SquareTrade

Blu-Ray 2.0 goes Live on PS3 First.

Sony barely paused to feast on the remains of former HD rival Toshiba before announcing the Blu-Ray 2.0 spec (a.k.a. BD-Live), an enhanced Blu-Ray disc with even more features that no Blu-Ray player currently on the market will be able to access.  Whoops!  Solution: Sony's own PlayStation 3.

Sometime in the next two weeks, Firmware v2.20 will bump the PlayStation 3 up to the BD-Live specs, allowing for what's being touted as a whole new level of DVD interactivity.  Is it?  Well, part of the BD-Live protocol calls for internet connectivity, so you'll get updated content for whatever disc you pop in for as long as the studio supports it.  Ringtones, multiplayer games, and trailers have been mentioned as early content, but we suspect at some point that'll expand to new making-ofs, post-release interviews and audio commentary.  The disc themselves are bumped to a full Gig of storage to take on all the new schwag, and allow for various picture-in-picture features. The first BD-Live disc are set to release on April 8.

And yep, the PS3 will be the only player set to do those things. 

Just as well, really.  We've said for a long time that a PS3 might just be your best option for a Blu-Ray player, given that they cost the same and play games as well as movies.  The current projections are that regular Blu-Ray players won't come down to the $200 range for another year.  But any which way you decide to go, a SquareTrade warranty on your equipment might not be a bad idea, and it'll certainly cost less and do more than any warranty you're used to.

On the other hand, BD-Live's still in its infancy, so you may not feel the urge to rush right out and nab that three-disc 2.0 Special Edition of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.  That's okay... neither do we.

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Acer Gemstone laptops shine on like crazy diamonds.

Acer president Gianfranco Lanci took the podium in New York today to unveil some new hotness... namely, the second-generation Acer Gemstone line.

What we've got going on here is one color ("gemstone blue," naturally) and two flavors; 16" and 18.4".  But both start with a few sweet basics: 1080p screens showing off 512MB NVIDIA 9650m GS graphics, run off a 1.5GHz Penryn processor.  Oh, and Blu-Ray drives, because that's the wave of The Future (for two or three years, when we'll digitally download everything). 

The batteries look a little weak - between 2.5 and 3 hours - but the base models will start around the $900 level, with upgradeable hard drives that'll push them into the mid-high 1K range. 

All told, it looks like a nice new deck from a solid company (they did just place second in worldwide notebook sales), and we'll have your SquareTrade laptop warranty ready for you when the Gemstones ship sometime next month.

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Circuit City allows mourning HD-DVD owners to swap for Blu-Ray.

 In every war, good people get caught on the wrong side.  Which is to say, the losing side, because winners are always right.  That's how they win.  But if you're regretting buying that HD-DVD player, now there's a way to recant your decision... so long as you bought it from Circuit City.

Rumors have circulated for days, but now those happy-go-lucky guys at Gizmodo have confirmed that it's official Circuit City policy to accept returns of HD-DVD players in exchange for Blu-Ray DVD players.  This was outlined in an internal memo (that's now gone external) appropriately titled "HD DVD - The End."

"Q; What about customers who may try to return an HD DVD player - even if they have owned it for several months?

A: We do not want to upset our valued customers. For this special circumstance, we are happy to offer an exchange for a Blu-ray player (customer plays any difference in purchase price) - even if it has been several months since the customer made their HD DVD player purchase. If the customer does not want a Blu-ray player, we can issue a gift card refund for their original purchase price. For products purchased in the last 30 days, handle as usual."

We assume "play the difference" is a typo.  But we have heard of customers swapping out their HD-DVD player for a Blu-Ray-playing PlayStation 3, so CC's apparently counting anything that plays Blu-Ray in the definition of "Blu-Ray player."  CC's memo also states that A.) you can't exchange HD-DVD software for Blu-Ray - you'll just have to eat those costs - and B.) they're going to keep selling HD-DVD players as up-converting DVD units for a little while longer.  And you will have to go into a CC store to exchange it, as their online retail streams haven't gotten the memo yet.

But before you head out to exchange your Old and Busted for the New Hotness, you should definitely compare their warranty to a SquareTrade warranty.  If it looks like our prices are about half what theirs are, with better, faster service, you can safely assume those aren't typos.

We have no idea why Circuit City's leaving the advertising of this spectacularly cool policy to the blogosphere when it would buy them so much good will from their sagging customer base.  Seriously, CC... it's okay to be the nice guy once in a while. 

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DVD Enters its Blu Period.

Hey, guys!  You can get an HD-DVD player at Circuit City for only $85!

But seriously, now that Toshiba has officially thrown in the towel and released a statement saying they will no longer develop, make or market HD-DVD players and recorders, the format war has been won by Sony's Blu-Ray.  Now it's time to start thinking about the future.

So what you really need is a Blu-Ray player that's in your budget range.  Hey, we found some of those, too.  There's the Samsung BD-P1200, which Circuit City has marked down $475 to sell for only $125... that seems like a good deal to us.  It's cousin, the Samsung BD-P1000 is down to $213 (though its 12-in-2 memory card reader is no match for the P1200's HQV video processing, which ups picture quality). 

Best Buy... well, their Sony Blu-Ray players start at about $400.  We think not.  And naturally, you can get a SquareTrade warranty on any DVD player you choose.  Check out the Instant Quote widget in the sidebar to find out how much less we'll charge you than Circuit City, for a far better warranty.  According to our reviews, anyway.

In the meantime, rejoice!  The war is over!  Now we must create the peace, for our children and our children's children.

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Free Blu-Ray Player with Sharp LCD HDTV.

Week before last, we mentioned a deal at Best Buy for a free Blu-Ray player with purchase of certain Panasonic HDTVs.  Well, it looks like Circuit City's caught on to that action, because now they're making the same offer... only with Sharp televisions.

Now, you won't get the free autographed football for this, but if you pick out one of six Sharp LCD HDTVs, they'll automatically throw in a Sharp Aquos Blu-Ray player for free.  And naturally, most of the sets on this page are on sale, generally only $200-$300 off.  But considering that player (model BDHP20, if you want to check it out) prices at $500, an extra few hundred off is actually a nice touch. 

Oh, and we do have a 33% Off Sale for all HDTV warranties sold through Super Bowl Sunday (oh c'mon, you know that's February 3rd... everybody knows that).  Just use Coupon Code SUPERBOWL on the checkout page.  Even before that, our warranties cost a lot less and give you a lot more.  See for yourself: try out our quote widget in the sidebar and/or read our reviews.

Given that we saw this chart at Electronista today, which basically shows HD-DVD's hardware market share going from roughly 50% to 7.5% in the first two weeks of this year, we're thinking this wouldn't be a bad deal to take.  Nossir, not bad at all.

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White PlayStation 3 is coming to America.

Okay, now we know what the problem was.  The reason the Sony PlayStation 3 wasn't selling so well for most of 2007 wasn't the light game selection or the high price tag... it was the color.  Well, problem solved: the white PlayStation 3 model that's been available in Japan since late last year is expected to arrive in the New World sometime this year.

How do we know?  Sony filed it with the FCC last October with a request for short-term confidentiality.  Well, it seems that short term is up now.

This is essentially going to be the same 40GB unit that's currently available for $400, but white.  That means it won't be backwards compatible with PS2 games, but it's still a fully functioning Blu-Ray player (since they're winning the format war and all).  And the game catalogue has vastly improved in recent months, with sequels to heavy hitters Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid on the way.  Gaming afficinados are also excited about PlayStation Home, an interactive 3D network not unlike Second Life that's sheduled for a Q2 launch, and build-your-own-game experience LittleBigPlanet, due later this year

And while the PS3 is no Xbox 360, you'd still do well to put a 3-Year SquareTrade warranty on it... you can use the widget in the sidebar to see how little it'll cost you to keep your console in working order for years to come.  That's important now, because increased sales and Blu-Ray's seeming rise to power mean the PlayStation 3, while admittedly still a distant third in the marketplace, is absolutely a viable platform that's going to be around for a long time.

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Cheap HD-DVD players everywhere! ...but are they worth it?

Well, here's an interesting price drop for a product teetering on the edge of extinction.  It seems that Toshiba's slashed prices on some of their HD-DVD players a mere ten days after Warner Bros. abandoned the format. 

So, that means you can get the Toshiba HD-A3 for only $150 (that's half price) at Circuit City and Best Buy, but we found it at Amazon for only $133.  Amazon's also got the next player up, the HD-A30, for $172, while the others still hover around the $200 mark.  And naturally, all these are eligible for a SquareTrade Warranty. 

But the question remains: should you actually get one? 

That depends on whether you've still got a Betamax VCR hooked up to your 1080p HDTV.  Except that this time, the people behind Betamax - i.e. Sony - seem to be in the winner's chair.  Sony's Blu-Ray discs are currently poised to decisively end Toshiba's HD-DVD format, and it could happen within just a few months. 

While it's not over until it's really over, let's recap.  Even before the format war hit the retail market, the six major Hollywood studios fell in line with one format or the other, or agreed to produce DVDs on both.  At this point in time, there are only two studios left that are producing HD-DVDs: Paramount and Universal.  When Warners jumped ship, it activated an escape clause in Paramount's contract, and while they haven't used it yet, they've conspicuously not renewed their HD-DVD contract with Toshiba, which just expired.  Universal is in a similar situation, though their Toshiba contract has longer to go before it's up.

Elsewhere, Microsoft will never, ever go in for Blu-Ray, because Sony's PlayStation 3 is a direct competitor to Microsoft's Xbox.  Apple, however, seems poised to go Blu for their desktop and laptop computers.  They have to respond to HP's decision to offer either format in their laptops, but all Apple's studio partners who provide downloadable TV and movies to the Apple Store are squarely in the Blu-Ray camp.  Most have been from the start.

So unless you're extremely pro-HD-DVD, or anti-Blu-Ray, or physically cannot ignore a big discount like this, we'd suggest letting these deals pass you buy.  On the other hand, these HD-DVD players are all backwards-compatible, so if all you need is a new DVD player for a normal price and don't want to upgrade to Blu-Ray, these will do you just fine.

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HD-DVD warranty, Blu-Ray warranty, Toshiba warranty

Best Buy Deal: Free Blu-Ray Player w/Plasma HDTV Purchase.

Remember that pesky format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray that had no end in sight last week?  The end's in sight.

And to celebrate, we found this little Blu-Ray player deal on Best Buy.  Essentially, you pick from a list of Panasonic Plasma HDTVs, and then you get a free Panasonic Blu-Ray player (model DMP-BD30K), which is a $500 value.  A bunch of those HDTVs in question are on sale, too.  There's a Panasonic 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV listing at $2400 (that's $400 off), or if you want to keep it under the 2K mark, there's a 42" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma running at $1650 (a nice $150 off).  That's two out of eight televison choices that qualify for the deal.

And because you get all this stuff at reduced cost, you can get your SquareTrade warranty for less, too.  If you want one on the no-cost Blu-Ray player, just plug its normal list price into the Quote Widget in the sidebar to calculate its 3-Year warranty price, which will cover you for the $500 you didn't pay for the Blu-Ray.  It'll be a lot less than what Best Buy will offer you, too.

So why go with Blu-Ray now?  Well, while Apple hasn't made any official decision to start putting Blu-Ray players in their Macs as rumored (and the new Mac Pro just went on sale without the option), Warner Bros. decided last week to stop making HD-DVDs and go exclusively with Blu-Ray which, due to a crafty little exit clause in their contract, allows Paramount to do the same.  If - or rather, when - Paramount jumps ship, HD-DVD will have almost no support left from major Hollywood studios.  What's the sound of one hand clapping?

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Blu-Ray Player warranty

Asus M51 Laptop series goes upscale.

Considering Asus is moving a lot of weight around in the ultra-cheap laptop market, it's tempting to forget that they do non-cheap premium laptops as well.  Case in point, their freshly announced line of Asus M51 series laptops, three pieces of hardware that are definitely not going to price in the $700 range.  All three are going to have 15.4" screens, the typical Asus 180-degree built-in 1.3 MP camera, fingerprint scanner security and a separate numeric keypad on the keyboard (we like this), but the internals size up a little differently depending on the model.

The top-of-the-line M51SN, for example, sports a Penryn processor that powers up to 250GB of hard drive space, optional Intel Turbo Memory Technology with 1GB of NAND Flash, NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS graphics, up to 4GB of RAM, and your choice of DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray drives.  Given the recent shift in the wind, a Blu-Ray might be more prudent than HD-DVD.

The smaller Asus M51Sr and M51Se, on the other hand, scale down with Intel Core 2 Duo processors (if you call that scaling down) and ATI Mobility Radeon 2400 graphics.  No word on release dates or prices yet, but it's expected Asus will keep things fairly reasonable, which means the SquareTrade laptop warranty you put on them will be more than reasonable.  Nobody out-reasonables us.

Asus laptop warranty, Asus CES, New Asus

Apple Goes with Blu-Ray (maybe).

The counts are winding down to CES and Macworld, so the news and rumor output is finally cranking into high gear.  Today's first item: Apple has chosen a side in the DVD format war.  Take a quick look at the studios Apple has content deals with on iTunes, and check which format those studios have allied with, and this news probably becomes fairly predictable, but word today is that Macs will ship in 2008 with Blu-Ray drives.  We still think it's possible they'll go with a hybrid, just to keep the door open, but the pieces are aligning too well to dismiss.

If so, it'll be interesting to see if HP sticks with their either/or strategy of selling laptops with your choice of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.  As far as we're concerned, we're non-denominational.  SquareTrade warranties cover almost any electronics, new or used, wherever you buy it from, for far less.  We even through in extras like Accidental Damage coverage and a 5-Day Service Guarantee.  And Macworld happens about a ten minute walk from our offices, so we're going to be all over that noise. 

Coupled with rumors of a new Macbook Slim, a Macbook Mini ultraportable, the 3G iPhone (by next May, supposedly), a deal with rapper-producer Jay-Z that's a first step for turning iTunes into a music label, and a brand new 3.2GHz eight-core Penryn processor for the Mac Pro, it's looking like Steve Jobs' keynote will go on a bit longer than usual this year.  "One more thing," indeed.

Macbook Slim, Macbook Mini, Apple warranty, Apple insurance