Does cable, satellite, or fiber provide more HD?

Particularly of late, cable television providers have been bullying each other on the air and proudly proclaiming superiority in the high-definition department. One would immediately assume that there's some black and white somewhere in this equation, but honestly, things are pretty gray. Hard though it may be to believe, there actually isn't a clear cut answer to this week's Ask Engadget HD question, which comes to us from the bewildered mind of Brian:"I want an unbiased opinion, and more importantly, the facts. DISH Network is looking more and more like the leading HD provider with its weekly HD additions this past fall. However, now my local cable provider, Comcast, is running ads stating that it has More, More, More HD. My question is simple: who has more HD channels including and not including HD VOD?"The inability to find a clear cut answer hasn't stopped us from forging ahead in the past, and it won't be slowing us down today, either. Ready to plunge deep into the increasingly murky waters of HD offerings?

Read the full story here!

Warner Bros. Goes 100% Blu-Ray: HD DVD On The Ropes?

In what is sure to be a huge blow to the HD DVD camp, Warner Brothers has gone exclusively to Blu-Ray. Where once they were producing for both HD formats with movies like Harry Potter and 300, the WB will produce only for Blu-Ray. Check the quote from WB chairman Barry Meyer:

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger,"

Meyer seems to think that this will end the format war, but with movie homes like Paramount, DreamWorks and Universal still in the HD DVD camp, I don't think this thing is over. But it is disappointing because HD DVD titles seemed to have more features than their Blu-Ray counter parts. And this move would suggest that most movie homes are moving towards Blu-Ray. With the thought of Batman: The Dark Knight and the remaining Harry Potter movies only in Blu-Ray format, they might have made up my mind for me.

A big blow for sure!

Check the press release after the jump.

[Gizmodo]

New GTA IV Trailer: Very Cool

The latest trailer for 'Grand Theft Auto 4' has just hit the net, and it looks great I tell you. No word on the release date, but I sure hope it's soon.

Enjoy my friends!

Canon Burns AVCHD To DVD: No Computer Needed

Cannon looks to cut out the middle man with their new Canon DW-100 DVD burner. This baby can take your high-def AVCHD video from your camcorder and transfer them to a DVD, no computer needed. It also can be used as a external DVD burner for your Mac or PC, which is a nice touch. No word on pricing as of yet, but the unit is due out in March 2008.

Not a bad option if you're in the market for an external DVD burner.

[Crunchgear]

Blu-Ray Only Titles Available On Region-Free HD DVD

Interesting story coming from the WSJ today about the HD format war that I thought should be known.

• Many titles from Sony, Fox and Disney which are Blu-Ray only here in the U.S. are available in HD DVD in other countries.
• Since HD DVD is region-free you can order those movies from sites like Xploited Cinema and don't need to worry about them playing on your system.

Blu-Ray also can get HD DVD only titles, but there is a little catch:

"Some titles that come out exclusively on HD DVD in the U.S. come out on Blu-ray overseas, such as Universal Pictures' "Bruce Almighty" and "Hollywoodland," but consumers must be sure they are buying from a region that works with U.S. players. For Blu-ray, the U.S. is in the same region as almost all of the Americas and Southeast Asia." And the statement that really got my attention was "Still, most major high-definition titles available overseas seem to reflect a switch to HD DVD, rather than the reverse."

It's looking more and more like I might be picking up an HD DVD player!

[WSJ via Gizmodo]

Viewsonic's New Monitors Go HD

Viewsonic rolled out some new HD monitors that are very cool, if you're into widescreen LCD's. Viewsonic's 19 and a 20 inch VX1940w and VX2240w both have 4000:1 contrast ratio, 2ms refresh time, and 1680×1050 high-resolution.

The VX1840w and VX2240w will street in November for $249 and $349.

Hit the jump to read more. [Crunchgear]

A Very cool new product

Welcome to the world of Vudu:
http://www.vudu.com/product_specs.html

A new box that allows users to stream and download movies from their TV. Rentals range from 99 cents to 3.99. Movie purchases range from 4.99 to 14.99. And they will offer movies to be streamed in 1080p.

I'd love to see the effect of this on my overall bandwidth (and how many hours of hi-def you can store, and if peripheral hard drives can be attached), but a very neat new product coming down the line.

New Panasonic HDC-SD5: Worlds Smallest Full HD Camcorder

Panasonic comes out swinging with the lightest 3CCD Full HD Camcorder, the Panasonic HDC-SD5. This sleek looking work of art comes in at a 0.75 pounds and has the dimensions of 2.6 x 2.6 x 5.3-inchs. It has 30fps recording on SD or SDHC cards, and a image stabilization system.

It's due out in September and it has a decent price of $999, which isn't bad compared to some of the $1300 models that are out there.

Hit the jump for more of the deetz. [Gizmodo]

JVC GZ-HD3: Coming In September

If you're a fan of high-end toys like HDTV's and HD-DVD & Blu-Ray then this might be right up your alley.

JVC's line of Everio now has an HD camera to add to the family line, the GZ-HD3 will be coming this September. This three chip baby will have 1440×1080 HD recording, three, 16:9 progressive-scan CCDs, a 60GB hard drive and will weigh about 1 and a half pounds.

And all for about $1300. I've seen worse for more.

Read the press release after the jump. [JVC via Crunchgear]

Sanyo Shows Off their PLC-XF47, the New World's Brightest Projector

This projector is for the videophile who lives in a green house and is to cheap to buy blackout shades.

The Sanyo PLC-XF47 is boasting a ridiculously high 15,000 lumen's. I can barley fathom how bright that must be, although what were they thinking keeping it at 1024x768? If we're going to spend 30-grand on a projector it better at least be 1920x1080.

At least they were nice enought to include wireless HD streaming. Look for it in October if you've got $30,000 lying around, or a bunch of credit cards taunting you.

Check it out after the jump.

Alienware shows off its High-Def Hangar 18 HTPC

Alienware has come out swinging with the launching of their Hangar 18 HTPC today!!!

The new system comes equipped with dual TV tuners (you can have up to 4), an onboard 5.1 amp, HDMI out, and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core CPU. You can even cram up to 4GB of memory and 2TB of storage space and choose between a 720p or 1080p capable system. There's even a Gyration remote to replace your mouse. The system is available today with a starting price of $1,999.

Check out the product page after the jump. [Alienware]

Series 3 Lite, Comcast Motorola Tivo annouced today

Tivo had some good news to report today on a couple of different fronts.

Finally Tivo has seen the error of their ways and has announced its Series 3 Lite -- a 'lower priced' HD offering targeting a wider audience when it's released sometime "later this year."

Also announced was the August commercial launch of the Comcast Motorola TiVo -- no, really -- initially rolling out in the New England division meaning Boston and vicinity will have first dibs.

I've been waiting to jump to Comcast once they introduce this Motorola Tivo that has been talked about for the last two years.

So this is good news for me.
Read the rest of the article after the jump.

$500 HD Tivo: love is in the air!!!

Want to save $360.00 on a new HD Tivo series 3? Well as part of their 'Welcome back' program, Tivo is discounting their top of the line DVR to $500.00. Plus they are throwing in a wireless adapter, all with NO REBATES!!!!!!

I hate rebates.

You have to sign up for one of their service plans, but you were going to do that anyway. If you've only had that 'busted up' cable DVR in your life and have never experienced how much better Tivo is, I highly recommend it.

And if you have a HDTV, that Series 3 will make you think about not going to work.

Product page after the jump.

God of War II Hidden HD Mode

Game Trailers shows us how to unlock the hidden “HD” mode in God of War II, a game in which they rated a 9.5/10.

"Press and hold L1, L2, L3, Square and Circle as you boot up the game to play the hidden HD mode that includes sharper graphics".

This is one of my favorite games of all time. Nothing like seeing it in beautiful HD.