Cool Gizmos – Gizmora

Zox Japan has launched DVD player DS-DP105 with changing photo covers. Yes you can change the look of the DVD player with the photo acrylic cover .The mini DVD player measures 169×133×30mm and weighs approximately 390g. At present three different photo acrylic covers are available for the DVD player. The Zox DVD player is compatible with DVD-R and CD-R/RW playback and comes with a head phone out put. Standard accessories include-AC adaptor, remote control and ear phone. The player is available from first week of February for approximately 7,000 Yen.

VidaBox, a manufacturer of premium media center systems, is delighted to announce that it will be offering a new CableCARD option to its line of media center products.  With dual internal digital cable receivers, VidaBox CableCARD systems will not only feature integrated tuning for premium high definition digital content, but users can also add Blu-ray, HD DVD, and more than 3TB of RAID-5 protected storage.
       “We’re thrilled to be the only manufacturer to offer the latest in high definition – CableCARD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD – all in one box,” said Steven Cheung, a co-founder of VidaBox.  “Integrated dual CableCARD systems are one step closer to having a true ‘one box’ entertainment solution.  Anyone can obtain a CableCARD from their cable television provider, insert it into their VidaBox, then start watching and recording dozens of premium HD digital channels (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, ESPN, Discovery, etc.)  All of our users can now experience up to 1080p playback, whether it be from their TV provider or a high-def video disc.”

LG may have a difficult time bringing its newly announced BH100 hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD player to the market, BetaNews has learned, because it will not receive certification from the DVD Forum. Without such certification, LG cannot publicly claim the player supports HD DVD as it is doing now.
       The problem stems from the lack of support for HDi, the advanced interactivity technology used by HD DVD. LG has only included support for BD-J, Blu-ray’s interactive menu system, in the BH100. Without HDi, only the video content from HD DVD discs will play back; menu systems and other interactive features will simply not be usable.
       Kevin Collins, Microsoft’s representative for the HD DVD group who sits on all the steering committees, says LG will not be able to sell the product and claim it supports the format if it leaves out HDi. Collins said LG provided no advance notice before announcing the BH100 player at CES, and noted he was surprised by the move.

Toshiba today brought the wide ranging capabilities of HD DVD to the desktop PC with the announcement of a standard height HD DVD drive able to read and write to HD DVD and to standard DVD and CD discs. Sample shipments of the new drive, SD-H903A, are scheduled to start this month.
      The new SD-H903A integrates a blue-violet laser diode that can read and write to HD DVD-R discs and that offers support for high-density HD DVD-ROM discs, including high definition movie and video images. The drive also offers all the functionality of a super multi-drive, with high performance, high-speed read and write to all flavors of standard DVD and CD discs.
      The new drive takes full advantage of the shared physical structure of HD DVD discs and standard DVD discs, which allows it to read and write to HD DVD-R discs, to read the diverse line-up of discs in the HD DVD-ROM disc family, including twin format disc and combination discs, and to read and write to standard DVD and CD discs, using an optical pick-up head with only a single objective lens.
      The new drive is also fully compliant with the EU’s RoHS directive, which came into force in July 2006.

This could be the best deal you might ever get. If you are looking for a good DVD at an economical price, here’s some news for you. Toshiba has developed an upconverting DVD player which has these specs; it plays DivX and all kinds of CDs, HDMI out and up-converts to progressive-scan 720p or say 1080i. This DVD player from Toshiba is available for a mere amount of $40 and it is for poor souls like me.

But if you are looking for a high-end broadcast quality and don’t mind burning a hole in your pockets, then there is a pricier version from Arcam – FMJ DV139. It offers crisp picture quality with its 1080p but the bad news is that it does not play DivX and costs $3486. If you are one of those who don’t mind shelling out a few more bucks in the name of quality then this is for you.

Who the hell in the world knows the difference between 1080p and 720p.

It’s beautiful, very soulful and glowy. The speakers of this stereo system have a 4 inch woofer and a 1 inch tweeter. It will drive you completely crazy with its functions.

It comes complete with DivX, MP3, MPEG4 and WMA support. It is quite good at playing media and looks super sexy. There is no word on pricing yet. If you are looking out for buying a media player or DVD, you cannot get a better option than this …

HP’s first internal DVD writer that has a maximum burn speed of 18x is all set to launch next month onwards. The DVD940i is the first from HP that has a internal DVD. To introduce a internal DVD and that to with such a great writing speed is something really very impressive. It can handle all the major DVD and CD recordable and rewriteable formats. There is still no news out regarding its price..

The PDP100 doesn’t do fancy things like upconverting your DVDs, but its hot and sexy looks will make up for any deficiencies in its features.

It is available online for USD $167.