Samsung BD-P1500

30/4/2008

Courtesy of AVReviews.co.uk

Samsung has delayed the release of its eagerly anticipated next-gen Blu-ray disc spinner, the BD-P1500, as the company rightly felt there would be little point releasing a machine to tackle the might of the PS3 unless it was BD-Live enabled.

Thus, Sammy has assured us that it will indeed be BD-Live ready when it sees the light of day in June, rather than its original touted release month of May, meaning it will be able to take full advantage of Blu-ray's interactive online potential.

The inclusion means the P1500 will also be future proofed, allowing it to deliver the new DTS-HD 'High Resolution' audio format when it goes live at the end of the year via simple software download using its Ethernet connection. 

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Ofcom iPlayer Ruling

29/4/2008

Courtesy of AVReview.co.uk 

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has told MPs that the Beeb should not be forced into paying for an upgrade to the UK's broadband networks simply because iPlayer has been such a runaway success.

The ludicrous claims from ISPs that Auntie is to blame for their spiralling costs due to the huge increase in bandwidth necessary to accommodate the 42million iPlayer video downloads and streams in the first quarter of 2008 alone has been correctly rebutted.

Ofcom chief exec Ed Richards said in his speech to a session of the Commons Culture, Media & Sport and Business and Enterprise committees, 'I am not convinced myself that the right answer to that is to get the BBC to pay for the iPlayer. It is not necessarily the only way it can happen and it is not necessarily the way we would anticipate it will happen'.

Major operators like Tiscali are being extremely vocal about the 'massive strain' iPlayer is putting on them, claiming it's the BBC that should thus foot the bill by upgrading the nation's broadband infrastructure.

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