Need a 3D Blu-ray System? Take a Look at HP's New TouchSmart PC

If you're on the look out for a second 3D TV system for your home, but don't want anything too big, or want to cram in as much functionality as possible; take a look at the new HP TouchSmart 620 PC.  Mounted on a tilting stand the PC is encased behind a 23" 3D-capable touchscreen display with a 1920 x 180 full-HD resolution, so you'll be assured of the best picture quality possible when playing Blu-rays, even if the screen is on the small side.

The disc drive can play 2D and 3D Blu-ray discs along with the usual DVD and CD material, while the system will also convert standard 2D content into 3D.  For the truly 3D mad, the TouchSmart 620 has a pair of webcams integrated into the screen's bezel, allowing you to take 3D still images or shoot 3D video. 

Running Windows 7, the TouchSmart 620 is powered by a 3.1Ghz Intel Core i5 processor and has 8GB of RAM built-in.  On the storage side a 1.5TB HDD should keep you going for a while, and the AMD Radeon HD 6670A graphics card should satisfy most gamers too.  HP has also included the Beats by Dr. Dre audio tweaks to make the sound match the video performance, and inside the pack you'll also find a single pair of 3D glasses.

You probably already suspect the TouchSmart 620 won't be cheap, and you'd be right.  Available direct from HP, it'll set you back $1899, which is a large amount of cash for a second-room system, but there's no denying it contains a lot of tech!

Macgo Software Provides Native Blu-ray Playback for Macs

Seeing as Apple are unlikely to start offering standard Blu-ray drives or their own Blu-ray playback software anytime soon, it's time to start looking elsewhere for help.  There are many external and internal Blu-ray drives available, but what about dedicated Mac software?

Macgo has released the Mac Blu Ray Player, a native Mac OS X player, which they claim is the very first universal media player for both Mac and PC owners to offer Blu-ray support.  The player comes with a free 90-day trail, so you can give it a go without committing early on, and it'll cost you a reasonable $39.99 to continue using - forever - after the trial expires.

So is it any good?  I've not got a Blu-ray drive for my Mac so can't give it a try, but a TUAW writer indicated the software could do with a few tweaks, as the playback often resulted in some image problems.  Over at CNET, their coverage points out that Macgo needs an Internet connection to validate Blu-ray disc playback, so don't expect any offline HD fun.

Still, as it has a generous trial period, if you've got a Blu-ray drive for your Mac it's probably worth a download to see how it performs.

Toshiba Add Top-End X770 3D Laptop to Their Qosmio Range

Toshiba were the first to bring out a laptop equipped with a 3D Blu-ray player, and have already announced the Qosmio X500, a beast of a laptop with an 18" screen due out in the UK later this year.

Now they've added an even higher spec machine to their range, the Qosmio X770, this time for the Australian market.  Once again it has a 3D Blu-ray player and a screen capable of displaying 3D content.  The whole thing is driven by an Intel Core i7 2.9Ghz processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX-560M graphics card.

A total of 8GB RAM keeps things moving and a hybrid hard disc provides plenty of storage, namely 500GB of hard disc space and 1.25TB of solid state space.  The screen measures 17.3" and a pair of 3D glasses are included in the package.  Harmon Kardon speakers complete the cinematic experiece with their virtual surround sound capabilities.

The price for all this tech?  A wallet busting $2699, or around $2800/£1800!

All-in-One Acer Aspire Desktop has 3D Blu-ray Built-in

Acer has announced the impending availability of the Z5763, and all-in-one desktop PC with 3D Blu-ray and a clever gesture control system.  Designed to be used as a complete media centre, the Z5763 has a 23" screen, a Blu-ray drive and both an analogue and a digitial tuner, plus living room friendly looks - although the screen size will probably limit it to bedroom or study usage.

Rather than use a glasses-free 3D screen, the Z6763 uses 3D Vision technology, therefore requiring special active shutter glasses and a transmitter to view 3D pictures.  The screen does show 1080p content, plus it has a 5W stereo Dolby Home Theater speaker system below the screen; however thanks to the use of 3D Vision, viewing 3D content on another 3D screen via the Acer will likely cause problems.

3D Vision is best suited to playing 3D games, but is also quite capable of converting still pictures and TV broadcasts into 3D too.  All of this adds up to make the Z5763 a very impressive 3D machine.

Buyers will have the choice between Intel's Sandy Bridge Core i5 and Core i7 processors, NVIDIA's 3D Vision GT440 or GT435M graphics cards and will be able to spec up to 16GB RAM and 2TB of storage.  Acer's Air Control gestures have been incorporated and should recognize movements up to a distance of three metres away, where it will be possible to alter volume, playback, pause and search functions.

Acer's Z7563 will go on sale in the UK during the course of May, with prices starting at £999.

Asus Launch Attractive BW-12D1S-U External BD Drive

Asus have taken the covers off a new USB external Blu-ray drive, and it's as good-looking and as versatile as they come.  It's designed specifically for use with a computer, as the only method of connection is a USB port; so there won't be any linking up by HDMI. 

The drive plays both DVD and Blu-ray, plus 3D Blu-rays too.  It upscales DVD and like some other laptop-based drives, the Asus also performs real-time 2D to 3D conversion; which combined with support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, makes it a formidable addition to any HTPC. 

According to the official documentation, the drive needs 1GB of RAM, a GeForce 7600GT/ATIX1600 graphics card and a Pentium processor to operate, and it comes with Cyberlink's PowerDVD software.  It's also quoted as being the fastest Blu-ray burner available at the moment, with speeds of 12x. 

The design is great, with a bright blue diamond-shaped power light and a stand for vertical or horizontal mounting.  The exact street date, region and price have yet to be confirmed.

New USB-Powered Blu-ray Drive From Samsung Announced

A slim, sleek new external Blu-ray drive has been announced by Samsung.  The SE-406A is the perfect portable companion too, as it doesn't need a mains power cord, instead drawing everything it needs from the USB cable.

The drive plays standard and 3D Blu-ray discs, plus it can read/write DVD discs.  It comes bundled with CyberLink's TrueTheater software and can convert 2D material into 3D.  Of course, to view 3D content you're going to need a compatible screen and a pair of glasses. 

Samsung have added 'Buffer Under Run' technology to the writer, which prevents errors when data transfer speeds get too high, while the drive supports 8x DVD-RAM and DVD+RW recording, and 6x DVD+R Dual Layer, DVD-R Dual Layer and DVD-RW recording.  On the playback side, it's happy with BD-R and most rewriteable DVD and CD formats.

Available in black or white, the SE-406 is compatible with both Windows and OS X, and will go on sale in the USA next month with a retail price of $150.  That's a good price for a 3D capable USB-powered drive, and this could work well in HTPC setups, especially as it can easily be transported to another computer in the house when needed.

New Dell Inspiron Laptops Have 3D Blu-ray Built-in

Just like the Sony Vaio F laptops we looked at back in February, the latest range of Dell Inspiron R series computers introduce a 3D ready Blu-ray drive to the feature list.  Unlike the Sony machine, the Blu-ray drive for the Inspiron R's is an option, although Dell's official customisation page doesn't list it just yet. It also appears that the screen won't be 3D, so you'll have to rely on the various output options to view your 3D discs.

You've got a choice of screen sizes - 14", 15" and 17" - but if you're planning on adding the Blu-ray, there doesn't seem much point in selecting anything other than the 17" model.  Either the Intel i3, i5 or i7 processors with the updated Cougar Point chipset can be used, and each will have HDMI 1.4 for sending those 3D Blu-ray pictures to your 3DTV. 

Other features include USB 3.0, SRS Premium Audio, up to 8GB RAM, an HD webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium and a range of swappable lids to add some style and colour to your machine.

In addition to the HDMI, Dell have also added Intel Wireless Display to the Inspiron R to provide a wireless way of watching video on the big screen, however we don't think this will work with 3D.  You'll need to add an adaptor to your TV, but once you have the laptop will wireless send full 1080p video to it from anywhere in the house, making it much easer to watch content stored on your laptop.

The Inspiron R range is available in both the US and the UK, with prices starting from $529 or £479.

New Sony Vaio F Laptop Get 3D Blu-ray Drive

The latest Sony Vaio F Series laptop announced during CES 2011 has been made available as a pre-order, complete with a March release date for the UK.  What makes it special is the addition not just of a regular Blu-ray drive, but of a 3D Blu-ray drive!

Running Windows 7 Home Premium, the F Series has an 2Ghz Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM and a 640GB hard drive.  The laptop uses an Nvidia GeForce GT540M graphics card with 1GB of memory, and the screen measures 16" and has a resolution of 1920 x 1200, so full HD won't be a problem.

A pair of active steroscopic 3D glasses come with the laptop, and Sony have handily built the transmitter into the screen's frame, so it won't get lost, broken or both.  A button converts 2D content to 3D too.  An HDMI-out lets you plug the laptop into a big screen, where provided it's 3D, we assume you'll be able to display 3D content too.  Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, a memory card slot and USB 3.0.

All this wonderful tech doesn't come cheap though, as the VPCF21Z1E F Series laptop is priced at £1799 as a pre-order via Sony themselves.

New Sony Blu-ray Drives Ready for Anything!

Sony Optiarc are preparing two new Blu-ray drives, one for retail and the other for OEM use, which we can see finding a home in many a HTPC build.  The BWU-500S will be the model number to look out for if you're searching for one to buy, while the BD-5300S will be the code for the OEM model. 

The 500S will play Blu-ray and DVD, plus it will write to BD-R discs at a decent 12x speed, while dual-layer BD-R's will have to make do with an 8x speed.  The press release states that a 25GB disc will burn in about 10 minutes, which sounds fast to us!  The burner will also handle all types of recordable DVD and CD media too, so it's versatile little thing.

The reason we say the 500S may be good for HTPC use is becuase the drive will play 3D Blu-ray discs, plus it's a standard 5.25" drive with a SATA interface and comes bundled with Cyberlink's Media Suite 8 software too.  Sony will be releasing these two in the USA this month, but haven't provided information on a future international launch.  Pricing is also unknown at this point. 

 

Sony Announce BDX-S500U Portable Blu-ray Drive

Here's a handy creation from Sony Optiarc, the BDX-S500U portable Blu-ray drive, designed to bring the convenience of BD disc storage and the beauty of HD video to your computer, without the need to open up a casing or replace the drive on a laptop. 

The drive will write on to a Blu-ray at 6x speeds for a BD-R, 4x for a BD-R DL and 2x for a BD-RE, and happily accepts dual-layer 50GB discs, while it also plays nicely with DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, CD, CD-R and CD-RW, all at speeds from 4x to 24x.  Sony say the burner will write a 25GB BD-R in 20 minutes.

Because the S500U uses USB 2.0 to connect to your computer, it should work well no matter what system you use - perhaps it could even bring Blu-ray to Apple Macs!  Included in the pack is Cyerlink's Media Suite 8 for Windows software.

Aside from its use for data backup, if you use a PC as part of your home cinema setup the S500U has 3D support built-in, so if you have the correct HDMI links to your 3D TV, this could be a great way to upgrade without the need for a bigger, standalone player. 

The BDX-S500U is due to go on sale in the USA this month, where it's reported to cost around $200; a decent price given the read/write options and 3D support.