Blu-ray, DVD, HDTV, Video info and more at WesleyTech.com

Best Buy kicking HD DVD to curb

Although the nation’s leading electronics retailer claimed they would hold onto HD DVD for existing customers, some Best Buy stores are dropping HD DVD from their shelves.

This development isn’t in every store, but Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas confirmed that some stores are choosing to abandon the failed format. The chain has no official plans concerning HD DVD, so this decision is made on a store level.

“Right now they’re just being discounted, but some stores are pulling them off shelves, depending on their inventory,” the spokesman said to Home Media Magazine. Lucas went on to say Best Buy was “undecided” concerning unsold stock.

Blu-ray on a budget

With so much talk about Blu-ray being the “expensive format” and that the fallacious reports about rising Blu-ray prices, I thought it would be a good time to bring some good news: Best Buy is dropping the price of many major Blu-ray titles to $19.99. This brings them in line with Amazon, and only about $5 more than a comparable standard-DVD purchase.

If you haven’t gotten into Blu-ray, it’s about time you get with the program. You need to start with a high-def set, if you don’t already have one. Panasonic’s Viera series TH-50PZ85U 50″ 1080p plasma can be had for just over $2,000. This is their newest, top-of-the-line panel big enough for even moderately large rooms. Last year’s model can be had for around $1,800. If you’re room is smaller, the 42″ TH-42PZ85U panel is a hair above $1,300. This is pretty incredible. I bought my entry-level Sony 720p rear-projection 50″ 2 years ago at cost for $1200, it’s amazing how fast prices have come down on flat panels.

While it may be wise to wait a couple months for a BD2.0 player (like the forthcoming Sony BDP-S350 at $399), for the impatient you can pick up Samsung’s BDP-1400 player on Amazon for just over $230. This player has the HQV Realta upconverting processor for standard-DVDs, making it a bargain. Of course the Sony Playstation 3 is still just $399, and is already BD-Live ready.

If you need a receiver with HDMI inputs to handle your advanced audio codecs, for as low as $270 you can pick up the Sony STR-DG810. Coming soon is the Sony STR-DG720 and STR-DG820 at $299 and $399 respectively, both featuring decoders for Dolby TrueHD. These Sony receivers will do the trick for a low, low price, but I would rather you spend just a little more and pick up the Onkyo TX-SR605 or TX-SR705 receivers at Amazon for $290 an $550 respectively. These have better amps and all the same features.

All that’s left is speakers. I recommend you spend more on your speakers than any other piece of gear (including your TV). These are the most important parts in your whole home theater. I find the best bang-for-the-buck can be found in Monitor Audio, Paradigm, Definitive Technologies and Revel’s Concerta line. Finding a good subwoofer is also important. You can expect to spend at least $300 on a decent sub.

I hope this aims you in the right direction to your dream home theater system. If you have technical questions, please let me know and I will answer.

Playstation 3 receives BD-Live update

Sony has just released version 2.20 for the Playstation 3, adding BD-Live support. BD-Live is the name used for BD2.0 online features. So far only two movies (War and Saw IV, both from Lionsgate) have BD-Live features, but more are coming (as soon as 8th April).

Also included in the update is BD-R 1.2 readability which allows for low-to-high (LTH) discs to play. These discs may use an organic dye bringing the cost of the disc down. So far LTH is only supported for BD-R, not in pre-pressed BD-ROM.

Another upgrade which is great to see is Mosquito Noise Reduction for DVDs. This reduces the artifacts seen on the edges of images. This feature is also available to home BD-R movies, but not to commercial BD-ROM discs.

The final feature I want to highlight is resume play. Now you can resume a film from where you last stopped it even if you turn the PS3 off. This works with DVD and Blu-ray, but doesn’t work with BD-Java enabled discs.

For instruction on how to find the new features int he menu, visit the official site.

Patent suit filed against Sony over Blu-ray

Is there a product made by Sony that hasn’t incurred a lawsuit? This latest lawsuit is levied towards Sony and about 30 more companies regarding possible patent infringements by Blu-ray and other products.

Gertrude Neumark Rothschild filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission on 20th February (the day after Toshiba announced they were dumping HD DVD (“It’s not you, it’s me”) coincidentally) concerning short-wavelength light-emitting diodes like those used in Blu-ray players, handheld devices and even traffic lights.

I’m not sure if this is a frivolous suit or not. The patent was filed in the late 1980s but specifically notes “green laser” while Blu-ray is violet-blue. Neumark Rothschild is a professor emeritus at Columbia University, and she is not seeking compensation but rather the suspension of such devices from being imported into the United States. The timing is suspect, however.

Other parties named in the complaint include Motorola, Nokia, LG Electronics, and Matsushita Electric (parent of Panasonic).

Best Buy shows pity on HD DVD owners

In what may be the most merciful act of the “format war,” Best Buy will be mailing $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD DVD player or Xbox360 attachment before 23rd February. No war tribunal to close this war, the enemy was defeated and now it’s time to care for the injured.

These gift cards are good for purchases in Best Buy stores and at BestBuy.com. You don’t have to turn in your player either, it’s simply an olive branch to consumer who may feel burned with their purchase. They will mail out cards on 1st May to customers who Best Buy can identify. These people would have purchased a player online, or with a Best Buy Reward Zone card or if they purchased a Performance Service Plan along with the player. If this doesn’t apply to you, or if you want to make sure you receive this card, call 1-888-BEST-BUY and provide proof of purchase by either credit card or with receipt.

Additionally, Best Buy will open an Online Trade-In Center on 21st March where HD DVD owners can trade in their players and media for Best Buy gift cards. This program is open to any HD DVD owners regardless of where they purchased their equipment/media. “Visitors to the site will receive instant estimates of the value of their HD DVD players and movies,” says the Best Buy press release. “Those who agree with the estimate can then ship their goods to the Trade-In Center free of charge by downloading a prepaid shipping label and will receive an additional gift card as payment for their trade-in.”

These gift cards don’t have to be used for Blu-ray players or media, it’s a normal gift card. (In California it is state law that gift cards must be cashed out upon request of the customer, so you don’t have to buy anything.) Best Buy is expecting to spend $10-million on this program.

This is a great program to regain the trust of consumers. In today’s economy it must really take a commitment to the consumer to spend this much just to make them happy.

Also see: Forbes

Toshiba’s HD DVD exit costs $1-billion

Even though Toshiba’s stock has been on the rise after they left HD DVD in the dust, they’re now predicting a loss of $666-million for FY2007.

Toshiba ditched their HD DVD business in February after Warner Bros. announced their plans to leave HD DVD and focus on Blu-ray Disc exclusively, leading to an industry-wide following including Netflix, Wal-Mart and Best Buy amongst others. With certain defeat in sight, Toshiba decided to cut their losses and focus on their existing DVD business as well as expanding their flash memory division.

They can use some extra development in flash memory as Toshiba is also expecting profits to be lower due to the falling prices. Together – with the losses of HD DVD and flash memory – Toshiba is facing $1-billion losses this year.

Hopefully they will be able to get past this quickly.

NPD: Interest in Blu-ray on the rise

Interest in buying high-def media increased last month after Toshiba’s HD DVD format lost the “format war.” This isn’t too surprising, but I did expect it to grow a bit more than it did.

NPD is reporting that DVD consumers who are likely to buy high-def optical media increased to 10.8% for week ending 20th February. Previous weeks were 9.4% for 13th February and 8.9% for the week of 6th February. Over the Christmas season these numbers were between 5% to 6.8%.


I assumed this number would have been higher now that there is a clear victor in high-def media. I’ve also seen a huge number of clients requesting Blu-ray players for their homes (which sucks because there is very limited availability of players right now).

The senior analyst of NPD, Russ Crupnick, notes that these numbers are for intent only – not actual sales. “The number is fairly conservative,” he said. “You can take this as an overall trend that more people are aware and inclined toward the format.”

Source: Home Media Magazine