We’re not exactly sure why “WIDEBOOK” has to be in all caps, but LG just took the wraps off its latest line of niche notebooks. Comprised of five models in total, LG’s WIDEBOOKS all feature LED-backlit displays with a 16:9 aspect ratio that LG has dubbed “cinematic”. Mmm hmm. Starting at the bottom we have the R380, a 13-incher that can boot in five seconds with “Smart On”. In the middle of the pack, the R460 and R560 tout 14 and 15.6-inch displays respectively, and then up at the top we have the like-sized R480 and the R580. The entire range sports Windows Vista or 7, Core 2 Duo processors, between 2GB and 4GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce graphics chips with up to 1GB of graphics memory, and display resolutions of either 1600 x 900 or 1368 x 768 pixels. The R580 also packs a Blu-ray drive to make that “cinematic experience” complete. Pricing isn’t yet available but the wait won’t be long — LG’s WIDEBOOKS will roll out this month in Turkey, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, followed by other countries in Asia, Europe, Latin America and last but not least, North America.

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File this little guy under gadgets we need ASAP. VUDU has been tearing it up lately as the company wisely broadens its horizons beyond dedicated set top boxes. The HD on-demand content provider recently announced partnerships that bring its service to various LG and Mitsubishi flat-panel televisions, and now VUDU is taking things to a new range of products: LG Blu-ray players. It certainly makes sense — if you’re going to add an on-demand HD streaming service to a line of home theater components, why not make them Blu-ray players? The first LG model that will be graced with VUDU service is the BD390, which is available now with an MSRP of $399. VUDU will go live on the player via a free software update toward the end of the month, though CEDIA attendees will be able to get a preview of the VUDU-enabled player this week at the show. If you have a High Def addiction and you’ve given up fighting it long ago, the BD390 is definitely the 1080p fix you’ve been looking for. Hit the jump for the full release.

VUDU NOW AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY PLAYERS

VUDU Extends Footprint of Industry-Leading HD Movie Service

To LG Electronics’ Network Blu-ray Disc Player

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 9, 2009 – VUDU, Inc.’s industry-leading on-demand high definition (HD) movie service is now available on the BD390 Network Blu-ray Disc player from LG Electronics, giving consumers a whole new way to access the largest on-demand HD library of Hollywood movies in their living rooms, the company announced today.

VUDU continues to work with top consumer electronics manufacturers to become more accessible to customers who want to rent or buy major Hollywood movies in high definition.  The VUDU service, already available on flat-panel HDTVs, uniquely delivers the largest available HD movie library of instantly-viewable movies in 1080p with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound and provides customers with VUDU’s superior user experience for finding and watching movies in high definition.

“Our goal as a company is to offer the best possible HD movie service to the broadest possible audience,” said Alain Rossmann, CEO of VUDU.  “By adding the top-rated LG BD390 Blu-ray player to the lineup of VUDU-enabled products, we’ve made it easier than ever for customers to enjoy the VUDU experience.”

Some of VUDU’s key features include:

• Instant viewing experience:  unlike typical Internet and on-demand video streaming, VUDU movies start immediately, and viewers can fast forward, rewind and browse chapters without the delays or the frustration associated with buffering
• Highest quality video:  VUDU’s unique HDX format delivers true 1080p resolution and TruFilm encoding enhancements, now available for the first time on an instant-start basis
• Immersive sound:  VUDU is the only on-demand service to deliver Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound at all video quality levels
• No monthly fees: customers can instantly buy or rent from VUDU’s extensive library of standard and high definition movie and TV titles without any monthly service charges
• Largest HD library anywhere: over 2,200 titles are available in HD or HDX format
• New releases: Newly-released titles from all major studios are available the same day as DVD release, typically months before they are available on subscription-based service.

LG’s BD390 networked Blu-ray player transforms and personalizes the home theater experience by offering a stellar array of entertainment options.  In addition to its broadband capabilities, the BD390 offers exceptional “Full HD” 1080p video performance and exceptional image quality from standard DVDs with 1080p up-scaling via HDMI output. The BD390 is also equipped for easy connection to the home network and has one gigabyte (GB) of built-in memory for BD Live functionality.

Model BD390 with LG’s “NetCast Entertainment Access” feature is available now at nationwide retailers at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $399. VUDU connectivity will be available at the end of the month via a free upgrade.

We’ve just received a tip from a pretty reliable source that detailed for us some of iTunes 9’s upcoming features and they’re pretty exciting.

One of the new additions to iTunes is said to include Blu-ray support which lines up nicely with a recent Apple Insider report about Apple integrating Blu-ray into their new iMac line-up. Something else that will most likely make a bunch of people happy is that we’ve been told iTunes 9 will finally include the ability to visually organize and arrange your iPhone and iPod touch applications. Something that wasn’t so clearly described was some kind of Twitter/Facebook/Last.fm integration. Maybe broadcasting what song you’re playing to your friends?

Let’s see how this pans out. Even though we weren’t given a timeframe on a possible release, that yearly Apple iPod event around the September timeframe would most likely be a reasonable place to expect this sort of announcement we believe.

Thanks, Lindsey!

Following a long a grueling battle that forced the company to bury its now-defunct “next generation” home entertainment media tech, Toshiba was left bleeding worse than a naked cheerleader in an axe murderer flick. It’s been just over a year since we all attended HD DVD’s $1 billion funeral and now it appears that Toshiba is done grieving. A year is enough time, right? According to the the Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun, the beaten electronics giant plans to join the dark side and issue a Blu-ray player by year’s end. It’s first BD offering will reportedly play DVDs as well as Blu-ray discs, though the price point is still unknown. Tosh is supposedly considering a Blu-ray recorder as well but no time line was specified so odds are we won’t see it this year. The move makes sense of course — Toshiba has to keep up with the times and 1080p is hotter than Hansel right now. It’s going to have to sell a whole lot of players to make up for that $1 billion it lost in the format war, however. Best of luck to you, Tosh.

[Via HD-Report]

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Remember those Friday nights when you’d rent video tapes by the bundle and watch them all as fast as you can because they were due back in two days and you knew it would take an eternity to rewind each one? Though we’ve come a long way from finely tuning the tracking knob on VCRs for better picture quality, we’re still going to miss these giant cassettes, if not for nostalgia. These days, it’s all about high-definition, Blu-ray and digital sound, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and Distribution Video Audio in Burbank, CA, the last large-scale distributor of VHS tapes, has shipped its last batch. Anything left over will be given away or thrown away. Farewell, large, black, and cumbersome video tapes! We won’t forget you, until we do of course.

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Here it is folks, it’s what you’ve all been waiting for (or not): The very first Blu-ray / DVD hybrid disc. With permeable layers for DVD and Blu-ray, and different thicknesses between those layers, the lasers penetrate to certain depths allowing for either the DVD or Blu-ray to be read. There is one huge benefit to this new hybrid disc – backward compatibility. Instead of buying two copies of the same movie (we doubt you actually do that) on Blu-ray and DVD, you only need one disc to play in your Cadillac Escalade, portable DVD player or PS3. Get the picture? For now, it’s only available in Japan, but we suspect this technology will make its way to the States sooner or later. It would only make sense, right?

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We can’t hate it when we find out that something interesting is going to be unveiled at CES 2009 since all signs are pointing to the fact that it doesn’t look like it will be commonplace this time around. That won’t stop Sharp from showing up with a sweet arsenal, though it’s hard to call two new sets an arsenal. According to a Sharp executive, Sharp will be debuting two new Aquos HDTVs at CES that come packing integrated Blu-ray / DVD / CD players. There will be a 32″ model and a 42″ model unveiled and both will become available for sale shortly after the show. As far as pricing, Sharp will wait for the show to make anything official, though rumor has it the 42″ model will come in somewhere around $2,000 and will also feature 1080p HD resolution and a 120Hz frame-rate processing. We definitely can’t wait to check out these new Aquos sets along with what will hopefully be a few surprises from Sharp at CES next month.

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How’s this for a slice of fried gold? A 42″ LCD TV with a full 1080p HD picture and an integrated PC featuring an Intel Core2Duo E8400 processor, 4 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, Blu-ray / DVD combo drive, integrated PVR and a 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium. No, Dr. Frankenstein isn’t doing more crazy experiments – it’s Silicon Mountain this time. The TV / PC combo manufacturer has just announced a pair of additions to its line of all-in-one LCDs that finally packs some specs worth lusting over. Seriously, this thing is a beast. The new sets start at a very reasonable $1,600 and climb to $2,800 when specced out as described above. We also have word that Silicon Mountain may be working on another version that includes a hair drier, back massager and a kitchen sink, but that model isn’t due until next holiday season.

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Samsung BD-P2550 owners, it’s time to get your firmware update on. Non-Samsung BD-P2550 owners, it’s time to add this puppy to your wishlist. Until this morning, we had our eye on the LG BD-300 as the player / set top box combo du jour. As it turns out however, we’re jumping ship faster than Lady de Rothschild. The BD-P2550 just got a major firmware update that brings not only Netflix streaming, but Pandora streaming as well. In other words, for $50 more than LG’s box you can throw Pandora streaming into the mix and add DTS-HD audio support in another firmware update coming on October 30. We’ll take two.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

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Early last month we told you about this beauty of a Blu-ray player by LG. Affordability, sexiness and the added joy of being able to stream Netflix downloads to your TV make it tough to deny the BG300. Well people, it just got a little bit tougher. LG’s Netflix-streaming Blu-ray player is now officially available for pre-order from Circuit City and the already-attractive price is $50 lower than we all thought. Scheduled to start shipping next Friday, the BD300 is up on Circuit City’s site for $349.99. It is also available for pre-order on Amazon’s site but at the original $400 price point. Aside from being $50 more expensive compared to the Circuit City price, Amazon’s BD300 page also states an estimated ship date between two and five months. Umm, yeah – we’re going to have to go with Circuit City on this one.

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For those of you that have been waiting to pick up a spanking new Playstation 3, this Sunday might be your day of reckoning. Thanks to a leaked Blockbuster pricing sheet, we’ve discovered that the recently discontinued Playstation 3 40GB version has dropped by $40, bringing the total to $359.99. It’s not a massive drop, but it might be enough to push anyone that was teetering on the verge of purchase over the edge. Keep in mind that this is a discontinued model, so supplies are likely to be limited. As such, you might want to check with your local store to make sure they still have ‘em in stock. Oh, and if the PS3 40GB bundle with an included HDMI cable, copy of Spiderman: The Movie, and Transformers: The Game, sounds like bit more appealing, you’ll be happy to learn that this too will be the recipient of a $40 drop. Excited yet?

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Here it is people, the first Blu-ray player to be announced with an MSRP under $300. It might not be quite as high-class as Goldmund’s Eidos 20 BD and it might not be quite as versatile as LG’s BG-3000 with integrated Netflix streaming, but those of you looking for some Blu-ray love on the cheap this is definitely right up your alley. Specs:

• Progressive scan Blu-ray Disc player 1080p capability for higher definition video content
• Full HD 1080p, DVD up-conversion up to 1080p (480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p), 24p, 60p video frame rate
• Multi-channel audio content (supports more advanced Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD)
• BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, CD-ROM, CD, CD-R/-RW
• 16:9 / 4:3 picture select
• On-screen graphical user interface
• Slow motion function (2x – 4x – 8x)
• RW/FF play function (2x – 4x – 8x – 16x)
• VFD display

In a nutshell, Memorex’s upcoming offering is a pretty capable player at a pretty affordable price. Nothing more, nothing less. This unit should go a long way in making Blu-ray accessible to a much wider variety of consumer. It could also do us all a favor as competitive brands are forced to respond to the lower price range. The MVBD-2510 will be available in November just in time for the gift-giving season and will carry a recommended price tag of $269.99.

[Via Electronista]

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Plenty of awesome-looking gear was flaunted at the CEDIA expo this past week and wallets will soon be shrinking all around the country as a result. From $35,000 70-inch plasmas to, well, just about everything else you would ever want to stuff into your home theater, gear fans around the globe are drooling over the releases to come over the next few months. Several announcements have caught our eye so far, and one of them is the little beauty pictured above. First announced at CES this past year, the LG BD300 might just be the Blu-ray player you’ve been waiting for – if you’ve been waiting for a new player that is. Forget about the 1080p Blu-ray video compatibility and the DVD upconverting (ok don’t completely forget about that), this little demon will also replace your current set top box and allow you to stream Netflix downloads to your TV. If you’re a Netflix customer who has been waiting to find the right Blu-ray player, you probably just found it. If you’re a Blockbuster Total Access customer who has been getting more and more annoyed as they increase prices and remove benefits, you probably just found a good reason to make the switch. Of note, the BD300 will ship with BD-Profile 1.1 and the company claims that firmware updates will be fast and painless in the event the spec changes five minutes after you buy the player. This makes sense of course, since the unit is always connected via Ethernet. The LG BD300 will become available in October and will carry a relatively easy to swallow price tag of $399.

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Since you Canadians got the Blackberry Bold first, you had to wait for these – but now the wait is over. If giant towers are cramping your style, check out Dell’s new line of Studio Hybrids. You’ll also be happy to know, if you’re at all environmentally conscious, that these are Dell’s “greenest, most power-efficient desktop.” Like all of their machines, the Studio Hybrid is very customizable and comes in 6 different interchangeable color shells or bamboo. The disc slot will handle DVDs and Blu-Ray as an optional feature. Starting at $529, here are some of the features that can be had:

Pretty good deal, eh?

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Have $17,000 to blow? Need an HD media player? Goldmund, a high-end home theater company, has just announced one of the world’s most expensive Blu-ray players. The Eidos 20 BD is a luxury media player in every sense of the word, and sports a number of distinct features including the "AC-Curator" power supply unit that ensures a clean source of power that, according to Goldmun "dramatically improves picture and sound stability and dynamics". Sure, but is it worth the $17,000 investment? Probably not, but we’re certain that won’t be much of a deterrent to the prospective audience. We’ve got a quick suggestion, though. Maybe it would be nice in the future to actually include hard specs on the $17,000 component you’re trying to sell. Just a thought.

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If there’s one thing HD DVD players are good for these days, it’s promoting creativity. Finding something to do with your now-a-big-hunk-of-doorstop is great for exercising your cerebrum, but not so great for watching new HD movies. If you’d like to try the latter, watch some new HD movies that is, then Circuit City may be your friend. You won’t find this program advertised anywhere, but there is a bit of solace for Circuit City customers who have purchased an HD DVD player within the past three months. Take your box-O-useless back over to your local Circuit City store and you will be given a credit for the entire purchase price of the unit. The credit can then be applied towards the purchase of a new Blu-ray player. You can also opt for a Circuit City gift card if Blu-ray isn’t your thing. What does Circuit City plan to do with all of those HD DVD players? Hold open a hell of a lot of doors we would imagine…

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Looking to get a little portable HD content into your life? Acer seems to making some decent steps in that direction. The company is reportedly working on two separate Blu-ray capable portable machines, one with a 16.4" screen and one with a massive 18" screen. The displays on these computers will display HD content in its natural aspect ratio of 1920×1080, trumping most currently available laptops. These computers won’t be cheap, ranging in price from $1,900 to $2,240 depending on screen size and options, but for an easy to transport HD-capable machine, we think is is a pretty reasonable price point. No word on specific release dates, but we should have these in our grubby little hands by Spring of this year. Just don’t go thinking you can fit that 18"-incher in a manilla evelope, okay?

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It has been less than a week since Toshiba put the final nail in HD DVD’s coffin and people are already predicting the death of Blu-ray. For real? Sure it’s highly unlikely that Blu-ray will ever see the popularity enjoyed by DVD, but physical HD media will have its time to shine before downloadable content renders it obsolete. The technology will grow, hardware prices will drop and Blu-ray will likely see a good amount of global success. The major studios are on board, and gaming console support will also play a role in Blu-ray’s growth and success. To think that mass-adoption of movie downloads and affordable global availability of the bandwidth to support them is going to happen quickly is obtuse. Slooooow down there killer. People will be connecting dedicated physical media players to TVs for a long time to come. And what about Blu-ray as storage? You can already pick up a 5x Blu-ray burner for less than $200 and with a disc capacity of 25 GB single layer / 50 GB dual layer, you can expect its eventual mass-adoption by PC manufacturers as prices drop. It’s easy to say that any piece of technology present these days will become obsolete. That, of course, is the nature of technology and progress. The popularity of physical high definition media however, is an inevitable step in terms of the evolution of multimedia content delivery. What do you think; should Blu-ray just pack its bags and quit or stay the course?

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It looks like the rumors were true and the 80GB PlayStation 3 is in fact going the way of the dinosaur. As retailers try to dump their remaining inventory, news that the more spacious PlayStation 3 model is on its way out was only heartbreaking for a few days. The move is now making a lot more sense of course, when considering the latest rumor to emerge from the gaming world. It appears that Sony has ditched the 80GB model because there will soon be a new sheriff in town. A meatier model is reported to be just over the horizon, boasting 120GB – 160GB of storage. Further details are still trickling in, but it’s said that the newcomer will ship with the highly-coveted Dual Shock 3 controller, which isn’t widely available outside of Japan at this point. The best news, which of course is the worst news for those who have already shelled out the cash for the 80GB model, is that the new model will come in at the same price point that its predecessor sold for. Nice! Word on the street is that the 40GB model should receive a 20% price slash around the same time. That brings the 40GB down to a svelte $299 and twice the price will bring you three to four times the storage with the upcoming model ringing in at $499.

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