Gizmo Lovers Blog » Electronic House

Sling Media SlingCatcher Now Shipping

MegaZone — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:34:46 +0000

As with the Slingbox PRO-HD two weeks ago, since I work for Sling Media now it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to review it, but the SlingCatcher officially shipped yesterday. Instead of reviewing it, here’s a roundup of coverage I’ve seen:

Sling Community – Blog
Sling Community – Review
Sling Community – Review: SlingPlayer for TV
Sling Community – Review: MyMedia
Sling Community – Review: SlingProjector
ZatzNotFunny
Engadget
EngadgetHD
Gizmodo
CNET – Crave
CED Magazine
Obsessable
SlashGear
NewsFactor Network
HD Update
SFGate
Wired
Register Hardware
TG Daily
Stuff.tv
TechWhack
Electronista
Silicon Alley Insider
Electronic House
Pocket-lint
PC World
BLORGE
BroadcastNewsroom
Sci-Tech Today
Gearlog
TrustedReviews
Coolest Gadgets

Both the Slingbox PRO-HD and SlingCatcher MSRP at USD$299.99, but the best deals I’ve seen on both are from PROVANTAGE – currently Slingbox PRO-HD for $241.70 and SlingCatcher for $240.47.

VUDU Offers Higher Quality HD Downloads

MegaZone — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:03:22 +0000

VUDU has been trialing higher quality HD downloads for a little while, but now they’re officially available for all users. The so-called HDX downloads are 1080p24 downloads which take longer to download but offer superior image quality compared to their usual ‘instant on’ highly compressed downloads. I’ve said before that I’d rather have quality over speed for most of my movie viewing, and I’d take Blu-ray over HD downloads be cause the services out there over-compress the content. As I said, all 1080p content is not the same.

So it is nice to see VUDU giving users the option to wait a little longer and get higher quality content instead of being limited to fast but comparatively poor quality playback. However, they don’t say just what the quality level is. They talk resolution, but, as I’ve said, resolution is just part of the puzzle. All 1080p24 content is, by definition, the same resolution. But if one is 40Mbps and the other is 4Mbps, all else being equal (same codec, etc), one is going to be much higher in quality. I really would like to know what the HDX bitrate is. Conventional non-HDX HD content from VUDU requires 4Mbps, I’m presuming HDX is higher, but how much?

Some press is calling it Blu-ray quality, but that’s bunk. Even without knowing the bitrate being used I’m positive it doesn’t match Blu-ray, and I’m just as positive it doesn’t use lossless audio like Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MA. The website says:

HDX technology delivers the best available surround sound quality for Internet delivered movies with immersive, high resolution sound at a 40% higher bit-rate than standard surround sound DVD’s.

‘Standard surround sound DVDs’ use Dolbly Digital at 448Kbps, sounds like they’re using Dolby Digital at 640Kbps.

HDX is definitely a step in the right directly, IMHO, but don’t believe it is Blu-ray quality.

EDIT: Found this from David Pogue at The New York Times:

To see why HDX looks so good — especially on big screens — check its data rate, a measure of how much information is used to describe each frame of the video. It averages around 9 megabits a second, but spikes to 20 during action scenes. Compare that with Vudu standard definition: (2.2 megabits a second), Vudu and Apple TV high definition (4), regular DVD (8) or Blu-ray DVD (40). In other words, HDX quality is somewhere between DVD and Blu-ray. The audio offers a 40 percent improvement, too.

That is a marked improvement over their normal HD streams, but yes, still not Blu-ray quality. It does make the product more appealing in my eyes though, and certainly puts VUDU in the lead as far as HD download services go. I’m not sure if he’s comparing just video bit rates or what – DVD’s full video rate is ~10Mbps, but that’s MPEG-2 so apples and oranges to the others which are H.264. Blu-ray is 40Mbps max for video (not that it is all used normally), 54Mbps total bit rate.

HDX raises my personal interest in VUDU, though with a TiVo Series3, PlayStation3, and SlingCatcher already it isn’t high enough yet to get me to put another box under my TV.

Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD Now Shipping

MegaZone — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:59:08 +0000

Normally I’d review something like this myself. But I not only work for Sling Media, but I’m the Beta Manager on the Slingbox PRO-HD. So that really wouldn’t be appropriate. Instead here’s a roundup of coverage I’ve seen so far:
SlingCommunity – Blog
SlingCommunity – Review
Zatz Not Funny
EngadgetHD
Engadget
PC Magazine
CNET Crave
CNET – Review
Washington Post
Ecoustics

EDIT: And more coverage:
The Gadgetress
Engadget
EngadgetHD
jkOnTheRun
Gizmodo
Obsessable
TG Daily
TWICE
Silicon Alley Insider
TVPredictions
TechSpot
SlashGear
Multichannel News
ZDNet – The Mobile Gadgeteer
TheStreet.com
Electronista
Electronic House
Boy Genius Report
eHomeUpgrade
ZDNet – The Toybox
Obsessable – Product Page

Panasonic Announces DMP-BD50 Blu-ray Player Details

MegaZone — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:40:51 +0000

Announced back at CES, but without details, Panasonic has released more details on the DMP-BD50. This new box will have BD-Live, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio support, as well as Panasonic’s VIERA Link, which is all nice, but it will carry a $700 MSRP, which is not so nice. If you’re looking for a feature laden, top-end Blu-ray deck, and price isn’t a big issue, the DMP-BD50 is certainly worth a look when it ships later this spring. But personally I still think the Sony PS3 is the best value at this point.

Picked up from Electronic House.

Circuit City Accepting HD DVD Trade-ins For Blu-Ray Players

MegaZone — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:50:12 +0000

It seems that if you’ve purchased an HD DVD player from Circuit City in the 90 days leading up to Toshiba’s announcement of the end of the format on February 19th, you can return it for a credit towards the purchase of a Blu-ray player equal to the original purchase price. Alternatively, you can receive the credit on a standard Circuit City gift card, which you can use towards any purchase. This is a quiet offer – you have to ask for it. Via Electronic House.