Universal Home Entertainment has just unveiled plans to release The Good Shepherd to DVD and HD-DVD in April. Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro star in this powerful thriller about the ...

Although recent sales figures tend to favor the Blu-ray high-definition DVD format, overall sales have swung in HD DVD's favor. PC Magazine looks at the numbers and tries to gauge which way the market is leaning.

Wayde Robson may not know whether Blu-ray or HD DVD is better, but he does think that Blu-ray wasn't made with the consumer in mind. Wayde goes on a rant, claiming Sony lured in more support from the studios because they made their format more studio-friendly in terms of DRM and content protection.
Then he says Sony really doesn't have the consumer in mind, being that they're both a media and a content company. He makes no claims that HD DVD is better, just that if Sony wins the format war, things may get ugly for the rest of us not wearing thousand dollar suits. – Jason Chen
Blu-ray and Sony - Does the Consumer Win? [Gizmo Cafe via Crunchgear]

Wayde Robson of Gizmo Cafe may not know whether Blu-ray or HD DVD is better, but he does think that Blu-ray wasn't made with the consumer in mind. Wayde goes on a rant, claiming Sony lured in more support from the studios because they made their format more studio-friendly in terms of DRM and content protection.
Then he says Sony really doesn't have the consumer in mind, being that they're both a media and a content company. Actions like introducing BD+ (an extra layer of protection) in order to get a studio on board and not adding managed copy (backing up your Blu-ray disc) only when HP promised to pull out don't do much to put Sony in a good light. He makes no claims that HD DVD is better, just that if Sony wins the format war, things may get ugly for the rest of us not wearing thousand dollar suits. – Jason Chen
Blu-ray and Sony - Does the Consumer Win? [Gizmo Cafe via Crunchgear]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Cyberlink's recently released PowerDVD Ultra software seemed to be a cure-all solution for enjoying high-definition movies on a PC, offering support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, including Microsoft's low-cost Xbox 360 HD DVD drive. As Cyberlink's support forums show, however, not everybody's been rewarded for their patience (and hundred bucks), with a number of reports cropping up of playback problems with both high-def formats on systems that Cyberlink's own system adviser says meet the necessary requirements. The main problem appears to occur with those using an HDMI or DVI-to-HDMI connection between their video card and display device, with the video reportedly only playing for a few seconds before throwing up an "Error 0103" message stating that the player couldn't be initialized. While there's reports of the problem dating back to shortly after the software's release in late December, there's so far been no fix for the issue and no word fr...

April will see the release of The Good Shepherd from Universal Home Entertainment on both DVD and HD-DVD. Little information is available on the full supplements, but both versions will include ...

Filed under: Features, Home Entertainment

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:
"Waswitchedon Post. Burnstein speaking."
"I think your coverage of the next-generation DVD format wars could benefit from a more 'universal' perspective, Karl."
"Huh?"
"It's me, Disc Bloat."
"Oh no, not you again! Been a while, Mr. Bloat, if that is your real name. Just fly back in your UFO after visiting Bat Boy in Loch Ness?"
"Come on, Karl. Everyone knows that Bat Boy is now dwelling in the New York subway system."
"All right, fill me in on what's going around the asylum these days."
"Have you ever wondered, Karl, why Universal Studios is supporting only HD DVD?"
Continue reading Switched On: Universal soldier
 
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transform...

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
HD Guru has a review up of Toshiba's second-generation HD DVD player, the HD-XA2, which they gave top ratings. This is the higher-end of the two new HD DVD Toshiba models, and gets high marks for its improvements on the previous model, with faster loading times, 1080p support, a smaller form factor, and a much-improved chipset for upscaling standard-definition DVDs (the HD-A2 lacks 1080p and the improved upscaling chip). It includes the Silicon Optix Reon chip for converting your old library of DVDs into 1080p -- or any other resolution supported with the HDMI 1.3a connector -- and also supports the Deep Color space offered by the new HDMI specification, for improved color reproduction with compatible source material. According to HD Guru's tests, the Toshiba did better than Pioneer's competing first-generation BDP-HD1 Blu-ray player on upconverting SD DVDs, while matching it on quality for high-definition content. Unfortunately, while the pric...

Toshiba's second generation HD DVD player, the HD-XA2, doesn't suck, something you couldn't say about its first generation player. HD Guru just scored the player's first review and walks us through why Toshiba actually did a good job with the HD-XA2. Faster load times, top notch upconversion and 1080p output are the biggest draws here. The XA2 lost some five pounds compared to the A1 and is nearly half as tall. That means no more having to reinforce your home entertainment center just to get the player to safely sit atop. Disc loading is also faster, taking around 22 seconds to load once the unit is turned on.
It can't all be smooth sailing, can it?
Well, if the review is to be trusted (not having any pictures of the player strikes me as suspicious), then the only real complaint is that the XA2 shut off when switching around inputs on the TV. Going from source to source (Video 1, Video 2, etc.) freaked out the player, which then turned off. Toshiba says that a fix is in th...