VUDU to start offering HD movies to buy, not just rent

Vudu has been streaming for over a year now, and it's a pretty nice service (just ask our own Gadget Gary Del'Abate). Get the Vudu box (now available in rack-mountable flavors for home theater buffs with a big gear closet), hook it up, and watch your favorite movies for a price. You can simply rent and stream the movies, or buy and download them to the Vudu's 250GB-to-1TB hard drive. Unfortunately, until now you could only buy and download standard definition movies. HD movies were only available to rent, and once the rental period was over, they fluttered back off into cyberspace. That's finally starting to change.

CES 2009: Toshiba Regza line-up reboot

With no mention whatsoever of the whole HD-DVD fiasco which dominated last year’s press conference, Toshiba pressed on with several announcements of interest.

As technology improves and better features continue to find their way ported down to lower priced models, manufacturers need to continue developing bleeding-edge technology to convince consumers to step up and part with more of their dollars for the higher-end sets. Toshiba is incorporating some unique features to its highest-end, Regza, models to do just that. Not surprisingly, the most exciting news of Toshiba’s event related to Regza announcements. 

Generally, manufacturers add just a few new features to a set, but Toshiba is essentially rebooting the entire Regza line-up with tons of new features and a full cosmetic redesign. Among the cool step up features, all Regza models will feature Instaport for faster HDMI switching, which should eliminate the often lengthy HDCP handshake that occurs when switching sources.

Additionally, all Regza sets will feature a new cosmetic design that Toshiba calls “Deep Lagoon” that creates a sense of depth to the frame, based on the concept of a beach disappearing into clear, ocean waters.

The ZV and SV series will feature ClearScan 240, which uses 120-Hertz scanning along with Toshiba’s new Backlight Scanning technologity to create smoother, less blurred moving images.

The ZV and SV series are also the first TVs to offer Dolby Volume, which addresses one of the biggest consumer complaints by reducing the wild volume swings and providing more consistent volume levels between channels.

The flagship, SV series (shown in the opening image) will feature FocaLight LED backlighting with local dimming to produce the blackest blacks without sacrificing peak whites.

While pricing wasn’t available, here is the entire Regza line-up with release dates:

 

REGZA XV645 Series
40XV645U (May 2009)
46XV645U (May 2009)
52XV645U (May 2009)
REGZA ZV650 Series
42ZV650U (April 2009)
47ZV650U (April 2009)
52ZV650U (April 2009)
REGZA SV670 Series
46SV670U (May 2009)
55SV670U (May 2009)

--John Sciacca

Just what you don't need...VCR in 1080P!!!

  This world has enough problems without a DVD/VCR combo that upscales to 1080P. Have you actually watched a VHS tape lately on your new HDTV? As if those family videos of uncle Bob in a Speedo weren't horrifying enough, now we're going to upconvert those 220 interlaced lines to 2 million pixels? Stop...the...madness!

At least Panasonic had the decency honesty to put this little pearl of wisdom on the packaging:

  

"*7 Video sources converted to 1920 x 1080 resolution, while of high quality, will exhibit somewhat lower subjective image resolution than true native 1080p full-HD sources. See dealer for details."

 Repeat after me: Upscaling is not the same as true HD.--John Sciacca

Instant Blu-ray library under $235

  Just days ago I bitched about the high price of Blu-ray discs. (For the record, I broke down and bought Wall-E Blu-ray for $25 on line.)

Well, it seems like the powers that be heard me. First was Leslie's earlier post about super Blu deals at Wal-Mart and now I ran into this stack of discount Blu-ray titles at Costco. Eighteen films for $12.99 each. I'm not saying that each of these is a certifiable classic, but there's some decent films in the bunch. Here's the title run down: Body Heat, Bullitt, Battle of the Bulge, The Omega Man, The Gauntlet, Road Warrior, Every Which Way But Loose, The Aviator, The Fugitive, Swordfish, A Clockwork Orange, Alexander Revisited, Enter the Dragon, March of the Penguins, The Shining, Under Siege 2, and The Eraser.

Couple these titles with a $199 Blu-ray player and you've got no excuse to upgrade to 1080p!--John Sciacca

Mitsubishi announces prices for its laser-based HDTV

Back in Spring, John Sciacca discussed Mitsubishi's new LaserVue HDTVs. Mitsubishi officially showed off its new screens a few months ago, but while it was happy to show off the TV's technical attributes, it was reticent to offer any specific pricing information. Finally, at CEDIA 2008, Mitsubishi has finally revealed the number to match the funky screen.

In case you've forgotten, the LaserVue is a laser-based HDTV. Instead of using LCDs or plasma, it uses an array of red, green, and blue lasers to project its image onto the screen. According to Mitsubishi, it delivers a color gamut over 200% NTSC standard, and consumes less than 200 watts (significantly less than LCD and plasma screens). The company even claims that it can run indefinitely, without the light source "burning out" or otherwise dimming (a problem faced by all LCD and plasma screens and projectors). Impressive claims, but I'll have to see some test results myself before I can believe it.

The 65" Mitsubishi LaserVue will retail for $6,999, putting it on equal ground with most 60-inch-or-larger flat panels, and significantly cheaper than upcoming high-end models like the $10,000 65" Pioneer Kuro. If Mitsubishi's claims about color hold up, we could be looking at a real contender in the big-screen market. The 65" LaserVie starts shipping at the end of September to Mitsubishi's Select Diamond retailers, and will see a wider release around the end of October. Mitsubishi has plans for a 73" LaserVue, but it hasn't announced pricing or a release date yet.

CEDIA: LCD a plenty at Sharp

Sharp will be celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2012, and part of their core philosophies for the big event is to create energy saving and energy creating products and “achieve ubiquity for LCDs by integrating Sharp LCD technology into familiar products to offer new possibilities.”

For those who can’t wait four more years, Sharp had a slew of new sets and two new Blu-ray players on display for you to enjoy now.

Kudos to KURO

If black is the new black, then Pioneer is just about the hippest manufacturer in town. While their previous models of KURO plasmas were the talk of the town, the newest models, the Elite PDP-5020FD and PDP-6020FD can produce even blacker blacks, the ultimate test for any plasma display. Pioneer has said that these new Elite screens produce blacks that are five times deeper than previous 2007 models. Smarter than the average TV, the KURO has a calibration system called Optimum Mode that adjusts both audio and video settings based on the video and ambient lighting to optimize performance of movies, sports and even news, with dialogue enhanced and background sounds downplayed. Need more details?

3rd-Gen HD DVD Players & Firmware Updates

Yesterday at the CEDIA Expo in Denver, Toshiba announced three "third-generation" HD DVD players: the HD-A3 (available October at a suggested retail price of $300), HD-A30 (shown, September, $400), and HD-A35 (October, $500). Aside from its lower price and sleeker profile, the HD-A3 breaks little new ground and shares the 1080i max output resolution of its predecessor, the HD-A2. The other two models, however, not only support full 1080p output but can deliver it at the native film frame rate of 24 fps as well as at the standard 60-fps video rate. This makes it easy for compatible HDTVs to display the video at a frame rate that is an integral multiple of the original, such as 72 fps, eliminating the stutter-step 2:3 cadence that is an inevitable byproduct of standard 24-to-60-fps conversion. Another new feature of the high-end models is HDMI-CEC, or CE-Link, which enables bidirectional transmission of control signals between the player and attached devices (such as TVs) that also support HDMI-CEC.