So Toshiba has a budget HD DVD player? Well Sony's latest Blu-ray player is free – for BD burner drive owners anyway

BWU-100A owners have an early Christmas present today with news that Sony's released the long-promised Blu-ray playback update.So as well as burning hi-def footage to cavernous BD discs, suitably equipped Blu-ray fans can now watch it back, or take their pick from the modest collection of 1080p movies already released.Short of hanging on for a PS3, it's the cheapest Blu-ray spinning solution available and should make a nice addition to our Media Center PC. Just don't forget to add the extra cost of a compatible graphics card and monitor. Ouch.EssentialsBWU-100APrice: £600 (update availabl…

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Microsoft joins the HD-DVD fray with a bargain Xbox add-on that'll blow your tiny mind…

OK, so Santa brought you a spanking new HD-TV for your Christmas. Lord knows how he got it down the chimney, but the scarlet-clad fat fool forgot to leave the requiste kit to show off your new telly to its full advantage. You're going to be £500 lighter if you invest in a stand-alone HD-DVD or Blu-ray player - so enter Microsoft's new HD-DVD unit.After a touted November release, Microsoft's HD-DVD drive has finally hit the shelves. It plugs neatly into your 360, looks like a strange little dwarf brother of your big-boy console, and ships with an HD-DVD of King Kong to show off its hi-def …

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Add Blu-ray to your PC for a mere £125 – just don't forget the graphics card

Seems the PS3 is not the only route to cheap hi-def thrills. Phillips partner, Lite-On, is getting ready to debut a cut-price Blu-ray drive for PC movie watchers for a mere £125.Natch it won't burn BD discs but it will spin them and, provided you have a HDCP compatible graphics card such as the bargain basement ATI Radeon HD 2400, you can watch Blu-ray movies to your heart’s content on your monitor or an attached HD-ready TV.Incidentally, it turns out that the Xbox 360's external HD DVD drive is compatible with Windows XP should you want to watch a spot of Transformers with your Spi…

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It really doesn't take a keen eye for news these days to spot the all-out PR blitz by team Blu-ray to convince the masses that the format war is over and Blu-ray has won. Now Toshiba is finally sticking up for itself, in specific response to Blu-ray's recent CeBIT press conference. Olivier Van Wynendaele, Deputy General manager of HD DVD at Toshiba, calls the Blu-ray claims “propaganda” and disputes the Blu-ray points. For instance, the new 3:1 sales figure being touted by the Blu-ray Disc Association in regards to Blu-ray to HD DVD sales is claimed by Wynendaele to be artificially inflated by…

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Security tried to keep them apart, but the two next-gen formats are having a showdown in What Hi Fi?'s demo room. To stoke things up further, LG has also unveiled its BD100 Blu-ray player

Despite cries of ‘leave it, mate’ and some frantic calming tactics from the staff, Blu-rRay and HD-DVD clashed in What Hi-Fi?'s demo room today, just one floor below the Best of Stuff show in Novotel London West, Hammersmith. Fighting in the Blu corner was Samsung's £1000 BD-P1000 player (available now), which took on Toshiba's US version of the £400 HD-E1 (out later this month). To ensure that the half-hourly demo was of epic proportions, the What Hi Fi? staff rigged-up the players to an absurdly high-end system, which included a huge Screen Research screen, three s…

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Major HD DVD price cuts in the US? We'll have some too, please!

It’s a long and bloody fight between HD DVD and Blu-ray. The latest fist-in-the-gut to Blu-ray’s high-definition supremacy is an HD DVD player for under $200 (£100).US retailers are apparently prepping a price slash for Toshiba’s latest HD DVD player, the HD-A2. Led by retail super-giant Wal-Mart, the sale isn’t official yet but some US gadget-junkies have already spotted the price drop.So what about the UK? Will we finally get to watch the hyped glory of HD DVD without emptying our bank accounts? That depends on Toshiba and Blighty's beloved high street retailers….

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DVDs are for the kids – now that Panasonic's come up with a Blu-ray spinning head unit

We're done with DVDs – even in the car. Frankly, if it isn't 1080p we won't touch it, so bravo to Panasonic. It's decided to bring Blu-ray (BD) to the humble head unit.Not like Panasonic’s current Blu-ray players (pictured), the car versions will be smaller and fit snugly away – we hope. Last thing you want is a hulking great disc spinner under your feet.We know what you’re thinking though: watching hi-def on the 7in screen, how crappy will that be? But think about it. Having shelled out £30 plus for your copy of Spiderman 3, do you really want to get hit again for…

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No surprises here, but Philips is finally getting official on their BDP9000 Blu-ray player, along with that SPD7000 TripleWriter Blu-ray burner and their 25GB Blu-ray media. We saw the Philips player back at CES, but haven't heard much since. Available in the third quarter of 2006, the unit has a suggested retail price of $999, and, well, it plays Blu-ray discs. The burner is slater for Q3 as well, and we had heard of an August launch previously, so we're guessing we'll see both of these devices around then. Philips is prepping Blu-ray media as well, and they're planning on releasing their 25G…

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Before Panasonic unveiled its new Blu-ray player at the IFA trade show in Berlin, we had a sneak preview at Abbey Road studios. Here's what we thought

With crocodile hunter Steve Irwin’s sad demise at the tail of a stingray, Blu-ray might find itself unfairly shunned.Us Stuffers know, however, that the two are very different beasts and the only sting in the tail of Blu-ray is the uncertainty over its triumph in the hi-def disc battle.Stepping in to help fight Blu-ray’s corner is Panasonic’s DMP-BD10 player, which is able to process 15 billion pixels per second with its P4HD tech, giving smooth motion and sharp lines.We had an extra special gander at the player recently and it seemed to provide the most impressive results on…

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Transformers is kicking penguin butt in the US HD DVD charts

Attention Autobots!  Transformers the movie has just secured the top spot as biggest selling HD DVD of all time (of the last year or so, then). Stuff's resident petrol head, Andy Madden, will be pleased.Replacing, er, Happy Feet, the HD DVD exclusive – sorry Blu-ray fans – shifted a 190,000 copies in its first week to become the fastest selling title title in the US.Pre-orders are stacking up here for the UK release on 3rd December. According to Amazon.com, it's already outsold the Spartan-frenzy 300, released earlier this month, and is narrowly outstripping pre-orders for Bou…

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