Consumers can dream of 1Gbps, businesses might ask for 10Gbps, but here’s the next step along that logarithmic curve: Shaw and Alcatel-Lucent just launched a new 100Gbps inter-city fiber optic network in Canada, following a successful trial between Calgary and Edmonton. The network can purportedly handle 133 million simultaneous voice calls, 440,000 HDTV channels, or transmit the equivalent of 44 Blu-ray discs in a single second. More redweed details in the PR after the break.
Continue reading Shaw plants 100Gbps fibers in Canada, watches them grow
Shaw plants 100Gbps fibers in Canada, watches them grow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Online video rental store Vudu has seen massive growth lately, driven mostly by getting embedded on an ever-growing number of connected TVs and other devices. But the streaming video on demand service is about to get a big boost, as it’s being integrated with the website of parent company Walmart, potentially introducing millions of shoppers to the joy of online video.
It’s been about 18 months since Walmart bought Vudu, but as demand for physical media declines, the big box retailer is finally marrying the online video service with its website. By doing so, it’s hoping to introduce its customers to a new way of watching movies and getting them to spend money on digital copies instead of buying the DVD.
Steve Nave, SVP and general manager of Walmart.com, said the decision to buy Vudu was made as the retailer realized that there was a rapid shift in consumer behavior from purchasing physical media to streaming content online. The acquisition was made to help better position Walmart and its web property as this shift occurred.
The result of that purchase can now be seen at Walmart.com. Users shopping online for DVDs and Blu-ray discs on the site will now also have the option of buying or renting digital copies of titles that are available as part of the Vudu streaming library. Once purchased, those movies can then be accessed either through the Walmart website, Vudu.com or on any of the 300-plus connected devices that the Vudu streaming service is available on.
The move to add the service to Walmart.com comes just a few months after Vudu introduced its own browser-based streaming option. But it’s not just the Vudu service on a Walmart URL: The integration keeps the same look and feel of the retailer’s website, while introducing a wide new range of streaming content. Existing Walmart.com customers will be able to link their accounts with the Vudu service and seamlessly purchase movie titles without having to switch logins or change sites.
Now for the bad news: For those that want to stream videos in HD, they’ll have to watch the movie on one of Vudu’s supported devices. The Walmart.com site, along with Vudu.com, only stream videos in standard definition. While many purists will only want the highest quality video, for many Walmart shoppers new to streaming movies online, that might not be a big deal.
Adding the Vudu service to its website also comes as the retailer is experimenting with new ways to get its users to try out the service. That includes the introduction of new digital movie cards that users can purchase from Walmart stores and use to redeem streaming movies later. The company has also been working with Hollywood studios to enable customers to buy a physical copy of a DVD and be able to stream it from Vudu on supported devices.
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Holographic disc storage may not have worked out so well for InPhase, but the folks at General Electric are still trying to make HVD work. Their latest breakthrough, shown off today at an IEEE symposium in Hawaii, is a new micro-holographic material which is 100x more sensitive than its predecessor and ups recording speed to that of Blu-ray discs. In the two years since we saw it last some of the hyperbole has apparently been lost — no claims of “two to four years left for Blu-ray” this time around — but manager Peter Lorraine still thinks the DVD-sized discs have a future in archival and consumer systems. That’s getting tougher to imagine in a world with FiOS and Netflix streaming, but if there is ever another disc format you may be looking at it right now.
Continue reading GE’s new holographic storage burns 500GB discs at the speed of a Blu-ray
GE’s new holographic storage burns 500GB discs at the speed of a Blu-ray originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Similar to last year’s BD-P4600, Samsung is releasing a further uniquely designed Blu-ray Player, the BD-C7500. While many players have a black glossy finish, this player has a nature-wood inspired outside finish. Add to that, Samsung Blu-ray Players is pronouncing the player as the World’s Thinnest at only 1.1 inches thick, that may also be attached into your wall. The BD-C7500 model succeeds in setting itself apart from all the other Blu-ray Players.
In addition to wall mounting player, you could have it standing around a 25 degree angle or simply just laying down flat. The disc loading tray is situated in the right side of the Blu-ray Player. Its truly a beautiful and reliable design which will appeal too many. Also, interesting is its easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI). Samsung Blu-ray Players proceeded to go that has a more image menu making it simpler and a lot quicker to decide on features and functions.
The Samsung’s BD-C7500 does have built-in Wi-Fi and 1GB of internal storage memory, so you’re able to quickly take full advantage of BD-Live content. Otherwise you can access Internet/Tv and Samsung’s Apps; which can provides online entry to streaming movies, Tv programs, music, videos and also other online content. Services which include Blockbuster, Fashion TV, Netflix, Picasa, Pandora, Rovi, Accedo Broadband, AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, Travel Channel, Twitter, USA TODAY, and Vudu are all available. Providing you with a tremendous degree of material available and enjoy.
Visual quality will likely be at 1080p/24 fps playback with Blu-ray Discs, without any requirement for up converting. DVD up conversion is accessible up to 1080p. There may be internal audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Plus. With improved disc loading times and operation speed, you can start to enjoy these functions faster than before.
This specific modern new design by Samsung, the BD-C7500, will be call the worlds smallest Blu-ray Player. This has Built-in Wi-Fi and 1GB of internal memory. You may get access to Samsung’s Internet/TV to download and stream internet movies and Television shows, etc. Has internal audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Cost is still unknown for the BD-C7500. There aren’t any 3D features. BD-C6500 has the same features available.
That has a modern, small, natural-wood design, this just maybe the simplest looking Blu-ray Player ever. It is wall mountable and does have Built-in Wi-Fi and 1 GB of memory storage, so you can easily take full advantage of streaming online features and BD-Live features. If you prefer a more standard looking Blu-ray Player, the “normal looking” BD-C6500 appears to have all the features on the BD-C7500.
Low to High (LTH) – BD-R LTH is the same as all other Blu-ray media, except it’s manufactured
High-Definition – Blu-ray discs are designed especially to store large HD video and audio files.
Hard Coat – All Verbatim Blu-ray discs are treated with a super hard coat to prevent scratches, resist fingerprints
Verbatim Blu-ray discs use blue-violet laser technology to read and write data
The Verbatim single-layer Blu-ray disc offers up to 25GB of storage space to back-up your video, music, photos and more.
Verbatim BD-R LTH media is manufactured with an organic dye that turns the disc’s reflectivity during recording from “low to high”. Other BD-R discs use the “high to low” recording method. Additionally, BD-R LTH is manufactured on converted CD-R/DVD-R production lines, which utilize a spin coating process and allow excess materials to be recycled. These two cost-cutting measures let us pass along the savings to you. Upon introduction of the BD-R LTH media, key hardware manufacturers like Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic and LG have worked to assure that their burners are fully compatible. If your BD burner is a 2009 model or later it will most likely support recording and playback of BD-R LTH media. If your Blu-ray hardware was manufactured before 2009, check with the manufacturer for firmware updates.
Steve Nave, SVP and general manager of Walmart.com, said the decision to buy Vudu was made as the retailer realized that there was a rapid shift in consumer behavior from purchasing physical media to streaming content online. The acquisition was made to help better position Walmart and its web property as this shift occurred. 
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