We've spent a little hands-on time with the ITC One uber-franken-HTIB, but Electronic House got some serious quality time with the unit during SE2 Labs' roadshow this past week. So if you've got $25,000 burning a hole in your pocket, but need just a little more detail on how the unit actually works, hit that read link. Still a little uneasy about pulling the trigger? Maybe knowing that SE2 Labs is adding remote diagnostics will ease your mind. For either standard maintenance (firmware updates, etc.) or unexpected problems, a technician can troubleshoot (and hopefully solve) the problem by using the RS-232 and IP connectivity in the ITC One. As SE2 Labs describes it, "...it's like having on-demand access to an A/V professional." Hmmm -- maybe if our friends got these, it would cut down the service calls we field!

[Thanks, Chuck]

Read - ElectronicHouse ITC One review
Read - ITC One remote diagnostics

While scads of HD DVD adopters took advantage of extended return periods in order to rid themselves of the defunct format, we wonder who ran out to acquire a player at rock-bottom prices? Even now, the cost of entry into Blu-ray is still ridiculously high, and it's not like we ever had any issues with the image / audio quality of HD DVDs. Rather than beating around the proverbial bush, we'll get right down to it: did you rush out to buy an HD DVD player soon after the format war concluded? Did you stock up on HD DVD titles at bargain basement prices? Are you still enjoying your HD DVD player right now? Tell us how your unit is faring after a few months of being shunned by everyone else, and don't even think of being shy.

In a recent Forbes article about the big turn around at Sony, we found the moves it took to ensure Blu-ray would win, to be the most interesting. According to the article, the Paramount move (understandably) had the BDA scrambling, which was evidently enough of a stressor to motivate all the divisions of Sony to work together towards a common goal. Among other things, the gaming division dropped the price of the PS3 and the movie studio had to give away Blu-ray movies with the PS3. Overall there's nothing new in the article if you've been following it all along, but aside from a few obvious mistakes -- Blue-ray and HD-DVD Forbes, really? -- it is interesting to get an inside perspective to the series of events that will always hold a special place in our gadget lives.

Even we would agree that digital downloads aren't apt to siphon away a significant amount of physical media market share in the immediate future, but a recent survey conducted by CinemaNow (read: your skeptic hat should now be firmly in place) suggests that the vast majority of Americans feel otherwise. As a matter of fact, 87% of those surveyed agreed that "renting DVDs at the video store or through mail service will become a thing of the past," and 94% of those same folks reportedly felt that movie downloads were just "better for the environment." Not like the average joe / jane understands how much energy is consumed by warehouses full of drives, gigantic air-conditioned server rooms and legions of PCs sucking down content, but yeah, these results are totally representative of the truth.

[Image courtesy of Street Knowledge]

Considering how fresh ArcSoft is on the scene, it pulled a decent amount of respect from a recent poll of ours asking which Blu-ray HTPC software was preferred. For those who've stuck with the big names (you know, Corel / CyberLink), you may be considering making the switch -- after all, at least ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre still includes support for HD DVD (unlike some others). Reviewers over at Missing Remote were generally thrilled with the software's performance, noting that Vista Media Center integration was top notch and even the customer support was on par. All in all, it doesn't sound as if you could really go wrong with slapping this into your next HTPC, but check out the read link just to make sure.

ILY Enterprise is totally playing word games here with its "world's first" 6x SATA Blu-ray duplicator, but we suspect it actually is a tad quicker than Vinpower Digital's comparable unit. As the company states, this unit boasts a controller that is "specifically designed and built for a SATA connection to reduce the cost and work more reliably than IDE-converted-SATA units," though we can't say if you'll actually notice the difference in speed without a stopwatch. Whatever the case, those interested in firing up their own piracy farm movie production company can acquire one now (from 1 to 11 targets) for a presumably lofty price. Oh, and judging by those logos, we reckon these drives could be used to play back some of your old HD DVDs during off-hours -- talk about a nice perk.

We keep hoping that Toshiba will come to its senses and just let this whole thing die, but no. Apparently insistent on keeping the last-generation format alive for as long as it possibly can, it seems the outfit is getting ever-closer to a super-resolution DVD player that would reportedly upscale DVD content like nothing we've ever seen. The latest tidbit in this woefully depressing saga is a newly approved DVD Download DL logo, which was given the final thumbs-up by the DVD Forum Steering Committee last month. In reality, no one outside of Tosh's headquarters has any idea if this development is indeed intrinsically related, but at this point, we wouldn't be shocked one bit to find that it was. Then again, the June 11th meeting also saw specifications for CH-DVD approved, so here's to hoping Toshiba isn't jumping on that bandwagon fiery wreck.

[Via TG Daily]

Read - DVD Forum approval
Read - Discussion / rumors

For the attentive in attendance, you likely noticed that none of Toshiba's newly announced laptops (yes, even the absurdly powerful Qosmio rigs) have built-in Blu-ray drives. Like, there's not even an option. When questioned about the obvious oversight (ahem), Tosh's Europe CEO Alan Thompson noted that "Blu-ray was just one of the many ways that you can get HD content and is not required for accessing HD content." Furthermore, it seems as if the outfit is continuing on in its pursuit to develop the best DVD upconverting technology in the whole wide world, as it explained to the press in London that its forthcoming technology would "fill in the gaps" and "add resolution." Company representatives even remarked that "Blu-ray was only a storage medium," and reiterated that BD "wasn't the only way to view high-def content." It's one thing to bow out gracefully, pick up the pieces and get on with life. It's another thing to douse yourself in ignorance and pretend that Blu-ray (let alone HD DVD) never happened.

Read - Toshiba's London press event
Read - Toshiba Europe CEO comments

If you've been intrigued by SE2 Labs' ITC One high-end combo boxes, but can't find a dealer in your area, help may be on the way. The company is going on tour this summer to demo the ITC One to potential dealers around the country. Phoenix and L.A. have already been hit, and Seattle, Atlanta, New York and San Francisco remain on the tour schedule. Naturally, custom installers will be the focus here -- if you're considering one of these units that represent the densest form of HD goodness known, ping your installer. They'll be happy with the $25,000 MSRP (depending on configuration), modular construction, integration and upgradability. You'll probably be less happy with the price, but peeking at the cabinet chock-full of premium components (and the end results onscreen) will ease the pain.

Nothing too notable here -- just that Toshiba is apparently fixing to unveil a brand new DVD player in the age of Blu-ray that will be "capable of producing high-resolution images from regular DVDs." As you're laughing heartily, ponder this: are we looking at a simple upconverting DVD player? Or will that Cell-based SpursEngine chip bring "super-resolution" to a standalone deck? According to unnamed sources cited by Daily Yomiuri Online, the planned release "signifies an effort to recover from a humiliating setback suffered in March after announcing its decision to withdraw from its HD DVD business." We really cannot fathom why Tosh would even dream of fighting BD with souped-up DVD, but reportedly, it plans on marketing the unit "as a device with which consumers can enjoy a broader array of content than is available in the Blu-ray format." Congratulations Toshiba -- we thought it couldn't get any lamer than HD VMD, and you handily proved us wrong.

[Via VNU Net / Yahoo, image courtesy of DangerousIntersection]

Although the €9.99 Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on over in Ireland is likely still the cheapest way to snag one from a retail location, that flight to Dublin is apt to offset any potential savings. Nevertheless, those in Canada can come awfully close to said deal by visiting FutureShop, which is currently offering the once-molten hot unit for a mere $19.99. Unfortunately, it seems sold out online, but you can certainly phone up your local B&M location and hope for the best.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Last we heard, LG was hanging tight to HD DVD in hopes of accommodating early adopters who still yearned for a dedicated player that handled both formats. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. In a recent report put out by the Korea Times, a spokesman for LG was quoted as saying that the "decision for it to halt the production of the combos" was "very tough," but he maintained that the outfit would "stop manufacturing the Super Blu series from the second half of this year." For those unfamiliar, the Super Blu crew contained the two-faced BH200 and BH100. Interestingly, the same individual noted that LG would be "unveiling a new Blu-ray player to catch up with the industry trend" at IFA in just a few months, but no further details were disclosed. August 29th just got a lot more interesting, yeah?

[Thanks, Harmin]

All those still hanging onto your obsolete vintage first generation HD DVD players have a reason to plug in the network cable and turn them on one more time, as Toshiba has issued a version 3.0 firmware update for the HD-A1, HD-XA1 and HD-D1. Similar to an earlier update for the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, the patch tweaks network connectivity a bit as well as clearing up some HDMI handshaking issues. The update quietly came online April 26, and of course can be issued by burning it to a CD or calling Toshiba and requesting a disc by mail. So go ahead, pour a glass of wine, dim the lights and celebrate a little quality time with a two year-old box that still offers features some new players can't match.

[Via DVD Town]

Although it's all water under the bridge now, we still find it interesting that Viacom's recent earnings statement confirmed that Paramount received compensation for dumping Blu-ray. But contrary to the New York Times article, Variety is reporting that it was only $29 Million, instead of $150 Million. This is of course only cash, and it is still entirely possible that the other $121 Million included future revenues that didn't materialize once things fell apart, but we have a hard time believing Paramount received that much in promotional services or free replication. And while the Warner payoff rumors weren't from a source as sound as the NYT, we'll still be keeping an eye on revenue statements from Engadget and Warner's shared parent company all the same.

[Via Format War Central]

And you thought $49.99 was cheap. Word on the street has it that Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, which has been seen as slightly less valuable since Toshiba pulled the plug on the once mighty red format, has stooped to €9.99 across the pond at GameStop (among other locales). For those not savvy on the absurd depreciation of the US dollar, we're talking $15.47 -- and that's with a Media Center remote bundled in, too. We're totally straight-faced when we say that's actually not a half bad deal if you're a fan of the media already out there, but the parsimonious among us are definitely waiting for these to come bundled with our favorite cereals before pulling the trigger.

[Thanks, Conor]