Last Friday we saw HD-DVDs in the store for the first time. The movies Apollo 13, Doom and Serenity in HD-DVD format. I haven’t been paying a huge amount of attention to this space although I was aware that the intended next generation DVDs would be in two different formats: HD-DVD and Blue Ray Blu-ray by Sony. Some are comparing these formats to the VHS vs. Betamax competition.

What I found interesting about the packaging of the HD-DVDs was nothing mentioning the need for special hardware. The 1080i resolution is clearly toted on the package as well as a label across the top that says “HD-DVD” and lastly the price. The two three HD-DVD that we saw cost $29.99 USD which are roughly a third more expensive than traditional DVDs.

I wonder if people will buy these thinking they can play them on their existing DVD players and HDTV to get the 1080i output? Yeah, I realize that might be dumb, but the package size isn’t that much different than a standard DVD. At least Sony has the UMD the packaging different-sized (the size of a PSP game UMD) and clearly marked that it requires a PSP to play.

Sony doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record with proprietary formats so I think we’ll be going with HD-DVD. But first we need to get a player. Right now it looks like Toshiba is the only game in town (?) . DVDtown has a detailed review of the HD-A1 HD-DVD Player ($499) which explains that an HDTV with HDMI input will be required for full 1080i display. Although they do note that “Late DVI inputs should work with adapters, but early DVI inputs are iffy.”

Also of interest in their review is a reference to the Toshiba press release describing the difference between a standard DVD and an HD-DVD as far as interactivity:

Toshiba’s press release to give you an idea of what their HD-DVD players are capable of, besides outputting 1080×1920 lines of resolution: “Today’s DVD requires users to stop movie playback to access disc menu content. With an HD-DVD with advanced content, you’ll freely navigate the menu features, without stopping the movie. Browse through the chapter guide, change setup options and select supplemental content all while the movie plays on. With HD-DVD’s disc menu capabilities, the fun can continue as you interact with disc content. HD-DVD’s ability to superimpose motion video over the main program adds new options for supplemental content and other extra features. With HD-DVD, director’s and actor’s commentary can be motion video superimposed on the movie–allowing them to literally point to the material they are discussing. Or, the feature can be used to present an actor’s biography or other supplemental informtion, all while the movie continues to play. And you’ll be able to turn these features on and off without stopping playback.

What you need to experience 1080i HD-DVD
I wish at least the early HD-DVD packaging had the following bullet points clearly listed:

• an HDTV with HDMI input or newer model DVI with HDMI convertible
• an HD-DVD player like the Toshiba HD-A1 ($499)

Other HD-DVD players will be coming out which includes a rumor that an Xbox 360 compatible HD-DVD drive will someday be available. Perhaps to be officially announced at E3.

HD-DVD competitor Blue Ray Blu-ray is supposed to be out in June with players costing between $1,000 and $1,800. Think I’ll take a pass on that. So now a new gadget is on our radar: an HD-DVD player. Our TV doesn’t have an HDMI input, however, so we would need a new HDTV or LCD TV more likely (we were looking at those the other night) first. Ouch, my wallet is starting to hurt.

DVDtown also has a list of the movies currently available in HD-DVD format. A mere 8 titles as of May 2 are listed which isn’t that compelling yet, although Serenity in HD-DVD does sound pretty sweet. I’m sure just like with UMD, it will take a few months to get ramped up.

And speaking of UMD which I originally wasn’t interested in, then six months later took the plunge for Starship Troopers (my only UMD purchase to date) and referenced reports indicating positive UMD sales, and recently the outlook being reported by is “bleak.” Going to keep my eyes peeled for UMD fire sales. They would sell better if they were all released for sub $10, but people aren’t going to pay more than the price of a DVD and in some cases the same price as an HD-DVD. Come on, Sony.

Will HD-DVD gain widespread adoption
It’s still way too early to make any predictions here, especially considering most people still don’t even have HDTVs. Not to mention HDTVs with HDMI inputs and the new HD-DVD players, of which Toshiba has (the only?) two models currently available.

Widespread DVD-like adoption is going to take having HD-DVD players under the critical $300 USD price point. It’s a catch 22: more volume equals less price and less price equals more volume, but it’s dififcult to get volume without the price. Even better if manufacturers/retailers can eventually get the HD DVD players down to sub $100 like current DVD players.

HDTVs are coming down in price though. I’ve seen them in the $300-400 range which is still more than some people want to pay for a TV. A fairly decent HDTV can be bought in the $500-750 range. With the word that LCD will be coming down price-wise this summer, we might see some sub $250 USD HDTVs start appearing.

So when will you, friendly readers, be making the HD-DVD plunge? Or will you be holding off for awhile until the prices on the HDTVs and HD-DVD players come down and/or you see how many movies ultimately are released on the HD-DVD format?

Update 8:59am PST: Changed “blue ray” to blu-ray, doh! I admitted at the beginning I haven’t followed this stuff too closely. Will be watching it closer now though.

Yesterday I bookmarked Yahoo Tech for when I had some time to watch their tour and compare to CNET for product reviews.

Typicall Yahoo ad crap
Yahoo should add their exclamation point after the word ads next to their name. First view shown above was a gigantic ad that was replaced about 5 seconds or so later. They’ve done studies that indicate people don’t stay at a new site that long or return if the first thing they see is ads. Fortunately the big ad goes away if you do stay but this makes me wonder how long Yahoo is going to continue down this path. How many bad first impressions can they have?

Touring play controls hell
The tour video is a lesson in frustration. The show controls for the tour kept retracting when I wanted it to expand when hovering over. Tip: put the mouse over the control you want to use and don’t move. It will stay in the up position and then you can pause, stop, rewind and play. If you hover just under any of the controls you can play a game of chicken with the controls. Unintentionally, I’m sure.

The search is over
Currently the hot gadget on my radar is the UMPC aka Origami. When I heard these devices would be in the $600-$1000 range I was excited but a couple months have gone by with teasing everywhere and very little concrete news on in retail store delivery dates. Seems like the very first UMPC to hit any store — online or offline — will be the Samsung Q. It will weigh in outside the promised price range at just under $1,100 not including tax. I’m not likely to pay that much for a device that isn’t Vista compatible, so that is the big question on my mind for these devices: are they Vista compatible? If not, then might as well wait a year to buy and get one that is, just like the next generation Tablet PCs. [see Don’t buy a new tablet pc, buy an older model instead or keep waiting]

Even though I’m not in active shopping mode, the most likely next gadget above $500 USD will be a UMPC. I’d be willing to spend $1,000 if the device was Vista certified. That’s better than the $2,500 I paid for my M1400.

So I conducted several searches at Yahoo Tech for these Ultra Mobile Personal Computers (UMPC) and each of my four searches returned no results: umpc, origami, tabletkiosk eo, samsung q. No results was the kicker for me. Stop.

Compared to CNET
Will have to return to Yahoo Tech when they get some more content. Perhaps unfair since I only searched for one gadget, but based on that for me it’s definitely no CNET killer. I conducted a search for UMPC at CNET and had three results, including a good review of the Samsung Q posted yesterday.

Any readers give Yahoo tech a try yet and have better results for gadgets and products currently on your radar?

We’re getting closer to seeing TB hard drives for under $500 USD.

Wrongly, I believed we’d see this by the end of 2005, but it’s looking more likey that I might have only been one year off. Lacie has a 1.2 TB external hard drive for $899 USD (thanks Dave). Internal TB drives can be found for less, approaching sub $500.

What’s the cheapest TB hard drive — external or internal — you’ve seen online, offline or elsewhere?

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a waterproof Tablet PC?

I bet there probably already is such an animal. Note to crowd who craves a non-powered tablet in the shower for those, well, inspirational shower thought moments, look no further than the shower tablet ($17.99 via Yahoo). This kind of reminds me of those shower speakers which onr Hmm reader said he was on his fourth defective unit (ouch).

The shower tablet is one of the 10 strangest home gadgets, but my favorite is probably the pong clock. And how about that washing, drying, ironing machine?

Today is the first time I’ve seen an actual launch date for a UMPC (thanks Forser) and it’s the Samsung Q1 which will be launching worldwide on May 1. Unfortunately this won’t be launching on the high side of $1,000 in the UK, at least according to reghardware.co.uk, here are the specs:

The 22.8 x 14 x 2.7cm Q1 sports a 7in, 800 x 480 LCD. Behind the screen sits a 900MHz ultra-low voltage Celeron M processor, an Intel 915GMS chipset, 512MB of 400MHz DDR 2 SDRAM and a 40GB, 1.8in hard drive. The machine has integrated 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and 10/100Mbps Ethernet networking, plus Bluetooth 2.0 and two USB 2.0 ports for connecting peripherals. There’s GPS on board too, and a CF card slot. It weighs more than 779g.

$2100USD in South Korea, are you kidding me? Ouch and at £800 with current exchange rate $968.12 USD. I’m thinking at least initially we’ll be seeing more of these devices over $1,000 USD after tax then under.

That’s too bad because they could do better if they were in the $700 and under range. I sure hope the UMPCs don’t go the path of pricing that Tablet PCs have gone. If they are too expensive, people won’t buy them in large enough numbers. The main attraction of these devices is pay a couple hundred more than an iPod for a full featured portable Windows powered computer with touch screen or stylus inking. If the pricing leans more to the high side of $1,000, only hardcore mobile enthusiasts and businesspeople will be springing.

I won’t pay more than $1,000 for a UMPC unless it’s just oozing with irresistable specs. Let’s hope more UMPCs start appearing and at lower price points.

Gizmondo, makers of an ill-fated portable gaming device I saw at CES 2005 and “launched” back in October 2005 continues to be in Misery, Inc.

Gizmodo, whose name is all too similar I’m sure for their liking, reports:

[Gizmondo executive] Eriksson was officially arrested for failing to make payments on three sports cars that were imported to the U.S. from Britain. Other charges may be added pending DNA tests and further investigation including DUI and fraud for the business venture that the three sports cars were purchased on. He is also being held without bail because of his questionable visa status. Arraignment on this case is expected to begin this week.

Gizmondo quite possibly will go down as the most awful purchase I might have wanted to make and passed. Gizmondo and company should have been in the Amityville Horror, somebody summon Jay Anson from the grave.

The picture Gizmodo is running of that 399 rare Ferrari Enzo that Ericksson trashed is worth the clickthru alone.

I wish this was an April Fool’s joke but there are pictures of the entire process of this guy making a PC mod out of his wife’s torso. While the first reaction might be ewww, the almost finished product looks, well, check it for yourself.

digg story:

This guy loved his wife so much he decided to make a body cast of her torso and turn it into a mod he calls “The Blair Witch Mod”. I guess he wasn’t happy with just real-sex and had to go for cyber-sex too. Who says marriage is dead?

I think when my wife passes on, if she passes on before me, I’ll be skipping this type of case modding. I can think of better shrines.

Yesterday on10 shared a video spotlight on a fifth grade using all tablets and going paperless. The tablet shines in an educational environment.

Today is day 472 in my engaging Tablet PC journey and some might have noticed I haven’t been writing as much about the tablet since my I/O problems began near Day 445. It’s amazing how much wind from sails computer hardware problems can bring on. It’s true that if I would have shipped it in for repair I would have gotten it back by now, but a lingering thought disturbs me that this isn’t really hardware related, despite what Motion support told me.

Support was just a little too quick to tell me to send it in for repair (on my dime, of course).

I still have the tablet hooked up and use it daily, although since I can no longer use the USB port for some key functionality, I’ve started finding creative ways to use other devices with my 10% broken device. For example, I’m relying even more on Synergy than I did before to control the device from another computer, especially during keyboard functions.

Just fix it already
I need to block out some time to actually get to the bottom of these alleged I/O problems. I believe they are driver related and that by reverting to the original factory install I might be able to bring things back to normal.

So here I’ve been sitting, some $2,500 USD of tablet in front of me with a 90% working machine. I can use the digital camera via USB and mouse, but not the keyboard or CD or my powered USB hub in its current condition

Origami lust
Meanwhile, I’m excited about the UMPC aka Origami and a purchase of one of those might get me back on track with feeling the tablet love. I think the pricing is right on that device and I like how it can be controlled by touch or with stylus. I can see several portable uses for those devices and I’m willing to lift my don’t buy a tablet until Vista comes out ban to buy one of these simply because of how cool they look. I’m concerned about the battery power.

Do hardware problems get you down?
Do you find when you have computer (hardware) problems that it can cause you to lose interest in a computing device? I even went as far as to put away my Tablet Guy … the horror!

I saw that Slingbox finally has their mobile client available but I wasn’t aware that they planned on charging for it.

Thanks jkontherun:

The program is free for registered Slingbox customers and those who register by April 26th, after which SlingPlayer Mobile will cost $29.99.

I downloaded and then tried to install on my Pocket PC with SandDisk WiFI SD card. Connection was as basic as entering in the Slingbox Finder ID and password. Unfortunately, my son decided to fire up the Xbox and unplug the internet from the Slingbox about the time I was configuring so I got the following message:

At first I thought I had my configuration out of whack, but then I realized it wasn’t any technical issue, it was that Halo2 has greater powers

You’ll know when everything is hooked up because you’ll see a screen which looks like this folllowed by the word “connecting”:

All in all a great user experience. I might actually start learning to appreciate watching TV on a smaller screen.

Engadget really can have its cake and eat it too courtesy of a birthday cake by Kirk Sutherland. Congrats to them on turning two years old, BTW. Wow, this thing is awesome looking, check it out:

This just might be the most impressive cake I’ve ever seen, nice work Kirk. There’s a video of the cake in action linked up in the Engadget article. The other cakes are pretty nice too. The winner receives an Alienware computer.

Understandably, Jason Calacanis is impressed:

This has to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in 10 years in publishing… I’ve never seen such love for a brand. Amazing.

Indeed.