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31 Days of Blu-ray Ends Tomorrow! You Still Have 2 More Chances To Win Free Blu-rays![teaser] Make sure you've checked out High-Def Digest's Facebook page and entered to win some Blu-rays![/teaser] All through the month of July we've been giving Blu-rays away to our awesome Facebook fans, but tomorrow is the last day of the contest! Check the "31 Days" tab on the High-Def Digest Facebook page for details on each day's title and entry guidelines. If you haven't been checking out our Facebook page, you're missing out on half the fun! Now is the perfect time to join the conversation and get some free movies for your Blu-ray collections in the process. Please check out the High-Def Digest Page on Facebook, click "like," and check out the "31 Days" tab throughout the month of July for details on the latest Blu-rays we'll be giving away. Plus, joining the page is the perfect way to make sure you and your friends are always up to date on the latest and greatest Blu-ray and High-Def news and reviews online. Our Facebook page is still going strong and we'd love you to join in the fun. In addition to our reviews, highlights from The Bonus View, and priceless witticisms, we use the page as one more way of spreading the word about the best high-def releases on the market. If you haven't joined the fun yet, you can check it out here. And enter to win some Blu-rays! Hope to see you there soon!Posted Fri Jul 30, 2010 at 09:35 AM PDT by: -
Panasonic Announces the DMP-BDT100 Blu-ray Player[teaser]The BDT100 offers 3D playback and a half second load time. [/teaser] Panasonic has a lot to say about the newest addition to their Blu-ray player lineup, except the one thing that everyone wants to know – the price. The BDT100 is a 3D capable Blu-ray player and does the sort of things 3D capable Blu-ray players do. It plays back 3D Blu-ray discs and outputs video via HDMI 1.4. It also handles 2D video with ease, upconverting standard DVDs to 1080p. Panasonic gave the BDT100 the full Viera Cast treatment. It's capable of hitting up Netflix, Amazon VOD, Pandora, Twitter and YouTube, and along with a wireless adapter it can do so without the need for an Ethernet cable. It's smaller too, which is always a nice benefit. It's about one and a half inch smaller than the BDT350, though Panasonic makes a point to state that it's 1-/17/32 in its press release. That extra thirty-second of an inch makes a difference after all. Pricing and a release date will be revealed later. Source: PanasonicPosted Fri Jul 30, 2010 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
ThinkFlood Issues a RedEye Recall[teaser]An entire lot of the popular iPhone IR blaster is suffering from structural issues. A refund or exchange is available to owners. [/teaser] You may remember the RedEye Mini as the recently launched device capable of turning your iPhone into an infrared remote. It plugs into the phone via the audio jack, creating a customizable and easy to use touchscreen remote. Unfortunately, an entire batch of the blasters got a recall recently, with ThinkFlood citing structural issues. "We have determined that there is a high likelihood that these units will fail," reads the official recall. "As a result of being improperly secured, circuit boards are coming loose from their housings and being jostled about … resulting in erratic behavior of the unit." If you have already purchased one of these devices, you'll be able to get a full refund or an exchange for a unit from the next batch, which has the problem fixed. ThinkFlood also states that they've switched manufacturers, so this problem won't happen in the future. Source: ThinkFloodPosted Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
Jimmy Buffett Performs On the World's Largest Mobile LED Screen[teaser]Fans enjoyed a somewhat impromptu performance with one impressive view. [/teaser] Even if you don't like Jimmy Buffett, there's something wonderful about watching anything on a 33 foot truck-mounted LED screen. It's one of those things you just don't get to do every day. BSUN Media Systems was the group in charge of setting up the simulcast for Jimmy Buffett's recent charity concert, and they called on the GoVision mobile LED screen known as GoBigger. "We put the screen on a barge - no small feat - and had a tugboat pull the giant truck-mounted screen on the barge up to the dock," explains BSUN owner Brad Sundberg. Normally, setup for a concert starts bright and early in the morning. When it's something of this magnitude crews might start prepping on the day before. This was a bit different though, since the concert was originally called off due to tropical storm Alex. "Around 10 a.m. on June 30 I was informed that Buffett would indeed be performing," says Sundberg. 2,500 people attended the resulting concert, though the screen was visible from up to a quarter of a mile away. Source: CE ProPosted Tue Jul 27, 2010 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
Forum Update Tuesday July 27th[teaser]Tomorrow, Tuesday July 27, the forums will be down for scheduled maintenance for approximately 5 to 8 hours starting at 9 a.m. PST.[/teaser] We are excited to announce that the High-Def Digest forums will be upgrading to vBulletin version 4.0. The forums will have a new look & feel and introduce new options such as social groups, photo albums , the ability to embed videos in your post, and many other features. We hope you'll enjoy the upgrades. We'll be opening a thread for upgrade bug reports in the Feedback forum area, so feel free to use it to report issues with the new software once we are live. Forum Upgrade AnnouncementPosted Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 02:05 PM PDT by: -
Onkyo Debuts the World's First THX Certified 3D Ready HTiB[teaser]It may be a home theater in a box, but the HT-S9300THX is downright impressive. [/teaser] Onkyo seems determined to prove people wrong when they say that a home theater in-a-box can't compete with separates. Their latest HTiB, the HT-S9300THX, is THX certified, handles 3D, and it's nice and upgradeable. It all starts with the receiver, which sports four HDMI 1.4 inputs as well as plenty of component and composite inputs. Anything going into the receiver at less than 1080p will be upscaled courtesy of the Faroudja DCDi Cinema processor. The receiver handles the latest in lossless Blu-ray audio and includes Dolby ProLogic IIz for height channel processing. It's also got Audyssey features included for the best possible setup and optical and coaxial audio ins and outs. Along with the incredibly capable receiver, you'll get one center channel speaker, two speakers for the left and right channels, four satellite speakers and a 12 inch subwoofer. All that will be available at the end of the month for $1,099. Source: eCousticsPosted Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Sony's New Laser Could Make Blu-ray Obsolete[teaser]The powerful blue-violet laser can read discs with twenty times current capacity. [/teaser] Sony's research and development team is always up to something exciting. Whether it's OLED televisions or new processors, they usually have something up their sleeves worth talking about. The latest announcement from Sony certainly reflects that. The company has cooked up a new blue-violet ultrafast pulsed semiconductor laser that's capable of some very impressive things. For starters, it can read data from a disc with a capacity twenty times that of Blu-rays. That's a full Terabyte for those keeping score at home. It's still a new tech, and it's pretty unlikely that we'll be seeing it brought over to the home any time soon. But who knows, in the next five or ten years we could be getting entire seasons of television in 1080p all stored on a single disc. Source: ExaminerPosted Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
HD Advisor: '68 Comeback SpecialEditor's Note: Each Friday, High-Def Digest's own HD Advisor will answer a new round of questions from our readers. If you have home theater questions you need answered, send an email to [email protected]. If you've already sent a question and don't see it answered yet, please be patient as we work our way through them. To browse through previously answered questions, visit the main HD Advisor page. Answers by Joshua Zyber Movie Aspect Ratios Changed for Blu-ray? Q: I have been looking at Blu-ray releases of Clint Eastwood films and have noticed that many are now being released for the second time. What I noticed first was that the aspect ratio on many is changing from 2.40.1 over to 1.77.1 (such as 'The Gauntlet'). The re-release of 'I Am Legend' also is also being treated the same way. Would you happen to know why this is happening and how do I look up what a movie was originally shot in to see what aspect ratio I want to buy? A: I think what we're dealing with here is simple confusion over the way the studio has chosen to print the aspect ratio specs on the disc packaging. Both of the above movies you cite are from Warner Home Video. When I look at the specs table toward the bottom of the back of each disc case, it reads: "1080p High Definition 16x9 2.4:1." This is, admittedly, not the clearest way to convey this information. In this case, the "16x9" refers to the native format of the entire Blu-ray image, inclusive of letterbox bars. Blu-ray is natively a 16:9 format. Movies of different aspect ratios are presented by either letterboxing or pillarboxing the picture within the 16:9 frame. There's really no reason to mention this on the disc packaging. It's just confusing. In the Warner spec bar, the later "2.4:1" refers to the movie's actual aspect ratio after you take the letterboxing into account. Compare this to another recent Warner title such as 'Caddyshack'. The packaging for that one reads: "1080p High Definition 16x9 1.85:1." Also, you should keep in mind that sometimes the studios simply make mistakes on their disc packaging. The Blu-ray case for 'Bullitt' claims that the aspect ratio is 2.4:1, while 'The Getaway' claims to be 1.85:1. In fact, the studio has confused the two titles. The Original Aspect Ratio (OAR) for 'Bullitt' is 1.85:1 and 'The Getaway' is 2.4:1. The HD transfers for both movies are presented correctly on disc. Only the packaging is wrong. Likewise, Fox's disc case for 'Cast Away' claims to be 2.35:1, but the movie's OAR and HD transfer are both 1.85:1. The quickest way to search for a movie's Original Aspect Ratio is to look up that film on IMDb, and click on the "Technical Specs" link in the left-hand column. That's where the aspect ratio information is listed. IMDb is not infallible (and rarely distinguishes the difference between 2.35:1 and 2.4:1), but is generally a good resource and is right far more often than it's wrong. To date, most movie studios have been very good about maintaining each movie's correct Original Aspect Ratio on Blu-ray. Instances where a studio will decide to alter a film's aspect ratio do happen, but are fortunately very rare. If you're concerned about a specific title, be sure to check sites like ours for reviews of the disc to find out whether it's presented in the correct aspect ratio or not. Rental Discs Different from Retail Copies Q: I have noticed recently that some Netflix rental discs, most notably from Fox, tend to be considerably different than the sell-through versions of these titles. I noticed this first when I rented 'Jennifer's Body'. The review on High-Def Digest says that the disc includes copious special features and an Unrated cut of the movie via seamless branching. The Netflix disc does not have an unrated version. It has the icon for extra features on the menu, but you cannot click on that screen. This happened again on another recent Fox title, but I cannot remember what it was. Is everyone having this problem or did I just get a bad disc? If this is the norm, how can it possibly be cheaper to create completely different encodes and discs just for the Netflix market? I found this especially frustrating as I heard the Unrated Cut of 'Jennifer's Body' improves on the theatrical cut. This seems like a very frustrating new trend that needs to be brought to light as I like to rent titles before I buy. A: What you've noticed is a very annoying trend being perpetrated by a few studios – primarily Fox, Warner, and Disney. Lately, these studios have been sending stripped-down copies of their movies to the rental market. (Not just Netflix, but other rental outlets like Blockbuster as well.) The rental discs will typically have no bonus features or alternate Unrated versions that might be available on the standard retail copies. You're right that it can't be cheaper to create completely different discs for the rental market. The issue isn't cost. These studios are trying to differentiate rental and retail copies in order to entice you to buy a movie that you might otherwise settle for just renting. The rental is essentially a trial period for the movie. If you rent the movie and like it enough that you'd want to watch a Director's Cut or listen to an audio commentary… well, now you're just going to have to go buy a copy. You can't get that on a rental anymore. Yes, this is a shameless marketing ploy. With home video sales on the decline in recent years, studios are desperate to maximize revenue in any way they can. This is just the latest idea they've come up with. Homework Assignment: You Be the Advisor The HD Advisor knows many things, but he doesn't know everything. Some questions are best answered with a consensus of opinions from our readers. If you can help to answer the following question, please post your response in our forum thread linked at the end of this article. Your advice and opinions matter too! Demo-Worthy Blu-ray Discs Q: I would like your opinion on Blu-ray demo discs. I work at a computer shop. We usually have a few of our systems pre-built and sitting up front on display. Lately, we have been getting more and more requests for Blu-ray drives. I proposed to the owner that we put a pre-built system with a Blu-ray drive on display and play something that shows of the video quality of high definition. He agreed, and has tasked me with finding a suitable Blu-ray demo disc to play on the system. I don't know where to start. I am not sure if I should be looking for a really great looking Blu-Ray movie, or one of those Blu-ray showcase discs that you see in retail stores played on HDTVs. Any insight you can give me would be greatly appreciated. JZ: There are so many excellent-looking Blu-ray discs available, I hardly know where to start. For the purposes of showing off a high definition system in a retail environment, a safe bet would be to choose something with a lot of pretty scenic travelogue footage that you can play in a loop, like 'Planet Earth' or 'Baraka'. If you decide that you'd rather play a Hollywood movie rather than a documentary, you'll want to avoid anything excessively violent or with "adult" content, regardless of how good it looks on disc. I'd probably go with 'Star Trek'. That seems pretty safe, and looks fabulous on Blu-ray. Any Pixar disc would also be a great choice. For more suggestions, I'll open this up to our readers to discuss in the forum thread linked at the end of this article. Check back soon for another round of answers. Keep those questions coming. Joshua Zyber's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of this site, its owners or employees.Posted Fri Jul 23, 2010 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
Marantz Announces the NR1601 Slimline A/V Receiver[teaser]The NR1501, meanwhile, gets a price drop down to $399. [/teaser] At just four inches high and just over 13 inches deep, the Marantz NR1601 is around half the size of traditional receivers. It's actually the exact same size as Marantz Blu-ray players, which means even with limited space, you'll be able to fit the 1601. The new receiver handles seven channels of audio and does most everything you'd expect a receiver to do. It's got four HDMI 1.4 inputs that ensure 3D compatibility, and front panel USB connectivity so you can snap your iPod right in. The 1601 sports Audyssey Audio Calbration that makes it simple to set up, as well as a backlit learning remote control that makes the unit easy to operate. On the outside, it's got aluminum and glass-reinforced resins for the best in shielding and style. You'll be abld to pick up the Marantz MR1601 for $599 when it launches next month. Source: Marantz (PDF)Posted Fri Jul 23, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
Okoro's Got a New High End HTPC[teaser]The SX100 does media streaming, 3D Blu-ray playback, and records up to four shows at once. [/teaser] Okoro is known for its high end home theater PCs. They're the folks that make $5,000 computers that come bundled with iPads to handle the controls after all. Their newly updated SX100 comes in at a much more reasonable $1,695, but retains many of the features of the bigger systems. Okoro's SX100 is designed to take the place of your Blu-ray player, media streamer and even your DVR. It's a capable system that does a lot more than just look pretty. And it does look pretty. Combined with a CableCARD from your provider, the SX100 can record up to four programs at once. Thanks to 2TB of onboard storage, you can nab as much as 219 hours of HD programming before you have to start deleting. It handles Blu-rays with ease, giving you 7.1 channel surround sound and decoding both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. It's even 3D ready, in case you want to make the leap. Of course, it does all the other things you'd expect and HTPC to do. Since it's a standard PC, you'll have access to all the video the web has to offer and the ability to play back any file type you can download a codec for. eCousticsPosted Fri Jul 23, 2010 at 09:00 AM PDT by:
