG4, DivX® Télévision Signal System PAL625/50, PAL525/60, NTSC. The SC-PTX7EG-K can also be equipped with an 80GB HDD.
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Popularity: 10% [?]

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