Just last week we heard that Warner Bros. was ending its home video / DVD business in South Korea due to rampant piracy, and now we’ve got a report from China suggesting that sophisticated pirates are duping buyers with faux Blu-ray Discs that are actually DVDs. As the story goes, motion picture pirates in choose parts of Asia are ripping bona fide BDs and then burning them in AVCHD format (which uses 720 horizontal lines of resolution compared to Blu-ray’s 1,080) on writable DVDs. Word on the street has it that these discs are being offered for around $7 each, and they even boast the BD hologram and the iconic blue hues on the packaging. Reportedly, none of the discs have made it outside of Asia just yet, but stay sharp should you ever get the urge to snag a discounted BD title while traveling abroad.

[Image courtesy of UberGizmo]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Chinese pirates offering cheap AVCHD Blu-ray rips on disguised DVD-Rs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Andrew Liszewski

While Romain Jerome isn’t exactly the first company that springs to mind when you think of luxury watches, they have made a name for themselves with their Titanic DNA watch that includes salvaged materials from the infamous luxury liner. Apparently the watches sold quite well, and they seemed to have inspired Romain Jerome to stick with the ‘gimmick’ approach when it comes to their designs. How else would you explain the Day & Night watch which doesn’t have any hands on the face, and is only able to tell you if it’s… well… day or night. And it’s not like the company is trying to keep the fact that the watch can’t tell time a secret.

World First – An exceptional timepiece that does not indicate the time!

With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night.

A new interpretation of Time based around two Tourbillons operating sequentially. The Day Tourbillon operates during the day, defining the wearer’s period of activity, and stops after twelve hours, handing over to the Night Tourbillon dedicated to man’s own private sphere.

It kind of reminds me of P.T. Barnum’s ‘Fiji Mermaid’. A genuine fake! Anyways, apparently the Day & Night watch was an extremely limited edition of just 9 pieces that instantly sold out, even though they each had a price tag of $300,000. Sigh.

[ Romain Jerome Day & Night ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

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Okay, so maybe Memorex’s Profile 1.1 MVBD-2510 was only $269 from the get-go, but busting through the unofficial $150 price barrier is a pretty huge deal for Blu-ray. Granted, we’re totally anticipating a few more to join the fold come Black Friday, but who’s not all about buying from the comfort of one’s home versus braving frigid temperatures only to catch eight airborne diseases and shave 2.85 years from your life due to statistically significant levels of stress on a day off? Bottom line: $139.99 for a BD deck is pretty darn cheap (even for Woot’s standards), and even if there’s no BD-Live support baked in, it’ll still handle the 1080p basics. Order now, debate later.

[Thanks, Jamil]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Memorex MVBD-2510 Blu-ray player hits $139.99 (but not for long) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Jonathan Kimak

There are probably more iPod docks in the world than there are iPods. So the fact that there’s another dock on the market isn’t surprising. Yet this one looks rather nice. The Xi jukebox was created specifically for housing the iPod in a full scale 1950’s inspired jukebox.

The jukebox contains the traditional numbered buttons, some nice speakers(Mk7 Twin channel amplifier, 150w per channel, 2 x tweeter 2 x mid range and 1 x 12 twin cone bass speaker), an LCD display screen for viewing the videos on your iPod and a remote control.

Each jukebox is hand built to order and also features LED lights throughout that can be changed depending on your preferences.

The price? Close to $11,000.

[ Xi Jukebox ] VIA [ Born Rich ]

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If you skipped Walmart’s pre-Black Friday festivities pat yourself on the back, as — despite its lawyers hard work C&Ding unauthorized early ad postings into oblivion — CNNMoney reveals the “doorbuster” highlights probably not worth getting trampled for this year. Between 5-10 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving the already-discounted Magnavox Blu-ray player drops from $198 to $128 (a BDP-S300 might still be a superior value), 50-inch Samsung plasma of unspecified resolution is only $798 (720p, bet on it), and Xbox 360 + Guitar Hero III & wireless guitar pack (all the real plastic guitar aficionados have moved on to Rock Band 2) drops in for $199. Slightly lower profile are a $398 HP desktop PC and $175 gas grill but c’mon, we all know it’s the high definition (it’ll be a lonely holiday without the suddenly too-good for us Vizio) that’ll have you shivering outside your local retailer with the soccer mothers and other deal hunters.

[Thanks, Jason]

Filed under: Displays, Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Walmart Black Friday doorbuster deals leak out early, we’ll sleep in originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Evan Ackerman

Back on April 1st (that would be, April Fool’s Day) we posted about a Personal Soundtrack Shirt from Thinkgeek.com. The shirt had a speaker embedded in the front, and would play music and sound effects as you went about your daily business, making your boring life that much more exciting.

It was, of course, a joke.

Or maybe not.

Thinkgeek got such a crazy response to the joke that they’ve decided to make an actual product out of it, and it’ll be on sale in limited quantities starting on Friday. Just like the April Fool’s Day prank, the shirt has a large speaker embedded in the front. A wired remote control grants you to choose the appropriate soundtrack or sound effect to play. If you don’t like the included sounds, you can add your own on an SD card, or even wire an MP3 player directly into the speaker. The electronics are removable so you can wash the shirt if you’re into that sort of thing.

The Personal Soundtrack Shirt is only $40 and is guaranteed to make you awesome forever. Or as long as you’re wearing it, anyway. Video after the jump.

[ ThinkGeek ]

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You know, we typically have nothing but respect for the For Dummies line (with one title in particular being our fav), but this is just downright insulting. For those buying a new HDTV on Black Friday or soon after, 4D Global Partners and Cables To Go have linked up schemed to sucker you into buying this pathetic kit for hooking things up. Ironically enough, this supposedly simple package gets confusing right from the get-go by coming in two versions — as if HDTV newbies will really comprehend which one to go for. Beyond that, the only difference between the HDTV Cable Kit For Dummies and the HDTV Premium Cable Kit For Dummies is the number of HDMI cables (two and three, respectively). Each box comes bundled with a few basic HDMI connectors, “additional cables required to connect non-HDMI components,” reusable cable ties and a booklet that provides vague installation details for a TV you don’t actually own. Worst of all, the For Dummies crew somehow got the idea that pricing these at $99.99 and $149.99 (in order of mention) was a bright idea, which makes us awfully suspicious that Noel Lee has his sketchy hands in this somewhere.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Peripherals

HDTV Cable Kit For Dummies is really just for suckers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At this point, the whole subtly curvaceous / glossy black motif on the SyncMaster line has become a tad unexciting, but we suppose it still gets the job done. This day, Samsung has unleashed five new ones to chew on, and if you weren’t an expert on spotting differences in dimensions, you’d have a tough time telling them apart. For starters, we’ve got the 15.6-inch SyncMaster 633NW and 18.5-inch 933SN, both of which get stuck with just a VGA port and a 1,360 x 768 resolution. Movin’ on up, we see the 20-inch 2033SW (1,600 x 900) and 21.5-inch 2233SW / 23-inch 2333SW (1,920 x 1,080), all of which tout a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5-millisecond response time, 170-degree viewing angles, DVI / VGA inputs and 300 cd / m2 brightness. Anticipate the whole lot to show up in Japan within the next month for

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By Andrew Liszewski

Not every photographer working in a studio environment has an army of assistants at their beck and call. Like Scott Forman for example. But what he lacks in manpower, he more than makes up for with his programming prowess. In an attempt to make the process of shooting lighting tests using himself as the subject a bit easier, Scott has developed a Windows-only application called ShutterVoice that grants him to control most of the functions in Canon’s EOS Utility software with easy spoken commands.

Without having to use a keyboard or even see the PC’s display, the ShutterVoice utility grants a photographer to adjust everything from shutter speed, to the aperture and even control focus and autofocus functions with easy commands. The software uses the Microsoft Speech SDK for all of the voice recognition, as well as the voice synthesizer for providing an audible confirmation of what you’ve asked it to do. So far the software has been tested with an EOS 50D and an EOS 20D by Scott, but additional beta testers have confirmed it also works with the EOS Rebel XSi and EOS 30D. But in theory it should work with any Canon SLR that’s compatible with the EOS Utility.

ShutterVoice is expected to be available sometime in December for a flat rate of $30 (there will be no standard vs. pro versions.)

[ ShutterVoice ] VIA [ Rob Galbraith DPI ]

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Okay, so maybe Atlona Technologies’ latest whiz-bang adapter isn’t that awesome, but then again, it’s pretty awesome. The AT-HDPiX USB-to-HDMI adapter does precisely what it states by enabling any PC / digital signage display to accept an HDMI cable so long as a USB 2.0 socket is currently unoccupied. The device supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200 (or 720p), and because it takes audio from a 3.5-millimeter stereo jack rather than through the USB port, the full bandwidth of the USB connection is reserved for high-def video. Anticipate this miracle worker to begin shipping next month for $179.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Peripherals

Atlona’s AT-HDPiX USB-to-HDMI adapter answers an age-old prayer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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