| Jan 25, 2007 | Published: Jan 26, 2007 | 0 comments
Universal Studios, the only Hollywood studio currently supporting HD DVD exclusively, announced that it will release over 100 HD DVD titles in 2007, comprised of new and classic films and television shows. Many will be new titles released day and date with DVD discs, and over 90% of the titles released will be HD DVD/DVD combo discs.
If you've been reading <I>UAV's</I> reviews you know that while 1080p displays are proliferating, the ability of these displays to actually accept a 1080p native signal is a rarity. And if you've been following our coverage of the next-gen disc formats you also know that DTS and Dolby have cooked up new audio formats that aren't based on the lossy compression schemes we've been living with on DVD for years. All of these developments are intertwined with the HDMI specs, as HDMI will be the carrier for both 1080p video and the new audio codecs. Here's the latest on what it all means.
The final specs for HDMI version 1.3 are nearing completion and it's been announced that the first products incorporating the new HDMI standard will be released late this year. In somewhat related news, Sony has pushed the release of its BDP-S1 Blu-ray player back from August to October 25th. There isn't currently indication that the BDP-S1 will incorporate HDMI 1.3, but speculation is rampant all over the web that PlayStation3, due in November, will indeed incorporate the new spec.
Verizon began taking orders late last week for its FiOS fiber optic TV service, beginning a rollout that will cost the telecommunications company billions and have it competing directly with cable and satellite operators for your TV subscription dollars.
Vidabox LLC recently announced an interesting entry into the next-gen HD disc format war in the form of two lines of "dual HD" Media Center PCs that will playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. In addition to playing standard DVDs, Vidabox's LUX and MAX dual HD systems analog and dual HDTV tuners allowing users to record as many as four TV programs at once, obviating the need for a DVR.
Since our CES reports are no longer laundry lists of products, over the next few weeks my news reports will feature some new and interesting gear that slipped through the <I>UAV</I> show coverage cracks. Like the home theater components shown by Vincent Electronics.
Over the years we've seen many home theater companies attempt to rekindle memories of Hollywood's grand, but nearly forgotten ballyhoo past (some of which would make even the great William Castle jealous). Several companies make devices that will shake, rattle, and roll your chair during passages with loud, deep bass. We've even seen subwoofers said to originate from research projects aiming to imitate the low frequency groans that elephants use to communicate to each other through dense brush.
Warner Home Video has officially announced its first titles on the Blu-ray Disc format. On August 1st the studio will bow <I>Good Night and Good Luck</I>, <I>Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang</I>, <I> Rumor Has It</I> and <I>Training Day</I>.