Nintendo Wii gets belated storage upgrades

According to Web site QuickJump Network, work is underway to develop a USB-based hard drive upgrade for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. Available in 32GB and 64GB, the hard drive addons are designed to be plugged into the console's rear USB port. These also require a firmware upgrade before the storage space can be populated. They will complement the existing 512MB memory for storing game data and SD card slot for onboard JPEG playback. There's no official word yet from the Japanese company regarding pricing and availability for the USB hard drives.

This is probably good news for Nintendo customers, though these drive capacities are nowhere close to the 120GB and 160GB storage on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, respectively.

Via Ubergizmo

Sony's ultra-sleek Blu-ray home theater system

The latest Sony BDV-IT1000 is quite unlike any of the existing Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box kit in the market. Firstly, it features a set of ultra-sleek 16mm tower speakers--two of these are wireless for hassle-free surround sound effects. Secondly, it comes with dual HDMI inputs for connecting external A/V boxes such as HD settop boxes and gaming consoles. Lastly, the unit uses an icon-based XrossMediaBar user interface which is a lot more intuitive than the average textual menu.

Everything else is just about right as far as Blu-ray playback is concerned. You'll get BD-Live for downloading Web interactive content, plus onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound decoding. Other niceties include 1080p DVD upscaling, FM radio and an auto audio calibration system. And since it's a Sony, the price is equally impressive at a jaw-dropping S$2,999 (US$2,130.58). That's more than enough to assemble an entry component-level home theater system based on an A/V receiver.

All-in-one surround sound TV console

Nowadays, there are plenty of soundbars available in the market. But it seems vendors such as Onei Solutions are pushing the convergence envelope one step further by integrating these one-piece multichannel boomboxes into TV consoles. The UK company's ZIN502156/BKI universal 6.1 surround sound speaker stand (ahem, we know it's a mouthful) packs a 15W x 5 amplifier and comprehensive set of connectivity options. The latter include three (two in/one out) HDMI terminals, two digital optical audio and another dual analog stereo inputs.

Aesthetics-wise, its upper deck is dressed in high-gloss piano finishes, while the lower shelf is made of reinforced glass. These are held together by a pair brushed chrome legs with a load tolerance of up to 100kg. We doubt it will be coming to Asia anytime soon, but you could drop the company an email to try your luck. Come to think about it, shouldn't it be a 5.1 kit since it has only a five-channel amplifier?

Via Bornrich

The perfect bedroom TV for Stitch fans

Remember the lovable four-legged alien with big teeth from the movie Lilo & Stitch? If your little tyke is a big fan of Stitch, this is the perfect bedroom-sized LCD TV for him or her. This 20-inch panel has a full-sized Stitch climbing over its back, complete with moveable jaw that conceals the onboard controls. For a hefty 100,000 yen (US$1,015), this Japanese concoction will deliver a monitorish 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, HDMI input and B-CAS Japan digital TV broadcast support. That said, you will have to hand-carry it back from Japan even if you're willing to pay that ridiculous price for a 20-incher.

Via Akihabaranews

LG BD370 Blu-ray player headed for Asia

First unveiled during the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the LG BD370 is now finally heading to Asia. The entry-level Blu-ray player is already out in Indonesia for US$316 and will be released across Asia next month. Besides sporting all the latest Blu-ray bells and whistles, from BD-Live Web content download to onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio decoding, the BD370 will also playback YouTube online videos. Another unique feature is its ability to support MKV, MP4 and AVI files in H.264/MPEG-4 encoding.

However, the Asia model will not support US-oriented movie-streaming services such as Netflix and CinemaNow. On the bright side, the BD370 is possibly one of the fastest standalone Blu-ray players out there thanks to its quick bootup and instant tray open features. Switching on the AC without a disc inserted, our review unit clocked 16 seconds flat to display the menu onscreen, and slightly under 1 second to eject. Stay tuned for a First Take video of the LG BD370 soon.

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