Sony HDR-TG1 Handycam: World’s Smallest?

I’m always very skeptical when I hear any company saying that their particular gadget is the “world’s (insert est-adjective here)”. Case in point, the latest announcement from Sony is boasting that their latest handycam, the HDR-TG1, is the world’s smallest.

The measurements are at 1.3 x 4.7 x 2.5 inches, and it weighs in at ten ounces. Somehow, the company is able to fit in a full touchscreen at 2.7 inches, as well as MS Pro Duo and Pro Duo Mark 2 cards.

Other features include a 10x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optical zoom lens, a BIONZ processing engine, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio recording, as well as a 4 GB worth of memory.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it shoots video with 1080i capability. It can also do stills at 4 Megapixels.

I believe that Sony is competing against similar cameras that are small, such as the Canon PowerShot TX1 and the new Vivatar DVR565D. I guess the tiny handycam market is booming.

It is nice to know that you can finally have a handycam that fits in your pocket, that you don’t have to haul around in a separate case. However, you will have to pay about $900 for the Sony HDR-TG1.

HDTV Intended Buyers Prefer HD DVD, Are Mainstream

First wave of high-definition DVD owners choose Blu-ray, but next wave to choose HD DVD, research group claims.

Dec
17

By Jason Unger
Filed in: News, Product News, Blu-ray/HD DVD, Research

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12.17.2007 — Nearly one-third of non-HDTV households intend to purchase an HDTV in the next six months, and those who intend to buy are looking more “mainstream,” according to research from The Diffusion Group.“HDTV intenders” who are also likely to purchase a high-def DVD player in the next six months say that they prefer HD DVD to Blu-ray, 43 percent to 27 percent. The other 30 percent are undecided.

These intenders have demographics considered more “mainstream” by The Diffusion Group—younger, single, more ethnically diverse and lower household incomes than current HDTV owners.

“The next wave of buyers is comprised of early mass-market consumers, a much larger segment with a focus on practical considerations such as price,” says Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst with The Diffusion Group.

“Today’s high-def DVD owner is likely an early adopter with a knack for power gaming; most certainly tech-sophisticates not at all mainstream in temperament.”

The Diffusion Group expects that the next wave of high-definition DVD buyers will be more price sensitive than early adopters and are likely to favor HD DVD. The first wave—early adopters—show a preference for Blu-ray, according to the group.

HD DVD

3 Good Reasons To Stick With HD DVD

By most accounts, Blu-ray has surged ahead in the high-def format war. But here are three reasons why HD DVD is still a solid investment.

Also Filed in HD DVD

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• Blu-ray Beating HD DVD in Sales

January 30, 2008 | by Scott WasserAlthough it’s quite possible the decision by Warner Brothers Entertainment to abandon HD DVD will wind up being one of the final shots in the high-definition disc war, there remain some very sound reasons to ally with the HD DVD camp.

Granted, when Warner in June joins forces with Sony, Disney, and Fox as exclusive Blu-ray Disc distributors, the BD arsenal will be pretty impressive. But HD DVD still has a couple of powerful weapons in Universal and Paramount/Dreamworks, and both companies recently restated their support of the format. That means anyone planning to add the high-def version of “American Gangster” to their home video library better not be too quick to give up on HD DVD.

According to a poll of some 1300 Electronichouse.com readers, (see the following articles: Top 10 Reasons to Buy HD DVD, Top 10 Reasons to Buy Blu-ray), 41-percent currently own or plan to buy an HD DVD player, compared to 36-percent who own or plan to buy a Blu-ray player. Twelve percent said they were waiting for the dust to settle before making a decision, and 11-percent own or plan to buy both formats.

This is (albeit unscientific) proof there are some HD DVD supporters out there. Here are three compelling arguments to join their side.

Hardware Bargains
If it’s true that money talks, HDTV owners wanting to join the high-def disc world should walk into the HD DVD camp. HD DVD players have had a price edge – sometimes significant – over BD players from Day 1, and Toshiba’s recent price cuts suggest that isn’t about to change any time soon. List prices for Toshiba’s players are now $149.99 for the 1080i HD-A3, $199.99 for the HD-A30 with 1080p output, and $299.99 for its top-of-the-line HD-A35. Amazon is offering the HD-A3 for $129, which is less than the collective regular cost of the seven free titles that are part of the deal. And the format’s mandatory specifications ensure that all HD DVD players support the latest Dolby audio codecs and full internet-based interactivity. Not bad for less than half the price of the least expensive BD player.

Blu-ray and HD-DVD have been fighting it out to see which will become the high-definition successor to the DVD. But now that Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. has agreed to distribute its content on Blu-ray discs, that battle may be over. “We’ve been monitoring the situation with consumers for a while now and they have clearly made their choice,” Warner Bros. chief executive Barry M Meyer said of the studio’s decision.The announcement is an important victory for Sony Corp., the leader of the Blu-ray group, especially since it lost a similar fight in the 1980s.

Time magazine writes that although the Japanese conglomerate “started a home-entertainment revolution” with its Betamax videocassette format, it eventually lost out to VHS. However, Forbes writes that the growing popularity of movie downloading could make Blu-ray’s triumph short-lived.

“The day is coming when the stacks of plain vanilla DVDs that clutter many home entertainment centers will go the way of the CD collection,” Forbes states.

Don Lindich, technology columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, argues that HD-DVD is actually the better product, so quality must not have been the deciding factor for Warner Bros.

“They wanted to bring the format war to a quick close by picking a side,” Lindich writes.

Despite the grim predictions for HD-DVD’s future, Toshiba America Consumer Products, the leading producer of HD-DVD players, remains optimistic. The company states in a press release that based on excellent fourth-quarter sales, it is “stepping up its successful marketing campaign.”

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Source: Findingdulcinea.com

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http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@comcast.net

Before winning the majority of Hollywood studio support, those partial to the Blu-ray format have primarily relied on a few points to make their case: more storage and rocketing sales at the ratio of 2:1 to HD DVD. Those are bullshit arguments. As consumers, we should have only been looking at what each format delivered and in that case, HD DVD was a more stable platform with more features on almost every disc that was offered in both. It’s a moot point now, because the platform with more content deserves to win, but here’s why I wish HD DVD wasn’t on its knees:

When Wilson compared the same discs in each format, Harry Potter and 300, HD DVD had many, many more features. Proof is in the pudding:

The difference is still less subtle when comparing the two editions of 300:

Blu-ray could technically support a lot of that functionality, according to the spec, but the trick here is that most of the spec is not and still isn’t mandatory. And even when all the Blu-ray players on the market are up to the final spec, whenever that may be, the majority of the original players will still not support extras, so why would anyone develop those extras? They won’t. A stair-stepped rollout of what each player must have to be spec compliant has severely limited the Blu format, despite all that great storage capacity. And this might take a very long time to fix, if it ever does.

HD DVD, you were the people’s format: R.I.P.

3:32 PM ON FRI JAN 18 2008
BY BRIAN LAM
34,136 views

Read More:

• HD DVD Also Falling in Europe
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• Microsoft Still Isn’t Going Blu-ray, Really
• How to Revive HD DVD: A $2.7 Million Super Bowl Ad!

BLU-RAY, FORMAT WAR, HD DVD, MICROSOFT, SONY, TOP, TOSHIBA

http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@comcast.net

In an interview with BetaNews, Universal Studios executive vice president and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group Ken Graffeo has said that despite rampant rumors the struggling format is here to stay. He did however leave the door open for putting an end to the format war if Blu-ray is willing to make an agreement.

When asked by the interviewer how Universal felt about Warner’s move to Blu-ray exclusivity, Graffeo had this to say: “Well, we heard about the whole move when everyone else did — when a lot of us were on planes flying to CES in Las Vegas. To be very honest with you, we have not addressed that yet — Warner is still releasing HD DVD titles up until May. Warner has always been in two formats, and prior to Paramount’s switch, they had been in two formats, so now that Warner is exclusive… we just haven’t addressed it yet.

Continuing with the trend of CES and Warner, Graffeo was asked to use hindsight and report if canceling HD DVD’s press conference at CES was the right move. “It’s very easy to look back and say “I could have” because you always know the result. But at the time… imagine the orchestration of a press event with the presenters, the scripts, the entire presentation, videos that were produced — everything. The crew was already setting up and we were on a plane on Friday, so not being able to get back to everyone to say “how do we make a change for Sunday” was very difficult. And what are the answers? We had no idea because we were reading and hearing about Warner’s move the same time everyone else was,” he responded.

The interview then naturally moved towards whether Universal and Paramount would be leaving HD DVD for Blu-ray which Graffeo strongly denied. “This is business as usual for us and there are no plans to make any changes. We just made an announcement of our new HD DVD titles yesterday, with American Gangster. We also have a lot of other things planned. It’s business as usual,” he repeated.

There were a few more interesting notes from the interview as well.

When asked about attach rates for set top players as compared to Sony’s PlayStation 3, Graffeo’s answer was quick. “If you look at the attach rate of how many movies are bought for dedicated HD DVD players versus how many movies were sold for the PS3 and the Blu-ray set-top players combined, it’s a 4 to 1 gap. Which says that people who own game machines are not buying at the same rate as someone who owns a set-top…If you go to a store and buy an HDTV and then you want to get your movies to look better, you go to the DVD section — you don’t go to the game section.”

Finally when asked whether there was a possibility that HD DVD and Blu-ray could unify the standards at some point to end the war, Graffeo left the door open but noted that talks had broken down in the past. “Well, I’m never going to say it never can be done. I think everyone would like to see things work out, and I don’t think anyone has any ill intention in this. It was a year and a half ago when we tried to put things together and it was unfortunate when it fell apart before. I think anything is possible, and again it comes back to the consumer who has the final voice.”

HD DVD is here to stay and the consumer will have to choose eventually where there loyalties stand.

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http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@comcast.net

Q. We’re thinking about buying a Blu-ray Disc player. Today’s players are Profile 1.1, with Profile 2.0 coming later in 2008. Should we wait until the Profile 2.0 players are out? What are the primary differences? Will a Profile 1.1 player be obsolete when 2.0 is out? Thanks! We really enjoy your Web site, Kimcasts, and the daily tips.

A. Thank you. We put a lot of work into our products.
Your question is pretty technical. But it might impact Blu-ray Disc buyers. HD DVD players, which compete with Blu-ray, do not have these issues.

However, HD DVD may well be dying. It lost the support of Warner Bros. in early January. That leaves Paramount and Universal as the only studios supporting it. Blu-ray now has Sony, Disney, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Lionsgate and Warner. I wouldn’t bet on HD DVD’s survival.

So, on to profiles. Blu-ray uses the word “profiles” to distinguish between players’ capabilities. The original one was 1.0, also known as the Grace Period Profile. It played Blu-ray movies. But it lacked some features, such as picture-in-picture and Internet connectivity. Few discs bothered with such features, since the players couldn’t use them.

The grace period ended Nov. 1. All players manufactured since then have to meet Profile 1.1. However, some 1.0 players may still be on the shelves.

Profile 1.1 players can handle picture-in-picture. Store clerks may give you a blank look if you ask about profiles. So, remember: If a player supports picture-in-picture, it is Profile 1.1.

Profile 2.0 appears to be optional. But it is supposedly coming this year. Panasonic and Sony have shown Profile 2.0 players. With them, you will get Internet connectivity. Future high definition discs probably will include interactivity that requires Web access.

So the basic answer is this: If you’re buying today, be sure to buy a Profile 1.1 machine. Profile 1.0 machines should continue to play all Blu-ray movies. But DVD standards are always a mess. Profile 1.1 is safer.

If Web interactivity is important to you, wait for Profile 2.0. It reportedly will be available this year from Panasonic. Panasonic demonstrated a 2.0 machine at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Sony also was showing such machines.

People with Blu-ray-equipped Sony PS3s already have Web access. They may have a better shot at keeping their machines up to date.

Also, remember that HD DVD is still kicking. Should it win the format war, Blu-ray owners might be the losers. I don’t think that will happen. HD DVD partisans were staggered by the loss of Warner.

Combination Blu-ray and HD DVD players are still available. They’re also expensive. If you want both formats, I would buy separate machines.

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Source: Komando.com 

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http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@comcast.net 

January 25, 2008 03:47 PM ET | LaGesse, David | Permanent Link

Most folks seem ready to celebrate that the format war is over for the next generation of DVD players, the high-definition battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray. I’m not so sure it is, nor that it would be a good thing, at least not yet.

The competition has gotten prices down. Player prices would be much higher if Toshiba hadn’t made it a price war, as well as a format war. That’s Toshiba’s best shot at keeping HD DVD alive. It’s losing ground on content, a point soundly reinforced when Warner Bros. recently dumped HD DVD for Sony’s Blu-ray format.

If Blu-ray prevails, sales volume would eventually get the price of those players out of the clouds. But I’d bet that competition works faster. I hope Toshiba sticks around for another year or so.

Tags: technology | DVDs | Sony | video

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