The Zune HD is an iPod competitor which offers wireless synching to your PC. The player (much smaller than an iPhone and earlier Zune models) boasts a brilliant 3.3-inch OLED touchscreen display. Video resolution is 480 x 272 resolution at 16:9. Other notable features include built-in HD Radio and export to HDTV at 720p via external dock (sold separately.)

Will the price reductions stick? More than likely considering if there was demand the prices wouldn’t have dropped in the first place.

The Cox internet content (both live events and replays) will be delivered via Microsoft’s Silverlight player. The online content will also provide recaps, highlights and reports in “high definition” (online resolution not provided yet).

HD content will come from NBC Universal’s networks which include NBC, USA Network, MSNBC, Universal HD, and CNBC.

The Winter Games coverage will start with the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 12  and end with the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 28, 2010.

The mission of Endeavour and her crew will be to deliver the last connecting module to expand the International Space Station – the Italian-built “Tranquility” node. “Tranquility” will provide additional room for many of the station’s life support and environmental control systems. “Tranquility” is among four additional modules on the station: the Destiny laboratory, the Quest airlock, the Unity node and the Harmony node.

“Everything thus far is going exceeding well… we’re right on schedule where we’re supposed to be and we’ll continue to work through the day on our preparations,” said NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding

UPDATE: Because of weather the launch was postponed until Monday, Feb. 8 at 4:14 a.m. Eastern Time.

UPDATE: The launch was success on Feb.8. Shuttle launch director Michael Leinbach called the lift-off “one of the smoothest ones ever.”

The remaining missions:

STS-130
Launch Target: Feb. 7, 2010
at 4:39 a.m. EST
Shuttle: Endeavour
Duration: 13 days

STS-131
Launch Target: March 18, 2010
at 1:34 p.m. EDT
Shuttle: Discovery
Duration: 13 days

STS-132
Launch Target: May 14, 2010
at 2:28 p.m. EDT
Shuttle: Atlantis
Duration: 11 days

STS-134
Launch Target: July 29, 2010
at 7:51 a.m. EDT
Shuttle: Endeavour
Duration: 10 days

STS-133
Launch Target: Sept. 16, 2010
at 11:57 a.m. EDT
Shuttle: Discovery
Duration: 8 days

All V channels in standard and high definition will be offered as free previews throughout February.

Shaw Direct is majority owned by Shaw Communications providing broadband cable television, high-speed internet and digital phone services to customers mainly in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

Epix also provides access to films online, which is included in the subscription charge of $9.99 a month.

“Video consumption is evolving, and our customers want access to the best movies and entertainment, when they want it and on multiple platforms,” said Rich DiGeronimo, Charter’s Vice President of Product Management.
While agreement terms were not disclosed, the channel is expected to launch in May 2010.

There are lots of re-released Academy Award Winning films on the on the Blu-ray shelves this week. The packaging on these releases will be different than the originals, with a gold background to indicate an award winning film. Some other re-releases, like Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, boast digital re-mastering and audio upgrade to DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1.

The Godfather (Coppola Restoration) Parts I and II have been released as single Blu-ray Discs under the Sapphire Series label. Although they were already available in giftset form along with Part III, some of you may have held out for only the first two films.

Movies getting their first hi-def Blu-ray releases this week include Mystic River, Amelia, Ong Bak 2: The Beginning & Ong Bak 2: The Thai Warrior, Zombieland, The Music Man, The Last King of Scotland, and Walk the Line.

Here are some of the releases this week:

Amadeus (Director’s Cut)
An American in Paris (Re-release Academy Award Winner)
Amelia
The Departed (Re-release Academy Award Winner)
Doctor Who: The Complete Specials
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Re-release)
Gangs of New York (Remastered) (Miramax Winner)
Gigi (Re-release Academy Award Winner)
The Godfather (Coppola Restoration) Sapphire Series
The Godfather Part II (Coppola Restoration) Sapphire Series
Hellboy: Sword of Storms & Blood & Iron
The House of the Devil
Love Happens
March of the Penguins (Re-release Academy Award Winner)
Million Dollar Baby (Re-release Academy Award Winner)
The Music Man
Mystic River
New York, I Love You
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
Planet Hulk
To Live and Die in L.A. (Previously an import)
Training Day (re-release Academy Award winner)
Universal Soldier: Regeneration
Unforgiven (Re-release Academy Award Winner)
Walk the Line
Zombieland

Here is the complete list of new Blu-ray releases available at Amazon.com.

The trailer, while beautiful, offers very little new insight into the plot of the game and offers no footage of actual game play. It is a pre-rendered cinematic cut scene that shows the protagonist — a prototype Big Daddy — interacting with a Little Sister and eventually facing off against the Big Sister. It does, however, give a great sense of the atmosphere and emotion that the original Bioshock was known for.

For those intrigued by this beautiful launch trailer, Bioshock 2 will be released on February 9th, 2010 for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Bioshock 2 has been rated M by the ESRB.

Among the independent titles now available for streaming are “Wendy and Lucy” (Oscilloscope) and “A Nos Amours” (Criterion). Of those titles “Wendy and Lucy” shows up as HD, while “A Nos Amours” was only available in SD. We’d be happier if Netflix indicated which would be available in hi-def, or even better offer them all in HD.

Other titles not currently available to stream but on the soon-to-be list include “Departures” (Regent Releasing/Here Films), “As It Is in Heaven” (Kino Lorber), and “Seraphine” (Music Box).

Recent titles added to the streaming library in HD (from various distributers) include: “The Other Man,” “The American President,” “American Outlaws,” “11:14,” “Paris, Texas,” “Havoc,” “The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” “Heist,” “Blade Runner: The Final Cut,” “Mongol,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “Tin Man.”

Like Season 5, Season 6 was originally supposed to have 17 episodes. However, in June ‘09 it was announced the season would go to 18, ending with a three-hour, two part series in May, 2010. The first two episodes, “LA X (Parts 1 and 2),” will reveal the aftermath of the explosion of the hydrogen bomb which ended Season 5 .

Lost is broadcast in HD (720p) and SD (480i) on ABC in the US and HD (1080i) on Sky1 HD in the UK and Ireland.

Here’s a schedule of the first 12 episodes:

Episode 1 & 2 – Airs: 2/2/2010
“LA X (Parts 1 and 2)”

Episode 3 – Airs: 2/9/2010
“What Kate Does”

Episode 4 – Airs: 2/16/2010
“The Substitute”

Episode 5 – Airs: 2/23/2010
“Lighthouse”

Episode 6 – Airs: 3/2/2010
“Sundown”

Episode 7 – Airs: 3/9/2010
“Dr. Linus”

Episode 8 – Airs: 3/16/2010
“Recon”

Episode 9 – Airs: 3/23/2010
“Ab Aeterno”

Episode 10 – Airs: 3/30/2010
“The Package”

Episode 11 – Airs: 4/6/2010
“Happily Ever After”

Episode 12 – Airs: 4/13/2010
“Everybody Loves Hugo”

One of the staples of the “Western RPG” is the blending of traditional roleplaying mechanics with modern story telling and gaming controls. Games like Mass Effect 1, Fallout 3 and Borderlands have been the most recent examples of this wonderful gaming genre. All three games play as smoothly as any in the dual analog shooter genre while maintaining the statistics based gameplay customization that is typically associated with the roleplaying genre. It is this gameplay customization that sets the RPG genre apart from the shooter genre and it is the lack of that customization that has me so confused while playing Mass Effect 2.

I’m not trying to say that Mass Effect 2 doesn’t allow you to upgrade your skill set within a leveling system, because it does. What I’m trying to articulate is that, unlike it’s predecessors, Mass Effect 2 narrows your gameplay customization to a point where you feel like you’re only upgrading what they want you to upgrade — a trait more closely associated with shooters than RPGs.

When all is said and done, Mass Effect 2 is the closest to a perfect game that I have ever played. One of the greatest aspects of the game is that it allows you to import your character from the first Mass Effect, which makes the second storyline unique to you. Relationships, whether characters lived or died and your general temperament are all carried over from that first save file. It is precisely that level of story customization, however, that makes me wonder why the gameplay feels so predetermined.

Mass Effect 2 is an enormous game that will take several play-throughs to fully appreciate all of it’s intricacies. As far as first impressions are concerned, I am extremely happy with this sequel, despite whatever nagging RPG vs. shooter questions that I may have. Perhaps I just need more time with this wonderful space drama to understand BioWare’s genre-bending sci-fi epic.

Mass Effect 2 | Reg: $59.95 | Sale: $56.99 | Buy Now

“Launching MSNBC and MSNBC HD on AT&T U-verse in the broader Connecticut area could not come at a better time,” said Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC. “MSNBC has established itself as ‘The Place for Politics,’ achieving historic ratings success, and we look forward to being widely available in the Connecticut area.”

The MSNBC channels were previously available in other AT&T U-verse markets. U-verse offers 120 HD channels in Connecticut via their IPTV service, which also includes voice and internet.

The PlayStation blog’s Eric Levine recently announced that, in addition the the normal retail launch, the God of War III Ultimate Edition will be available on the same date. The Ultimate Edition contains, “premium collectibles and digital content that is fit for any Spartan warrior”.

God of War III continues the story of Kratos, a Spartan warrior waging war against the gods of Mount Olympus. For those of you who are interested in picking up God of War III but have never played the first two installments, The God of War: Collection is currently available for only $29.99 This collection features both God of War I and II beautifully remastered in HD for your PlayStation 3. God of War III is available for pre-order in both Standard and Ultimate Editions on Amazon.com.

God of War III has been rated M by the ESRB.

The standard-def 480i feed will be available on FiOS channel 103 in parts of New Jersey, Long Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. In New Jersey, MSNBC will launch by Feb. 11.

Verizon also says it has made its FiOS TV service available to over 800,000 residencies in the five burrows area since 2008, and will continue to expand to more neighborhoods this year. “Rollout of FiOS TV is on the fast track in the city,” said Christopher Creager, president of Verizon’s Northeast region.

MSNBC HD launched in July ‘09 and is available in HD through Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Dish Network, AT&T U-verse, and other providers.

Today Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs finally unveiled the iPad, an HD tablet designed to fill the space between the iPhone and the home PC. Not only will this new tablet run HD movies, iWorks and Safari, but Jobs also boasts that it was built to run iPhone apps and games, full screen, at two times their native resolution.

Up until now Apple has been slowly breaking into the gaming market with the success of their app store. Game developers like Gameloft, Gamevil and EA have used the platform to produce wonderful, full game experiences but have been somewhat hampered by the iPhone’s lower resolution and processing speeds. It seems, however, that Apple is hoping to boost their gaming credibility with the introduction of the iPad.

The iPad boasts a 1GHz Apple A4 processing chip and up to 64GB of built-in storage capacity. It has a 9.7 inch multi-touch screen that nearly doubles the resolution of the current iPhones. Gameloft and EA Mobil have already created iPad enhanced versions of their games N.O.V.A and Need for Speed: Shift which take advantage of the iPad’s higher resolution and larger screen real estate.

The base model iPad is going to be released for a mere $499 USD and will be able to support at least 140,000 of the current applications in the app store. The current release is scheduled for March of 2010. More detail to come as they are released by Apple.

With yesterday’s release of their latest and greatest game, BioWare’s project director Casey Hudson has been fielding an awful lot of interest from Hollywood. The subject of interest is, not surprisingly, the epic, character driven world of Mass Effect.

Casey recently told MTV, “Obviously we have a tremendous amount of interest from people in Hollywood to make a major motion picture about Mass Effect. The most important thing for us is, we don’t just want to see a movie get made. We want to see a great movie get made, if it’s going to get done at all.”

Mass Effect has, without a doubt, one of the most developed and believable worlds in gaming’s history. The team at BioWare have poured their souls into creating a beautiful universe in which their characters can live. The question is, will Hollywood pursue the cerebral, mature story lines that BioWare have worked so hard to create, or will the Mass Effect movie get shoe-horned into a violent, machismo-driven action movie? Only time will tell.

For now, however, we can all enjoy Mass Effect 2, in stores as of yesterday, January 26th. Mass Effect 2 has been rated M by the ESRB.

Comcast also recently added 40 new HD channels in the Pottstown, PA market, as part of its “World of More” digital upgrade. Those channels include AMC HD, AMC HD, Discovery HD, History Channel HD and Syfy HD.

In related news, Comcast says they plan to have more 3D content than anyone else as it becomes available, citing their early 3D content testing of Hannah Montana: The Movie back in 2008, and other films such as My Bloody Valentine and Coraline. The company is currently offering anaglyph versions of The Final Destination in both standard and high-definition 3D.

The matches will also be streamed on the BBC website and available on BBC iPlayer.

The Six Nations Championship, also known as the RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) 6 Nations, is a yearly rugby union between six sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The competition was founded in 1883 and before the year 2000 was known as the Five Nations Championship.

BBC Six Nations Rugby Editor Carl Hicks said, “It’s quite apt, then, that the occasion will be even more of a viewing spectacle as every game, from the Northern Hemisphere’s premier rugby tournament, will be available in high definition.”

In 2008 the BBC test screened a Six Nations match between Scotland and England in HD 3D, which was the first live international sport to do so.

How are Blu-ray Discs selling compared to DVD?

According to the same research, DVD revenue was up 6.17% from the same week last year at $141 million ending Jan. 17, 2010. Compare that with Blu-ray Disc revenue at $18.94 million — a number indeed much less, but a percentage up a whopping 79.36% from last year.

Is Blu-ray catching up to DVD?

A recent In-Stat report says that by the year 2013 80 million network-enabled Blu-ray player units will ship, a number following hot on the heels the 90 million DVD units to ship. And, because of the higher cost of a BD player revenue will exceed that of DVD players.

“The cost differential between standard definition DVD and Blu-ray is becoming much smaller and new features such as IP/network connectivity are becoming increasingly important,” says In-Stat analyst Michelle Abraham.

What about VOD?

Although the video server market suffered in 2008 and 2009 due to the troubled economy, as well as less demand for servers following the completion of the June ‘09 digital conversion, the need for servers will continue to grow as the public’s demand for VOD increases. A Frost & Sullivan report projects the world-wide video server market to exceed $1.2 billion in revenues by 2014.

See this link for the Top 20 Blu-ray Discs ending Jan. 17, 2009.

]]> http://www.hd-report.com/2010/01/27/top-selling-blu-ray-discs-2/feed/ 0 http://www.hd-report.com/2010/01/27/top-selling-blu-ray-discs-2/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/hd-report/iaYB/~3/Azuf2MQINl0/ http://www.hd-report.com/2010/01/26/oppo-releases-less-expensive-blu-ray-player/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:23:07 +0000 Jeff Chabot http://www.hd-report.com/?p=3697 Oppo has released the BDP-80 Blu-ray Disc player, their cheapest player yet at $289. The BDP-80 features 1080p24 at 24Hz, SACD & DVD-Audio/Video, and BD-Live (w/1GB memory). For audio the BDP-80 supports Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, 7.1 Channel output, and comes with digital optical and coaxial outputs.

Oppo also has the higher-end BDP-83 and BDP-83SE Blu-ray players, priced at $499 and $899 respectively. While the BDP-80 is much less expensive than those models, the $289 price tag is still a bit too expensive if you consider it lacks streaming media capability (a feature that can be found in even less expensive models from other brands).

More features lacking in the BDP-80 (present in the higher-end BDP-83) are DVD 24p conversion, IR In/Out ports, and RS-232 remote control — although you would expect to have to give up some goodies to keep the cost down.