Vista To release Service Pack 2 in April 2009

[ad#digg-right] Some sources are reporting that Vista SP2 will be out in April.   According to Engadget they claim TechARP is a bunch of Malaysian Kids that like to boast about how they broke the Vista SP1 and XP SP3 release schedules to the world.  They claim though that Vista Release candidate is to be out around February.Microsoft has indicated that this SP3 will include Windows Search 4, Bluetooth 2.1 wireless support, faster resume from sleep when a wireless connection has been broken and support for Blu-ray.   I personally think it will include some of Windows 7 features to better get people accustomed to Windows 7 when they come out.

[ad#ad2-left]Although this is speculation and no hard evidence I think it has some merit due to the fact that Microsoft has admitted in the past that Vista was a big Letdown.  I don't think they can any more to damage than they have already done.   If anything Windows 7 will be a easy Success if they pull it off in the right way!!!  Although with WIndows 7 be leaked online there is no telling what will happen. I am sure what ever happens will be interesting to say the least!!!

Memorex releases a cheaper Blue Ray player than a PlayStation 3.

According to there website It can do this:
* Progressive scan Blu-ray Disc player 1080p capability for higher definition video content
* Full HD 1080p, DVD up-conversion up to 1080p (480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p), 24p, 60p video frame rate
* Multi-channel audio content (supports more advanced Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD)
* BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, CD-ROM, CD, CD-R/-RW
* 16:9 / 4:3 picture select
* On-screen graphical user interface
* Slow motion function (2x - 4x - 8x)
* RW/FF play function (2x - 4x - 8x - 16x)
* VFD display

[ad#ad2-left]The price of the unit at Memorex is 269.99$.   I think this is a great buy if all you need is a blue ray player.  Cheaper than buying a PS3.  Although if you want to buy a PlayStation 3 to play games and also watch movies on it that is still a good deal.   So why buy this player,  this will  not play games and keep your happy.

Is Hulu the "salad course"?

As I've been watching Hulu the last few months.  I've come to think that Hulu isn't offering us the viewers the chance of a full course meals.  They seem to like to stop after the first 2-3 seasons on most of the shows.    I recently contacted Hulu about the Naruto episodes and here's what they had to say about it:

Thanks for the email. On background, sometime in the coming weeks, Hulu
will get the remaining episodes of Naruto Season 1, and we'll also get
episodes from Season 2-3 in the future as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Brandon Boone

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So why does Hulu do this? I have a theory and this is one that most people will agree on. My theory is that the distributors are trying to entice us into buying the rest of the seasons from someplace, like Amazon or Itunes. Now I am going to have to say this is really stupid way of business and will sooner or later create even more of a demand to download these shows illegally. In the past people have always looked for the cheap way to watch there favorite shows.

Increasingly people are using BitTorrent to download their favorite TV-shows. The rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. It’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free and should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat.
[Via Torrentfreak]

It is one thing to offer free content and get revenue from the free content. It is another to offer free shows and encourage people to download the rest of the show illegally.

Why do they want to buy the rest of the episodes, it is simple math.  They are wanting to get the money for each DVD you buy.  In today's economy there seems to be less and less Blue ray sales.

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Published: September 23, 2008 - 08:18PM CT

The numbers show that Blu-ray's market share dropped 13.39 percent from the previous week, and that DVD's numbers actually went up by 0.15 percent. Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy recently told Home Media Magazine that he didn't expect Blu-ray to have much of an impact on the company's DVD business in 2008 at all. Citing high player prices, he said that only a fraction of Netflix subscribers currently rent Blu-ray disks.

[via Arstechnica]

Although, this is a couple weeks old article from arstechnica, I thought it was more relevant than most. It talks about how people can't afford to buy a player and the BD Dvd's due to the high prices and charge more than they should. So why do it in the first place? I don't know but all this is showing people are having to choice cheaper and cheaper ways to watch what they want because of the US economy slinding further into recession.

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What is your most favorite show or movie?  Are you willing to pay a lot for the movie?  These are questions,  that we have to challenge Hulu and other shows on why they only have 2 or 3 seasons of a particluar series.  Is it right to have lure us into the episode and not offer more episodes later on?

HD Ware in Downloads!

Although, I think HD is the same thing as Blu-ray.  Most people now a days are looking into the the download section instead of having a DVD.  So here is what I think they missed.  Some things you might be missing is that Hulu has decided to take on the cause and start publishing the HD videos.

Having seen, the devastation of the format war. Engadget talked about this same little thing.   Either way I think we only begun to see the relevance and cost of downloading.  We've got two different formats trying to get on the bandwidth of your local ISP.  Here's where it get hard.  Which of the two would you rather download, a 8 gig or a 20 gig file.  Then you have to think of how much time it will take to download the file so you could watch it.

As you can see it gets so hard to download all these types of files when you could stream it.  Yes you could download it but downloading it takes time.  Why not watch it in relatively short time, like 10 minutes or so!! So I thought I throw out a few ideas on stream this HD without having to download it.

Hulu

As with Anyhting else, You can have standard definition videos and High Def Videos come from this little site.  It takes so little time going to site that you to can find some really good videos at this.  This show That I used as an example.

Hulu HD

CBS

Having been using CBS for all my standard def and high def experiences.  I've found that this site is also just as good as Hulu.  Although I think Hulu is the best there is, this is definitely second on my list!!

NBC

NBC has so many shows coming to there fall line up, I actually have them on my list also for third.  Although they will never compete with Hulu due to the fact they have server and lag issues they have been really nice to go to when I need to find a program that I've missed or wanted to watch.

ABC Family

ABC Family has so many good shows on that are original and also very nice to watch.  Most of these others that I've listed. The one that I like is:

KyleXY

Fancast

This is the the last one.  It's called fancast.  They actually have like a variety of networks linked into this little site.  They have NBC, CBS, and Hulu which is really good.  I like to go here to find some of the ones that others don't have.  Let me show you one  of them that you can only watch at fancast.

Farscape

I am sure there are others that you can only watch there on Fancast but that one is the one that I've found that I can only watch there.  You can even watch trailers there to.  If you know something that I've missed please leave a comment.  I want to find out more free streaming sites.

Is HD Players Really Dead?

Now in an article I read Blue Ray Takes the Lead by a blog called ITola. I was reading this and had to ask myself some questions and try to figure out some answers.

Is HD Players really Dead?

My Answer is : "NO"

I don't say that lightly for several reasons. Recently today Arstechnica states that Universal and Paramount haven't changed there stance on switching to Blu-Ray. Now why is that a big deal, it just proves that there is something that Blu-Ray Founders don't know . Here's what I know, having thought about this for several days. If cable companies start offering Blu-ray HD movies in there service that is some major bandwitdth. Even though HD DVDS are 15 GB and Blu-ray DVD's are 20 GB, Blu-ray Movies would take some time to download or stream it. Blu-ray would have to compresse the file into small pieces to even view the movie. Although HD movies are a little smaller they require less bandwitdth and in doing so are faster and easier to watch on Hulu and other sites like that. They have a HD Gallery that is really nice to watch on my intel and seems to work really well for an example of the HD Horton Hears a Who! - Trailer to see what I mean by the HD. I love how they stream it without much of a problem. Now if that was going to be a Blu-Ray HD movie it would be crazy to try to stream it. I think HD will not die, it will however change if needed into a way to stream really good video and movies on the internet. I think we haven't seen the HD and Blu-ray Wars going way soon. It will continue without much help from anyone. The way I see it, the world will always change and go about it's business. I know there is always going to be a choice and I hope to see this type of competition more often with players.

CES-TPN-2008-01-08_06 Blu-Ray Triumphant

As most of you know about the Blu-ray and HD DVD players. The article that I'm referring to is:

Warner goes Blu-ray exclusive, delivering crushing blow to HD DVD

I thought people would get a kick out of this Video about HD DVD and Blu-ray. Andy McCaskey from Slashdotreviews does a video about this. Take a look. Enjoy!

Philips and Lite-on announce a $199 Blu-ray drive

All the action in the next-gen format war might be at the front lines of cut-rate players, but the battle rages on across the entire spectrum of devices -- which is why we've seen the poor $199 DH-401S BD-ROM drive from Philips and Lite-on touted as the answer to those $200 HD-A2s in a couple places. That's quite a stretch, obviously, but it's still much cheaper than any other BD-ROM drives we've seen. The read-only SATA drive pulls data off BD media at 4X, single layer DVDs at 12X, DVD-DL and DVD±RW at 8x, and CDs at 32X. Giving up write capabilites is obviously limiting, but for those of you building out HTPCs, this bad boy might be just the ticket.

[Thanks, AG23]

Man this is definitely going to be a long format war, I do not know who is going to win!

Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player: $100, this Friday, Wal-Mart

Still waiting to jump into the high def disc game? Or just wanted another weaker, cheaper player for the last-gen TV you phased out to your rumpus room? Well, whatever your reasons, some (not all!) Wal-Mart locations will be selling Toshiba HD-A2s for $100 -- down from $200 -- this Friday. Ridiculous, we know. Blu-ray gonna fight back? We hope so, we'd really like to get our hands on one for under $300, and not just by using our hookup that sells gear out of his trunk, you know?

Wouldn't you know it the day they do this is the day I've got to pay bills!! Oh well, Don't have an HD Tv so that isn't going to be a big deal.

Panasonic's internal LF-PB271JD drive burns Blu-ray at 4x

Nah, Panasonic's LF-PB271JD couldn't hold a candle to Sony's BWU-200S in a runway competition, but when it comes to performance, we'd say the two are practically neck and neck. This unit fits snuggly within any Windows-based machine lookin' for a 5.25-inch optical drive, and it has no problems burning dual-layer BD-Rs at a furious (ahem) 4x pace. Additionally, you'll find a SATA interface along with backup software bundled in, and just in case you're not working exclusively with BD-R, it can also toast BD-RE at 2x, DVD±R at 16x, DVD±R DL at 8x, DVD-RW at 6x, CD-R at 40x and CD-RW at 24x. Of course, you'll be paying through the nose for the luxuries presented when it lands on November 10th, but the ¥55,000 ($468) asking price is still a good bit lower than what Sony's demanding.

[Via Impress]

Now if they could make an internal Blue Ray burner for laptops!! ;)