What is Blu-Ray?

No, it's not a creature of the deep or any mythical beast. Blu-ray is a third-generation digital media or data storage technology from the Blu-ray Disc Association, an assembly of corporate media and electronics technology leaders. Blu-ray discs are currently competing with HD-DVD to become the new optical disc format. They have much more storage capacities and data transfer speeds than conventional DVD's and CD's.

Blu-ray Disc Versus Other Optical Discs

A Blu-ray disc, looks much like any other optical disc, including first-generation CDs, second-generation DVDs, and the competing third-generation HD DVDs.

A Blu-ray disc system uses a blue-violet laser with a wavelength of 405 nanometers to write and read data on the optical disc. This laser is the source of Blu-ray's name and the technology which differentiates Blu-ray from previous generation optical media. The 405 nanometer blue-violet laser is also used for writing and reading data on third-generation HD DVD discs, which have smaller data storage capacity per layer. Older optical media require a red laser for data storage and retrieval.

Blu-ray Storage Capacity

The Blu-ray disc system uses a shorter wavelength than conventional optical discs (CD systems use a red laser with a wavelength of 780 nanometers whereas DVD systems use the same red laser with a wavelength of 650 nanometers). The shorter wavelength means more precise data recording, which allows more data to be packed on the Blu-ray disc surface than a comparable CD or DVD surface. In fact, a standard single-layer Blu-ray disc can store as much as 25 GB of digital data, more than five times the storage capacity of conventional DVDs. A dual-layer Blu-ray disc can store a maximum of 50 GB of digital data. On the drawing board are quadruple-layer Blu-ray discs with 100 GB digital data storage capacities.

Blu-ray Support

To enjoy the considerable benefits of a Blu-ray disc, one must have a Blu-ray disc player (either standalone or software-based) that supports reading of the Blu-ray disc. Blu-ray video players need to have an MPEG-2 codec (which makes a player capable of playing DVDs and HD DVDs), a VC-1 codec, and an AVC or MPEG-4 codec. Movies stored in Blu-ray discs will use any one of the above-mentioned codecs. One movie can also have more than one codec, as long as each codec used is supported by Blu-ray technology.

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4 Tips on How to Score a Free PS3

Who wouldn't want to score a free PS3? The Sony Playstation 3 is, with little argument, this generation's most powerful video gaming console. Many say that it is the most functional as well, as it doubles as a cost-friendly blu-ray disc player that can play blu-ray movies aside from games.

Unfortunately, these mean that the Sony Playstation 3 is also the most expensive gaming console in the market today. Hence, the prospect of scoring a free one becomes even more attractive.

How can you get a free PS3? Here are 4 methods you can try.

1. Join online contests. Many websites sponsor contests that give away PS3 units, among other prizes. Most of these websites secure their PS3 prizes from Sony itself. Every quarter, Sony releases review copies of the console to highly visited gaming-related websites. Some of these websites use these review copies to generate more visitors for their pages, i.e. sponsoring contests that promise the PS3 as the main prize. Finding such contests is quite easy with the help of a search engine

2. Join offline contests. Sony also provides review copies of the console to print publications. Gaming magazines, for instance, hold monthly contests that reward the winner with a free PS3, among other possible prizes. You may find some luck in joining any of these offline contests.

3. Try affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing requires you to promote the products of a particular merchant using a specially generated affiliate link that will track referrals and credit them to your account. Every time a person you referred purchases something from the merchant, you will earn a stated commission. This commission can be in the form of cash, or in the form of store credits. Regardless of what form the commission will take, you can use the same to get a PS3. Affiliate marketing doesn't require a lot of work, just the proper implementation of correct internet marketing strategies.

4. Try to secure a review copy. Earlier, we have discussed how online and offline publications manage to secure review copies of the console by virtue of the large volume of traffic they generate or the huge readership they can boast of. You can secure your own free review PS3 if you have your own gaming-related website or if you publish your own newspaper or magazine. The challenge, for a website, is to garner at least 10,000 unique visitors per day. The challenge, for print publications, is to garner an average of 10,000 readers per published issue. You will need to break through these numbers to win Sony's attention so that the company can send over a free PS3 which you can use for "review purposes."

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Panasonic DMP-BD60 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

As a writer for a local technology publication, I have had the privilege of testing and reviewing tones of consumer electronics. The Blu-ray movie format looks set to take over DVDs and major manufacturers like Panasonic, Sony, LG and Samsung are already in the race to produce the best Blu-ray players. At the time of writing, I personally feel that the Panasonic DMP-BD60 1080p Blu-ray disc player is leading the race.

The Panasonic DMP-BD60 1080p Blu-ray disc player may not be the cheapest model in the market. Then again it is so much more than just a Blu-ray player. I have tested a couple of Blu-ray movies on this player with Panasonic's VIERA plasma television and visuals produced were just jaw dropping. The details were so clear that we were able to catch the imperfections on the actor's makeup. It also did a pretty good job at up-converting DVD movies. Thanks to its 1080/24p output, the DVD playbacks on this player were much clearer and sharper compared to when played on regular DVD players.

The Panasonic DMP-BD60 1080p Blu-ray disc player output also has an Ethernet port that you can use to connect the player to the internet. Once connected to the internet, you will be able access a whole variety of online content through the VIERA cast features. You can use to player to view videos on YouTube and images on Picasa. Soon, you will be able to gain access to Amazon's Video on Demand. The Panasonic DMP-BD60 1080p Blu-ray disc player is also a very energy efficient model, consuming 16% less energy than its predecessor model.

For more reviews and product info, visit Panasonic Blu-Ray. For reviews on other Blu-ray players, visit http://dvd-planets.blogspot.com

Sony DSC-W350 Camera with 4x Wide Angle Zoom Review

Sony DSC-W350 14.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Zoom with Optical Steady Shot Image Stabilization and 2.7 inch LCD (Black) Review






























I love this camera. it works so great. No noise when zooming in-out during a movie.Anti-shake feature seems to only work in picture mode and not in movie mode.
Mic built into camera has good audio quality and picks up and is very sensitive to even the lowest soud levels.I absolutely love the HD Video movie feature, but You
will need a special cord to attach this camera directly to your HD TV.

Sony DSC-W350 14.1MP Digital Camera Feature

Sony DSC-W350 14.1MP Digital Camera Overview

Portable DVD Players For Your Car

If you are planning for a long trip in your car, a movie can make your trip comfortable and enjoyable. The DVD could be expanded as a digital versatile disc or digital video disc. These DVD players were created in 1998. The primary function is playing the movie and it also performs secondary functions like audio CD's, displaying images from a digital camera etc.

Even the laptop with the DVD facility can do the same function, but the difference is the DVD players are more compact when compared to the laptops. Most of the portable DVD players have LCD screens and the usual size is 7 inches though the screen size extends to 10 and 12 inches depending on the need. They also have the swivel screen facility and they can be made to rotate 180 degrees with flat screen. The cost of the screen depends on the size. They also bear the slots for USB and SD.

This can give the best quality of the playback. Headphone jacks are available to enjoy the audio. If your friend also wants to enjoy the audio, there are also double headphone jacks. The surround sound is also possible which increases the sound quality and the sound becomes realistic.

While using a portable DVD while traveling you should have the following things as a safety purpose. Safety pin, cotton ball, cleaning disc and a paper ball should be always there. While using a disc, the disc should be checked for dust. It might be too dirty and this will make the lens difficult to read. So this may show that there is no disc. For cleaning purpose cotton ball and the other materials could be used.

The batteries should also be considered while buying the players and the weight of the equipment should also be considered. If you need the long time consistency of the battery, the weight of the battery is little bit more when compared to the normal one. The battery life of two hours is not enough for watching even a single movie.

There are lots and lots of DVD which are light and stylish. When you are traveling by air, the lighter one will be of right choice. But when you are traveling with kids that will not work out, then you have to go for the sturdy one. The anti-skip mechanism should also be considered while traveling through the rough road. If the use of this electronic device is frequent then you should be sure that you are provided with the remote control.

If you are using a player for yourself a single screen will be apt, if the need extends for two people you can go for a twin screen. While buying a portable DVD player, certain things should be kept in mind. The device should be sleek and compact and another important factor that should be considered is the noiseless mechanism of the player. While buying the player, the buyer should know that the electronics have no resale value and the right choice should be selected. If you want to give an unforgettable gift to your friend or family members, then this portable DVD player is a useful and innovative gift.

You can find latest DVD player buying guide, compare prices and read unbiased reviews on Apollo DVD players, Cambridge, Daewoo dvd players at dvd player reviews website.

The Uniqueness of HD DVD Players

DVD players are an electronic gadget which plays both DVD-video and DVD-audio discs. This device gives you mass entertainment. Home cinema decoder is added in certain DVD players which gives you DTS effect and makes you to feel like in theatre. These players are easily adaptable so it is can be connected with the television. Different models are available in the market as you prefer. Now a days it comes with excellent qualities and with lowest price and it can be affordable by even middle class people. They are easy to handle with and also provides you electronic guide. It makes your home environment even livelier. They also dressed with best home theatre and latest advanced technique.

These electronic gadgets are one of the competing models in the market with advanced techniques. HD stands for High density. This player comes with excellent audio play back and high quality video. It has a greater storage capacity to store the audio, video and computer data. Some DVD players and media have very limited resolutions around 720p or 1080i resolutions but it's not in the case of this one. This player holds high resolution up to 1080p and in dual layer player maximum data storage is 30 GB. These players has a significant features of the blue-ray which is an advanced one preferred by the customers. It consists of both single layer and dual capacity of 15 and 30 GB, to avoid the damage of data layer it is placed 0.6 mm below the surface. It is adaptable with DVD and CD.

Several file systems are supported by players, such as Universal Disk Format and ISO 9660 and they use UDF file system of 2.5 version. This file system stores audio and video streams in EVO container format. This DVD player provides you choice of DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby True HD and LPCM for high-fidelity audio experience. It has an excellent resolution capacity and can be encoded using MPEG-2, AVC or VC-1. Advanced content system in DVD interactive and it should be authored for discs. In all these players backward compatibility is available which allows you to use single player to play all varieties of DVD, HD DVD and CD.

Tuners are available in these players which are very much useful to record the television programs for longer period. This electronic device equipped with single lens optical head, with the help of it blue and red laser diodes can be used even in smaller and compact players. It drives can be used in PC, Laptop in all platform like Windows XP, windows Vista, Mac Os and in Linux. Now day's players are available with dual compatibility drives which can read both. HD DVD and Blu-ray share most the encoding but differ in their storage size: the prior one can store a maximum data of 30 GB and Blu-ray stores up to 50 GB.

Triple layered HD DVD are introduced which can hold maximum data up to 150 GB. HD DVD-RW is a rewritable disc which has same storage capacity as HD DVD-R. The advantage of HD DVD-RW over HD DVD-R is the capacity to erase and rewrite up to 1000 times. HD Rec is an advanced feature of this advanced player which can record the content of HD content on red laser. An HD DVD player comes with excellent features which can compete with Blu-ray disc and comes with affordable price. It provides you the features to view a good quality picture and makes your leisure time even more enjoyable.

You can find best HD DVD player offers and read exclusive reviews on Grundig, Samsung HD DVD players, Proline, Techwood hd dvd player reviews at UK HD DVD players website.

Learn to Fix Windows 7 Error 0x80300001 - The Manual and the Automatic Way

This Windows 7 error is the most common type and it finds the occurrence mostly during fresh installations of Windows or carrying out any disk partitions. The error 0x80300001 can be more troubling if not provided with immediate solutions. The result in turn can be the dropping of upgrade idea of your existing operating system to windows 7 and never ending partition woes.

Problem Details

Though most of us users confront this error message, we do not hit the solution in the very next moment. Is it really necessary to go deep inside the cause of the error message or simply using a Registry Cleaner can help the task executed?

As we have said this error message mostly finds its source from installation failure or the system does not cope while creating a new partition. You can see drives but your hands are tied up to carry out any partition jobs.

Windows 7 face the inability to get installed to your selected location and you might think it's the problem with hard drive which might work well with a SATA driver. But this misleads you without even tackling the problem.

How does Registry Cleaner help?

Your peace is undoubtedly restored by our Registry Cleaner software that helps you to fix this error in no time. It keeps your system clean from unnecessary junk files and dll files that possibly interfere during installation work outs and disk partitions. This software just works great to fix this type of errors making your system to run even smoother than before.

Registry Cleaner after removing this error message grants optimum performance to your system and its longevity is restored. You no longer invite worries for you while installing any recent released operating system to your computer. But the proper use of Registry Cleaner at regular intervals should not be skipped for the efficient functioning of your system.

I'm sure you know by now that fixing 0x80300001 manually safely is difficult. Did you know that at least 7 other windows dependences are affected by this error?
To fix this error and many more errors easy, safe and fast you should get a registry cleaner. I have made a comparison chart about the best registry cleaners that you should check out.

I'm Celly Kayser and I'm an employee at Microsoft. I know the ins and out of the Windows platform, so I know from experience that fixing error manually will corrupt your system sooner or later.

Sony BDP-S550 Blu-Ray Disc Player Review

Sony BDP-S550 Blu-Ray Disc Player is built with  DTS-HD Master Audio decoding capability that produce rich high definition content via HDMI. This blu-ray disc player has 7.1 Channel analogue output technology that delivers true cinematic effect. You can enjoy the BD-Live contents via built in BD-Live functionality that enables you to access online content like interviews, film trailers and other entertainment contents you like the most. This blu-ray disc player is built with 1GB of exchangeable storage that helps you to download and save the BD-Live content from world wide web. It produce realistic colour gradation and gives finer details using Super Bit Mapping and HD Reality Enhancer and the resolution supports for full HD TV and shows the HD content with high quality picture.

This blu-ray disc is enabled with 24p True Cinema functionality for watching true cinema with film like format without any loss in quality of the picture. This blu ray disc player offers instant access to film, which has been viewed already before six seconds using quick start-up mode. It has BRAVIA Sync technology that enables you to connect this blu ray disc player with Home Theatre systems and BRAVIA televisions. It show HD content with high resolution image quality without any loss in HD content quality and it uses new precision cinema HD Upscale technology.

This technology greatly helps in converting the normal signals to 1080p and produce HD resolution when connected to HD TV through HDMI.. This blu ray disc player is designed with simple to use menu system called  XrossMediaBar that has intuitive controls.

It produce vivid and natural colour and does not create any eye strain. You can watch two separate streams of videos on the screen at the same time. This blu-ray disc player has Easy set up facility with Parental control and disc resume feature.

It has Child lock, Step forward and rewind facility. This blu-ray disc has XrossMediaBar and comes with Quick setup and built with Photo TV HD technology. It can display screen saver and comes with Bravia Theatre Sync and has A/V bitrate indicator. It produce background graphics during the start up of the new screen and this blu-ray disc has 1GB USB Flash Memory.

Read Detailed review on Sony BDP-S550 Blu-Ray Player and compare latest Blue Ray Players at Bluraydiscplayers.org.uk.