Hasta La Gadget!

Soon after the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One Blu-ray set launched last week reports came in that there was an audio problem with the surround sound, and now CBS and Paramount have responded. According to a statement (included after the break) the problem is isolated to the English 7.1 DTS Master Audio track on some episodes where the front channels are mapped incorrectly. If you own the set, you can email (phe.stng@bydeluxe.com) or call (877-335-8936 between 8AM and 6PM PT) for replacements of Discs 1, 3 and 4, simply have your set nearby and ready to read the code located on the inner ring. You won’t need to send in your discs, and the replacements are expected to ship after August 10th and take up to five days to arrive.

Continue reading Star Trek: TNG S1 Blu-ray set has an audio flaw, free replacements are available

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Star Trek: TNG S1 Blu-ray set has an audio flaw, free replacements are available originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over the past week, I’ve spent most of my entertainment time watching movies and television shows either on demand, through Netflix and Hulu Plus, or streaming over my home network. And along the way, it got me thinking: why do I really need discs?

DVD and Blu-ray mean big money for studios. After all, the companies develop blockbuster hits, and then after printing some discs, charge a boatload of cash just so you can get your hands on them. It’s a great deal for those companies.

For us, however, I’m not so sold. The fact is, I don’t like dealing with storing DVDs and Blu-ray discs. And getting up to sift through my library, find the show or movie I want to watch, and then pop it into a player is just a pain. It’s about time physical media just dies.

Of course, I understand that what I’m saying is something that many of you might already feel. But why hasn’t the death of physical media come quicker?

For one thing, it might just be the speed of our Internet connections. Unfortunately, certain countries, like the U.S., are still far behind in terms of broadband speeds than they should be. And despite promises from Washington, I’ve yet to see a single indication made by politicians that would lead us to believe that’s going to change anytime soon.

Beyond that, I’m suspect of the cloud-based services we have now. Sure, Netflix and Hulu Plus work, but they’re not ideal. And the companies that actually own the content aren’t so willing to play nice.

Which, of course, brings us to our next issue: the content companies.

“Studios have decided that making users the enemy is just fine”

Unfortunately, for years now, the studios have decided that making services, and thus their users, the enemies is just fine. The studios seem to reason that by doing so, they’ll be able to make far more cash. And in the process, consumers will just accept that and move on.

But why should we accept that? As far as I’m concerned, it’s best for everyone to accept that discs are a thing of the past. The sooner we can all accept that and start doubling down on the digital craze, the better. It’s not only in our interests, but I would argue that if studios actually took the time and put real effort into developing a digital strategy, over time, they could make it quite profitable.

Still, we sit here hoping for a day when physical media will die a cold and lonely death. After all, once that happens, we’ll be able to throw out our entertainment centers and save space in our living rooms for furniture. And with all of our favorite shows and movies in the cloud, ready for the taking, we can reduce all of the time we waste just to find what we want to watch, pop it into a player, and then wait for it to load.

The future has been, is, and forever will be digital. It’s about time we and all of the studios accept that.

Why DVD And Blu-Ray Should Finally Die is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I can remember watching E.T. in the theater as a kid with my cousins. I thought it was the greatest film ever at the time, and I bet we watched it 100 times when it came out on home video. It’s hard to believe that the movie is now celebrating its 30th anniversary and its first ever release on Blu-ray is set for October 9. The film has been digitally remastered and has new 7.1 surround sound.

The special edition will feature the entire 1982 theatrical movie on Blu-ray along with a DVD version, a digital copy, and an Ultraviolet copy. The film also has a number of special features, including the E.T. Journals that looks at the day-to-day experience of creating the movie with never before seen behind-the-scenes footage. The special-edition film will also have a new interview with Steven Spielberg.

The movie will have some deleted scenes and reunion footage of the cast and filmmaker with a get together and talk about their thoughts and the impact the film had. Other special features will include content on the evolution and creation of E.T., and the film will include the original theatrical trailer. There’s a lot more special content on the Blu-ray disc as well.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial turns 30 with special edition Blu-ray is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s been 30 years since the world’s most loveable extra-terrestrial made its debut on the silver screen, and to celebrate the anniversary the film is being released on Blu-ray with what has to be some of the most over-the-top and brilliant re-packaging ever. More »

I clearly remember the Blu-ray vs HD DVD war many moons ago, and in the end, Sony’s Blu-ray format won the battle – but how has the uptake for Blu-ray movies been so far? DVDs certainly still rule the roost in many parts of the world, mainly thanks to the cost of converting your entire movie library into the Blu-ray format. Well, Toshiba has since jumped over to the Blu-ray divide, and they now debut a couple of slim slot-in BDXL recorders known as the BDR-Z260 and BDR-Z250.

The two of them will come in a slim design as mentioned above, where Toshiba claims that they are 64% more compact compared to its predecessors. They will also sport a couple of Digital TV tuners, in addition to 2TB of storage space for the Z260, while the Z250 has a smaller capacity at half that amount. Shared specifications include USB connectivity, USB video recording capability and DLNA with Network Recording capacity as long as there is some compatible hardware in the vicinity. No idea on pricing as at press time though.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New Toshiba REGZA RB2 TVs come with Blu-ray players, Toshiba dynabook T551/D8B is a 3D-enhanced laptop,