Cool Tech Reviews

Sony’s Blu-ray won the high definition DVD format fight when Toshiba threw in the towel today on its HD DVD format:

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
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“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation.
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Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

Longtime Toshiba ally Universal Studios also announced that they would become exclusively Blu-ray and you can expect everyone else to follow suit except for a few exceptions like LG Electronics who said that they will continue to ship dual format players for a while.

This is the kind of thing that early adopters who forked over big bucks to get in early just love to hear - New Blu-ray Features Freeze Older Players; Updates Coming:

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LG is one of the manufacturers experimenting with computer monitors connected via USB 2.0 and they have teamed up with DisplayLink to launch their first one, the L206WU, in the USA:

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I’ve mentioned some high definition DVD players here (e.g. [1],[2]), but whatever the virtues, the biggest impediment remains the format battle between the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps. Earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show, some vendors tried to bridge the gap: Warner Brothers with a new format disk that had both Blu-ray and HD DVD versions of a movie on it and LG Electronics with a dual format “Super Multi Blue” Player that can handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD disks.

There’s nothing technically wrong with the Warner Brothers solution, but it requires the studios to agree to publishing the special disks which seems unlikely except for Warner Brothers themselves. More promising is is LG’s dual format player solution:

Following the commercial launch of the universal player that can tap both Blu-ray and HD DVD markets there are many more similar devices incoming according to technology research firm ABI research, which believes that such hybrid players will essentially end the war of formats. However, due to high pricing of blue-laser players their mass adoption is still far ahead.

ABI Research believes that by creating a player that accommodates both Blu-ray and  HD-DVD discs, the Korean manufacturer LG Electronics may have created a precedent that the rest of the industry will have to follow.

“We believe that universal players will come to dominate the high-definition DVD player market,” said Steve Wilson, the firm’s principal analyst of consumer electronics.

The research firm also speculates that Samsung is expected to release its own universal player “soon”, and others, including large consumer electronics vendors, may follow suit “before long”. ABI Research forecasts sales of 2.4 million players in 2007, rising to 55 million in 2011.

Many observers expect that the demands of supporting both formats would significantly increase the price of universal players. While there is some additional cost in the optical pickup and the LG player’s initial price is quite steep at $1200, Mr. Wilson expects these prices to drop dramatically as new manufacturers come to market with universal players.

“That $1200 price would seem to be more about matching Blu-ray player prices than about reflecting the cost of producing a universal player. There’s no reason universal players should cost significantly more than HD or Blu-ray players,” the analyst explained.

The LG players are available now in the USA:

The major consumer electronics maker LG Electronics has reportedly started to sell its “Super Multi Blue” BH100 player that is capable of Blu-ray disc and HD DVD playback ahead of the officially proclaimed commercial launch date in the U.S.

Apparently, BestBuy.com online store is currently taking orders on LG BH100 universal disc player, whereas at least some Circuit City stores have them on shelves. Officially, the LG “Super Multi Blue” player, the world’s first and yet the only device that can playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, should be on sale starting the 1^st of February, 2007.

Here’s the press release for the BH100, but Gizmodo’s review points out some problems:

We got the LG BH100 in the mail yesterday. It does what claims to do — be the very first high definition disc player that is compatible with both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. But don’t waive the white flag in the format war quite yet. Our first grope reveals a few flaws that keep me from recommending this player as the ultimate peace keeper in the HD format war.

Right off the bat, I’ll tell you that the rumors that the HD-DVD compatibility is half-assed are absolutely true. One of HD-DVD’s strongest points is its interactive menus and video features, like the ones we wrote about in our Fast and the Furious HD-DVD review. This player didn’t support the menus on this movie, and some of the special features, like being able to repaint a race car in the movie, were only found when I manually skipped to the chapter. Even then, the only thing you can depend on is that the movie will play. Which may be enough for many, but not enough for those who want the most from both formats.

Secondly, I could not get the player to engage its 1080p mode via HDMI with the Sony XBR3 I’m testing. 1080i was all she would do.

But beyond that, she did play both discs. And the boot times were in the 30-40 second range for both HD formats. That’s a step in the right direction compared to many of the 1st gen disc players that took about a minute.

The HD DVD glitches are why the BH100 does not have the official HD DVD logo.

Bottom Line: The LG player just doesn’t seem ready for prime time yet, but once they work the bugs out the dual format player looks like it will take over the high definition DVD player market. Yeah, it’s more expensive than Toshiba’s moderately priced HD DVD-only players, but it plays everything.

My gaming days are mostly behind me but the LG Flatron 1970HR LCD monitor caught my eye when I saw the 2 ms response time. John R. Delaney has kicked its tires at PC Magazine and here’s the net:

Known for turning out stylish TVs, cell phones, and computer displays, LG Electronics continues the trend with its 19-inch Flatron L1970HR ($420 street) LCD monitor. This flashy 1,280-by-1,024 panel features a 1,600:1 contrast ratio and the fastest LCD pixel-response rating—2 milliseconds—I’ve ever seen. Gamers and video buffs will appreciate the monitor’s smooth motion performance, but if you’re working with lots of small text or photos, look elsewhere.
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The big story here is the L1970’s amazingly fast 2-ms (black to white) pixel-response rating. I put it to the test while playing several rounds of Doom 3 and was blown away by the panel’s smooth motion performance. Granted, it’s not CRT quality, but there was no noticeable ghosting and very few motion artifacts. I fired up The Matrix on DVD to see how the monitor handled the tough combination of fast action and dark shading and came away impressed, although there was a slight loss of shadow detail. Even so, gamers and multimedia mavens will have a ball with this display.

He does report some problems with grayscale rendition and ultra small fonts, although I suspect those are way, way down on most people’s “must have” feature lists.

Over at PC Magazine, Sascha Segan thinks it’s pretty neat:

Verizon’s answer to the T-Mobile Sidekick, the LG VX9800, is a top-notch phone with an unusual style and features that will appeal primarily to hard-core SMS addicts. It will appeal less to corporate types, because Verizon fails to provide a high-quality corporate e-mail solution, but for consumers looking for a good-sounding phone for text messaging and gaming, the LG VX9800 hits the mark.

At first glance, it appears to be merely a chubby, businesslike, candy bar-style phone (4.6 by 2 by 1 inches, 5.2 oz), with well-spaced keys and a very sharp 160-by-128 pixel color screen, but the VX9800 is something of a quick-change artist. Flip it open horizontally and you see a very usable thumb keyboard and dual stereo speakers flanking a downright gorgeous 320-by-256 pixel color internal screen. With its wide range of movement, the phone’s hinge allows the two halves of the device to lie flat for the best possible two-handed messaging, or into a laptop-like position for sitting on a desk.

Hit the link for a picture of the “clamshell” case, which is interesting, as is the fact that it can be used as an EV-DO modem for a laptop:

This is the first instance that a Verizon non-PDA phone has been equipped with Bluetooth for laptop connectivity with the intention of using the phone as a modem. Yes, other phones can be hacked to work as modems, but you’re violating Verizon’s terms of service to do so. Lest you Verizon subscribers find yourself getting overly excited, it takes some knowledge to get your laptop online with the VX9800—inexplicably, Verizon provides no instructions. Nonetheless, we were successful in getting our Dell and IBM laptops connected to the VX9800’s Dial-Up Networking profile. That was as far as we got, though, because at press time Verizon wouldn’t tell us when the dial-up networking service would become available or how much it would cost.

Which brings us to exactly what it can be used for and the phrase above, “non-PDA phone,” provides the clue that this isn’t the normal smartphone. Cut to Scott Moritz at TheStreet.com:

While some phones are made for work, the VX9800 is clearly made for play. This is no smartphone, which means it has no PDA or PC operating system. So don’t expect to find a Word program, an Excel spreadsheet or any kind of task organizer.

So what does it have? Well, there is the phone (digital only), of course, and it has a camera, Bluetooth, a web browser of sorts, an IM client, and an email/contacts application service for $20 extra per month (there are other options). And there are videos and games:

But then come the demerits for the skimpy display screen. For whatever reason, the LG/Verizon braintrust decided to put a 2.25-inch screen in a 3-inch opening. It’s an odd move for a flagship 3G video and gaming phone.
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And at the moment, Verizon’s media download setup, called VCast, is a tad light on compelling offerings. Unless, of course, you feel like watching TV previews, a Chianti wine tasting or, for a mere $4 extra, a Shakira video.

You can certainly see where Verizon is going with this. Think Japan or South Korea, where media feeds to cell phones are a popular feature. However, given the VCast programs available today, a lot is going to be left to your imagination.

One group of users is probably going to like this phone a lot: gamers. My 7-year-old son’s discovery of the trove of preloaded games opened my eyes to a big market for this phone. You get a few games included, and of course you can also download games from a menu including Evel Knievel for $2.50, Tetris for $3 or unlimited Tetris for $7.50.

Sorry, but that won’t have me picking up the phone, particularly at its current price:

And even with the puny screen, don’t expect to see a bargain basement price. The VX9800 is in the same bracket as rival devices like the new Palm Treo and the Sony PSP. The VX9800 goes for $300 with rebate and two-year contract. And in addition to your calling plan, you will pay another $25 a month for unlimited messaging and access to the games and media offerings.

After sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into a fast evolution data-only, or EV-DO, upgrade to its network, Verizon Wireless’ desire to sell lots of videos and music is understandable. But if you promise the kids thrill rides, you better deliver an amusement park.

Hit both reviews to get the full picture, but it doesn’t seem to me that this one is fully baked yet.