» blu-ray

Walmart ad leaked: $78 Magnavox NB500 Blu-ray player!

Jessica Moreno — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:36:15 +0000

We knew that Walmart would be bringing the heat for Black Friday 2009, but we didn’t know they’d be going all-out with the Blu-ray goodness.

Seriously, if you are looking for the most inexpensive Blu-ray player on Black Friday 2009, it looks like the Magnavox NB500 will be your best bet, because it’ll cost just $78 at Walmart. Oh, and if you need an HDTV to go with that deal, they’ve got you covered there as well. Check out the entire contents of the Walmart Black Friday 2009 sale after the break.

Ballmer confirms Xbox 360 Blu-ray accessory

Alyssa Duval — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:08:52 +0000

One of the ongoing frustrations for Xbox 360 owners is the absence of a Blu-ray accessory; they keep pestering Microsoft for one, and Microsoft keep rolling out the same “we have no plans” excuses. Now, finally, the company appears to be changing its tune, though it takes some between-the-lines reading of outspoken CEO Steve Ballmer in order to fathom it. Talking to Gizmodo, Ballmer told interviewer Wilson Rothman that “you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories”.

“Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray [into the Xbox 360] – you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories” Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

Being the skeptical sort, Rothman followed up with Microsoft PR to get clarification on Ballmer’s comments. They pretty much told him that they have nothing to announce about physical Blu-ray drives, referring instead to their streaming plans:

“Our immediate solution for Blu-ray-quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we’re not ready to comment.” Microsoft PR

That’s enough for Gizmodo to suggest that an add-on Blu-ray drive might be on the cards at some point down the line, similar in fact to Microsoft’s ill-fated HD-DVD drive for the 360. Alternatively, it could mean that Microsoft will allow third-party manufacturers to develop their own Blu-ray accessories.

Rumor says Blu-ray was pulled from iMac line

Jessica Moreno — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:57:53 +0000

Love or hate Apple, we can all agree that the company has been at the forefront of design for computers for a long time. Back before every computer marker around was producing all-in-one machines; Apple had its line of iMac computers. There were rumors going around that the new line of iMac computers would have Blu-ray players. In a case of a rumor spawned by a rumor, we hear today that Blu-ray was pulled from the new iMac line shortly before the machines went into production last month.
AppleInsider figures that the Blu-ray drives would have been expensive options only available on custom ordered machines anyway, but there are sure to be those out there wanting Blu-ray on their iMac. The new iMac rumors also point to the possibility of the line getting new and fast Intel Core i7 CPUs.

The rumor has the machines getting a Core i7 Clarksfield quad-core mobile processor as an option. If this rumor pans out, that would make the iMac the first consumer oriented Macs with four processing cores. The mobile quad-core i7 parts are available in speeds of 1.6GHz to 2GHz.