DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

The month that can never make up its mind as to how many days it should have is finally over. Down with February. Long live March. I love March, not just because it’s the month that contains my birthday, but this is usually the time that I start to feel like the new year is officially here, and now in transition mode as per January, or the confused-as-to-how-many-days-it-has mode that is February.

The fallout from HD DVD’s death continues. Analysts have finally caught onto what I’ve been saying for months now, that Blu-ray’s victory owes much to the BDA’s love for copy protection, as it does to any other factors like the PS3. With DRM being public enemy number one these days, it’s funny to see DRM winning a major format war. I think Toshiba should have promoted the more consumer friendly nature of HD DVD more to the public, in terms of both region coding and less DRM, but I do understand why they didn’t. To do so would have opened another battlefront with DRM and region coding loving studios like Fox. It seems Toshiba really did not like the studio’s way of doing things, and they have now officially released DVD region-free firmware for several of their HD DVD players (or the XE1 at least, install 2.5 first and test to make sure, since once you go to 2.8, getting back to 2.5 is hard and only 2.5 has the region free patch) on their website (at least their Australian website). Unfortunately, it was this pro-consumer, anti-studio attitude that eventually lost the war for them. While as a HD DVD supporter, Warner was not our best friend in the format war, but at least you have to commend them for not supporting region control. Universal and Paramount too. F*ck Fox and their region coded and BD+ discs. Speaking of region control, there is now a new software for the Nintendo Wii that breaks region control (PAL and NTSC) games to work on your Wii. Simply insert the disc, it does its work, eject the disc and insert your game disc. Not sure if Nintendo intend to close this loophole with a firmware patch, or whether they even care about enforcing region control or not.

In HD news, the fallout from HD DVD’s death … wait, I’ve already used this line. Anyway, the big news for HD DVD supporters mourners this week has been Paramount’s (and Dreamwork’s) rather harsh decision to pull all their upcoming HD DVD releases. Just like what they did when they pulled Blu-ray support, with total disregard for consumers. If it wasn’t for their region-free stance, they have done nothing to help either HD format with both low quantity and quality releases. In my last blog entry, I talked about fire sales, and with Paramount stopping HD DVD releases, I think their fire sale will be coming shortly. I’ve started a thread in the forum to talk about HD DVD fire sales, and I will be posting news of any new fire sales there, and in the usual places. The fire sales here in Australia have attracted a lot of buyers (some genuine, while the people who bought 350 discs and 5 copies of each movie trying to take advantage of genuine buyers are scum of the Earth), me included. It’s surprising, but I feel lucky that I’ve bought into HD DVD, as the cheap $8 discs is something so rare, it hasn’t even happened regularly to DVDs yet (at least no in Australia). For the HD DVD movies I’ve bought to be released on to Blu-ray would take months, if not years, and it would still probably be the exact same content, but at 5 times the price. The only risk now is having discs, but not being able to source a player if people’s current players die. But that may not be a problem for long, as HD DVD might live on partly in another format. The DVD Forum (the official body that controls the DVD format) is continuing its support for the China-only CH DVD format, which is basically HD DVD with a different set of software. If CH DVD is a success, then chances are, one will be able to source a HD DVD player without too much problem in the future, which bodes well for those that have dipped their feet into the HD DVD fire sales.

Moving onto Blu-ray now, those worried about price rises now that Blu-ray has no competition will be startled to see a new Blu-ray player being priced at nearly $17,000! Obviously this is not a sign of things to come, but it’s still funny the price some people are willing to pay. I bet it’s not even Profile 1.1. Better news for those of us who don’t earn 7 figure incomes, Sony has announced two new Blu-ray players to be released in the latter part of the year. Both might eventually be BD-Live (Profile 2.0) compatible, although the cheaper of the two players, the BDP-S35,  might not have enough persistent storage to quality as a BD-Live compatible player, without you adding external storage through a USB thumb key. Not the most elegant solution, so I think the more expensive BDP-S550 is the way to go. It even has 7.1 analogue audio output, plus on-board decoding of all the major HD audio formats, so it looks like a good one. The more cynical side of me thinks Sony held back the news of these players until the format war looks to have ended, as it did not want to upset fellow CE manufacturers in the BDA. Now that Sony owns the one and only HD format, it looks like they won’t just sit back and let the other companies take advantage. Monopoly time …

Netflix is also set to take advantage of the conclusion of the format war. They will quadruple the number of Blu-ray titles available to rent, but may raise monthly subscription prices as a result. They’ve been harping on about raising prices for ages now, so don’t be too surprised when it happens. And while not strictly HD news, the people over at Secrets of Home Theater and Hi Fi have released an updated review for the PS3’s video playback performance. The previous review was criticized for only testing the then most updated firmware, which did not even include DVD upscaling. But unfortunately, the new result based on the latest firmware did not improve the scores by much. I’ve tried to explain the situation in the link above, and I think most people feel the same way: The PS3 is an excellent Blu-ray player, a more than adequate DVD upscaling player, but don’t expect it to compete with top of the line dedicated upscaling players as that’s not what it is designed to do.

To segue effortlessly from HD/video to gaming, this middle of the road story about the PS3’s new PlayTV (turns the PS3 into a DVR) feature will be DRM free. Good for Sony for taking a sensible approach to DRM for once. Let’s just hope people don’t take advantage of Sony’s lapse and turn the PS3 into the mother of all video piracy machines.

Segueing now to gaming completely, LucasArts will now produce games on the PS3 and then port it over to the 360, as opposed to doing it the other way. I don’t think this is because they luuurve the PS3 more than the 360, it just make more sense from the developer’s point of view to do this as it will mean better games for both platforms. Developers have often complained about porting 360 games to the PS3, since the PS3 has several design bottlenecks that is not easily solve when doing ports. It’s much better to design the game for a system that is more restrictive, and then port it over to the less restrictive/easier environment. And finally, Dead Rising, the game I’m still playing at the moment and the game that I played so much that caused my 360 to RRoD, has been sued for infringing the copyrights of the Dawn of the Dead franchise. So let’s see, Dead Rising is a game about a zombie outbreak and survivors holding up in a shopping mall. Dawn of the Dead (both movies) is about a zombie outbreak and survivors holding up in a shopping mall. Sorry, but I just don’t see the connection.

Over the next week, I will be bringing you details of a new competition that I will run on Digital Digest, prizes courtesy of Roxio, the makers of the famous Popcorn and MyDVD series. The prize includes copies of their latest DVD production, copying and conversion software, as well as a grand prize of an iPod. More details when they are available.

Okay, that’s it from me for this week - I’m going back to look for more HD DVD fire sale details, credit card in hand …

Welcome to the first weekly news roundup post the HD format war. Upon hearing the news of the war’s end, did you let your emotions get the better of you, go up to complete strangers to hug and kiss them? And did you then get arrested and placed on probation for being a public nuisance? No? Umm … me neither. I didn’t do any of that, honest. 

This week has all been about the end of the HD format war, so either there has been very little copyright news (or very little news that would be considered relevant/interesting), or that I haven’t been paying attention as usual. I’m sure the MPAA and the RIAA got up to their usual tricks, that some politicians took their money to support a new legislation, and that some hacker found some way to hack into some DRM. So basically nothing new.

And of course, the big news of the week is that, yep you guessed it, Apple has dropped the price on the iPhone and iPod touch! Oh, and Toshiba also dropped something. I think it was called HD DVD. The news that HD DVD supporters didn’t want to hear, but probably thought was only a matter of time, did come on Tuesday (Japanese time). I’m sure Toshiba could have held on a little bit longer, but it would only be to wait for a miracle, that sadly, won’t happen now. You all know how I feel about HD DVD, and Blu-ray, and if you didn’t, you can read my latest thoughts (pre-Toshiba decision) here. While I’m sad that a consumer friendlier format like HD DVD didn’t work out, I’m not overly fussed as I’ve been supporting both formats for a while now. And by supporting, I don’t mean going onto Internet forums and gloating and posting FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) posts, but rather in the more practical way of forking over cash to buy stuff. So one format that I’ve bought into has died, the other has grown stronger as a result, which means I’ve not lost anything. In fact, not only have I not lost anything, I’ve picked up a few things too - like no less then thirteen HD DVD titles for an average of $USD 7.01 including postage (titles include Evan Almighty, Knocked up, Casino, Carlito’s Way, Jarhead, Rambo Trilogy, Deer Hunter, Apollo 13, Spartacus - and a few more items at the same low price which if not out of stock, includes Shaun of the Dead, Smoking Aces, The Kingdom and The Thing). The rush for these discounted Universal titles has created such as storm here in Australia that it caused disruptions to several leading online stores, and stock sold out within a matter of minutes. Which just goes to show that low prices is the most consumer friendly feature of all.

Anyway, in the aftermath of Toshiba’s announcement, the HD DVD exclusive studios all eventually followed suit and headed towards the Blu camp. Both Universal and Paramount has announced that they will now support Blu-ray, with Universal unsure of what to do with their HD DVD lineup, while Paramount and Warner appears to be willing to continue releasing movies on HD DVD for the time being. So the chance of more bargains like the one I listed above from Paramount and Warner remains high, and my credit card awaits patiently as well. And for those slightly worried about not having a player to play their HD DVD discs, then the good news is that LG still plans on releasing dual format players for the future, possibly both standalones and computer drives. I suspect Samsung, which seem to do everything LG does, will continue to do so as well. And word is that Sharp will release a player too, since I think they provide the laser diode for these dual format players. What isn’t so clear is the details of Paramount and Universal’s switch to Blu-ray, like which titles will be available and when. I’m guessing 3 to 6 months before we see the first Blu-ray title, and for the Bourne Trilogy and Transformers to be in the starting lineup. There is also the chance that if Paramount still has some recalled Blu-ray versions of Blades of Glory and other titles that were shelved following their defection to HD DVD, that these might be released first. What is also not so clear is what Microsoft will do in regards to a Blu-ray add-on drive for the Xbox 360. The initial rumour was that one will be available within 6 months, but then Microsoft issued a (somewhat soft) denial for a drive being available in the short term. I guess they don’t want to be seen as supporting a Sony format, not when they’re still at war with them in the game console arena.

So the focus now turns to whether Blu-ray can become the next digital video format to replace DVDs. Certainly the end of the format war, and format confusion, will help. I will go over two Digital Digest polls soon in regards to this issue, but suffice to say, Blu-ray has a long way to go before it can even call itself a competitor to DVD. Even with Blu-ray and HD DVD combined, discs sales have only been half of what DVD did after the same initial period. While player sales have been fine, thanks to cheap HD DVD players and the PS3, the low attachment rate of Blu-ray movies and the generally low rate of sale of HD DVD, has all contributed to the low disc sale figures. And the high prices when compared to DVDs won’t have helped (remember that when DVDs first came out, there was no “low price” alternative, because VHS often cost more, not less, than DVDs).

And while I’ve harped on about Blu-ray manufacturing costs and such in the past, a new type of BD recordable could start to lower cost of BD blanks. Dubbed LHT BD-Rs, and developed by Taiyo Yuden, Mitsubishi and Maxell, these use organic materials to lower production costs. Unfortunately, and this has been somewhat of a Blu-ray trait, is that compatibility problems might occur with earlier players. Some players can be updated through firmware to read these new BD-Rs, while others will have to be replaced. Might be best to hold off buying a BD burner until something concrete materialises.

I’ve also harped on about Blu-ray region coding and how it sucks, but there might be a solution now for the PC at least. Read my Blu-ray Region Free Guide to find tips on possibly making PowerDVD Ultra and WinDVD BD region-free for Blu-ray playback.

And finally onto gaming, as promised, the January NPD figures have been released and analysed. While it looks like Blu-ray has helped the PS3 to beat the Xbox 360 and nearly beat the Wii, remember that both the Wii and 360 had serious stock shortage problems thanks to last month’s record sales figures for both consoles. The PS3 took advantage efficiently, but the Wii and 360 are still the consoles to beat, in the US at least. And thanks to consoles becoming more and more like PCs in terms of functionality (media sharing, Internet browsing, movie downloading …), PCs are now struggling to stay in the gaming market, at least here in Australia. For me, I’ve not played less games on the PC, but I’ve definitely played more on consoles (not surprising, considering the current 3 main consoles are the first ones I’ve owned since the SNES). I still prefer PC gaming, mainly because I prefer strategy games, and first person shooters using the mouse/keyboard combination. But I can definitely see the appeal of console games. And some say that the increased spending for console gaming has led to decreases for movies, which I would have to agree with. So in some way, the success of the PS3 as a game console might actually hurt Blu-ray.

[PLEASE INSERT INTERESTING, IF NOT FUNNY, CONCLUSION TO ARTICLE. AND DO NOT FORGET TO MENTION "SEE YOU NEXT WEEK"]

Okay, I’ve learnt my lesson. No more controversial intros for the roundup. Just to be clear, if I ever unintentionally mention I might quit writing this feature in the future, I’m most likely only kidding, unless I follow up the statement with THIS IS NOT A JOKE!! In fact, I don’t think you should take anything I write here seriously, since 90% of the stuff I write are actually complete lies.  Or perhaps the last sentence was a lie. Or was the last sentence a lie …

Copyright vs consumer rights is being fought around the globe, this time a Japanese perspective on the issue of Digital TV recordings and copy protection. Sometimes content owners just need to take a step back and see the bigger picture, because if they had their way, half of the products on the market would be “illegal”, and the other half will be filled with DRM. The RIAA, being the leaders of the Senseless Copyright Brigade (SCB), talks about forcing computer hardware and software manufacturers to implement “piracy filters” to prevent people from transferring and playing pirated music. Luckily, the people in the IT industry, who have been affected by piracy more than anybody else, will take a more sensible approach and ignore RIAA’s request. The most recent example being Verizon rejecting another SCB member, the MPAA’s, request for filtering. Good for Verizon, and I hope people reading this will buy their products and use their services to support them.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the Blu-ray free movies promo has ended, and there does not seem to be any signs that a new promotion will start in place of the expired one. The BDA seems to have stopped trying on the promotional front, maybe because they think they’ve won, or because they are saving up for one big final push. It’s not that great being a Blu-ray owner at the moment, with only two rather pathetic sales on at Amazon (one for 6 titles only, the other for 10 titles from Fox, but only a 10% discount on normal Amazon prices). If this is what we should expect if Blu-ray wins the day, then I for one hopes the format continues on for a bit longer so I can buy more cheap movies. Netflix is the most recent of companies to suggest higher HD movie prices are on the way once the war is over, so the lost revenue during the war can be recouped. On the other hand, the HD DVD people have been doing a lot more on the promotional front, with the Superbowl ad now aired (although by all accounts, it was a pretty lame effort), player price drops (which has been better received, with hardware and software sales both up compared to the horrible weeks following Warner’s announcement), movie discounts at Amazon (a new 140+ title 50% off sale is gathering immense interest) and in store promotions (at least here in Australia). Microsoft dropping the price of the Xbox 360 add-on drive is just another part of the promotion, and sales of the drive at Amazon went up an amazing 71,900% after the price cut. Perhaps some will view it as “too little too late”, but there’s still a long time between now and June, when Warner officially drops HD DVD, and anything could happen in between. Then there is also the issue of the Chinese market, which HD DVD has been making huge investments in with both an official Chinese HD format (CH DVD), and also staying out of the Chinese HD DVD market to allow Chinese manufacturers to profit from HD DVD player sales. I know for a fact that the Chinese government does not like Blu-ray (or HD DVD, for that matter) due to the excessive royalties and licensing fees, and so going with the royalty free CH DVD format is their aim, which might be even cheaper than producing DVDs since DVDs have licensing costs too. For a comprehensive and detailed view at the HD format war, the Warner’s decision, the CES, the past, present and future, there is a good article on AV Forums (not to be confused with AVS Forum). There are lots of good points made in the article, as well as some facts that weren’t so clear before - regardless of which side you’re on, it’s worth a read.

And it’s not been great time for Samsung, after being threatened with a lawsuit over their poorly designed BD-UP5000 dual format player, they are now being sued proper for their allegedly “defective” BD-P1200 Blu-ray player in a class action lawsuit. The article goes on about BD+, but the real issue is behind an update to BD-J, which Samsung promised to provide over a firmware update, but has not done so for some reason, causing certain discs to be unplayable. As a owner of a brand new Toshiba HD-XE1 player, I’m extremely pleased to be able to buy such a player (for $USD 490 with 11 free HD DVD movies, which is a steal for a player of this quality). There is currently no Blu-ray player that can match the quality of the XE1 and it’s almost identical twin, the XA2, even without considering price, and that’s something the BDA will have to address soon. A fully featured Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player with Reon upscaling, made by a company known for high end equipment such as Denon or Onkyo, is what many Blu-ray owners are waiting for. But it will take a long time before such a player can be made available, since according to a Denon rep, the reason they have not released a Profile 2.0 player is because Profile 2.0 is not even finalized yet. The worrying thing is that, because Profile 2.0 is not finalized and new things can still be added to it, the PS3 is just a proprietary connector away from being ever able to achieve Profile 2.0 compatibility. For example, if the BDA decides WirelessHD has to be a mandatory part of 2.0, then the PS3, which I have recommended to everybody as the safest bet for Profile 2.0, will never get certified. Let’s hope the BDA come to their sense and allow the PS3 to be 2.0 compatible.

Not much gaming news this week. EA predicts the PS3 will be the top selling player in 2008, while Activision predicts the Xbox 360. Microsoft says they “own” GTA IV due to the exclusive content. And other such PR nonsense, which I won’t even dignify with links (you can search Google News if you’re really desperate). There is one piece of interesting news, reporting that game arcades are suffering because people can now play the same type of games at home on the Wii. An unintended victim of the console wars, no doubt.

That’s it for this week, same time, same channel, next week (I think I’ve used this joke before).

Sometimes I wonder if anybody is actually reading this, and that if I should bother continue writing this roundup. But I think I will continue, because I like routine and there’s nothing like a Sunday afternoon spent in front of your computer writing something nobody reads. No, really, it’s good.

In Europe, record labels are now blaming ISPs for music piracy. ISPs have been fearing something like this for a long time, to be blamed for inappropriate content that its users are obtaining online, be it copy protected content or child pornography. They know that if they are held responsible, they will have to start monitoring user traffic. The privacy issues apart, it’s a huge task and responsibility to be placed on a company that sometimes has less than 20 employees. And do we really want a private company to monitor everything we download and to tell us what is appropriate and what is not? The targeting of ISPs might be a change of direction of content owners, since a court has ruled that personal privacy is more important than upholding the rights of content owners. It seems like a very reasonable decision to me, but we now live in a time when reason has fallen victim to corporate greed. And to no surprise of anybody, The Pirate Bay has finally been charged with breaking copyright law. I have a feeling the guys over at TPB have been waiting for this and are prepared for the battle. It will be interesting to see what happens.

And while not strictly copyright related, the beta version of Qtrax was finally launched. Qtrax promises access to millions of songs from record labels free to download in P2P form, with the playback/download application being advertising supported. I for one don’t think this will work, since Internet advertising is not what it used to be, and with a few content owners coming out to say they don’t know what’s going onand that they have had no dealings with Qtrax, things are not looking too bright.

HD DVD is still fighting the good (?) fight, and will spend millions on a 30 second Superbowl ad spot. I just hope they make it funny like most other Superbowl ads. Toshiba’s price cuts to HD DVD players seems to be having an effect, clawing back some of the market in player sales after being beaten senseless in the week following Warner’s Blu-ray exclusive decision (although news has now filtered out that the figures from that week represented a Blu-ray player give-away plus a plunge in HD DVD player sales, meaning total HD sales dropped after Warner’s announcement, which is not what Warner had hoped for in choosing to go with a single format). Here in Australia, the Toshiba HD-XE1 high end player is selling extremely well, not surprising for a $1,000+ player being sold for half of its value. Rumours suggest that HD DVD player sales out-did Blu-ray player sales by 2 to 1 in Australia this last week (led by the XE1), even with the PS3 is included. Going by some of the posts I’ve been reading on Australian HD forums and testimonials from people who have visited electronics stores to enquire about the XE1, that’s not totally surprising. The US is also seeing HD DVD player “clearance” sales, although as Circuit City points out, the “clearance” tag is just used for promotion, and they plan on continuing to carry HD DVD since sales has been quite good since the “clearance” started. Low prices sell stuff, it’s not rocket science. Although with Blu-ray in a strong position, will we start seeing the end of free movie redemption and movie discounts? I hope not. High definition movies still have a long way to go before consumers are convinced that it is needed to replace DVDs, and discounts will definitely help. And speaking of discounts, here in Australia, we can buy The Jack Ryan HD DVD Collection (four movies: The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games and The Sum of All Fears) for about $USD 35. This title is part of Paramount’s HD DVD line up for Q1 2008, and has a retail price of $USD 99 in the US. People in the US might want to buy from Australia, since HD DVD is region-free and any disc will work anywhere. This store in Australia ships to the US for those that are interested.

A couple of short items in terms of movement between HD camps, some Italian distributors have gone HD DVD exclusive; rumour suggest Imation might be scrapping HD DVD production through its TDK brand (even though TDK has never released HD DVD, and TDK company is a Blu-ray exclusive backer and became a major shareholder in Imation in a deal that allowed Imation to use the TDK brand name); ADV Films (anime) might be going Blu-ray exclusive too. Sonic also announced that they will stop supporting the HD DVD version of their Scenarist authoring tool. It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for people who purchased the HD DVD version of their quite expensive software, even if a exchange program is going to be made available (I’m sure people who bought the HD DVD version had specific needs that won’t be addressed by the Blu-ray version, which they might already own anyway). Oh well, I’m sure other companies will fill the demand, if they haven’t done so already. Microsoft maybe?

And finally, in gaming, a firm release date has been released for GTA: IV in late April. Rockstar broke the silence on the release delay (it was supposed to be available back in October 2007) and as expected, it was the PS3 version that was holding things back, although only partly responsible. The exclusive downloadable content will still be available on the Xbox 360 only, but there will be more downloadable content that will be available on both consoles. I for one can’t wait, and hopefully my RRoD’d 360 will be fully functioning by then. There is also rumours floating around that a new PS3 will be available in the autumn, one that is slimmer and has 120 or 160 GB storage depending on where you found the rumour. Competition to a new quiter, cooler, 360 SKU to be released around the same time? And to follow up on the Mass Effect Fox News Sex Scandal (it sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is, kind of like everything being “reported” on Fox News), the Fox News contributor admits she was wrong and that she has now had a change of mind after actually seeing the game being played for the first time. Oh dear.

And so this concludes this week’s roundup. Hopefully I will have more updates on my 360 RRoD experience, perhaps an update to a very popular guide that will allow better video playback on a certain game console, and maybe I’ll write that blog on HD managed copy that I promised to write 2 weeks ago. Patience, my lovelies.

There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to make a decision. A decision so big, that it could literally alter the course of time, space and reality. Today is not that time. Today is time for yet another Weekly News Update.

It seems in the world of copyright, US colleges are public enemy number one at the moment. The copyright lobby is pressuring the US congress to pass college funding legislation that will ensure Internet filtering and monitoring. To threaten something as vital as education with something as trivial (and rooted in greed) as copyright protection, is probably exactly what is wrong with the US political system at the moment. The MPAA has been on the offensive as well, but perhaps their education wasn’t all it could have been either, as they seemed to have fudged up the numbers in regards to college kid’s contribution to piracy. Their initial figure that college kids are responsible for 44% of all lost income did sound a bit strange. If I have to point to one thing a major cause of lost income, I have to say it’s the industry’s attitude towards consumers. When it comes to copyright control, consumers are treated like convicted criminals. DRM is causing more damage to the industry than casual piracy. Another example is Apple’s QuickTime DRM update causing other software, such as Adobe After Effects, to be disabled. Music DRM is dying, and movie DRM seems to be moving in a more “consumer friendly” direction, taking special note of the quote around the phrase ‘consumer friendly’. Fox’s new Hitman Blu-ray will include a digital copy of the film for use on portable devices. Sounds good, except the recommended price for the title is at $39.98, which makes it higher than most other Blu-ray releases by a couple of dollars. So basically, while a (DRM’d) “digital copy” is provided, the price of this copy has already been included, whether you want it or not. So basically “fine” you for what you might do (which might be illegal) before you even do it. Sounds about right.

In HD news, it has all been about HD downloads these last few weeks. It’s strange that immediately after what appears to be a victory for Blu-ray, people start questioning the need for an optical format. Apple, Microsoft and Sony all have their movie download services, and HBO will now launch something similar in limited areas too. But people look at the cheap prices of purchasing downloads compared to buying discs, but are they looking at the total cost, including bandwidth? Maybe in the US and other advanced broadband nations, it’s not much of an issue, but a typical HD download from iTunes might be 50% of someone’s allocated monthly bandwidth allowance here in Australia, not to mention it might take a day to download due to our limited broadband speeds. I think for now, the optical disc is still the best way to deliver high bandwidth movies. It certainly might still be the cheapest way here in Australia, even though our HD movie discs are way over priced. Speaking of Blu-ray’s “victory”, Toshiba has introduced price cuts here in Australia for their range of HD DVD players (second-generation players). The most interesting is the massive price cut for the award winning Toshiba HD-XE1 (similar to the XA2 in the US), which uses the highly sought after Reon HQV video processing chipset to achieve the ultimate video performance, even for upscaled DVDs. Reading through forums about people’s chats with various stores around Australia, it seems the XE1 (which comes with 11 free movies) is selling very well indeed. Many Blu boys have been turned purple (dual format => red + blue => purple) by the amazing value of the XE1 (a similar DVD upscaling player that uses Reon HQV costs thrice as much). But on the other end of the quality scale, we have the Samsung BD-UP5000, which also uses Reon HQV, but is apparently so problematic that even a class action lawsuit is being considered (although I doubt it). It certainly it’s the best designed machine, and even Samsung realises it as it will be discontinued soon and replaced by the BD-Up5500 (does not have Reon HQV), with the BD-UP6500 (rumoured to have Reon HQV + Blu-ray Profile 2.0) coming soon too. I hope Samsung do get their act together, as a dual format player will suit me just fine considering that I’m still building up my movie collection by buying exclusives in both formats.

On to gaming, there’s probably not much time left to get your free copy of the Xbox Live Arcade game, Undertow. I’ve played it and it’s pretty good, if not a bit repetitive. Underwater, pseudo 3D, flag capturing team shooter is probably the best description of it. Nice graphics and sound though. Sony seems to be dropping their 80 GB version of the PS3, the last model that has PS2 compatibility. This coincides with news of a new 40 GB white PS3, as well as a possible price cut to $299. January 28th is supposed to be the date something happens, so stay tuned for more updates. Sony is also partnering with HP to provide “Manufacture-On-Demand” service for their movies, with HP keen to expand MOD to Blu-ray and HD DVD. Basically you choose a movie and the disc is made to order. It’s a nice idea, although it can’t compete with the lower cost of mass manufacture (although being able to order several SD movies on a single HD disc, with your selection of extra features, sounds very attractive).

And Fox News is up to their usual tricks, this time “bending” the truth as they portray the Xbox 360 game Mass Effect as a deprived sex orgy simulator. It’s funny how people made such a big deal of GTA: San Andrea’s Hot Coffee sex simulation modification, yet people simply ignored that fact that the game allowed you to do drive-bys, shot cops, kill civilians and become a drug mule to earn more money.

And on that family friendly last paragraph, I’ll end this news roundup. See you next week.