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The influential head of leading US online DVD rental operation Netflix, Reed Hastings, has urged studios to make all content available for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, as he believes this will negate any confusion caused by a format war. He believes that Warner and Paramount are correct to support both formats, calling it a [...]

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In what can only be a fit of insanity, Nintendo has rechristened its next games console Wii (pronounced “wee”). Just the mention of it is now likely to send English-speaking kids into fits of giggles (“Mommy, pleeeeeeeeeeease let me have a wee!”) and will do nothing to convince adults that the system is a serious [...]

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Despite being an early advocate of digital tuner DVD recorders, the two latest HDD/DVD models from Sony UK disappointingly have only analogue tuners. The RDR-HX525 (which replaces the RDRHX510) and RDR-HX725 (pictured above) boast 80GB and 160GB hard drive capacity respectively, but apart from that share comparable specifications. As neither has a Freeview tuner, they [...]

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It’s LG’s ‘hero’ product around the world, but the company’s flatscreen TV with built-in PVR won’t be coming to the UK – at least not yet. At the brand’s UK Trade Show, James Atkins, Marketing Manager for brown goods, said: “It was offered to the UK but I had to turn it down. The problem [...]

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The joint venture company LG.Philips has opened a new korean LCD-panel manufacturing plant in Paju, Kyonggi Province, just 10 kilometers away from the demilitarized zone between North and South.  The so-called P7 facility can currently manufacture up to 45,000 panels a month. By the end of the year, this will have risen to 90,000, and [...]

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Warner has confirmed the first hybrid HD DVD/DVD flipper disc. Bizarrely, the studio has chosen the rather unappetizing rom-com Rumour has it… starring Jennifer Aniston (pictured) and Kevin Costner, as the landmark release. One side will feature a high definition transfer, the other a standard definition alternative compatible with regular DVD players. The disc comes [...]

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According the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), packaged music media is rapidly giving way to digital downloads. During 2005, the US singles download market grew 163 per cent, translating to 366.9 million tracks. Album downloads were up 198.5 per cent, to 13.6 million units. During the same period, US CD shipments were down 8 [...]

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Amazon’s innovative new video on request operation Customflix, which allows buyers to purchase bespoke content and have it shipped to them in a custom DVD format, will soon be offering high definition software as well, courtesy of a tie-up with pioneering high definition broadcaster HDNet, as well as NBC Universal, A&E and PBS. Programmes will [...]

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