CEDIA 2007 - Day 1: Us vs. Monster Cable, Sony's New Projectors and Toshiba on HD-DVD
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on September 5, 2007 11:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Toshiba's HD-DVD Players and Tons of Free HD-DVDs
Now we'll go into the new HD DVD products being released by Toshiba for 2008. The new models are the HD-A35, HD-A30, and HD-A3. All three models are part of Toshiba's third generation of HD-DVD players and are about ¼" slimmer than their predecessors.
The HD-A3 is the entry level model which has an MSRP of $299 and will ship in October. This model only features 1080i output and no other bells and whistles.
The HD-A30 is the successor to last years HD-A20. The unit is capable of outputting 1080p/24 frames per second as well as "CE-Link." Almost all moves are recorded at a rate of 24 frames per second. Having a player that can output at that rate removes the need for extra post processing which can have adverse affects on picture quality. CE-Link allows two-way communications between devices over HDMI. The player can then be controlled by compatible equipment (such as A/V receivers) for a more seamless integration of home theater components. The HD-A30 will have an MSRP of $399 and should begin shipping this month.
The HD-A35 will have the same features as the HD-A30 but will also include deep color support, PCM analog audio out, and high bit rate audio. Deep color support is a new addition to the HDMI 1.3 standard which allows for up to 48-bit color depth. PCM analog audio out allows you to output the uncompressed PCM audio channels used in many HD movies directly out of the player without the need to decode them using a receiver. High bit rate audio simply refers to the latest HD audio standards including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. The HD-A35 will have and MSRP of $499 and should begin shipping by October.
Toshiba also announced that they will be releasing an firmware update for the 2nd generation HD DVD players to add support for 1080p/24 frames per second.
Toshiba has made a name for themselves in the HD DVD arena with their gratuitous movie giveaways when purchasing a new HD DVD player. They are continuing this tradition will all new promotions starting immediately. First they will be giving away a copy of "300" and "Bourne Identity" with the purchase of a new Toshiba HD DVD player. These movies will be included right out of the box so there's no waiting for the movies in the mail.
In addition to this bundle, Toshiba announced "The Perfect HD Offer," which will begin on October 1st 2007 and end February 28th 2008. This offer is similar to earlier offers this year where Toshiba will allow you to chose 5 free HD DVD movies with the purchase of an HD DVD player. However this time Toshiba as upped the ante and will extend this offer to not only Toshiba HD DVD drives, but also all HD DVD capable Toshiba PCs as well as the Microsoft XBOX 360 HD DVD add-on. The only downside is that the movies will still be mailed to the consumer after purchase.
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adltbluray - Sunday, June 15, 2008 - link
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And at http://www.adultbluray.com">http://www.adultbluray.com there are already 96 Adult blu rays on sale but only one gay blu ray
Bluray Porn - Monday, January 11, 2010 - link
I think it is a lot better to rent bluray porn. It’s fast and cheaper than buying the disks.”joex444 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
monster will confuse people. they're hoping people will just jump onto the highest end equipment, rather than thinking about what they'll use it for.the article suggests using rating x for lengths 0-X, y for lengths X-Y, etc.
they should just make one cable for 1m, one for 2m, one for 3m, and so on. the consumer won't know that the 3m has, apparently, thicker wires. so monster can really skimp and give the thin wires for the standard hdmi (btw, i think monster invented that term, all i'm aware of is HDMI 1.3 spec). anyways, they'll give that the old 1500% markup, then they can markup the 2m at 1200%, the 3m at 1000%, etc.
you want to educate consumers? don't bother. take away their knowledge. give them one size fits all. it looks like monster just said the lowest end 2m cable works for the highest end application. maybe there's some proof that "it's all 0s and 1s, it either works or it doesn't" [it is true after all].
Myrandex - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Unless I read it wrong, it looked like the lowest quality monster cable received more bandwidth at 2m then 1m (where it was quoted at selling for $50 for a 1m cable).911medic - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
The article states the Monster FS Perfectview 450 "will be shipping by the end of September at $699, which is quite pricey given the screen sizes we're talking about here." Monster products are overpriced/a waste of money, IMO, but the accompanying slide pretty clearly states a price of $349.95. Is that wholesale or something?Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Very good question :) I had $699 in my notes but it's quite possible that I wrote it down wrong, let me see if I can confirm. $349 makes much more sense.Take care,
Anand
GTMan - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
One company has come up with a solution for longer HDMI cables.http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dvi/index.htm">Blue Jeans Cable
GTMan - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Whoops, here is the link...http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dvi/index.htm">Blue Jeans Cable
mcnabney - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Those are just as overpriced a Monster, but without the showy coloring.TonyB - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
They need to release some INTERNAL HD-DVD ROM drives for the PC instead of focusing on Laptops.There has to be a better alternative than the crappy external Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon. I know ASUS recently announced one but its not available yet.
Im not a Blu-Ray fanatic, in fact I plan to purchase an HD-DVD ROM drive as soon as they're available (7-8+ Adult HD-DVD titles compared to 2 Adult Blu-ray titles).
The thing that pisses me off is that Blu-ray has a crap ton load of BD-ROM internal rom drives because they got all the drive manufacturers on their side.