CNet invited me to be on today's “Buzz Out Loud” show, AKA "the podcast of indeterminate length". It was lots of fun hanging out with Veronica and Tom for the brief interview. The reason for the invite was my passionate dismantling of the new Toshiba HD-A1 player. For those that want some more detail about what's under the hood of the unit, you can check out these previous posts, starting with the dissection video:
Mentioned during the interview was Samsung's new $1000 player, the BD-P1000. And here are some pictures which come from a post on AV Science Forum:
The Blu-Ray reader is mounted inside an enclosure to limit exposure to dust
The Samsung unit uses the same Broadcom video decoder chip as the Toshiba!
This $10 chip from Analog Devices takes the analog high definition signal and converts it to RGB, YPbPr, S-Video, and other formats:
Hard to read, but this is part number SiI 9030 from Silicon Image, and it provides the HDMI signal and HDCP encryption.
This chip from Genesis deinterlaces the video and converts to a beautiful and clear progressive 60fps:
In the Samsung unit the fan is for the power supply, and not for a processor per se.
Look, ma, no Ethernet! Firmware updates are probably only possible by booting with a special disc in the drive. No ability to search online for DRM certificates for content either.
