In the following lines you can read what’s the current score on both formats and what new titles are available for each of them.

HD DVD 413 vs Blu-ray 473*

Blu-ray

• Enchanted (Walt Disney)
• I Am Legend (Warner)

HD DVD

• Aquarium Impressions (Navarre Corporation)
• Atonement (Universal)
• Fireplace Impressions (Navarre Corporation)
• Justice League: The New Frontier (Warner)
• Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same (Warner)
• Mystic Forests (Navarre Corporation)

* Blu-ray doesn’t include 20 titles that were previously available from Paramount

Other interesting titles include Dogma, I, Robot and the Independance Day, which is highly anticipated title for many HD owners out there. Statistics are telling us that this week Blu-ray family got bigger by 10 new titles and HD DVD got only 3 new titles, which is mighty fine figure for a dead HD format. HD DVD would be bigger by one more title, Jerry Seinfeld shaped “Bee Movie”, but since Dreamworks discontinued production of HD DVD titles and turned “blue”, we won’t see this film in HD soon.

Total sum now is:
HD DVD 407 vs Blu-ray 471*

* – Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously officially available, but no more.

Finally, the list:

Blu-ray

• Appleseed Ex Machina (Warner)
• August Rush (Warner)
• Dan in Real Life (Walt Disney)
• Dogma (Sony)
• Gattaca (Sony)
• Hitman (Fox)
• I, Robot (Fox)
• Independence Day (Fox)
• No Country for Old Men (Walt Disney)
• Sleuth (2007) (Sony)

HD DVD

• Fletch (Universal)
• In the Valley of Elah (Warner)
• Michael Clayton (Warner)

Izvor: EngadgetHD

Nothing new, Blu-ray is the winner again with seven new titles while HD DVD keeps to offer three new titles despite all those news about it’s discounting in very near future.

Current ratio with new titles counted in is ( * Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously available):

HD DVD 389 vs. Blu-ray 451*

Blu-ray

• Deep Purple: Live at Montreux 2006 (Eagle Rock)
• In the Valley of Elah (Warner)
• Michael Clayton (Warner)
• Night of the Werewolf/Vengeance of the Zombies (BCI)
• Run Lola Run (Sony)
• Santana: Hymns for Peace – Live at Montreux 2004 (Eagle Rock)
• Yes: Live at Montreux 2003 (Eagle Rock)

HD DVD

• American Gangster (Universal)
• Galaxina (BCI)
• The Invasion (Warner)

Source: EngadgetHD

Most 6-12-megapixel cameras capture images that contain far more pixels and detail than you need for even the most colossal HDTVs, which have 1920×1080-pixel resolutions (approximately 2 megapixels). Those images also have a different shape: Most compacts, as well as Olympus and Panasonic DSLRs, shoot photos with a 4:3 aspect ratio; other DSLRs capture 3:2 images. But HDTV screens have a 16:9 aspect ratio and display uncropped photos with wide bars on either side. So start by cropping your images to 16:9 at a resolution of approximately 2MP.

Another problem? Most HDTVs are optimized for the color and image quality of video and TV signals from HD-enabled cable or satellite boxes and DVD players. (Only the latest Blu-ray and HD-DVD players can display still images in true HD resolution.) These signals typically look better with higher color saturation, contrast, and sharpness — all of which you’ll find as HDTV default settings.

Unless you change the settings in the TV menus, print-optimized photos from a digital camera will appear too washed out or contrasty. Luckily, you only have to change the settings once and save the new ones for slide shows. Saving your images in the sRGB color space will minimize the color difference.

Only a few HDTVs have built-in card readers — and they’re slow, take only SD cards or Memory Sticks, and don’t optimize image size and color. Most cameras have video output, but it’s usually limited to VGA (640×480-pixel) resolution, which looks horrible on an HDTV.

Fortunately, several inexpensive devices, such as the Kodak EasyShare HDTV dock ($100, street) and the Sony Cyber-shot Station CSS-HD1 ($70, street), can be attached to your HDTV and enable slide shows at 720p, 1080i, or 1080p resolutions. These docks also charge compatible cameras and include remote controls, but neither provides sophisticated transitions or plays multimedia slide shows with music.

Source: popphoto.com

OK are you going to go with a Plasma TV (older technology, been around since 1964) or do you go with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) for the Flat Screen TV?

So what exactly is Digital TV and what these things called Flat Screen TVs? Here quite often we see the terms TFT, LCD and Plasma being bandied around as if they are the same yet though they may be similar technologies LCD and Plasma Screens are very different in practicality.

In a nutshell Flat Screen TV�s can either be Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) sets or can be Plasma screen but the two are different. One of the major differences between the two technologies probably lies in the fact that with LCD TV�s because the main technology used is TFT (Thin Film Transistor) by and large the screens are able to be much more energy efficient and potentially much smaller and more mobile.

So lets get down to basics and start looking at individual TV�s.

The first LCD TV that we recommend that you take a look at here is the Sony KDL-32V20000

The KDL-32V20000 is a 32in LCD TV and the prices for these are around 1300 pounds sterling or 2600 US dollars. The resolution of the screen is 1366 X 768 and with regards to being HD ready the answer is yes. The Sony has 2 (2 RGB) scarts and and the type and number of multimedia interfaces the the Sony KDL-32V20000 uses are HDMI and 1. The type of tuner for this TV is Analogue and Digital and the KDL-32V20000 is available from a wide variety of outlets.

So given this information, what would be our view of the KDL-32V20000?

Well to start with our score for the picture quality is 10 out of 10 and closely tied in to the picture quality is the sound quality and our score for this would be 10 out of 10 Connectivity is important for most of these new media TV Sets and such our score would be 8 out of 10 If we take a look at the overall “featureability” our score would be 10 out of 10 and with regards to ease of use and overall value for money our opinion and score would be 8 and 8 out of 10 respectively.

Taking verything into consideration our overall view of the package would be this TV is very bit as elegant as the rest of the TV’s from Sony and has a performance to match. The visuals are a joy to behold with good performances across the board. The audio is pretty damn good also and the speaker system give a performance that is almost unrivalled. OK the price is slightly more than contemporary units from other manufacturers but in this case we feel that this would be money well spent – always assuming that you had access to the funds in the first place.

The next LCD TV that we recommend that you take a look at here is the Samsung LE-32R87BD

The LE-32R87BD is a 32in LCD TV and currently these TV’s can be found for 700 pounds sterling or 1400 US dollars. The resolution of the screen is 1366 X 768 and with regards to being HD ready the answer is yes. The Samsung has 2 (1 RGB) scarts and and the type and number of multimedia interfaces the the Samsung LE-32R87BD uses are HDMI and 3. The type of tuner for this TV is Analogue and Digital and the LE-32R87BD is available from a wide variety of outlets.

So to take an initial view how would we rate LE-32R87BD?

The most obvious place to start with as far as TV’s are concerned would be the picture quality and our score here would be 10 out of 10 next we would look at the sound quality and our view of this would be 6 out of 10 Taking a look at the number of relevant connections and their availability, our score would be 10 out of 10 Overall with regards to the actual “featureability” of the set our score would be 10 out of 10 and the final individual verdicts would relate to the ease of use and overall value for money and our scores here would be 8 and 10 out of 10 respectively.

The overall verdict would be that this TV is great value all round. The design and performance marks it as yet another great TV from Samsung.

Remember that all the prices we use in these reviews are very much designed for illustration purposes only and in some cases you may well find the actual price cheaper but also in some cases, more expensive.