EMediaLive.com

Where’s the excitement for content providers these days? Is it in Blu-ray or is it mobile? As a news junkie, I search the wires everyday--probably for more hours than I need to--trying to figure out if there is an “ultimate plan.” What I find is that the pervasive attitude towards Blu-ray in the press is that it is almost unnecessary. While we all know statistics can be spun any way your want them to be, survey after survey predicts that Blu-ray will never be as big as DVD. Consumers don’t want it. Yadda yadda yadda. As for mobile news, particularly on the music side, enthusiasm is high in the press. There seems to be at least one important mobile story every day. Why is that? Now that we are heading toward the fourth-quarter selling season, it's time for a quick reality check.

Mobile offerings are getting a lot of press for a few reasons. The most obvious one is that people are so harried all the time, the only way they see or hear any entertainment content is on the run. Secondly, mobile technology is new compared to what some perceive as “the old tired physical format.” This perception is exactly why some replicators are reluctant to make the expensive transition to Blu-ray manufacturing. Despite the fabulous technology, will consumers buy it in the face of negative press?

Admittedly, getting content via your phone is probably the wave of the future. Music mobility, in particular, has been all the rage since Sony marketed its Walkman back in the 1980s. However, that doesn’t mean mobile content will be the only solution. When I’m on the train or at the gym, my iPod is the solution. When, I’m home, it’s my stereo with five speakers. Am I alone in that? I don’t think so. Record labels have learned a lot of lessons in the last couple of decades, but above all, they’ve learned about choice. For example, they forced vinyl out of the marketplace before it was ready to go. Now Billboard has reported that all of the major labels have now said they will put out vinyl again--not for all releases, but certainly for some. EMI will release two Coldplay albums and four Radiohead titles and reissue Steve Miller's Greatest Hits on vinyl this month. Universal Music will release 40 albums on vinyl by the end of August, while Warner will issue 24-30 albums from its back catalog and 10-12 new releases by year's end.

Warner in particular has learned about giving customers format and delivery choices as witnessed with the upcoming Metallica release, Death Magnetic. The first option includes digital delivery at midnight on the day of the album release, but also included in the package will be downloads of two entire Metallica shows from this summer, almost two hours of exclusive fly-on-the wall footage, 250 exclusive photos, ringtones of riffs from the new album, access to exclusive contests and $10 off of merchandise or Fan Fan Club membership. The second choice includes all of the above plus Death Magnetic on CD, which fans will get with free postage and handling. Finally, there is the option to buy the LP and lithograph package which includes all of the above as well.

Now, what about Blu-ray? How will content providers get the excitement up about Blu-ray? BD-Live is key. Just this week, ABI Research released yet another negative survey about consumer interest in Blu-ray, saying that people are satisfied with DVD picture quality. The one bright spot, they mentioned, was PS3 owners who are watching Blu-ray on their players. A-ha! There is interest, but content providers must give consumers something interesting to watch! Disney is taking a giant step with its October release of the 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Disc.

I was lucky enough to be at Disney’s Sleeping Beauty press briefing earlier this summer. The journalists were divided into small groups and each one of us got to play with the Blu-ray features. I was there with representatives from Good Morning America (GMA) and CNN. The representatives from GMA didn’t seem to know a lot about Blu-ray, but were very interested. The CNN rep seemed a bit negative, almost hostile.

However, Sleeping Beauty is the first step in building excitement behind BD-Live. For example, users can record a personalized video greeting that will appear on-screen over a pre-selected scene in the movie. Other interactive features include chatting, online messaging and communal gaming. It’s only the beginning. BD-Live allows content providers to keep updating content for a continually new user experience.

On the music side, Warner is taking a big step with Neil Young. While Young’s Archives BD-Live title is geared toward the older demographic, there’s also Columbia’s release of Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles and others.

During the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, Sun Microsystems announced a collaboration with Neil Young and Reprise/Warner Bros Records for the release of the upcoming series, which will be a complete biography of his career. The Blu-ray format delivers 192kHz/24-bit audio quality along with high-definition video. The first 10 Blu-ray Disc sets, which will cover Young's career from 1963-1972, will be available this fall. Why Blu-ray? Young says it's because the technology allows users to browse archival material on a disc and listen to a song in high resolution at the same time.

In July, Columbia released the Mayer title, which features a picture-in-picture experience as well as the BD-Live-downloadable backstage performance of "Belief." Other extras for the DVD and Blu-ray include an acoustic performance of "Mulholland Drive."

No one is disputing the fact that getting exclusive Madonna and Jonas Brothers content on your phone is exciting. But it’s all about crossmarketing. In a society that wants it all, BD-Live is the way to get it. It’s up to content producers to put out mind-boggling content, and it’s also up to retailers “to get the word out” about BD this holiday season.

Admittedly, the challenges are really tough, especially in this wobbly economy, but just show the consumer the content. Content is always king. In the past, entertainment has always been recession-proof. We'll begin to find out soon if this will hold true for Blu-ray Disc.

Debbie Galante Block (debgalante at aol.com) is a freelance writer based in Mahopac, N.Y.

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The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ: Updates

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BRAVIA Theatre BDV-IT1000: Blu-ray Disc and Super-Slim Speakers Make a Sweet Combination

In Japan, there’s a popular snack called Pocky® – a very thin, chocolate covered pretzel stick. And ‘Pocky’ is the code name Sony used during the development of the brand-new BRAVIA™ Theatre BDV-IT1000 Blu-ray Disc™ home cinema system. Why? It’s simple: the speakers used in the system look just as slim as the snack!

That’s made possible by an amazingly compact full-range speaker drive-unit developed by Sony’s engineers: just 16mm wide, it’s about the width of a finger. Three of these extremely narrow drive-units are used in each of the front and centre speakers, and two in the rear speakers.

And that’s not the only amazing technology in this superb new system: the BDV-IT1000 includes everything you need to experience the amazing audio and video quality of Blu-ray Disc, make the most of your existing DVD collection, connect up external HD sources such as the PLAYSTATION®3 or an HDTV tuner, and even enjoy music stored on portable devices or a wi-fi network.

BDV-IT1000: the perfect solution for HD home cinema entertainment
Built into the main control unit of the system is a Blu-ray drive able to deliver the amazing quality of Blu-ray Disc, and also upscale all your DVDs to 1080p quality. What’s more it’s BD-Live Ready, able to be upgraded with a simple download via its Ethernet port and the addition of a USB flash memory device. Then it will bring you even more of the movie experience by downloading extra BD-Live content from the internet – trailers, extra features, and extended information connected to the movie you’re watching.

With Blu-ray Disc titles it can deliver the full cinema experience, with 1080/24p picture resolution, Deep Color and x.v.Colour, and it will also decode and play the latest High-Definition audio formats – Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio – for better than CD quality sound to match its amazing pictures.

Power to match the precision
The BDV-IT1000 packs a total of 700Watts of Sony’s 32-bit Full Digital S-Master amplifier power, and this is fed through five slim, elegant speakers – four complete with floor-stands for the front and rear left/right channels, and a horizontal centre speaker – and a subwoofer, to deliver all the impact of big movie soundtracks. The speakers are also fully versatile: the modular design means they can also stand on desktops or be wall-mounted. And with the wireless kit included, you don’t even need to run cables round the room to the rear speakers. The wireless unit powers the rear speakers for pure, interference-free surround effects.

Superb home cinema made simple
The system is extremely easy to set-up and use. At the push of a button, Sony’s Digital Cinema Auto Calibration detects where the speakers have been placed and calculates the ideal volume, delay and frequency settings for optimum sound settings. You can even start movies from standby at the touch of just one button, controlling the BDV-IT1000 with the latest BRAVIA LCD TV and other compatible devices thanks to BRAVIA Sync. The XrossMediaBar™ onscreen user interface – also found on the PLAYSTATION 3 - makes settings and operation simple, whether watching movies, playing music or listening to the built-in FM RDS/AM radio.

Music on portable devices can be streamed to the system with Sony’s DIGITAL MEDIA PORT, allowing easy connection to MP3 players, music-capable Bluetooth® mobile phones and computers via Wi-Fi. Meanwhile the Portable Audio Enhancer expands the sound of compressed music from portable players.

The BRAVIA Theatre BDV-IT1000 – the ultimate home cinema in a box system, delivering superb performance, simple operation and clean, stylish looks.

BDV-IT1000 at a glance

Super-slim speakers made possible by finger-sized full-range drive units
All-in-one home cinema system with integrated Blu-ray Disc drive
Full HD 1080/24p picture quality with Deep Color and x.v.Colour
Wireless rear speakers for great surround effects without cables
BD-Live Ready: upgradable to Profile 2.0 for extra content and downloads via Ethernet port
DVD upscaling to 1080p
Two HDMI input terminals for connection of games consoles, HD TV decoder boxes or other sources, and one HDMI output
Optical digital and analogue stereo inputs. Also composite/component video in
Upconversion to HDMI for analogue sources
Fast, perfect ‘one-touch’ set-up with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration
BRAVIA Sync for integrated operation with other Sony components
XrossMediaBar onscreen display for simple, logical operation of all functions
Connectivity with Network WALKMAN® and iPod® players, Bluetooth devices and home Wi-Fi networks via DIGITAL MEDIA PORT, plus Portable Audio Enhancer
700W total power: 5x100W plus 2x100W for subwoofer, using efficient, high-quality 32-bit S-Master digital amplification

www.sonystyle.com

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Dreamer and L2Digital Partner to Bring BD-Live Features to Blu-Ray Discs

Dreamer, a leader in interactive TV solutions, and L2Digital, a leader in Blu-ray disc authoring, announced a partnership today to utilize Dreamer's BIDDLE broadband broadcast technology to bring interactive BD-Live features to Blu-ray Discs.

The collaboration allows Dreamer and L2Digital to become a single source for providing end-to-end solutions for video capture, post-production, interactive BD-Live feature development, disc authoring and online hosting of BD-Live services. "L2's extensive experience and emphasis on innovation make them the ideal partner for us," said Dr. Won Baek, CEO/President of Dreamer. "L2's pioneering effort to bring live concerts to MySpace as well as producing video specifically for YouTube and HDNET show that they are a progressive-thinking company," added Baek.

Dreamer's patented BIDDLE technology delivers digital content and interactive services directly to a consumer's TV using any Internet connected Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) Blu-ray player, including the PlayStation® 3. Blu-ray discs authored with BIDDLE technology allow consumers to access services such as video-on-demand, real-time audience interaction, secure commerce, social networking and advertising. For content owners, Dreamer presents an easy to deploy solution, which allows them to continually update and add new content and services after the release of the disc. BIDDLE technology is commercially deployed in South Korea and provides HD interactive entertainment and commerce services to more than one million IPTV subscribers.

"It's very important for our customers to have a commercially justifiable solution that provides compelling features to the consumer while retaining control over content distribution," said Luis Pelayo, President of L2Digital. "We looked closely at all of the BD-Live offerings on the market, and Dreamer's technology offers a superior combination of consumer experience, compelling features, creative flexibility, and control over distribution."

About Dreamer
Dreamer is a leader in converged broadcasting and communication software technology with nearly a decade of experience in developing and selling interactive TV-related platforms, solutions and services. Dreamer's clients include S. Korea's largest IPTV providers Korea Telecom and CJ CableNet. Dreamer is an affiliate under the Namsung Corporation umbrella of companies. For more information visit www.biddle.tv.

About L2Digital
L2Digital is a creative facility offering postproduction services to the music and advertising industries. L2Digital has produced video for more than a dozen musical artists including Tori Amos, Incubus, Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, and Shakira, and L2's clients include Sony/BMG, Herbalife and Cessna Aircraft. For more information visit www.l2digital.com.

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MPEG LA Cedes DVB-T Licensing to SISVEL

MPEG LA, LLC and SISVEL S.p.A. announce that as of August 26, 2008 the administration of the DVB-T licensing program, including the administration of all DVB-T Patent Portfolio Licenses previously executed by MPEG LA and licensees, has been transferred from MPEG LA to SISVEL.

The DVB-T patent pool offers a fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to patents owned by France Télécom, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., and Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) that have been determined to be essential for implementing DVB-T, the terrestrial digital television broadcast standard (European Telecommunications Standardization Institute ("ETSI") document ETS300744).

Effective August 26, 2008, licenses under those DVB-T essential patents will be available from SISVEL as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses with the individual patent owners. Existing licensees will receive further communications from MPEG LA regarding the details of the transfer.

All inquiries related to licenses under the DVB-T essential patents can be directed to SISVEL and information regarding the DVB-T program can be found on SISVEL’s website at www.sisvel.com.

www.mpegla.com

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Lite-On Introduces New External Slim DVD Writers

Lite-On announces the introduction of a new generation external slim DVD writers. The eSAU208 is a fully featured, USB-powered, 8X slim DVD writer. A perfect solution for those users who are looking for a compact, stylish and portable DVD writer.

Mobility is an important aspect of the eSAU208. The drive can be powered through a USB connection instead of a traditional power adapter, so the mobile user does not longer needs to rely on a power socket to operate the DVD writer. The drive will consume its power directly from the notebook trough the USB cable. Even though the eSAU208 is USB powered, the retail pack still includes a power adaptor for those users who prefer to use a direct power source.

Writing speeds of the eSAU208 are 8X for DVD±R, 6X for DVD±R DL and DVD-RW, 5X for DVD-RAM and 24X for CD-R(W). Reading speeds are 8X for DVD-ROM and 24X for CD-ROM. For some notebooks where lower energy consumption is required, the eSAU208 provides a “power saving mode”. Writing and reading speeds will be reduced by 40-60%, depending on the media format, in order to operate smoothly on these specific low powered notebooks.

The eSAU208 will be available in two stylish colors; one version will have fashionable black & white design, while the other version will have a classy burgundy look. Specifications of both versions are exactly the same and will include LightScribe direct disc labeling technology. This allows users to label their discs without any marker or paper labels. Just burn your disc, flip it over, and burn your laser etched label.

Lite-On unveils 2 different 8X DVD writers:

the eSAU108 is a 8X DVD writer with USB connection
the eSAU208 is a 8X DVD writer with USB connection and LightScribe About PLDS
PLDS (Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions) is a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics and Lite-On IT Corporation, established in 2007 and active in the market of Optical Disc Drives (ODD). The combination of a strong R&D-focus and access to enormous production capacity makes PLDS an industry leading company. PLDS has multiple ODD brands in its portfolio: Lite-On, HP (under exclusive license) and Philips (in United States only).

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LG to Launch First DivX Certified DVD Player from a Major Manufacturer Capable of Playing HD Video

DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX), a digital media company, and LG Electronics, Inc. today announced the DivX Certification(TM) of a new DVD player from LG capable of playing high-definition DivX(R) video.

Incorporating a stylish and sleek design capable of being mounted on a wall, LG's new DivX Certified(R) DVD player, the DVS450H, allows consumers to play their personal libraries of high-definition digital content. With this device, consumers can enjoy high-definition DivX videos burned to DVD's or stored on USB flash drives. Typical HD video requires a considerable amount of digital storage space, but DivX HD video provides a superior media experience by maintaining the highest visual quality while significantly reducing the digital file size of the video. Using DivX technology, a full-length high-definition movie is able to fit onto a standard DVD.

"The demand for products that play DivX video has continually driven us to produce solutions that maximize this high-quality experience across a range of product categories," said Dan D.H. Koh, Head of Marketing Strategy Team in LG Electronics' Digital Media Company. "Incorporating support for high-definition DivX video on this DVD player illustrates this in a significant way. We are committed to bringing our customers the very best entertainment solutions and are pleased that working with DivX fulfills this vision."

"Bringing high-definition video to LG's newest DVD player illustrates our mission of enabling a high-quality media experience across any device," said Kevin Hell, Chief Executive Officer, DivX, Inc. "This new player from LG simplifies the consumer transition to HD entertainment by providing a high-definition experience on a familiar DVD platform. We are delighted to work with LG in bringing consumers a premium solution for their digital content."

Products that bear the DivX Certified(R) logo have undergone a rigorous testing program to ensure a high-quality DivX media experience, including reliable video playback, interoperability with other DivX Certified devices and the visual quality that users expect from DivX.

LG is a major manufacturer across consumer electronics product categories who has embraced DivX Certification within a variety of different platforms, including mobile phones, digital televisions, and in-car media players.

For more information on DivX Certification, visit http://www.divx.com/certification.

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JVC's First Blu-ray Home Theater System Receives DivX Certification

DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIVX), a digital media company, and JVC, a leading provider of home audio equipment, today announced the DivX Certification™ of a new Blu-ray home theater system from JVC. The system will be available to consumers across Europe starting in September.

The new DivX Certified® system, the NX-BD3, is JVC’s first entry into the Blu-ray market and is capable of playing back high-quality DivX® video, providing consumers with a comprehensive approach to premium home entertainment. The NX-BD3 is built around the world’s first DLNA CERTIFIED™ (Digital Living Network Alliance) Blu-ray Theater System, which allows consumers to seamlessly play back content over wired or wireless home networks, bringing libraries of video stored on the PC to the living room. With DivX Certification, NX-BD3 users will be able to enjoy high-quality digital videos burned to CDs or DVDs.

“The demand for DivX video playback in living room consumer electronics encouraged us to consider it as a checklist feature for our next generation home theater system,” said Hiroshi Nishiumi, Deputy General Manager of Engineering Department, Audio/Video Systems Division, Victor Company of Japan, Limited. “The NX-BD3 provides our customers with a premium entertainment experience and we believe that working with DivX has considerably enhanced this, differentiating us from our competitors.”

“The DivX Certification of JVC’s NX-BD3 significantly contributes to our growing momentum within the Blu-ray market and offers consumers a complete solution for their home entertainment,” said Kevin Hell, Chief Executive Officer, DivX, Inc. “We are dedicated to enabling a high-quality media experience across any device platform and we are delighted to work with JVC in offering a superior solution for their digital video.”

Products that bear the DivX Certified® logo have undergone a rigorous testing program to ensure a high-quality DivX media experience, including reliable video playback, interoperability with other DivX Certified devices and the visual quality users expect from DivX.

For more information on DivX Certification, visit www.divx.com/certification.

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MainConcept Adds DivX Support to Leading Video Reference Application

MainConcept GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIVX) and one of the world’s leading providers of video and audio codecs as well as software development kits to the broadcast, film and consumer electronic markets, today announced that the new version of MainConcept™ Reference 1.6 for Windows will be released on September 1, 2008. The video converter application now features integrated DivX support with a dedicated software licensing plug-in. DivX transcoding capabilities join the portfolio of existing MainConcept plug-ins for the formats H.264/AVC, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, VC-1, DVCPRO and JPEG2000.

With standard presets ranging from video for mobile devices up to high-definition video, the DivX plug-in for MainConcept Reference makes it easy to encode video footage into DivX compliant streams. There are five presets available for the DivX profiles Home Theatre, 720p, 1080p, Mobile and qMobile that offer a simple selection for the user to match to a DivX Certified® device. Over 100 million DivX Certified devices have shipped into the global market from major manufacturers, including DVD players, gaming consoles, digital televisions, Blu-ray devices and more.

“There are a huge number of different DivX Certified devices such as DVD players and mobile phones out in the market which support this exciting format and the DivX ecosystem continues to expand into new product categories,” says Muzaffer Beygirci, Managing Director and VP Worldwide Sales at MainConcept. “With help of MainConcept Reference and its new DivX support, we will enable broadcasters and professionals to support one of the world’s leading video formats and provide compliance with numerous DivX Certified devices."

MainConcept Reference 1.6 and the DivX plug-in will be available for online purchase and download at the MainConcept website beginning September 1, 2008. The SDK with DivX support will be available shortly.

To test the power of the codecs and the Reference workflow, a free evaluation version with all important MainConcept codecs in demo mode is available for pre-purchase testing at www.mainconcept.com.

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New Industry Benchmark: Samsung Delivers the BD-P2500 Fifth Generation Blu-ray Player

Samsung Electronics, a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, introduces its most advanced Blu-ray player to date with the BD-P2500. Building upon key features and design elements from past Samsung Blu-ray players, the BD-P2500 is compatible out-of-the-box with the latest Blu-ray interactive features available including BD Live™. The BD-P2500 also offers breakthrough enhancements such as Hollywood Quality Video™ (HQV™) processing and 7.1-Channel analog audio outputs creating a powerful HD audio-visual experience.

Price: $499.99
Availability: October

Whether consumers are looking to enjoy the rich audio and video of the latest Blu-ray discs, or rejuvenate their favorite standard DVDs, the Samsung BD-P2500 is a powerful addition bringing truly impressive Full HD 1080p theater-like quality into the home.

Key Product Highlights

Total BD Profile Compatibility: Samsung’s BD-P2500 meets all of the current BD Profile requirements right out of the box, allowing consumers to instantly enjoy the latest interactive features available, including BD Live™ (Profile 2.0) and Bonus View (Profile 1.1), creating new ways to experience favorite movies. The BD-P2500 comes with a built-in, wired Ethernet connection, 1GB of internal flash memory, and a USB port for memory expansion.
Superior Video Quality: The BD-P2500 offers Full HD 1080p playback, and features an award-winning HQV™ processing chip for the highest quality viewing of Blu-ray discs, upconversion of standard DVDs, and viewing of JPEG images. The BD-P2500 also features an HDMI 1.3 output with xvYCC Deep Color support, and a 24fps film mode, exhibiting smoother, more natural playback of film-based material.
High Definition Soundtrack Support and Output: Providing a truly immersive HD home theater experience, Samsung’s BD-P2500 is capable of decoding the latest high-resolution digital multichannel audio soundtracks available. Out of the box, the player can output Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus™, Dolby TrueHD™ and dts as an uncompressed PCM signal, as a bitstream, or via the 7.1 analog outputs for cinematic sound that is comparable with the latest movie theaters. Additionally, dts-HD HR® (High Resolution) decoding will become available with a firmware upgrade in the fall. The BD-P2500 will also pass these and dts-HD MA (Master Audio) as a bitstream output to a separate, external surround sound decoder.
Easy Upgradeability: To keep consumers updated with the latest features and improvements, Samsung’s BD-P2500 offers three convenient ways to receive new upgrades: via the embedded Ethernet connection, USB port, or on a CD/DVD/BD.
“The BD-P2500 Blu-ray player represents the very best technology the industry has to offer," said Reid Sullivan, Vice President of Marketing, Audio/Video & Imaging at Samsung Electronics America. “Consumers will enjoy a truly immersive, Full HD viewing experience that delivers the broad spectrum of high definition sights and sounds that can now be experienced with the combination of Blu-ray and the latest HDTVs.”

Specifications

BD-P2500 Blu-ray Player Design

Piano black with chrome accents and touch pad controls

A/V Features

Compatible with BD Profile 2.0 (BD Live), Profile 1.1 (Bonus View), and Profile 1.0 interactivity features
1GB internal flash memory for BD Live
Award-winning Hollywood Quality Video™ (HQV™) processing
24fps film mode
xvYCC Deep Color
Selectable DVD upconversion (720p / 1080i / 1080p)
Dolby Digital Plus™, Dolby TrueHD™decoding
dts-HD HR® decoding via firmware update in the fall
Dolby Digital Plus™, Dolby TrueHD™, dts-HD HR / MA® bitstream output

A/V Connections

1 HDMI version 1.3 output with CEC (Anynet+)
1 component output
1 composite output
7.1-Channel analog audio outputs
1 optical digital audio output
1 Ethernet connection (for interactivity features and firmware upgrades only)
1 USB connection (for memory expansion and firmware upgrades only)

Playable Media

BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-R(V mode only), DVD-RW (V/VR mode), Audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW, AVCHD disc

Estimated Selling Price

$499.99

Availability

October 2008

www.samsung.com

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Fry’s Stores Add 32GB, 64GB and 128GB Ridata Ultra-S Plus MLC SSD

Advanced Media, Inc., is a manufacturer and marketer of the popular Ridata brand of recordable DVD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories. The company announced today that its Ridata Ultra-S Plus Series of Solid State Drives (SSD) are now available at Fry’s Electronics. Ultra-S Plus MLC SSD’s feature a Multi-Level Cell (MLC) SATA configuration for fast read and write speeds plus larger storage capacities.

"We are pleased Fry’s is expanding their retail selection of Ridata SSD’s for laptops and other mobile computing devices. The Ridata Ultra-S Plus MLC SSD is an affordable alternative to Hard Disk Drives (HDD). SSD drives offer many benefits for notebooks. Cool and silent running, low battery usage, fast data access, dependable performance and resistance to temperature, shock, vibration and humidity make SSD ideal for mobile computing,” remarked Harvey Liu, Advanced Media President.

Data Integrity
Featuring no moving parts, Ridata SSD’s are resistant to vibration, shock, humidity and temperature extremes. They are very reliable with up to 1,000,000 hours Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF). Data integrity is ensured by static wear leveling and Reed-Solomon ECC (8bit BCH). With SMART features and write endurance cycle (P/E) up to 1,000,000 times (depending on capacity used), the Ridata SSD drive keeps data safe and secure.

Technology
The Ridata 32, 64 GB and 128 GB Ridata Ultra-S Plus MLC stores two bits of data per cell, providing consistent, fast performance and extremely low-power consumption. Its lightweight is ideal for the performance-driven and rugged environments that laptops and other mobile computing devices experience. Laptop compatibility is ensured by a traditional Serial ATA (SATA) connection with 7-pin signal segment and 15-pin power segment.

Performance
User time on a laptop or other mobile computing application is dramatically extended, due to the drive’s low-five-volt power consumption. With no mechanical parts, low battery usage and minimal heat generation the Ridata SSD drive is a natural alternative for a greener environment. Meeting bus interface industry standard Serial ATA (SATA) ensures no host compatibility or upgrading issues. The Ridata SSD offers reliable temperature (0 to 70C) resistance, assuring long-lasting data storage.

Availability
All capacities of the Ridata Ultra-S Plus SSD Series MLC are now available at Fry’s. Visit www.ritekusa.com or www.frys.com for more product information and retail availability.

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Philips Demonstrates 3D on Blu-ray at IFA 2008

Philips will demonstrate 3D on Blu-ray at IFA 2008 (August 29 – September 3). The demo shows that its 2D-plus-Depth content format can be applied to Blu-ray thereby enabling a great 3D movie viewing experience on a variety of displays.
br> With the growing amount of 3D movies currently on theater release, people now want to enjoy the 3D viewing experience in their homes as well. In order to bring high quality 3D content to the home, the 2D-plus-Depth format offers a solution that can be applied to Blu-ray. Subsequently, these discs can be enjoyed on both stereoscopic (special glasses needed) as well as auto-stereoscopic 3D displays, which do not require glasses.

Philips 3D Solutions provides end-to-end 3D system solutions ranging from 3D displays for professional use, 3D content creation and conversion tools to technology licensing. Jos Swillens, CEO of Philips 3D Solutions: “This demonstration of 3D on Blu-ray is a clear proof point of the flexibility and sustainability of our 2D-plus-Depth content format. It can bring high quality 3D content to the home on a variety of displays and offers a solution to the need for interoperability in 3D."

Philips 3D displays give the viewer an exciting, entertaining and engaging 3D experience making them ideally suited for professional use in digital signage for retail, point-of-sale advertising, gaming applications in casinos, games and 3D visualization. Thanks to the WOWvx technology used in Philips 3D Displays, no special viewing glasses are needed.

Alongside this 3D on Blu-ray demo, Philips 3D Solutions will be showing 3 new 3D display products for professional use, the 52”, the 22” and the 8”. These products will be commercially available from Q4 (52”) and Q1 (22” and 8”) onwards. The impressive 132” 3D WOWzone will also be on show at IFA 2008. All 3D demos and products can be seen in the Futurezone of the Philips booth, which is located in Hall 22A and B of the Messe Berlin, Germany.

www.philips.com/3dsolutions
www.wowvx.com

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LG Offers Total Network-Attached Storage Solution

LG Electronics, global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, announced that it will unveil its new N4B1 network attached storage (NAS), which provides integrated data management, at IFA 2008. This NAS targets home and small business users, going beyond just data sharing to offer advanced data management features including a built-in Blu-ray drive and version management.

Available in four-bay configurations, LG’s N4B1 accepts hard drives as large as four terabytes. It is optimized for home and small business users who manage large amounts of data and includes special features “Easy&Fancy web-based graphic user interface / Remote support to help solve more complicated issues” that make it easier for people who are not IT professionals to install and manage.

LG’s NAS makes it possible to share a single Blu-ray, DVD or CD among many users by creating a virtual disc library. After inserting a disc the NAS can create and store an image of the disc, which is then accessible by all of the users on the network. This not only saves time, but also reduces wear and tear on discs. The Blu-ray drive also has a write mode, which allows it to serve as a secondary storage medium, with each disc holding between 25 and 50 gigabytes. When data is saved to a Blu-ray disc, the NAS automatically creates a catalog of disc’s contents for easier archiving.

LG’s NAS is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac computers and networks. It also allows users on different operating systems to share and store data, whether directly connected to the NAS, on a network or over the internet.

To ensure fast data sharing and maximum data throughput, LG’s network storage solution includes a gigabit Ethernet connection and three USB 2.0 connections. For maximum flexibility it can be configured for RAID 5 (default), 0, 1, 1+0 and JBOD modes and also allows for hot swapping of hard drives.

LG’s N4B1 network storage solution can automatically download data from USB memory, memory cards, digital cameras and MP3 players. It automatically tracks what data has been downloaded using its version management system and only downloads new files saving time and space.

“The global NAS market is expected grow by more than 2.2 million units in 2009 as the technology develops and the need for high capacity, redundant storage increases,” said Y.K. Cho, Vice President of DS & OEM Marketing Team, LG Electronics Digital Media Company. “LG has developed this product to keep up with these needs and will continue to drive technology in this area.”

LG’s N4B1 network storage solution will be available beginning in December of this year.

www.lgusa.com

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