Myka better hope that Apple doesn't have design patents on the appearance of the AppleTV. That thing couldn't look more like an AppleTV if they tried.

A pirated design to service the pirating needs of the A/V community. Nicely done Myka!

There are more than 8 new HD channels coming to OC and PV in the next month...

The new freebies for people with HD service
1. TLC
2. Animal Planet
3. Food Network
4. FSN
5. History Channel
6. CNN
7. HGTV
8. NFL Net
9. KCET (PBS)
10. NHL
11. A&E
12. TBS (not sure if this is new)
13. Golf Channel
14. vs
15. National Geographic (not sure if this is new)

New HD premium channels:
1. Cinemax
2. Startz

Why do they post new channels on Engadget? Do people in other geographical areas really care what channels we get? I could care less what other areas get.

I hope this is a resilient crack of BD+. BD+, BD-J and fluid profiles (and cost) are the primary drawbacks of the BD format. Not much we can do about BD-J or profile 1.x/2.x other than grin and bear it.

I look forward to being able to re-encode some of my BD collection into ipod and DVD formats for when I'm flying or driving on long trips.

Decent set. Would be a worthy replacement of my aging 1st gen 42" rear projection 1080i HDTV.

I don't mind WB going Blu, but their timing was inexcusable on multiple levels.

Many thousands of consumers just picked up HD-DVD players for their family and friends during the winter holiday season and they make this announcement right afterwards! That is sticking it to the consumers. Secondly, making an announcement of this nature the day before CES was not very statesmanlike. WB had a business relationship with the BDA and Toshiba and the timing of their announcement puts Toshiba in an awkward position as evidenced by the press conf cancellation.

FWIW, I have an HD-A20 and a BD-P1200, so I'm getting my HD movies either way. No more WB films unless they are truly irresistible.

@Iridium -- I'd like to clarify a few things in this blame game.

Preliminary Blu-Ray specs existed well before HD-DVD came into the picture. Warner Bros and other studios were tentative about a costly switch to blue lasers and the departure of BD from the existing DVD standard. Toshiba and NEC leveraged this and HD-DVD sprang into being.

BD would have been adopted by the DVD Forum if it was more palatable to the forum members. The DVD Forum negotiated with the BDA to jettison BD-J (which studios claim is difficult to program) in favor of Microsoft's HDi (easier to program). This is MS's tie-in. MS is behind HD-DVD because HD-DVD uses their HDi API (most of the other claims around here are speculitive at best; Michael Bay conspiracy theories at worst). The other point of contention between BDA and the DVD Forum was the physical format. BDA members invested billions developing the format and refused to reach a compromise with the DVD Forum on that front. Thus, the war was born.

In my mind, BD-J is the root cause of this war. What a poor choice by the BDA. BD-J has been a nightmare and there may not have been a format war to speak of if BDA had offered HDi instead. HP's efforts to broker a deal and avoid another Beta/VHS war probably would have succeeded if BD-J was dumped.

You can be thankful about two things. The format war has driven prices down MUCH faster than would have been the case for a single format. The format war also forced BDA to revise it's specification repeatedly to adopt features that HD-DVD included from the start. In the end we will have cheaper players with more features. Competition is good, but format wars are potentially bad for early adopters.

@contractcooker
It was refreshing reading your well reasoned defense of the Blu Ray format. Your rationale essentially focused on capacity; more bitrate for audio and video.

I cannot challenge that position strongly, but I will say that few people (including professional reviewers) can see or hear any difference between these formats. The only real advantage I see to BD's higher capacity is the extras (e.g. extras shot in HD, more language options, lossless audio + multi-language on same disc). These extras can always be tossed onto a second disc.

Why support HD-DVD?
(1) mature specification (all features included in first-gen products)
(2) it has always been more affordable
(3) more power-user friendly (region-free, no BD+)

Paramount's CTO explained the advantages more eloquently in a PC World magazine interview (google the following: paramount bell pcworld). The short and sweet version is that the capacity advantages is over-hyped (surprising, I know), programming in HDi is much easier than BD-J, and cheaper players that J6P can afford.

This seems like a really good buy at $3k. 1080p/60/24, Reon-VX, whisper quiet operation, and a kickin' contrast ratio (if you trust their spec). I paid a little more for a 720p LCD projector ~4 years ago that had a Faroudja chipset and very accurate colors (Yamaha LPX-510).

*yawn* Fox is all talk, no disc. Wake me up when they actually release something.

If the HD-DVD and BD exclusivity deals have two year terms, then it will get really interesting when the Fox and Disney deals expire! Sing with me... Whoomp, there it is! Whoomp, there it is! Visions of beta-max comes to mind (i.e. a lot of pissed off people who spent a fortune on players). OK, I'm done gloating for now. :)