Skip to main content

Three Major Players Side With Blu-ray

As the DVD format wars continue to unravel, the current theme seems to be telling us that the gaming and computing industries will continue to support the Blu-ray storage format while Hollywood pushes ahead with support for HD DVD on the home video side.

“Blu-ray Disc offers a compelling, interactive entertainment and gaming platform that leaps substantially past current DVD standards,” said Eric Chu, director, consumer and mobile systems group of Sun Microsystems. “We look forward to playing a key role in supporting Blu-ray Disc’s inclusion of the Java platform to provide a unique set of interactive capabilities that will create new revenue opportunities for content vendors who use Blu-ray Disc for their movies, games or other products.”

“Sun’s addition to the Blu-ray Disc Association is another example of the tremendous, widespread support for Blu-ray Disc,” said Maureen Weber, General Manager, Optical Storage Solutions Business, Hewlett Packard. “Sun’s participation will be instrumental in the development of the many interactive features that set Blu-ray apart as a truly revolutionary step in home entertainment.”

“The technical requirements for game development today demands more advanced optical-disc technologies,” said Michael Heilemann, Chief Technology Officer, VU Games. “Blu-ray Disc offers the capacity, performance and high-speed Internet connectivity to take us into the future of gaming.”

“VU Games’ decision to join the Blu-ray Disc Association is another example of the widespread support for Blu-ray Disc by content developers and owners who recognize it’s the only optical-disc format that provides the capacity and functionality they need to meet the future needs of their businesses,” said Maureen Weber, chief BDA spokesperson and general manager of HP’s Optical Storage Solutions Business. “We’ve gotten a lot of support from companies like Vivendi who require the superior capacity and interactivity that Blu-ray Disc delivers.”

Ian Bell
I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?
The Beats Pill is back, baby!
A pair of Beats Pill speakers.

In what's been one of the worst-kept secrets of the year -- mostly because subtly putting a product into the hands of some of the biggest stars on the planet is no way to keep a secret -- the Beats Pill has returned. Just a couple of years after Apple and Beats unceremoniously killed off the stylish Bluetooth speaker, a new one has arrived.

Available for preorder today in either black, red, or gold, the $150 speaker (and speakerphone, for that matter) rounds out a 2024 release cycle for beats that includes the Solo Buds and Solo 4 headphones, and comes nearly a year after the Beats Studio Pro.

Read more
Ifi’s latest DAC is the first to add lossless Bluetooth audio
Ifi Audio Zen Blue 3 DAC (front).

Ifi Audio's new Zen Blue 3 wireless digital-to-analog converter (DAC) will officially be available to buy for $299 on July 9. When it is, it will be the first device of its kind to support a wide variety of Bluetooth codecs, including Qualcomm's aptX Lossless, the only codec that claims to deliver bit-perfect CD quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Admittedly, there are very few devices on the market that can receive aptX Lossless (and fewer that can transmit it), so it's a good thing that the Zen Blue 3 also works with the more widely supported aptX Adaptive, LDAC, and LDHC/HWA codecs (all of which are hi-res audio-capable), plus the three most common codecs: AAC, SBC, and aptX.

Read more
The new Beats Pill might replace Sonos on my back porch
The 2024 Beats Pill and an aging Sonos Play:1.

If I were to build an outdoor stereo in 2024, I'd do it with a pair of portable Beats Pills instead of Sonos speakers. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

In 2017, after more than a decade in our home, my wife and I added a pool. With it came a covered deck, making what basically was a new outdoor room. Not uncommon at all in Florida, but new to us.

Read more