Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon’s Disc+ is simple and smart: buy a DVD or Blu-ray disc and get a free digital copy to stream right away and keep for later. It’s based on the premise that physical and streaming media go better together. Now, the program is expanding, going from just a few hundred titles at launch to over 10,000 today.

“Customers love instant gratification,” says Amazon’s Steve Oliver, “and this program allows customers to watch Disc+ On Demand titles instantly, without having to wait for their DVD or Blu-ray to arrive in the mail.”

Disc+’s expansion means more than it would have just a few months ago, as more televisions and set-top boxes offer direct support for Amazon’s VOD, including the new Roku Player, TiVo Premiere and Google TV. This makes the downloads much more valuable than just streaming the device to your laptop. And it’s a natural way for new customers who might be reluctant to pony up for download-only or streaming video to get familiar with the service.

Amazon started offering digital downloads with physical media purchases to customers years ago with music, leveraging their unique position as a top retailer of both physical and virtual media. The model is slowly growing in movies and television. Now we just need a Book+ program for books offering a Kindle edition bundled with hardcovers. Then we’re really talking about something.

See Also:

• Amazon Will Offer Video On Demand, Streaming Direct to TV
• Streaming Wars Heat Up: Now Amazon Reportedly Is in the Hunt …
• Amazon Prepares to sell HD TV Shows on Demand
• 7 Ways to Watch Web Video Without Google TV
• Amazon's Online Video Gambit

We know the feeling of set-top box fatigue as much as anyone, so naturally we were interested in Sony’s Internet TV Blu-ray player — just like the Sony Internet TV, it lets you add Google TV to your system without adding any more boxes. At the same time, we’re always wary of combo devices — they’re often a jack of all trades and master of none. And so we set out playing with Sony’s second riff on Google TV with the hope that it could serve both duties without sacrificing any features or functionality that we’d expect if we bought two devices. Obviously if you’re in the market for both a Blu-ray player and a Google TV device and price is the most important factor it’s an easy decision, but you’ll have to click through to find out the true cost of having one fewer box under your TV.

This review is primarily of the Sony Internet TV NSZ-GT1 Blu-ray player hardware — make sure you read our full Google TV review to get a feel for the platform itself!

Continue reading Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Disc Player with Google TV review

Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Disc Player with Google TV review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

We may have to rethink our original stance comparing Warner’s DVD2Blu trade-up program to a particular Maine shop owner, now that it’s announced it will accept any DVD (only studio releases sold at retail and no porn, please) as trade towards one of its selection of 105 Blu-ray releases with most priced at $4.95 each. Add in the offer to waive the $4.95/per shipping fee for orders above $35 and you’ve got a pretty quick way to fatten up one’s Blu-ray library, assuming you like films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, American History X, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, etc. Hit the source link for a full list of titles available and other details (U.S. only, sorry Canada.)

DVD2Blu trade-up scheme lets you swap any old DVD (plus $4.95) for a Blu-ray originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  DVD2Blu  | Email this | Comments

Remember that slimmer-than-slim Blu-ray 3D / BDXL player that Sharp demonstrated at CEATEC? Looks like the world now has a ship date and price, though you aren’t likely to be keen on either. The unit itself — which measures but 35mm thick and looks eerily familiar to the slimmed-down PlayStation 2 — will tout a Blu-ray recorder while supporting BD 3D and BDXL playback, and there’s even compatibility with OTA broadcasts for those looking to toast television to blank Blu-ray media. Naturally, a contraption this awesome is going to be reserved for the Japanese market, with reports suggesting that it’ll ship anywhere between mid-December to early January. The real kicker, however, is the price — at ¥85,000 ($1,047 based on today’s exchange rate), we’re surmising that only a handful of individuals can afford to give this thing the time of day. And that, friends, is a modern day travesty.

Sharp’s ultraslim BD-AV70 Blu-ray / BDXL player hitting Japan soon for over a grand originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Impress  |  Sharp  | Email this | Comments

And this, friends, is why Japan is a marvelous place. Panasonic has just removed the wraps from its new DIGA DMR-BF200, which is being hailed as the planet’s smallest Blu-ray recorder. For all intents and purposes, this is simply an external hard drive with a slot-loading Blu-ray burner baked in, but there’s plenty more on the inside to pay attention to. It’ll stream DLNA content, interface with your other VIERA Link equipment, output content via HDMI and even access acTVila (a Japanese video-on-demand service). Users can also toss in an SD card for watching flicks stored on more portable media, and most anything housed on the 320GB internal hard drive can be toasted on BD-R/RE for playback elsewhere. It should be noted, however, that neither BDXL nor Blu-ray 3D are supported, but those still keenly interested can find it on November 15th for ¥70,000 ($861) in black or white.

Panasonic’s DMR-BF200 stuffs hard drive and Blu-ray burner into one tiny, magical box originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink T3, Akihabara News  |  Impress  | Email this | Comments