Front Projection Home Cinema

Make an IPod Video Projector - video powered by Metacafe

Here is a neat idea for a Do It Yourself mini projector. Made out of cardboard, mirror and a lens, this box will turn your iPod into a self-powered video projector.

It won’t compete with your 1500 lumen HDTV light cannon, but it looks like a fun project. Get the detailed directions over at instructables.

Toshiba Corp., the main developer and supported of the HD DVD disc format said today that they will cease production of HD DVD players. This move ends the format war over the next-generation video disc and hands the victory to Sony’s Blu-ray.

In a news conference today the CEO of Toshiba, Atsutoshi Nishida, said “It was a heartbreaking decision.” But the company realized that they had no chance of success after Warner Bros decided to go with Blu-ray and retail giants Best Buy and Wal-Mart also said they would only sell Blu-ray in the future.

According to Toshiba, they had sold about one million HD DVD players world wide including add-on players for the Microsoft Xbox 360 videogame console. In contrast, over six million devices that play Blu-ray Discs have been sold according to the Blu-ray Disc Association. That figure includes Sony Playstation 3 consoles which include a Blu-ray drive.

I just called 1-800-405-7520 about the 5 Free HD DVDs offer from Toshiba that I submitted in November but have not recieved. They claim there is a backlog and “call back in four weeks if they haven’t arrived.

Shall I hold my breath?

HD DVD is dead, for all intents and purposes, now that retail behemoth Wal-Mart has gone Blu.

Today they announced that all 4,000 U.S. Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores “will move forward this year with one hi-definition movie and hardware format: Blu-ray.”

A few months ago it was the Wal-Mart Secret Black Friday sale that convinced me to get a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for $99. Well, I guess it still makes a good upconverting DVD player with an HDMI output. I wonder if I will ever get the five free HD DVD movies that I sent in for.

Here is the official announcement from Wal-Mart:

Wal-Mart Moving Exclusively Toward Blu-ray Format Movies and Players

Bentonville, Ark., Feb. 15, 2008 – Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. today announces that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will move forward this year with one hi-definition movie and hardware format: Blu-ray. The change will take place quickly over the next several months whereby the retailer will phase out HD DVD offerings and reorganize shelf space. By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts.

“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S. “With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home.”

Wal-Mart will continue to sell through remaining HD DVD product, but in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online. As the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart thoughtfully reviewed all areas and impact in making its decision, and is excited to move forward with one format and share its future plans with customers.

The Hollywood Reporter is saying that industry insiders expect that Toshiba will soon call it quits on HD DVD. This would effectively end the battle between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD for the next-generation optical disc format for home entertainment.

“An announcement is coming soon,” said one source close to the HD DVD camp. “It could be a matter of weeks.”

Perhaps the tide started shifting last summer when Blockbuster decided to offer only Blu-ray movies at all of its company-owned stores.

Then in January, Warner Home Video announced that they plan to abandon HD DVD and distribute their movies exclusively on Blu-ray Disc.

Perhaps the final blow was delivered earlier this week when Best Buy and Netflix both decided to support Blu-ray exclusively. Both companies cited Warner’s shift to Blu-ray as a key factor in their decision.

A Netflix spokesman said the format war appears to have been won by Blu-ray. He added, “We wanted to put an exclamation point behind that.”

The format war seems to be over as we wait for the official obituary.

HD DVD, we hardly knew ya.

Apple TV 2.0 is now available and many are wondering how the quality of Apple’s so-called HD downloads compares to what we are seeing via other high-def sources such as Blu-ray & HD Cable.

Charles Starrett over at iLounge has looked at the matter and has an in-depth article complete with screen captures exploring the visual and audio quality of Apple 2.0 movie downloads compared to Blu-ray discs, standard DVDs and High Definition Cable movies.

The conclusion is that Blu-ray was clearly superior in both picture and sound fidelity when viewed on their 40” Sony Bravia XBR4 display with 1080p at 120Hz. The Apple TV movie, despite being delivered over the Internet, generally looked and sounded better than HD Cable and DVD.

They point out that the potential superiority of the Blu-ray movie may not actually be experienced by many HDTV viewers who have displays that cannot display Blu-ray’s full 1080p resolution. Most HDTV sets sold before 2007 can only display up to 720p or 1080i.

The bottom line from iLounge is, “If you’re using a TV without the ability to display 1080p video—especially if you don’t have a receiver capable of decoding the Blu-Ray Disc’s DTS-HD signal—an Apple TV rental will be an almost complete substitute for renting the Blu-Ray.”

See the comparison pictures for yourself at iLounge.com.

The Belkin FlyWire system announced at CES 2008 will help solve one of the most difficult challenges in setting up a front projection home theater system.

Typically, home theater components like the receiver, cable box, and DVD player are located in a cabinet or rack in the front or side of your media room. The problem has been to run an HDMI cable from the equipment rack up and over to the ceiling-mounted projector. That usually means lots of work fishing the cables through walls or an ugly, black cable snake tacked to the wall.

It looks like the Belkin FlyWire system will help simplify getting the video signal over to your projector. It is relatively small, only 4 inches square by 1 inch thick, so it will fit discreetly in the space above a ceiling-mounted projector. You will, however, need to plug the FlyWire receiver into AC power, perhaps using the same ceiling receptacle that your projector is plugged into.

The Belkin Flywire transmitter includes a six-input, remote controlled HDMI switcher. Belkin says that the FlyWire system can transmit a 1080p signal up to 100 feet. Available sometime in the summer of 2008 for between $499 and $599.

A year ago Netflix started a movie and streaming service to compliment their DVD by mail rentals. However, there were limits on the number of hours you could download and watch each month based on the level of your DVD rental plan. You were allowed about an hour of video on demand for each dollar of your monthly plan. If you subscribed to the $17 a month DVD rental plan, you got 18 hours of “Instant Watching” on your PC each month.

Now Netflix is offering unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows for all plans except for the lowest $4.99 a month plan. The price of the plans that offer unlimited streaming starts at $8.99 a month.

Perhaps digital delivery will help solve the problems the company is having with their DVD mailing costs. The postal service has complained about the flimsy Netflix DVD mailing envelopes clogging their mail sorting machines and will start charging the company an extra 17 cents per envelope.

The announcement is made on the eve of MacWorld 2008 when Steve Jobs is expected to announce a new movie rental service tied to iTunes and perhaps a new and improved Apple TV.

And if you are a Mac user, you might want to wait. The Netflix service runs on PC only.