Blu-ray market share on the decline?

Blu-ray players may have fallen below the US$200 mark, but according to new numbers from Nielsen VideoScan, Blu-ray's market share in the video disc market has slumped in the past week. While Nielsen releases its numbers on a week-by-week basis, and a one-week decline isn't a huge deal, this could indicate a rough holiday season for Sony's hi-def format.

If you've been keeping up with us, you already know that this comes as no surprise. Except for home theater enthusiasts, most buyers are fine with the video quality (and affordability) of DVD. Factor in the floundering economy, the high cost to adopt the technology, and the number of alternatives to view video content via rental models, video-on-demand, and the Internet, and the numbers make sense.

Nielsen VideoScan's numbers show a drop to an 8 percent of the overall market--DVDs making up the other 92 percent of the market share.

Blockbuster's CFO, Thomas Casey, seems to agree with the adoption rate, saying his company "doesn't think [Blu-ray] is going to be nearly like DVD replacing VHS, and in this economy people will be slow to change out their libraries," according to an article in Home Media Magazine via TVPredictions.com

Yes, sometimes good deals can be had, including some US$10 bargain discs, and at least one source predicts US$10 Blu-ray titles this holiday season, but we doubt they'll be a big factor in spurring people to go Blu. What would really help is a Blu-ray player below US$100, and we don't see that happening this year.

What do you think? While Blu-ray will probably never be adopted this year, is there still a future for it? Or is owning physical discs now passé--given rental services like Netflix or video downloads via devices like the Xbox 360, Apple TV, Vudu or Netflix Player by Roku--even if BD disc and player prices drop?

Via CNET Crave

Ask the editors: Picture settings and calibration FAQ

At CNET we publish our recommended dark-room picture settings with every HDTV we review, and it's one of our most popular features. We also keep a picture settings database that you can search for your model, so you can try our settings and see if you like them. We still get lots of questions from readers interested in picture settings, however, so we'll cover a few of the most popular here.

Thanks for the dark-room picture settings, but could you give me settings for my TV in a bright room?
No, I can't. We don't publish bright-room picture for a number of reasons. First off, room lighting varies tremendously; think about the difference between having a couple dim lamps turned on versus watching in daylight with a window shining on the screen, for instance. Second, a dark room is the best place to enjoy high-quality images, because the screen's reflective properties and the room's ambient light conditions won't influence the onscreen image. Third, we simply don't have the time to do so in every review. For a quick-and dirty bright-room calibration, take our dark-room picture settings and increase the contrast and/or backlight control until the image looks bright enough, then increase brightness until you see all of the detail in shadowy areas.

I read the whole review, but I can't find the settings. Where are they?
Typically they're linked from the second paragraph in the Performance section of the review. If not, try searching the picture settings database linked above. If you still can't find them, reply to the comments section below and let us know. We have settings for every HDTV review since June of 2006.
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Pioneer announces new premium EX speakers

If you have a pair of audiophile-grade Pioneer S-3EX tower speakers and are on the lookout for matching yet compact alternatives to assemble a multi-channel system, well then, you're in luck. The Japanese company has just released the S-8EX center and S-4EX bookshelf speakers from its professional Technical Audio Devices division. These come with 160W audio power handling, comparable speaker drivers, high-quality real wood finish and many inherited technologies of its full-sized S-3EX.

For example, both products are assembled from an ultra-rigid cabinet that features a perfect time alignment design and acoustics balance drive simulation technology. In a nutshell, the former is designed to ensure synchronized sound delivery from multiple speakers, while the latter delivers precise and unadulterated dynamic bass. There are also the ceramic graphite tweeters that are capable of reproducing very high frequency notes of DVD-Audio and SACD soundtracks.

The Pioneer S-8EX and S-4EX will be available in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia & India from end October.

Via Akihabara News | Photo credit: Pioneer

Xbox Live ad hints at November relaunch

While nothing has been confirmed by Microsoft, a suspicious Xbox Live in-dash ad definitely points to November for the long-awaited dashboard relaunch. CNET sister site GameSpot reports that an ad for Rock Band 2 blatantly claims to "Check out the New Xbox Experience coming in November!"

We first learned details about the brand new Xbox Live dashboard at this summer's E3 2008 press conference, where it was also announced that the new interface would support personal avatars--think Nintendo Mii characters--and Netflix streaming capabilities. Other new features offered by the update will include the ability to completely install a game onto the system's hard drive, which will drastically reduce the strain on the console's DVD drive and potentially decrease loading times.

The Xbox 360 recently saw a price drop, making the entry-level system the lowest priced next-generation console on the market. We hope to have more information on the highly anticipated dashboard update when Microsoft makes an official announcement.

Via Crave CNET

Xbox 360 Arcade hits rock bottom price in Asia

If you're still sitting on the fence, do yourself a favor and purchase an Xbox 360 Arcade today. With the latest S$60 (US$43.20) price revision, the HD-enabled console has become ridiculously affordable. This is putting aside its value-added functions which range from being a Media Center Extender for streaming multimedia content from your PC to onboard CD and DVD playback. For S$339 (US$244.10), the package includes a wireless controller, five Xbox Live Arcade games and a 256MB memory unit.

While it's still status quo at S$499 (US$359.30) for the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro, its flagship 120GB Elite kit has received a symbolic S$20 (US$14.40) price cut to S$679 (US$488.91). These new pricings will be effective from October 1 in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. This development is a subset of the recent US revision which saw prices tumbling to US$199.99, US$299.99 and S$399.99 for the Arcade, Pro and Elite, respectively.

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