combo

Sony's new MP3 player takes dictation

Well, that's one way to do it. After having lost so badly to Apple in the Walkman World it once dominated, Sony is at least making some music with alternative devices. But its latest player is one we never saw coming: a dictation recorder.

Tech Digest says it has only 1GB or 2GB of built-in storage, so you may still want to hang onto your regular MP3 player--after all, you'll presumably want to use some of that space for voice recording too. But it looks a lot better than other attempts by Sony, most notably the "Walkman Bean.&… Read more

Another Samsung Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player

Just a month ago, home theater enthusiasts were clamoring Samsung's soon-to-be released BD-UP5000 HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player, which promised high-end features like HQV processing and the ability to decode DTS-HD Master Audio (after a future firmware update). But the BD-UP5000 was delayed, and now it's likely to face less demand considering Warner's decision to go Blu.

Watch the Samsung BD-UP5500 Duo HD Player video on CNET TV.

The same goes for Samsung's newly announced combo unit, the BD-UP5500. It appears that the main step-down from the BD-UP5000 is that it lacks HQV video processing, which … Read more

Bike's rear-view mirror checks your heart rate

If Cerevellum sounds like some Latin term from a medical dictionary, it would be entirely appropriate because it's the name of a new heart-monitoring device. But this one isn't attached to your arm or chest--in fact, it's not affixed to the body at all. Try the handlebars on a bike instead.

The Cerevellum doesn't stop there either: While checking your ticker, this gadget also serves as a GPS system and a digital rear-view display similar to those seen increasingly in cars. According to ProductDose, this all-in-one device has a 3.5-inch screen and 32MB of space … Read more

Combo mouse-phones get a little privacy

We're not convinced that combo mouse phones are the way of the future but, hey, if there's a market for laptop trackballs then anything's possible. In fact, the competition is apparently heating up sufficiently so that manufacturers are vying to cram even more functions into the devices--the latest being an earphone.

Why? For "extra privacy," as Geek Alerts notes, though there's no microphone boom to whisper into. But we suppose one can't be too picky about a Skype phone combined with an 800 DPI optical mouse that goes for $22.

Samsung combo player news; BD-P2400 officially canceled

Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of speculation regarding the status of Samsung's upcoming Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player--the BD-UP5000--and the high-end Blu-ray player, the BD-P2400. Finally, Samsung has made an official announcement. First, the bad news: The BD-P2400 is officially canceled. The BD-P2400 was supposed to be the step-up to the BD-1400, adding HQV video processing, but now those who want HQV will have to go for the combo player.

Now for the good news. Here's exactly what Samsung told us about the BD-UP5000:

Status of BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player:

The Duo … Read more

Monitor the wine with the family photos

Anyone who's addicted to gadget catalogs can tell you that two of the most common items are digital photo frames and personal weather stations, including some built into the tips of umbrellas. So it's small wonder that the two functions would be combined in a single device.

Its name? The "Digital Picture Frame With Weather Station," what else? The combo appliance has a 7-inch color LCD, radio-controlled clocks and all the data you can shake a meteorologist's stick at, including the phases of the sun and the moon. As for its multi-tasking abilities, its remote … Read more

Samsung combo player to decode DTS-HD Master Audio

We can't help but be a little skeptical, but according to a Samsung representative, the new Samsung BD-UP5000 Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player will have onboard decoding for all high-resolution audio formats following a firmware update, including DTS-HD Master Audio. This is great news for high-def disc fans, as the BD-UP5000 would be the first player we're aware of that has onboard decoding for DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS's losslessly compressed soundtrack format. The same representative also confirmed that both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks can be output over the analog 7.1 outputs, which will … Read more

More details on Samsung's HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player

Editors' note: Toshiba has officially announced that it will stop producing HD DVD products, bringing an end to the format war. For that reason, CNET recommends that consumers should avoid buying this player for high-definition movie playback, as very few HD DVD discs will be produced in the future.

We've already known most of the details about the upcoming Samsung BD-UP5000 HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player for a while, but today at CEDIA they announced a few more nuggets of info. Here's a summary of what we know:

BD-UP5000's key features

1080p output at 24 frames per … Read more

LG's new combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player

Update: This post has been updated to reflect that LG has confirmed that the BH200 can output DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream format, that it fully supports Blu-ray profile 1.1 and has only stereo analog outputs.

LG was the first company to come out with an HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player--the LG BH100--which made a big splash at CES 2007 and won CNET's "Best in Show" award. At CEDIA today, LG announced its second combo player, the BH200, which looks to improve on many of the shortcomings of the BH100. The most significant failing of the BH100 was its limited support for the interactive features available on HD DVD discs, also known as HDi. According to the press release, the BH200 will support HDi functionality, along with network-enhanced HD DVD features, available on some discs such as Blood Diamond. On the Blu-ray side, it should also support BD-Java functionality (as seen on the newer Pirates of Caribbean discs), as well as picture-in-picture functionality. (While picture-in-picture functionality is standard on all HD DVD players, it is not required on Blu-ray players until October 31.)

LG BH200's key features

Full HDi support on HD DVD discs Picture-in-picture support for both HD DVD and Blu-ray (fully Blu-ray profile 1.1 compliant) 1080p output at 24 frames per second Onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Bitstream output for DTS-HD Master Audio HDMI 1.3 output, with Deep Color support Ethernet port $1,000 list price, mid-October release date… Read more