Filed under: Blu-ray

As if the wait for Futurama’s return wasn’t bad enough, the wait for its Blu-ray debut has been nearly unbearable. The good news out of Comic-Con is that the next movie, Bender’s Game is coming day and date on Blu-ray November 4. /Film’s early peek at the trailer brings word of jabs at high energy prices and Lord of the Rings parodies, no official release from Fox yet — or hints about the previously released movies coming to HD — but in the meantime check out the full ad and mark down 11/4 on your calendar.

[Via TheHDRoom]

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Filed under: Displays, Sony, LCD

Whoa there, Sony. Usually your designs are fairly impressive — sleek, if nothing else — but this all new BRAVIA T Series is most certainly not pretty. Boasting “powerful side speakers with a choice of Dual Tweeters or a 3D Woofer [saywha?] with side duct for a complete entertainment experience,” these sets sacrifice style in order to flank a set of speakers on the side of the panel. For those that can look beyond it, you’ll find a BRAVIA Engine 2, Intelligent Picture and MPEG Noise Reduction, with models ranging from 19- to 32-inches. The new range is scheduled to hit the Asia-Pacific market next month for undisclosed prices — not like you’ll be inquiring anyway, right?

[Via SonyInsider]

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Filed under: Industry, Displays, Others, Panasonic, OLED

A bit earlier this year we heard that Panasonic (Matsushita’s red-headed stepchild) was vying for a little recognition in the OLED Television game, but outside of that, details were scarce. Now, however, we’re being told that the outfit is planning to start selling 40-inch OEL (organic electroluminescent, better known as OLED ’round these parts) TVs “as early as 2011.” Reportedly, it will be investing “several billion yen” to construct a prototype production line for OEL panels “20-inches and larger” that will go into service next spring. We’d be pretty stoked if the final product were within sight, but make sure to ring us early on next decade to make sure we haven’t absolutely forgotten about this here promise.

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Filed under: ABC, Discovery-HD, ESPN-HD, HBO-HD, MOJO, NBC, Showtime-HD, TNT-HD, Listings

What we’re watching tonight:

• Discovery (1080i) continues Shark Week with Surviving Sharks at 9 p.m. and Day of the Shark at 10 p.m.
• TNT (1080i) has The Closer at 9 p.m. followed by Saving Grace
• NBC (1080i) queues up American Gladiators at 8 p.m. followed by Nashville Star at 9 p.m.
• Mojo HD (1080i) premieres A Shot at Glory at 9 p.m.
• USA (1080i) has WWE: Raw at 9 p.m.
• ABC Family (720p) drops in The Middleman at 10 p.m.
• Showtime (1080i) has Weeds at 10 p.m. and The Secret Diary of a Call Girl at 10:30 p.m.
• History (1080i) presents Prehistoric Monsters Revealed at 9 p.m.
• ESPN2 HD (720p) brings WSOP at 10 p.m.
• A&E (720p) premieres season 2 of Paranormal State at 10 p.m.
• HBO (1080i) premieres The Recruiter at 9 p.m.
• ESPN HD (720p) has Angels/Red Sox at 7 p.m.

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Filed under: Industry, Cable, Fiber, World wide web, OTA, Satellite

Around Engadget, we’re all too familiar with the evil bit starving ways of some content providers and local affiliates in the name of the bottom line. But it’s always good to see the more mainstream press get wise as Popular Mechanics has a good article on the why and why not, our HD signal is over compressed. The most interesting new piece of information is something we’ve heard of in the past, but it’s good to get additional details, which is HBO’s stipulations in regards to what a provider can do with its signal. We assumed the stipulations would specify a minimum bit rate, but in reality it is a limitation of what other content can be carried on the same QAM channel. So that means no sports, animated content, or any other bit hungry content for that matter. Ultimately, all this talk just makes us enjoy our Blu-ray Discs that much more.

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Filed under: Misc, Media streamers

Surely you remember Boxee, right? After launching in June on the Mac with the promise of a Linux distro (and Windows, too) not far behind, this open-source media streaming application has finally gone live on Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04. The creators reckoned that by covering Gutsy Gibbon and Hardy Heron users, most everyone interested would be covered, and we have to say we concur with that assessment. It should be noted that said software still has potential kinks, and there are currently a number of alpha testers toying with it in order to send in feedback and get things ironed out. More intriguing here, however, is the possibility for this version to slide into set-top-boxes or standalone players that are built on Linux-based platforms, but for now, why not hit the read link and give it a go on your very own machine. Let us know how it turns out, alright?

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Filed under: Speakers, Others

Digging those Intimus loudspeakers, are you? Welcome yet another member to the family: the 4T floorstander. This tower packs dual 4-inch woven-fiberglass mid-woofers, a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter, an anti-resonant cabinet and a sexy coat of either gloss black or cherry. As you could likely piece together, this one was designed to complement the previously referenced 4B bookshelf speakers, and while they aren’t exactly out-of-a-white-van cheap, $650 per pair is still fairly reasonable in our eyes.

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Filed under: CBS, The CW, ESPN-HD, HDNet, Listings

What we’re watching tonight:

• ESPN (720p) has the season finale of Dale Jr.: Shifting Gears at 7 p.m. ahead of the USA Basketball team vs. Canada at 8 p.m.
• CW (1080i) throws in WWE SmackDown! at 8 p.m.
• USA (1080i) lines up Monk at 9 p.m. followed by Psych at 10 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) has What Not to Wear at 9 p.m. and Ashley Paige: Bikini or Bust at 10 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) has Swingtown at 10 p.m.
• History (1080i) has Shockwave at 10 p.m.
• Sci Fi (1080i) continues Stargate Atlantis at 10 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) presents Friday Night Fights at 9 p.m.
• HDNet (1080i) has HDNet Fights presents Maximum Fighting Championship at 10:30 p.m.

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Filed under: Decor, Gadgets

Sony has been coming out with some interesting speakers lately. Rigel recently mentioned the little Bravia Theater Micro System which put big sound in a package the size of a strawberry. Now check out the Sony Sountina. We’re not talking small here, the six-foot tower is made of glass and has a 13 cm woofer and 7 cm mid range speaker. The speakers spread sound out in a circle giving listeners equal sound no matter where they’re in the room. Even cooler, in dim light, the glass turns colors, displaying blue, amber, and purple. It sells for $11,800 from Dynamism.

[via Uncrate]

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Filed under: Fiber

AT&T’s U-verse still isn’t a clear cut winner in the world of HD carriers, but it sure got a lot more attractive with the recent rollout of 2 HD / 2SD — which enabled users to record one high-def program while watching another (or record two HD shows simultaneously). During Q2 2008, the company managed to pick up 170,000 new U-verse subscribers (versus 148,000 in Q1 2008), and since it shut 2007 with 231,000, it has more than doubled its customer base (549,000) in half a year. At its current rate, it’ll be tight to make its goal of one million subscribers by the end of 2008, but it might just get there. Can’t state our faith was nearly as high just six months prior.

[Via HD-Report]

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