Sony has launched the new VAIO Z series in India.Weighing in at 1.48 kg, the VAIO Z laptops come in a matte black finish and boasts of a carbon fibre body. The centre of the silver hinge, comprises part of the battery and houses the recessed power switch. A seamless sheet of brushed aluminum covers the keyboard panel framing its individual keys.Available in two new models - VGN-Z13GN/B and VGN-Z12GN/B - the notebooks are priced at Rs. 1,24, 900 and Rs. 99,990 respectively.
Running on Intel Centrino2 Processor Technology, the VGN-13GN/B is equipped with a 4 GB DDR3 SRAM and a 320 GB hard disk drive while the VGN-12GN/B comes with 2 GB DDR3 SRAM and a 250 GB hard disk drive. Both models have Microsoft Windows Vista Business pre-installed and come with G-Sensor Shock Protection technology to counteract sudden movements helping to prevent damage and data loss.Comprised of two graphics processors - NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS GPU for full graphics acceleration and Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD for mobile situations - the system lets users manually choose either SPEED or STAMINA mode. The setting is changed via a conveniently located switch above the keyboard and does not require rebooting.
VAIO Z is equipped with a biometric fingerprint sensor for speedy logins and TPM (Trusted Platform Module) security chip and proprietary hard disk drive password protection software to help protect data from unauthorized access.
The laptops' display has a 16:9 aspect ratio at 1600 x 900 pixels, built-in 802.11n wireless LAN capabilities, an optional Blu-ray Disc optical drive, an HDMI port, three USB ports, Memory Stick media/SD card slot and microphone and headphone jack and a PC Card (type-II) slot.
The new VAIO Z series will be available at Sony owned stores, select national retail partners, as well as select Sony authorized dealers across the country.
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When 2008 started, everyone hoped to see a conclusion of the next-generation DVD format war between Toshiba's HD DVD and Sony's Blu-ray. In the end, Blu-ray has officially won this "battle," with Toshiba admitting defeat and moving on to other segments of the CE market. However, this victory might be relatively short-lived (compared to the lifespan of the DVD format, for example), at least according to what a Samsung manager has to say.Thus, in an interview for the Pocket-lint website, Andy Griffiths, director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK, stated that the format backed by Sony "has 5 years left," then adding that he "certainly wouldn't give it 10." Nevertheless, the format will most likely enjoy a huge level of success over the course of 2008 and the next 2-3 years, before its possible rivals emerge. Moreover, Samsung seems to be taking a pretty big slice of this pie, the company's standalone players enjoying a considerable level of success.Unfortunately, the Samsung representative doesn't point out any technologies as a possible Blu-ray replacement, and it's quite difficult to place a bet on just what the respective tech will be, especially since there are so many to choose from: flash memory, cloud-like computing environments, holographic storage... who knows, sky's the limit.
OK, so all in all, this might be just the personal opinion of Mr. Griffiths. However, since he's a top-executive of one of the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturers, he might actually be on to something.
Actually, if this prediction turns out to be right, we might witness a very strange situation: the parallel death of both last-gen (DVD) and next-gen (Blu-ray) optical discs, since the DVD will most likely still be around in 5 years. Yes, folks, the future's a very interesting one...
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Panasonic has introduced two new Blu-ray players – the DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55.The players claim to feature technology that reproduces movies with colors 'faithful' to the original. The PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus video processor, (included in the player's circuitry) was developed after more than 15 years of collaboration between Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory and professional cinema studios in Hollywood.Both models feature an HD Audio Decoder (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTSTM-HD Master Audio Essential), which support the 7.1-channel surround sound newly adopted in Blu-ray Discs.
The Panasonic BD55 has a 192kHz, 24bit, audio digital-analog converter plus high quality components, as quoted in their release. The DMP-BD55 can also output analog signals for 7.1-channel sound.
Another cool USP is the slim design, which is due to something called the UniPhier chip. UniPhier is a Panasonic-created system LSI developed by applying 45-nanometer processing to a consumer product – a world’s first. This single-chip integration technology also contributes greatly to the BD35’s slim height of 49mm.
Both the BD35 and BD55 feature BD-Live compatibility which enables users to connect to the Internet to download images, subtitles and other data, and take part in interactive activities and multi-player games linked to bonus cinema content found on Blu-ray Discs.
There's no information on the pricing yet.
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As some of you probably know, for quite a long time, the IFA show in Berlin has been all about the latest developments in the TV industry, but, over the years, it has expanded quite a lot, now housing just about every type of consumer electronic product one might think of. Nevertheless, the most important names in the industry use this event in order to promote their latest and most attractive TV sets, and that's also the case with Sharp, which has just unveiled the Aquos XS1 super-thin HDTV LCD, as well as several other interesting A/V products.The first thing that draws anyone's attention to the XS1 is, without a doubt, the very thin profile, namely 23 mm at the thinnest side, but, unfortunately, 46 mm at the thickest (otherwise, it might have snatched away the title of world's thinnest LCD TV from Sony). Moreover, the TV set also boasts an absolutely extraordinary dynamic contrast ratio (1,000,000:1), which is also comparable to that of the most advanced models announced today by Sony.The XS1 is available in two different variants, one measuring 52 inches in diagonal, while the other is significantly larger, at 65 inches. Both versions deliver full HD, 1920 x 1080 pixel resolutions, as well as 100Hz motion processing and a detachable speaker system, developed together with Pioneer.
Beside this ultra-thin HDTV, the company has also announced several other products, including a few "normal" and some eco-friendly LCD units, as well as a Blu-ray player, the BD-HP21H, which supports Bonus View Profile 1.1 and also sports a quick-start mode.
Unfortunately, none of the products mentioned above has received a price tag, but we sure hope that we'll see them in stores as soon as possible, perhaps even before the year's end.Source : softpedia.com
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Like everyone, Microsoft hates to back a loser. There comes a time though when you have to lick your wounds and suck it up. With the demise of Microsoft backed HD DVD, they are now working on incorporating the new storage option into Windows.Microsoft is developting a “Windows Feature Pack for Storage” for both Windows XP and Vista. On the Microsoft Connect website they highlight three new technologies each in their own installer for the prerelease beta:Active Storage Platform: This pre-release package enables the Windows platform to restrict access to portable devices (such as a USB Flash Device) via a certificate or password authentication based on the IEEE 1667 standard specification.
Image Mastering: API update for Blu-Ray media: This feature enables the Windows platform to do master style optical burning on Blu-Ray media.
Smart Card Drive:: This release provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID smart cards.
Maybe official Microsoft and Windows support for Blu-ray will help speed adoption rates for the new storage media.
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We expected LG’s new 6x external Blu-ray burner to perform similarly to the company’s GBW-H20L internal offering, what with the two having identical read/write speed ratings, but we were wrong. The external drive is a bigger, more expensive letdown.Like the GBW-H20L, the BE06 external model boasts an industry-leading 6x BD-R write rating. And here the latter performed accordingly, writing 22GB of data to a single-layer BD-R disc in a brisk 22:43 (min:sec)In BD-RE writes, however, the BE06 faltered—badly. Boasting the same 2x rating for rewriteable media as the GBW-H20L, the BE06 took more than twice as long as that drive to write 22GB of data to a BD-RE disc—a full hour and 28 minutes! That’s actually slower than just about any Blu-ray burner we’ve tested in recent memory. Not good.
The BE06 redeemed itself with DVD-R writes. The drive is rated at 16x and was able to write 4.38GB to a single-layer disc in 5:42—a second faster than the LG GBW-H20L. The drives were as closely matched on DVD-R reads.
While there’s something to be said for the convenience of an external drive with a USB 2.0 interface, this is offset by the BE06’s gargantuan size. The enclosure is nearly 3 inches longer and an inch wider than its internal brethren—and $100 more expensive. Blu-ray is a tough enough sell as it is without tacking on this drive’s compromises. We’re unimpressed.
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The death of Toshiba's HD-DVD high-definition format triggered a series of losses in revenue that are reported to have reached alarming levels. According to Toshiba, the company's profit barely reached a faint 1.25 billion yen, much lower than
the expected 26.17 billion yen achieved an year earlier.
The company estimates that it lost about $461 million in discontinuing the HD-DVD business, such as dealing with leftover inventory as well as shutting down assembly lines or shedding jobs. More than that, Toshiba was already facing significant operational loses for the fiscal year ending March 31, situated at about 60.2 billion yen.
Retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy tried to keep its customers by offering them either return deals or further discounts for those who had purchased HD-DVD players. However, Toshiba took the greatest blow and saw its profit sink.According to Toshiba, its net profit fell 7.3 percent to 127.4 billion yen ($1.23 billion) during the fiscal year that ended March. Operating profit also went down slipped 7.8 percent to 238.1 billion yen, but revenue rose 7.8 percent to 7.67 trillion yen.
"We saw a deterioration in profit related to the termination of the HD DVD businesses," Toshiba corporate executive vice president Fumio Muraoka said during a news conference. "This impact was a major factor for the bottomline profit decline," Muraoka continued.
The HD-DVD group announced that it would cease its involvement on the high-definition market and allow Sony's Blu-Ray format to become the next industry standard.
However, as Toshiba continues to suffer after the death of its format, it seems like the Brazilian division of the company could be about to launch a hybrid TV tuner, as well as a Blu-Ray and HD DVD player. The new player will be manufacturer by Semp Toshiba in Brazil, and is expected to hit the shelves in early May.
The embedded system will be powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 and will run Windows Home Premium. More than that, the new player will be able to render both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks, along other optical media.
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Ever since Blu-ray emerged as the winner in the HD wars, there's been a steady rise in the number of manufacturers offering drives based on this format for laptops – and now, desktops. LG, with its GGW-HXXX series, is one. The GGW-H20L drive is LG's second generation drive with 6x BD-R writing support, HD-DVD playback, and a range of burning capabilities for normal CDs/DVDs, including Lightscribe.
Before we proceed, I'd like to point out that due to unavoidable circumstances we were badly hampered (to know about the problems we faced, read on). Being PC-based, the H20L is a straightforward drive with just a polished black front panel. Connectivity is via SATA, which has become common. There is nothing much to report about its profile, as it’s identical to just about every ODD out there.For our performance tests, we used a rig with these specifications:
AMD X2 4800 with 2GB RAM
Nvidia 9800 GTX GPU
Viewsonic 22-inch Vx2255WM
BenQ 24-inch G2400W
Testing this drive was a challenge in itself. Due to a severe lack of Blu-ray media in India, we had to resort to getting these imported at quite a prohibitive cost. The discs we used were Sony’s 25 GB BD-RE 2X and Panasonic's BD 25 GB 2x BD-R. Despite our best efforts, we were simply unable to secure faster media and due to this we had to change our plans. The initial idea was to do a comprehensive Blu-ray media shootout, but this obviously had to be scuttled.
Before we proceed, I'd like to point out that due to unavoidable circumstances we were badly hampered (to know about the problems we faced, read on). Being PC-based, the H20L is a straightforward drive with just a polished black front panel. Connectivity is via SATA, which has become common. There is nothing much to report about its profile, as it’s identical to just about every ODD out there.For our performance tests, we used a rig with these specifications:AMD X2 4800 with 2GB RAM
Nvidia 9800 GTX GPU
Viewsonic 22-inch Vx2255WM
BenQ 24-inch G2400W
Testing this drive was a challenge in itself. Due to a severe lack of Blu-ray media in India, we had to resort to getting these imported at quite a prohibitive cost. The discs we used were Sony’s 25 GB BD-RE 2X and Panasonic's BD 25 GB 2x BD-R. Despite our best efforts, we were simply unable to secure faster media and due to this we had to change our plans. The initial idea was to do a comprehensive Blu-ray media shootout, but this obviously had to be scuttled.
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Perhaps in order to keep the keen eyes of both consumers and press away from the huge scandal involving its top management, the Korean company Samsung has decided that this is the best time to throw some pretty nifty new products on the market, some of them designed especially to occupy the central position in the users' entertainment centers.So, without further ado, let's see what old Sammy has in store for us: first of all, the company has unveiled two brand new lines of LCD HDTVs, the Series 6 650 and Series 7 750; then, in order to offer users something to play their Blu-ray movies on, Samsung has also announced the release of a fourth generation Blu-ray player, the BD-P1500, accompanied by the HT-AS720 Home Theater Audio System.First of all, let's see what the LCDs are all about. According to the company's statement, the main point of attraction offered by the new Series 6 650 and Series 7 750 is Samsung's ToC (Touch of Color) design, which features a hint of red color naturally blended into a semi-transparent piano black bezel, allowing the HDTV to harmonize with any décor.
However, the devices provide a lot more than a nice exterior. Thus, the Series 6 and 7 LCD HDTVs deliver a superior 1080p picture with up to a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, featuring crisp detail and vibrant colors supported by Samsung's Auto Motion Plus 120Hz and Ultra Clear Panel technologies.
Beyond improving picture quality, the Series 6 and Series 7 LCD HDTVs also offers users Samsung's InfoLink RSS service powered by USA Today, as well as access to the user’s digital media via USB 2.0 with WiseLink.
It's also interesting to mention that users are given quite a wide range of purchase choices. Thus, the Series 6 Full HD LCD TVs are supposed to already be available in the following sizes: 19.0-inches, 22.0-inches, 31.5-inches, 39.9-inches, 45.9-inches and 52.2-inches, with the price tags ranging from around 500 US dollars up to 3,200 US dollars. On the other hand, the 39.9-inch, 45.9-inch and 52.0-inch models from the 7 series will hit the shelves at some point in May 2008, their prices ranging between $2,600 and 3,500.
As mentioned earlier, the Korean company has also announced the release of a 4th generation Blu-ray player, the BD-P1500, supposed to significantly improve the home viewing experience. Furthermore, the BD-P1500 can upconvert standard DVDs to 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions and offers Full HD video playback capabilities for very clear pictures.
Designed with fans of multimedia technology in mind, the BD-P1500 easily connects to other digital devices through an HDMI 1.3 port with CEC for expanded color delivery and easy home theater control. The P1500 has BD Profile 1.1 Bonus View and is BD Live Ready. With its built-in Ethernet connection and USB input users can quickly upgrade their BD-P1500 with the latest firmware which ensures the player remains at the cutting edge of Blu-ray technology.
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Watching a Blu-ray movie in all its high-definition glory on your laptop may finally become an affordable prospect this year. Just don't wander too far from a power outlet.With the Sony-backed HD format emerging victorious from a two-year showdown with Toshiba's HD DVD, many laptop manufacturers are now scrambling to add Blu-ray drives in their desktop and notebook lineups. Next month, Dell will even introduce a sub-$1,000 Blu-ray notebook, according to Brian Zucker, a technology strategist for the company.
But the promise of viewing an increasing variety of HD movies on your laptop may be overshadowed by ongoing concerns over the technology's vampiric effect on battery life. Indeed, if the first generation of Blu-ray equipped laptops are any indication, you might not get more than halfway through that movie before running out of juice completely, analysts say.
"Blu-ray battery life is obviously a huge concern," says Yankee Group analyst Josh Martin.
"If you bought an iPhone and you couldn't watch a two-hour movie, which you barely can now, that would be a huge problem," Martin continued.Granted, batteries suck (along with other annoyances like spam filters and plastic packaging). That's largely because there is no Moore's Law for batteries. If battery power capacity improves 1 percent a year, that's considered pretty good. Batteries are more often afterthoughts for an industry obsessed with cramming as many new features into a notebook as possible.
Introducing Blu-ray drives to the mobile mix certainly isn't going to help matters. For now, the laptop manufacturers that have offered Blu-ray drives have also avoided revealing the precise effects of Blu-ray playback on battery life. That's probably for a very good reason, as some claim battery life can top out at one hour in some cases.
"The laser that runs the show [in Blu-ray players] is a very high-power laser," notes Mercury Research analyst Dean McCarron. That laser is one of the main things that conspire to raise power consumption.
The other part of the equation has to do with the process of decoding data from a Blu-ray disc and turning it into moving images on your screen. When Blu-ray was first introduced, this process was all done in software, which is very taxing on the CPU, eating up processing cycles and power.
"Any time you introduce a new technology like this, the initial products tend to be more power-hungry," McCarron says. "Once you get to a certain point, though, the industry usually starts the refinement process."
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Panasonic has announced their development of the world's thinnest internal Blu-ray drive. At just 9.5 mm tall, it's thin enough for laptops but still packs a performance punch. We're talking 2X recording for both BD-R and BD-RE (rewritable) discs, along with BD-R DL support (but we're guessing that the dual layer writing is just 1X...have fun burning those 50GB discs). The drive also supports DVDs with 8x burning on all types of discs. It's priceless for now with Panasonic only shipping units to manufacturers at the moment, but we'll get more details soon when it's on display at CES. And here is the rest of it.
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