Latest Gear Live Videos
Panasonic VIERA CAST Adopts Amazon VOD
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies,
Watch out, Netflix, you have some competition. Panasonic has now announced that it is teaming with Amazon Video On Demand on their 2009 VIERA CAST enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray products. Grab yourself one and you will have access to over 40,000 titles. In addition, you can get YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg News and weather. We have to admit we like VOD as they often have some freebies and that is a good thing. Look for the new VIERA CAST early this year.
Read More 
| Akihabara News
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Sharp build Blu-ray players into BD-series Aquos LCD HDTV line
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: CES, CES 2009, HDTV, Home Entertainment,
Sharp is aiming to help eliminate at least one set-top box from your rack with their BD-series Aquos LCD HDTVs, which come with a Blu-ray player packed in to the television unit, announced today at CES 2009. If interested, you can pick one up later this month in 32-, 37-, or 42-inch flavors, or if you need something larger, next month the 46- and 52-inch models drop. These also bost the Superlucent ASV panel technology which means less glare in the end, and a brighter picture. It also does 24p through HDMI, in case you have an old HD DVD player you have lying around that you want to use (since the included Blu-ray technology doesn’t use up an HDMI port.) QAM and ATSC tuners along with RS-232C inputs round this one out. Full release after the break.
Click to continue reading Sharp build Blu-ray players into BD-series Aquos LCD HDTV line
VIZIO busts out $200 VBR100 Blu-ray player at CES 2009
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: CES, CES 2009, HDTV, Home Entertainment,
So, you know how VIZIO was working on switching from being a discount player to wanting to be seen more as a high end manufacturer? Well, looks like they are looking to merge those two together with their VBR100 Blu-ray deck, which they announced today at CES 2009. Here’s a look at the features of this 2-inch thick Blu-ray player:
- Video outputs: HDMI (1.3), component, and composite
- Audio outputs: 7.1 channel analog audio, coax and optical digital audio, and analog stereo (RCA)
- Dimensions: 17 X 11 X 2”
- Includes Remote Control (Oh rly??)
In addition, when watching a standard DVD, you can set the player to upconvert to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p, and it has on-board Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoders, and that can be output from the unit’s 7.1 analog outputs. You can pick this one up in April for $199.99.
Gallery:
Panasonic Plasma 3DTV With Blu-ray Player
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies,
You will still need some glasses, but Panasonic will be offering a 103-inch Plasma 3DTV and Blu-ray disc player that will deliver 1930x1080p high def. The company says that they put 2 sets of HD images onto one disc and have a way to record, decode and playback the images. The glasses themselves are synchronized shutters instead of those cheapy ones you used to watch Captain Eeo way back at Disneyland. Okay, but we bet they will still be nerdy and prices will be expensive plus.
Read More | fav.or.it
NU EBC 100 DVD and Blu-ray External Drive
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Movies, PC / Laptop, USB,
Taiwan’s NU EBC 100 is said to be the slimmest Blu-ray combination external drive with 8X DVD writer and 2X Blu-ray ROM. It is plug and play with its USB 2.0 interface but also comes with power adapter. At a size of 155 x 141 x 17.6mm and weight of 400g, it automatically adjusts writing speed to minimize error of low quality during high-speed recording. It also prevents under run errors and stabilizes while writing. No availability or price has been announced at this point.
Read More | Fareast Gizmos
Huge First Week for Dark Knight DVD
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Sequels, Home Entertainment,
Although you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t already seen The Dark Knight on the big screen, there are many who would still like to watch it at home as well.
In just one week, the Warner Bros. film has set itself up to be the hottest DVD title of the year. The blockbuster earned nearly $1 billion during its first theatrical run and has now sold 13.5 million discs worldwide. The figure includes 1.7 million Blu-ray units - a record number for that format.
The Batman sequel is expected to officially surpass Iron Man - the current #1 seller - within the next week.
Come next month, Dark Knight will be returning to the cineplexes as well.
Read More | Variety
Epson Desktop ST120 Endeavor
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: HDTV, PC / Laptop,
Epson has hopped on the Blu-ray express with the Endeavor. They have announced an upgraded desktop ST120 with a Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz), 1GB of RAM, 80GB HDD and a Blu-ray burner. It also features Digital TV Tuner MonsterTV HDUS, HDMI out and a GM45 Express chipset. Upgradeable to 320GB or a Core 2 DUO P8600, T9400 or T9600, the diminutive Japanese PC carries a price of ¥137500 (~$1543.00.)
Read More | Akihabara News
2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Wicked Lasers SONAR II Burner
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Misc. Tech, Science, Men, Techies,
So we’ve been trying to stay fairly frugal in our 2008 Gift Guide, but we’ve gotten a bunch of email from people asking where all the high-priced items have gone. We figured today we’d answer that with the Wicked Lasers SONAR II Burner laser. We’ve been playing around with one for a few days, and we can definitely say that it exhibits a cool factor (and geek cred!) Why? For starters, it’s a fricken laser. Secondly, the specific laser diode that’s in this one is the same as you’d find in a Blu-ray player. Yeah, a Blu-ray laser, in the palm of your hand. Sick, right? You’ve got a 405nm violet beam at your fingertips. Of course, all that power comes at a price, and if you wanna get in on the action, the Sonar II Burner will cost you $1,999.99. See? We weren’t kidding.
Read More | Wicked Lasers Sonar II Burner
Gear Live Magic Giveaway: HP Mini 1000, Office 2007, Kung Fu Panda, VideoStudio X
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Hot Deals, Microsoft, Movies, PC / Laptop,
So, our HP Magic Giveaway winner was awesome enough to give back to the community, thus invoking a second giveaway. We’ve got an HP Mini 1000 here, along with a bunch of software as well. Specifically, here’s the prize package:
- HP Mini 1000 (Windows XP)
- Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 with 3 licenses
- Microsoft WIndows Live
- Corel VideoStudio X
- Kung-Fu Panda on Blu-ray disc, and DVD
We’re going to use the same entrance criteria that we used last time, since that seemed to work so well. Here’s how to enter to win:
- If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Gear Live account
- If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Twitter account
- Add the Gear Live Twitter account to your follow list
- On Twitter, post a tweet about our contest and link to this page. In the tweet, include the phrase “#gearlive”.
- Once that is done, leave a comment here in this post with a direct link back to your Tweet. Be sure you are signed in to your Gear Live account before you leave the comment.
Here’s an example of an appropriate Twitter entry:
“Entering to win an HP Mini! http://059.qlnk.net/ #gearlive”
BONUS ENTRIES: Want more chances to win? Share the link to our contests on the following sites, and leave us a comment linking to those as well:
- Facebook: Shared Link
- Del.icio.us bookmark
- FriendFeed: Use Post a Link
- Your blog: Have a site? Link to our contest on it!
Remember: The bonus entries are just that - bonus. In order to be eligible to win, you must complete the core Twitter requirements.
Now, as to the actual contest dates. The contest starts today, December 5th. You have until 11:59 PM PST on December 11th to enter your comments here on this post. We will then announce our winner, chosen randomly out of all valid entrants and bonus points, on December 12th.
Aaaaaand - we’ve got our winner!
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: The Dark Knight
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Men, Teens, Under $25,
We have yet to come across anyone who didn’t appreciate this movie (and we’re sure they’ll come out of the woodwork in the comments now that we said that,) and it is with good reason. The Dark Knight has so much going for it in terms of entertainment value and action. Batman’s voice aside, everything about this movie screamed “awesome.” This is why we have to recommend it in our Holiday Gift Guide. Now, primarily we are recommending The Dark Knight Blu-ray, because that is going to give you the amazing visuals and sound you come to expect from a movie like this. That said, we understand that not everyone is equipped with the latest in high definition gadgetry, so we will also recommend The Dark Knight Special Edition DVD as well. The Blu-ray version retails for $35.99, but we found it on Amazon for 33% off at $23.99. The special edition DVD version sells for $34.98, and we found it for 40% off on Amazon at $20.99.
