PS3 movie lovers have been waiting a long time for Video On Demand (VOD) content to be available, and now Sony have rewarded their patience with the announcement that VOD services will be available from November this year.

Speaking at the GamesCom in Cologne, the newly appointed President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Andrew House, informed the packed conference yesterday that “PlayStation is becoming the home of entertainment from games to music channels, from creative platforms to virtual pets. The addition of the PlayStation Network video delivery service for PS3 and PSP provides a simple way for PlayStation owners to access movie content and enjoy the latest blockbuster whenever and wherever they choose.”

Although the service will only offer movies initially, it is expected to expand to include local content over time.

Sony also put the all the rumours regarding a slimmer and cheaper design to bed by making it official. Available from September at £249.50, the new 120 GB PS3 is about two-thirds the size of the original console, with a reduced power consumption of two-thirds.

For those eagerly awaiting the launch of a larger OLED TV by Sony, it seems that a level of patience will be required as this will not happen now until at least 2010.

According to a recent leak to the Wall Street Journal, Sony will instead refocus their attention to producing more LCD TVs, particularly the budget entry level market.

Sony was the first company to launch a commercial OLED TV with the $2,500(!) 11 inch XEL-1 in 2007, instigating the popularity of OLED prototypes at electronic trade shows.

The Wall Street Journal speculated that this move may give rivals Samsung and LG more time to release their own lower priced OLED HDTVs. In fact, LG have already announced that they have a 15 inch OLED TV in production which is due for release in December this year, with 32 inch OLED TVs available by 2012.

Recently, there has been increasingly growing speculation that a new streamlined and cheaper PlayStation 3 will soon be available.

Sony, who are due to make an announcement at this years Gamescom conference in Cologne tomorrow, have so far dismissed talks of a reduction in price as just rumours and speculation.

However, one wonders if the fact that retailers have been struggling to replenish their stocks of the current PlayStation 3 console is an indication that a slimline version is on its way.

Rumours are also surrounding the Xbox too, US technology sites recently revealed a shake up of the company’s pricing structure and Microsoft may lower the price of the Xbox 360 – it is thought the Elite console with 120GB hard drive will be reduced by £60 to £170.

Whether these are only rumours or true will be revealed very soon!

What are your thoughts on the current costs for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360? 

Another ‘world first’, and this time its Samsungs turn with the release of these nifty compact dual screen digital cameras.

The ST550 and ST500 digital cameras have a second 1.5 inch LCD in the front of the camera which enables you to frame yourself.  Then, using the Smart Gesture User interface with the built in orientation sensor, all you need do is simply tap the camera to get it to perform certain tasks like focusing or firing off the shutter.

There are definitely some pretty impressive features with these cameras. Like the ‘Children’ mode for example, where the front LCD plays a fun animation to capture a child’s attention whilst their photo is being taken. Smart Face Recognition technology remembers faces it sees frequently and automatically prioritises them when focusing on future shots. ‘Beauty Shot’ mode is a nice feature too where facial skin is retouched to three different user defined levels for smoother and brighter skin tones.

The LCD screens on the back of these digital cameras are huge – 3” for the ST500 and 3.5” for the ST550 in fact, almost four times the size of many other digital cameras. Both are 12.2 mega pixel cameras with a 27mm Schneider Kreuznach wide angle lens and 4.6x optical zoom, plus they record HD video in 1280×720p resolution at 30 frames per second in H.264 format giving you more room on your memory card for images and movies.

Steve Mitchelll, General Manager of the Samsung Digital Imaging Division Marketing said “these cameras are the very first of their kind”. These uber cool digital cameras will be released in the UK at the end of August 2009. 

The IFA show in Berlin next month looks set to be the stage for Panasonic to showcase their full HD 3D TV technology, due to be launched to the consumer market next year.

The IFA, one of the worlds largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade shows, has been running since 2006 and is open to both industry experts and the general public.

One of the highlights of the Panasonic stand will be their 3D Cinema Experience area which will include two cinemas fitted out with its full HD 3D home cinema system (with a great deal of polarised glasses on standby too one would imagine!), where visitors can watch 3D film trailers, as well as take part in an “unparalleled 3D experience”.

Panasonic said its IFA demo “goes well beyond today’s conventional 3D technology, with far superior Full HD picture quality and a lifelike viewing experience”.

Source: What HiFi

Ever had an occasion where something funny or moving has happened and you wish you caught it on camera? Well, wish no more as Sony have yet again have come up trumps with their forward thinking technology.

The Sony Party-shot IPT-DS1 is digital camera dock that pans 360 degrees and tilts 24 degrees, automatically adjusts composition and takes photos for you!

Sony refer to this as a “personal photographer” and its easy to see why. You can control the pan angle range, movement speed, shooting frequency and flash mode, the Intelligent Scene Recognition, Face Detection and Smile Shutter ensures your pictures are of smiley happy people.

The Party-shot digital camera dock is currently compatible with Sony’s new Cybershot cameras – the DSC-WX1 and DSC-TX1. Pricing information is not yet available for the UK, but this innovative conversational party piece is available for around $150 in the US.

Does this sound like a great idea to you? Or, do you prefer to decide for yourself the moments you wish to capture?

Toshiba announced plans to join the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and introduce products to the market that support Blu-ray, finally putting an end to the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Back in 2002, Toshiba together with Microsoft and NEC proposed a replacement for DVD for high definition movies in the form of HD DVDs. Meanwhile, Sony and a group of other companies announced their intentions to unite with a Blu-ray disc. Over several years Sony, Toshiba and other industry heavy weights went head to head against each other which unleashed increasingly heated debates on both of these formats taking place.

The battle was affectively over last year when Warner Brothers joined other major movie studios in deciding to abandon releasing films in the HD DVD format, shortly afterwards several North American rental services and retailers announced their exclusive support for Blu-ray products. The release of the Sony PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray player built in also helped considerably too.

In a statement released by Toshiba they said, “In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA."

Freeview have recently claimed that 50% of UK homes will be able to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup in high-definition on Freeview. This follows an earlier announcement by ITV that a full HD version of the channel will be available from the end of this year.

ITV has reached an agreement with the BBC to lease digital terrestrial bandwidth. The first area to receive ITV in HD will be Manchester with the services being rolled out throughout major cities after this including Bradford, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Liverpool.

Unfortunately, in order to watch ITV in HD, new set top boxes will be required with new technology standards, as well as HD LCD TV or Plasma TV – however it is anticipated that these set top boxes will be available to purchase later in the year.

The BBC will be launching their own Freeview HD service soon. This is due for launch later this year but is already currently available to Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat customers.

The Nintendo Wii game Sports Resort has so far proved to be a great success for Nintendo. The game which includes the MotionPlus peripheral has resulted in an outstanding 500,000 units sold – in only eight days!

The Will MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii control pad and allows for a more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation thus redefining game control.

Nintendo’s decision to include the MotionPlus peripheral with selected games has seemingly put them on to a winner, so much so that the Nintendo Wii release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour is considered by many to be THE definitive version of the game.

Countering the argument that the Nintendo Wii should have offered the accuracy in controls in the first place, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto says this was not possible at the Wii’s launch. Speaking to the Telegraph he said:

“It’s a continuous evolution. Not all the Wii software requires Motion Plus, so it is appropriate for us to position it as a peripheral. Also, it was not technically feasible for the technology to be realised with such a compact size. The fact we are now being able to sell Motion Plus at this price, at this size, is the result of technological advancements in the field of microelectro-mechanical systems, which took place after Wii launched. It was only after the Wii launched that technological advancements made Wii MotionPlus possible.”

  Have you tried MotionPlus? If you have, lets us know what you think of its accuracy.

Big news for photography enthusiasts, particularly those who love to show off any pictures. The Coolpix S1000pj is a worlds first by Nikon – an ultra compact digital camera with an integrated projector.

The 12.1 megapixel digital camera delivers outstanding pictures, as is standard with Nikon and its comes with a 2.7 inch LCD viewscreen, is able to capture HD video at 1280 x 720 pixels and has a 5x wide angle NIKKOR lens.

Nikon haven’t skimmed on any of features either. The Coolpix S1000pj digital camera is quite literally crammed full of nifty tools to ensure the best images can be achieved. These include five image stabilising features, 16 scene modes for optimised shooting in various settings, D-Lighting, Active Zoom, Auto Sort and Favourite Picture functions, four movie modes with sound, time zone function, Quick Retouch, Smart Portrait System with Skin Softening, 36mb of internal memory and high speed USD connectivity.

Viewing and sharing images with friends will now only require a flat surface – images up to 40 inches can be projected up 2 metres and there is even a nifty projector stand and remote control included.

This is considered by many to be a ground breaking achievement and Nikon have definitely given cause for the digital camera manufacturers to up their game!