While Toshiba was off boasting about its third-generation HD DVD player lineup, Integra was quietly showcasing its very first player to handle the high-definition format. Interestingly, we had no issues getting a number of closeups, and while the player seemed to sneak under the noses of most folks there, we were able to get a little insight into the firm's future HD plans. 'Course, you'll have to visit our next door neighbor to find out more, and give those snapshots a look while you're over, will ya?…

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HD DVD breathes again. Rumours of Microsoft bringing out a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 have been well a truly quashed

As far as rumours go it was up there with the 'Apple will use Intel chips', 'Palm will switch to Windows Mobile' and 'Sega will stop making consoles' type – all of which, er, came true. So while we weren't holding our breaths on reports that Microsoft was considering an Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive, we still weren't prepared to stake a dinner date with our hats on it.With Microsoft and its bargain, if slightly flawed, HD add-on (pictured) being one of the key partners in the HD DVD camp it was hardly likely. Still, with HD DVDs taking a hammering in the States and BD discs outselling them by m…

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We've seen a couple of these “Blu-ray factory-in-a-box” setups already, but thought we'd run another set by you just in case you missed the first wave. The ReflexBlu2 and ReflexBlu4 go for $3000 and $5000, respectively, and can burn Blu-ray, DVD-R and CD-R discs. ReflexBlu2 does up two Blu-ray discs per hour, while the Blu4 manages double that. Both systems hook up to your computer via USB, and sport 250GB HDDs for holding on to nine Blu-ray disc images at once. Sure, the price might sound steep, but your extended family will be thanking you later for those 1080p editions of “Family highlights…

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Samsung's been showing off its brand new hi-def player in Germany – and there's more news on Blu-Ray releases

Already available in the States, Samsung's brought its new Blu-Ray-equipped BD-P1000 player to Europe to show off to industry types. Currently doing the rounds at the IFA show in Berlin, Samsung assures us that it will be hitting the shelves in October. Expect to pay more in Europe than the US$1000 asking price.For those still waiting for news of the company's hybrid Blu-Ray/HD DVD player, the Koreans insist it is coming but after LG canned a similar model earlier this year, the BD-P1000 may be your best bet for hi-def movie madness this side of the New Year.Meanwhile, Fox has announced its fi…

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Seems rumours of HD DVD’s death have been greatly exaggerated as Microsoft announces its 360 add-on as its biggest selling accessory

We’d pretty much written off the HD DVD as dead and buried but it’s fighting a small rear guard action with news that, over in the US, Microsoft has shifted 155,000 HD DVD add-on drives for the Xbox 360.That’s still dwarfed by the number of PS3s out there with Blu-Ray already built in but it does make the drive Microsoft’s biggest ever selling Xbox 360 accessory.And there are signs that the Microsoft and Toshiba backed format might be doing better over here than it is Stateside. The makers have been busy wooing the independent film companies that account for around half the releases here…

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While Onkyo has been a part of the HD DVD promotions group as long as we can remember, Onkyo really hasn't done much. We have heard rumors about a HD DVD player from Onkyo for some time, and there was even a mention of it at CES this year. Our friends over at FormatWarCentral have discovered a few details in an otherwise obscure Onkyo post on a UK site that we find very interesting. Apparently Onkyo expects to launch the DV-HD805 this autumn, and it will be based on the Toshiba HD-XA2 player — with a few yet to be mentioned tweaks. We are excited to see another HD DVD player on the market, bu…

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Blu-ray gets a mini side kick in its battle for hi-def world domination. Suddenly HD-DVDs look like bloaters

Mini Cheddars, Mini cars, mini skirts and now mini Blu-ray. The pint-sized disc comes from TDK and is designed to go in the next generation of HD camcorders, mini-DVD style.The digi-cams themselves are still at the concept stage with one or two mock-ups doing the rounds at Far East trade shows. The discs that will slot inside them measure little more than a coffee mug in diameter and pack in a mighty 16.5GB. Dual-sided versions could boost that to 33GB for several hours of luscious 1080p footage.EssentialsTDK Mini BD-RPrice: £TBAOn sale: TBAContact: TDK…

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One of the chief copy protection mechanisms employed by Blu-ray discs that is unemployed by HD DVD is called ROM-Mark, which basically uses unique identifiers that can only be hard coded on discs by authorized duplicators — in other words, it's that per-disc physical watermarking that makes copying (although not necessarily ripping) Blu-ray movies just that much harder, Which is partly why we're a little dubious about this new app, BRDGen, which claims to be able to make and edit (and export for recording) PlayStation 3 compliant disc images. Anyone with a Blu-ray recorder, PS3, and a healthy…

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We've been chatting with the head of Xbox UK on everything from the Wii, PS3, Vista, Gears of War and a handheld 360. Here's part two of our interview

Read part one of this interviewWhat are your hopes for the HD-DVD drive?Some people will definitely want it, but I don't think it'll be a massive product because of the [next-gen disc] format wars between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. One thing I can guarantee is the combined cost of an Xbox 360 and HD-DVD won't be more than the PS3's £425. For their next console, Sony is basically selling a Blu-Ray player, not a PS3.What are the 360's three big advantages over the PS3?A proven games experience – including an exclusive online-playable version of Grand Theft Auto next year – the online experience an…

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Microsoft says it has 'no plans' to add hi def HD DVD playback to the Xbox 360's capabilities

Xbox 360 fans agog at the console's hi def graphics might reasonably have expected to be able to play HD DVDs at some point in the future - just read this month's mag for our prediction. Microsoft, however, has just come out and said it has 'no plans' to add the technology to forthcoming versions of the 360.Given the fact that there's no HD DVD optical drive in the existing machine, such an upgrade was always going to be a long shot. Still, that didn't stop the likes of Bill Gates and Yoshihiro Maruyama – head of Xbox in Japan – hinting that they were looking at the technology.So we hoped,…

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