Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Vudu seems to be doing a fairly decent job of keeping their name out in the news lately, it was not that long ago that they announced their ”99 for 99” and we cannot forget the recent move into additional Best Buy retail locations. Now they have come back promising a total of 1,000 HD quality movies to choose from, as well as a lifetime content warranty.

Of course they were not able to give a specific availability date for these new titles, stating that “in a very short time we’ll have 1,000 HD titles.” They also seemingly proudly pointed out that they will have “more than Blu-ray” and that they also “have some huge deals.” I guess it pays to be proud of what you are offering, however it almost seems like the proud parent bragging about how good their son or daughter is.

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DISH Network will be first to bring you* 1080p resolution HD content through broadcast means.  Say goodbye to the 720 garbage you’ve been forced to watch and bask in the 1080p you should have had all along.  Available tomorrow is “I am Legend” video on demand will be in full 1080p.

The asterisk after “you” above means you may not actually be “you”.  According to Electronista:

The upgrade in resolution isn’t available for all subscribers but will be a no-charge addition for anyone who owns an HD DVR capable of playing MPEG-4 video. A software upgrade will be pushed out at the same time as the 1080p service that enables playing the video format, though no mention is made of supporting the HD resolution for recording regular TV shows.

No word on how smooth the image will be or if it’s compression means we’ll be seeing chopped action.  Either way, it is a step in the right direction.

Read [Electronista]

Acer has recently begun shipping their Gemstone 8920G, and for lack of a better guess, I can only assume the “G” after 8920 stands for gigantic.

The Gemstone 8920G is sporting an 18.2-inch display, and weighs in at about nine pounds. Otherwise it does offer a solid set of specs which include the previously mentioned 18.2-inch display that offers a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

The 8920G is powered by a 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, has 4GB of RAM and also features two internal hard drives which total out at 640GB of storage, a 512MB nVidia 9650M GS card for graphics, Wireless-N Wi-Fi, an HDMI out as well as a DVD writer with Blu-ray reading capability.

While technically a laptop, the 8920G would certainly fall into the desktop replacement category, but it should make a nice portable semi-portable HD movie player. Of course all these high-end specs will not come cheap, expect to pay nearly $3,000 for one of your own.

Via [Trusted Reviews]

Vudu first began showing up in Best Buy locations back in late-March and at the time it was just 24 locations, all of which were located in California. The limited availability was thought to be a testing period to make sure the devices would be able to sell as expected.

Well, jump forward a little over a month and it looks like it must have been successful because Vudu and Best Buy have just announced a little more widespread availability, however it is still not nationwide.

They have remained in California, but also expanded to Arizona and Illinois, all in all it looks like they are now available in almost 70 Best Buy locations. In addition to the move into Best Buy locations in other states, Vudu has also recently added 35 new movies to own and 30 new movies to rent.

Via [CrunchGear]

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/07/02/vudu-continues-to-infiltrate-best-buy/

Vudu, while maybe not attracting quite as much attention as originally hoped, are proving they are still alive in the small but welcomed movie set-top-box market. The Vudu box was originally launched back in the Fall of 2007, but sales may have been slow because of the limited availability, up till now it could only be found directly with Vudu or with Amazon.com.

However customers can now purchase the Vudu box in one of 24 Best Buy outlets in California, which should help overall sales and awareness of the product. While the management from Vudu would not comment on the strategy behind the limited availability of Best Buy locations, its safe to assume that they are most likely looking to see just how well they will sell. 

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Universal Studios is preparing for its entry to the Blu-ray market with a plan to release 40 movies during the second half of 2008. The first Blu-ray titles from Universal will be available on July 22 and include “The Mummy,” “The Mummy Returns” and “Scorpion King.” After which they plan to follow up with “The Incredible Hulk,” “Wanted,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”; “Mamma Mia” and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” during the summer.

Along with the current and new releases, Universal will also release some of their back catalog on Blu-ray, which will include such titles as “American Gangster,” “Knocked Up,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Miami Vice,” “End of Days,” “U571” and “Land of the Dead.” Prior to the demise, Universal had been the biggest backer of the HD DVD format, they will of course continue to release titles on standard DVD as well.

Read [Reuters]

Canon has announced the XL H1S and XL H1A shoulder mount camcorders designed for video professionals and documentary film makers. Boasting of a 20x HD video lens, both camcorders feature manual focus, zoom and iris adjustment rings.

The XL H1S and XL H1A camcorders also feature various controls for customizing images, displays and operations to match the users individual needs. The camcorders use HDV tapes for recording and can deliver HD image quality. Additionally, both camcorders have interchangeable lens systems, the camcorders also connects robustly to external hardware using a durable six-pin IEEE 1394 terminal. Bearing the XL branding, the H1S and H1A come equipped with Canon’s XL lens mount that allows multiple lens mounting. For instance, users can mount Canon’s optional 6x wide-angle lens, EF photographic lenses and many more.

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A while back, we showed you the Asus M70, a laptop with the ability to store up to 1 terabyte of data. Well, Asus has finally launched the M70 multimedia notebook.

The notebook features a 17-inch LCD display, which supports up to 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) resolution. Compounding this a ATI HD video card, which helps you view HD movies via the Blu-ray drive. Dolby Home Theater-powered audio is heard through the built-in Altec Lansing Speakers. When the touchpad is not being used as a default touchpad, it becomes a media button dock and has controls for volume, play, pause, stop, forward, back and more. A deft tap of your finger returns you to the normal touchpad functions of the special rectangular square.

The M70 also has two clever security technologies. First is the regular fingerprint scanner, which does just that; scans your fingerprints. However, the more innovative of the two is software that scans the face of the user, with the built in 1.3 megapixel webcam, to affirm identity. Nifty.

Via [PC Launches]

Toshiba has unveiled two new powerful gaming laptops, the Satellite X205-SLi5 and the X205-SLi6. Both laptops are powered by Intel’s 45nm processors and offer NVIDIA SLi technology that is sure to delight hardcore gamers.

Both models of the X205-SLi laptops feature HDMI ports to allow gamers to play games on their 1080i high-definition HDTV display. For added excitement, Toshiba has thrown in an S/P DIF output port that gives 5.1 stereo surround sound when combined with Dolby Sound Room technology. The two Toshiba laptops come with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 3GB RAM, 320GB-400GB hard drives that run at 7200 RPM, DVD multi-drives, wireless gaming features with Bluetooth V.20+EDR technology and a 1.3-megapixel webcam.

The X205-SLi5 and X205-SLi6 will sell for around $1,999 and $2,499 respectively. Ready to shell out that amount of money for your gaming pleasure?

Read [Toshiba Direct]

Sony may have scored a winner once again in the handycam department with their latest model – the HDR-TG3E.  The Sony HDR-TG3E has several features that are setting a record in the digital handycam history. For one, the HDR-TG3E is the world’s lightest and smallest full HD camcorder in the 1920x1080 handycam series. It also boasts of being the first handycam to utilize pure titanium for its body with scratch-resistant premium hard coating.

The HDR-TG3E is equipped with ClearVid CMOS sensor with Exmor technology and BIONZ image processor to produce high-definition picture quality. It also utilizes face detection technology which automatically adjusts focus, exposure, color balance and skin tone. For recording sound, the HDR-TG3E is packed with a built-in zoom microphone with Dolby Digital sound. And lastly, the HDR-TG3E synchronizes well with BRAVIA to control playback functions using TV remote.

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