Toshiba’s new BDX2700 network-streaming Blu-ray player must have a death wish.
The consumer electronics forecast calls for a strong chance of on-demand movies, whether delivered by Internet, cable or satellite, replacing hard-disc DVD and Blu-ray players in the next decade or so. Someday, people might turn on their network-connected HDTV, call up a menu of the latest movie releases, press a button and stream “Toy Story 15” in instant high definition.
Blu-ray players like the BDX2700 already invite this type of convenience by offering on-demand movie services Netflix, Blockbuster On Demand and Vudu, the current king of streaming HD movies (more than 3,000 titles) now owned by Wal-Mart. Here’s the asterisk: A streaming Blu-ray player needs a broadband connection, either wired (Ethernet) or wireless, to tap into this virtual world of entertainment.
The BDX2700, at $250, has a built-in wireless feature. A base model, the $180 BDX2500, has wired-only Internet access. An optional wireless adapter is available for $50.
The BDX2700 isn’t 3-D — Toshiba’s first extra-dimension Blu-ray player is due later in the year — but as a complement to a 1080p HDTV, it’s a considerable step up from a DVD. (Feel-their-pain moment: This can’t be easy for Toshiba, whose HD DVD format challenged Blu-ray before ultimately folding two years ago, a costly failure.)
But now Blu-ray is the only hi-def-disc show in town. A Blu-ray movie plays at 1080p, full HD, instead of a DVD’s 480p — that’s 1,080 lines of resolution versus 480. Blu-ray’s audio capabilities are also superior, with some soundtracks now available in studio-quality Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio. If your audio-video receiver lacks HDMI connections, the high-resolution soundtracks are available through the BDX2700’s 7.1-channel analog outputs.
For those with extensive DVD collections, the BDX2700 is particularly adept at upscaling, or upconverting, the 480p discs to near-HD quality. The BDX2700 does this better than most upconverting DVD players I’ve seen except those from Oppo Digital.
Expect a network-connected player to have BD-Live (look for players with BD Profile 2.0), a gateway to supplemental Web material and extra features stored on a Blu-ray disc. This Web-content feature, whose promise remains unfulfilled by Hollywood studios, needs storage space — some players have modest built-in storage. Others, like the BDX2700, have none.
The latter must use owner-provided external storage attached to the player’s USB port or memory-card slot. But the storage slots aren’t solely for Blu-ray extras. I played “Slumdog Millionaire,” already residing on a USB jump drive.
The BDX2700’s navigation recalls the PlayStation 3’s scrolling menu in its ease. The network-connected icon isn’t exactly flush with content, but Vudu is HD gold. Vudu’s “widgets,” an amalgam of text, video and music, are also better — and faster — than any of several network-connected HDTVs I’ve tried.
The multiple-screen options range from text-heavy news from the Associated Press, CNN Daily and the New York Times to Flickr, the self-storage photo service, weather updates and, coming soon, a Princeton University podcast. I watched a session of “Bill Moyers Journal” with subpar video, a cooking session with Mark Bittman, and, via Slate, a trailer of Mel Gibson’s “What Women Want” dubbed with clips from his recent vulgar phone rant at his girlfriend (zing!) — shareable, incidentally, using the BDX2700’s virtual keyboard, on Facebook or Twitter.
The BDX2700 is no snob. It plays the highest-quality video and some of the worst You Tube-style video. I welcomed Pandora Radio, the Internet’s build-your-own-station site, by signing in to my account and playing Lionel Loueke, the African jazz guitarist, through my home theater.
Then, from low-quality Internet radio to the upper deck of Blu-ray sonic potential: ” Neil Young: Archives, Vol. 1 (1963-1972),” last year’s 10-disc epic, whose almost ridiculous resolution (24 bits/192 kHz) leaves every CD (16/44.1) in the dust.
Maybe the BDX2700 really doesn’t have a death wish. The way it straddles old and new media, maybe it’s merely in survival mode.
Product: Toshiba BDX2700 Blu-ray player
Price: $250
Hot: Network-connected player with access to streaming movies on Vudu, Netflix, Blockbuster On Demand.
Not: Without a high-speed Internet connection, streaming movies will pause or lock up.
Information: tacp.toshiba.com
Touch me where it hurts
I can only imagine the number of hypochondriacs who will be reaching out to doctors after self-diagnosing with WebMD’s newest Symptom Checker app. It’s all in the way you touch your body that leads to a flurry of possible medical conditions that could scare you more than a fear-inducing episode of “Dr. Oz.”
The product: WebMD’s free Symptom Checker iPad app
The pitch: The app takes full advantage of the touch screen by guiding you through symptoms while generating a list of ailments that could be afflicting your body as you probe along electronically.
The trial: Symptom Checker shows an image of the human body. Touch where you feel symptoms, and questions appear to help guide you to various potential medical conditions. There are hundreds of possible outcomes to feed the worry of any healthy hypochondriac.
The verdict: While it is accurate for a diagnosis I already received from my doctor, it is not a replacement for a real evaluation from a physician.
The rating:
Tech Talk:
Tech Talk
Global connectivity edges ever closer, especially now with reports of a venture capitalist’s plans to set up a thousand livery cars in New York City with wireless access. What’s next — Yellow Cabs? We can only hope. Read the Wall Street Journal story here:
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