You’ve been a High Definition person since long time however you still did not get a Blu-ray player? You are not alone. There’s been a lot of press about how Blu-ray players sales are disappointing right now, when everyone expected sales to go up after HD DVD threw in the towel. The problem is that HD DVD just recently died in the market and anyone who followed the format war knows that this could be the worst time since Blu-ray was released to buy a Blu-ray player. This is because the newest Blu-ray titles are finally taking using latest audio codecs and the latest interactive features, but the players that are currently available are not only unable to take advantage of the latest features, but also cost more than the next generation that is due relatively soon. They are about to extinct without any new codec updates. So while it’s fun to say the reason people aren’t buying is because DVD is good enough, or because the cost is too high; we prefer to think that consumers are smart enough to know that is’t better to wait a month or two for the full featured, less expensive players.

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The release date of Samsung BD-P1500 was postponed from May to July due to change in the product. Samsung made a last moment decision to include BD-Live in Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray player — which is a very smart business decision.Samsung announced its fourth generation Samsung BD-P1500 will be BD-Live Ready. The bad news is the May release date announced earlier has slipped to June, and the formerly comfortable $399 MSRP is now a less promising TBA. We’re not sure if that “ready” tag means it will be BD-Live enabled out of the gate, however DTS-HD “High resolution” is confirmed on the way in a future firmware update.

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While Shuttle’s KPC most certainly wasn’t aimed at the enthusiast in the crowd, its newest XPC definitely is. The XPC G5 6801M gets going with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, LG’s GGC-H20L Blu-ray / HD DVD combo drive, ATI’s 256MB HD 3450 graphics card, a DVB-T tuner, 25-in-1 multicard reader and 7.1-channel audio output. Moreover, you’ll find gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, a slew of USB / eSATA ports, DVI / VGA out (DVI-HDMI adapter thrown in) and a bundled remote to make your life even easier. If you’re digging where this is going, you can latch on to one of these boxes for €1,091 ($1,727), and if you’ve turned a cold shoulder to HD DVD, a BD-only unit can be had for €167 ($264) less.

[Via Bios Magazine]

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Ending the awful (two) days of waiting, NetBlender’s officially presenting its latest innovation, BD Touch. Bringing together Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch and Blu-ray’s BD-Live internet connection to potentially allow combinations like sending copies of a movie to iPhone directly from the disc menu, viewing fan created content in sync with a movie or, yes, using the iPhone as a remote control. All that geolocation, 3D motion sensitive, multitouch and predictive keyboard could be a part of our favorite movie (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) — once some developer makes it happen. The disc authoring end of the tool is built into NetBlender’s DoStudio software, while there are two iPhone SDKs (the Connect SDK is free, while the Premiere Blend/In SDK adds functionality but requires certification and licensing) available. Video demos are after the jump, so take a look and see what you can come up with.

Continue reading BD Touch Blu-ray disc-to-iPhone app officially unveiled

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Merely hours after The 6th Day hit retail floors, Gaming Bits was able to secure a copy, pop it in a PlayStation 3 and test out those BD-Live features. If you’ll recall, experiences with connected extras in Walk Hard were less than smooth, and while this look isn’t nearly as in-depth, reviewers did come across noticeable lag in parts. Still, if you’re interested in catching a few more glances at what kind of BD-Live fun awaits on this disc, the read link is calling your name.

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