Verzo Kinzo to make Android smartphone debut next month

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="237" mce_src="http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9060/verzokinzo.jpg" src="http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9060/verzokinzo.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="verzo-kinzo" width="277" />Verzo is the name, and I’ve never heard of it but so far I’m really liking what I’ve seen thus far. Verzo is teasing their first Android smartphone and they will be calling it the Verzo Kinzo. The name sounds more like something from a 80′s movie or some whacky codename by HTC, but it will be the name when they expect to debut the phone in late September.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We don’t really know anything about this device, and neither does the source of these images but from what we are seeing it looks nicely built and like it could be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread but it’s hard to tell at this point. While the official press release is a bit different than most we’ve seen in the past I did like this part:</div> <blockquote style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 3em; padding-top: 0px;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We are definitely not going to scare off Apple and Samsung by our entry to the market, so they would have to call board meetings and hold press conferences. On the contrary – the VERZO brand is letting you know right from the start that we are not the slimmest, fastest or the best. For now.</div> </blockquote> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> They might not be the slimmest, fastest or the best. <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">For now</span>. Obviously every company needs to build up the potential for current and future products but the way they are simply stating the plans is a nice change from what we are used to. The design is simple, clean, and elegant and from the initial press photos I can already tell you I like what I’m seeing.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-49012 aligncenter" height="270" mce_src="http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/7921/verzokinzo5.jpg" src="http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/7921/verzokinzo5.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="verzo-kinzo-5" width="154" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I say this often, but I’m not a fan of the custom UI changes most companies use. The image above shows a bit of changes to the overall look and feel of Android so that is a bummer. Hopefully Verzo has a nice and clean design we will all love, but we will have to wait and see. We should be seeing more in the coming weeks as Verzo is planning on a late September launch if things go as planned. Head over to the source for even more pictures of this interesting new Android offering. Its design looks like a mix of the Bionic, Galaxy S II and the iDevice 4 all rolled into one — just a thought.</div> </div> </div>

Verzo Kinzo to make Android smartphone debut next month

Verzo is the name, and I’ve never heard of it but so far I’m really liking what I’ve seen thus far. Verzo is teasing their first Android...

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Review: Asus M5A99X Evo

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20256/PCF256.w_rev8.asus_m5a99-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20256/PCF256.w_rev8.asus_m5a99-200-200.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Normally, in the case of a big new processor launch like AMD's forthcoming Bulldozer chips, you'd expect the motherboards that support it to play second fiddle. But Asus' M5A99X EVO is just one of many new boards that have been kitted out with a 9-series chipset without said CPU being close to sampling.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Specifically, the M5A99X makes use of an AMD 990X chipset with an SB950 southbridge. Translated, that puts it in the second tier for features: below it are AMD 970 boards, designed for value, while above it are models based on the all-powerful 990FX.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The differences between the three, though, come down to relatively minor things like the number of SATA ports, USB slots and, more significantly, how many x16 PCI Express ports there are.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The 970 has just one, while the 990X has two – although if you do plug in a second card for CrossFire or SLI graphics, both slots run at just 8x speed. In other words, if you want the best dual (or more) graphics performance, you'll want a more expensive 990FX board. If you want a cheap build, get a 970.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So does the Asus M5A99X Evo have anything else with which to overcome its middle child syndrome?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Overall performance at default settings is fairly mundane: slightly better than the 970-based Gigabyte 970A-UD3 also reviewed recently, but not enough to be strikingly significant. What you do get with the M5A99X EVO, though, is a lot of easy-to-get-at options.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Asus's Windows-based application for handling overclocking and so on – EasyTune – is still buggy and hard to uninstall, but it's much better than it used to be. Importantly, it has just one interface for everything, which helps to make sense of the extra hardware features Asus has added to the stock 990X layout.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Highly configurable</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> That includes the dual chip, and highly configurable clock controls for components other than the CPU, known as EPU and TPU. EPU underclocks parts of the board when not in use to save power, TPU gives you instant overclocking when you need it. Clicking the auto-overclock button got us a cool 27 per cent performance boost.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Asus' take on the new UEFI graphical BIOS manager is the best around by far. It not only looks better than a traditional BIOS, it's cleverly layered too.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> On the front page, there's a one-click control for overclocking or dragging and dropping boot devices into order. Behind that there's a set of basic options for top-level tweaking, and behind that you have access to everything. For a £115 board, this is an overclocker's paradise. If, that is, you're willing to make do with one GPU and take a punt on Bulldozer being any good.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Tech Labs</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Bench 1" class="aligncenter" height="361" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20256/mobo-bench1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20256/mobo-bench1-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Right now, the problem for any 9-series motherboard isn't that there's no big performance difference between any of them; it's that the only reason to upgrade from an 8-series is Bulldozer. And if that's a flop, your next build will likely be Intel anyway.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Which leaves the M5A99X EVO the dubious honour of being a good motherboard – but for reasons beyond its control you may not wish to buy it yet.</div> </div> </span></div>

Review: Asus M5A99X Evo

Normally, in the case of a big new processor launch like AMD's forthcoming Bulldozer chips, you'd expect the motherboards that ...

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Buying Guide: Top graphics cards for 3D gaming: 8 reviewed

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.msi_560gtxb-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.msi_560gtxb-200-200.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Stereoscopic 3D might seem straightforward, but you'll need a lot of boxes ticked if you want to enjoy it on your PC. As well as a 3D-capable monitor with a refresh rate of 120Hz, your computer needs a graphics card that's powerful enough to handle 3D content.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> To generate 3D images, the graphics card has to produce the graphics twice, creating a slightly different image for each eye. This extra workload can put a lot of strain on the card.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Most modern cards include 3D capabilities - especially recent Nvidia cards, which support Nvidia 3D Vision - so finding one that can display 3D content isn't a problem. The trick is finding a graphics card that can display 3D without any noticeable drop in image quality.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You don't want to spend money on a card only to find that the frame rate plummets when you turn on 3D effects, leading to choppy, stuttering movies and unplayable games.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Upgrading from two dimensions isn't the only reason to buy a new graphics card. More powerful GPUs make for better graphics all round. While modern computer games benefit most from a powerful card, other applications will also show an improvement. Video editing in particular benefits from a muscular card, because many movie-making tools now take advantage of technology like Nvidia's CUDA, which hands more processing tasks to the graphics card, freeing up the PC's processor for other tasks.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Getting the right graphics card can make a huge impact on your computer, and we'll show you some of the best.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">EVGA GTX 460 1GB - £139</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />www.evga.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti - £176</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />http://uk.msi.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Zotac GeForce GTX 570 - £260</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />www.zotac.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Zotac GeForce GTX 580 - £385</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />www.zotac.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Asus GeForce GTX 590 - £580<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />http://uk.asus.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 - £181</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />www.sapphiretech.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">HIS Radeon HD 6970 - £265</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />www.hisdigital.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Asus Radeon HD 6990 - £501</span><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />http://uk.asus.com</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">EVGA GTX 460 1GB</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="EVGA gtx 460 1gb" class="aligncenter" height="315" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Components/EVGA%20GTX%20460%20FTW/EVGA%20GTX%20460%20FTW-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Components/EVGA%20GTX%20460%20FTW/EVGA%20GTX%20460%20FTW-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Nvidia has had a long history of creating superb mid-range cards, from the 6600 GT to the incredible 8800 GT, and the GTX 460 can sit happily among such illustrious forebears. Its launch price was £200, but you can now easily pick up an overclocked 1GB version for as little as £140.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If any graphics card can be described as a hero, surely this is it. It no longer leads the market in performance, but it's not as far off the pace as you might imagine from its age. It's the oldest and slowest model in this test, but its price keeps it competitive.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> When you consider that it's nearly £50 less than the cheapest HD 6870, and with performance that is just shy of the AMD card, it's quite a bargain.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's full EVGA GTX 460 1GB review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="MSI gtx 560 ti" class="aligncenter" height="315" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.msi_560gtxb-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.msi_560gtxb-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Just as the GTX 570 was beginning to replace the GTX 480, leaving the GTX 580 on its own at the head of the single-GPU pack, the GTX 560 Ti appeared to take over from the GTX 470. That's a lot of numbers, but it does make sense - especially when you look at the performance of those GTX 460s, even in today's highly competitive market.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It would make no sense for Nvidia to kill off one of its best cards, but it's not quite as simple as just another transistor-level tweak of the GTX 470's design. The GTX 560 Ti is more of a halfway house between the GTX 470 and GTX 460; it has 64 fewer CUDA cores and eight fewer ROPs than the former.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> To make up for this shortfall in GPU spec, it comes out of the box with the fastest core clockspeed we've seen in an Nvidia GPU since the FX 5xxx series.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/msi-geforce-gtx-560-ti-962535/review" mce_href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/msi-geforce-gtx-560-ti-962535/review" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">Read TechRadar's full MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti review</a></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Zotac GeForce GTX 570</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Zotac gtx 570" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.w_group.spread5_1-zotac-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.w_group.spread5_1-zotac-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This card represents the second tier of Nvidia's Fermi lineup. It's an impressive performer, and a little cheaper than AMD's top single card, the HD 6970. It has more in common with the Nvidia GTX 480 though, with almost the same basic GPU layout.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The GTX 570 has the same 480 CUDA cores and 60 texture units, but has 40 ROPs compared to the GTX 480's 48. The 570 also has a smaller frame buffer, at 1,280MB compared to the previous generation's 1,536MB. It packs the same transistor-level re-engineering as the GTX 580, though.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As such, it's a much more efficient, cooler graphics card, and its performance metrics will be almost as good if you're running a sub-30-inch panel.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's full Zotac GeForce GTX 570 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Zotac GeForce GTX 580</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Zotac gtx 580" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.zotac_gtx580b-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.zotac_gtx580b-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Let's not beat around the bush; Nvidia's GTX 580 is the best single-GPU card on the market. It held sway over all the others across every one of the benchmarks we ran.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This is due to the GF110 GPU at its heart. Fermi has proven to be the best GPU architecture Nvidia has ever manufactured, and with this second generation (the GTX 5xx series) it's gone from strength to strength.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The first Fermi, the GTX 480, was the top card of its day, but not without issues. These were the amount of power it needed and the amount of heat it generated. For the GTX 580, Nvidia's engineers went back to the drawing board and tweaked the design right down to the transistor level, tailoring the smallest parts to give the best performance where needed, and the best efficiency where speed wasn't the goal.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's full Zotac GeForce GTX 580 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Asus GeForce GTX 590</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Asus gtx 590" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.asus_gtx590b-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.asus_gtx590b-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Nvidia has been the market leader in graphic card technology for so long, when it says it's reached the pinnacle of engineering with the fastest single-PCB (printed circuit board) graphics card it's ever made, you sit up and take notice. It's quite a boast, and it sounds amazing on paper - one board with two of the most powerful GPUs Nvidia has ever made combined on it.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, compromises have had to be made to get the chips to run happily on a single card, and to stay within the 375W limit imposed by a pair of eight-pin PCI-e connectors and the motherboard PCI-e bus. That means we don't quite have a pair of the GPUs ripped straight out of Nvidia's flagship single-GPU card, the GTX 580.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Instead of the core clock of 772MHz and a shader clock of 1,544MHz, the GTX 590 houses a pair of chips running at a seriously toned-down 607MHz core clock and 1,215MHz shader clock. The memory clock has been dropped from 2,004MHz to 1,707MHz.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's full Asus GeForce GTX 590 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Sapphire Radeon HD 6950</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Sapphire hd 6950" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.w_group.spread5_1-sapphire-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.w_group.spread5_1-sapphire-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 appears to be the finest graphics card AMD has produced in a long time. In the sub-£200 market, it's as good as you're going to get, and it's a graphics card that offers much more than any of the opposition in its price bracket. The HD 6950 comes close to the HD 6970 and the GTX 570 in its plain state.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The 2GB GDDR5 frame buffer means it can more or less keep pace with Nvidia's secondtier Fermi card, although it lags behind slightly for the most part. It does the same with the HD 6970, but that's to be expected from a card that's so much cheaper.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The sub-£200 price tag is a fantastic psychological coup, making this an affordable yet powerful option. That impressive performance is all down to the Cayman GPU. As we've already mentioned, the Cayman contains the same core as the GPU powering the more expensive HD 6970, though with a lower clockspeed and a few other components switched off at a software level. This leads to a problem...</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's full Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">HIS Radeon HD 6970</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="HIS hd 6970" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.radeon_hd6970b-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20253/PCF253.w_group.radeon_hd6970b-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> AMD's fastest single-GPU model is a tough one to recommend. It's certainly the quickest AMD has released - the big problem is the second-tier card the came out alongside it - the HD 6950.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The Cayman XT at the heart of the HD 6970 is essentially the same GPU you'll find paired in the Antilles chip of the dual-GPU HD 6990. It's clocked faster than the stock specs of the Antilles, but thanks to the Antilles Unlocking Switch (also known as the Screw Your Warranty Switch by those who choose to use it), the HD 6990 can run with its GPUs at the same speed as the HD 6970.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You can get two HD 6970s for about the same as one HD 6990. So far, so good, but what of the HD 6950 we mentioned?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's full HIS Radeon HD 6970 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Asus Radeon HD 6990</span></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="HD 6990" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Components/AMD%20Radeon%20HD%206990/AMD%20Radeon%20HD%206990%203_4-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Components/AMD%20Radeon%20HD%206990/AMD%20Radeon%20HD%206990%203_4-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> AMD pipped Nvidia to the post, releasing its dual-GPU, top-end graphics card a few weeks before the GeForce GTX 590. The HD 6990 is the fastest single-PCB graphics card the Texan brand has ever made, and houses two of the cores from its current fastest single-GPU card - the HD 6970.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The Cayman XT from that card has been doubled up and redubbed 'Antilles', and comes with slower clock, shader and memory speeds out of the box. You're not taking as much of a hit in clockspeed as with the GTX 590's GPUs, but that's because the Cayman XTs run a little slower than the GF110 GPUs in the GTX 580s in the first place.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There is a key difference here, and that comes from the little Antilles Unlocking Switch. Like the Cayman-powered cards that came before it (the HD 6950 and HD 6970), the HD 6990 comes with a dual-BIOS switch hardwired into the PCB. This comes with an attractive yellow warning sticker covering it, which warns you that as soon as you flick the switch, you effectively invalidate your warranty.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read TechRadar's Asus Radeon HD 6990 full review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">The award winners</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Most of the cards we tested here do the job well, and upgrading your PC with any of them will give a serious performance boost. However, there are a couple that you should avoid to get the best possible 3D graphics on your PC, and there are others like the Zotac GeForce GTX 580 that stand out from the crowd.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Things become a little more confusing when you consider using multiple graphics cards in SLI or CrossFire mode. This allows two or more cards to work together to boost performance. Although it might seem slightly unintuitive, it can be cheaper to buy two graphics cards to get the same performance as one expensive card.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If you're really after the best graphics and your computer can handle it, then this is the way to go.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Editor's choice</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Zotac GeForce GTX 580</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The GeForce GTX 580 is Nvidia's flagship card for a reason - its performance in our tests was extremely impressive, and it can handle the latest games and 3D content with remarkable ease. It might be a bit on the expensive side for a graphics card, but it's money well spent. If you have the budget and the space to spare on your motherboard, then a pair of GeForce GTX 580s will serve you well and effectively future-proof your PC for many years to come.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Verdict: 5/5</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Value award</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Sapphire Radeon HD 6950</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> While the GeForce GTX 580 has the best performance for a single card, the Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 easily wins the best value award. On its own it's a great performance card, but when you also take into account the overclocking potential of this graphics card, you have a fantastic product for under £200. Upgrading to 3D is expensive enough, so it's heartening to see such good value for money.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Verdict: 4.5/5</span></div> </div> </span></div>

Buying Guide: Top graphics cards for 3D gaming: 8 reviewed

Stereoscopic 3D might seem straightforward, but you'll need a lot of boxes ticked if you want to enjoy it on your PC. As well as a ...

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Interview: Twentieth Century Fox admits confusion over benefits of Blu-ray

<p><p>Blu-ray is <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/video/blu-ray/blu-ray-celebrates-its-fifth-birthday-968433">five years old</a> this week, with the first discs coming to market way back in June 2006. While the format may not yet be in the public conscience as DVD and VHS before it, there's still no better way to watch movies in the home at 1080p quality.</p><p><p>With high-def downloads still some way off hitting mass market and DVD sales on the wane, Blu-ray is a format that's here for the long run.</p><p>To celebrate the technology's birthday, TechRadar spoke to Danny Kaye, Executive VP, Global Research & Technology Strategy at Twentieth Century Fox about Blu-ray, where he reveals his favourite discs, why he thinks Blu-ray is the perfect hybrid between digital and physical media, and how the studio is trying to address customer confusion about the benefits of the format.</p><p><strong>TechRadar:</strong> <strong>How has Blu-ray changed the home entertainment market?</strong></p><p><strong>Danny Kaye:</strong> Blu-ray discs and players have provided consumers with more affordable choice and a way of future-proofing their living rooms. We talk about Blu-ray as the perfect hybrid - bridging the gap between physical and digital for consumers - the player ups the resolution of your existing DVDs, provides the best available HD through Blu-ray discs and is the best way to make TV an internet-connected device. </p><p>Blu-ray brings better quality and value for the Home Entertainment market as with Blu-ray you 'pay once, play anywhere'.</p><p><strong>TR: Is Blu-ray sales expectation where you think they should be at the moment?</strong></p><p><strong>DK:</strong> Sales are strong. Blu-ray sales are 20 per cent higher than DVD sales were four years after that format was introduced. By the end of 2011 over 159.3 million Blu-ray discs will have been sold in Western Europe with 83 million last year. </p><p>On titles launched simultaneously on DVD and Blu-ray, such as <em>Avatar</em> and the <em>A-Team</em>, we are seeing around a third of our sales on Blu-ray. </p><p><strong>TR: Blu-ray is still seen as a premium product, when will we see it become more affordable like DVDs?</strong></p><p><strong>DK: </strong>We think Blu-ray is already an affordable option and we've seen players drop to under £100 recently. The discs themselves are good value with combo/triple play packs giving people a DVD, a Blu-ray disc and the digital copy. </p><p>We know that two thirds of those buying the Blu-ray disc want the digital copy as it future proofs consumers' home movie collections. It's a versatile pricing model and, we believe, the fairest way to buy movies as you 'pay once, play anywhere'. </p><p><strong>TR: What's been your favourite Blu-ray disc?</strong></p><p><strong>DK: </strong>My personal BD choice has constantly been updated as we improve the technology. Currently I have to go with our first release of <em>Avatar</em>, which was encoded at the highest bitrate possible and was an amazingly pristine version of the movie. </p><p>The details, especially the colors, were so vibrant that for me at least the experience was better than anything I could have seen in a large movie theater, and that was an incredible experience on its own.</p><p><strong>TR: Do you think there is still some confusion over value added extras, like BD-Live?</strong></p><p><strong>DK:</strong> We do think there is confusion in the market over several things and we're working with industry bodies alongside other studios and manufacturers to help educate consumers on the benefits of Blu-ray. To help minimise consumer confusion one of the things we talk about is Blu-ray as the 'perfect hybrid' – bridging the gap between physical and digital for consumers. </p><p>It allows consumers to own a physical disc which we know there is demand for but acts as a gateway to the digital world now, with electronic copies in the box, and in the future with Ultra Violet. </p><p><strong>TR: How is the triple format (DVD, blu-ray, downloads) working for consumers, is it causing confusion?</strong></p><p><strong>DK: </strong>Although triple play is the industry term, we also like to call it 'multi-screen' as the real benefit is consumers get to pay once and play their movie anywhere – it isn't just across three screens anymore.</p><p>We know that two thirds of people buying Blu-ray discs think the digital copy in the box is important – and we think it's the fairest, most versatile way to buy movies today. </p><p><strong>TR: How do you prioritise older films coming out on Blu-ray?</strong></p><p><strong>DK: </strong>It's our close working relationship with filmmakers that determines our catalogue Blu-ray releases. The likes of Spielberg, James Cameron, Ridley Scott and George Lucas all back Blu-ray as delivering the best high definition experience of their films.</p><p><strong>TR: What's the situation with 3D Blu-ray – where in the world is leading 3D in the home? </strong></p><p><strong>DK: </strong>Significant improvements have been made in 3D technology recently, including full 1080p resolution per eye, that today allow us to fully exploit the benefits of Blu-ray's inherent data capacity. We have already started releasing Blu-ray 3D titles in store this year with more to follow. </p><p>The US and UK are the leading 3D markets, both in terms of early 3D TV sales but also in leadership for 3D broadcast channels and distribution, from Sky to DirecTv, Comcast/Xfinity, ESPN, etc. And of course 3D on Blu-ray as the best way to enjoy 3D in the home.</p></p><img border="0" height="1" src="http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9429/55899809.gif" width="1" /><div><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Interview%3A+Twentieth+Century+Fox+admits+confusion+over+benefits+of+Blu-ray&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Fnews%2Fhome-cinema%2Fvideo%2Fblu-ray%2Ftwentieth-century-fox-admits-confusion-over-benefits-of-blu-ray-969533%3Fsrc%3Drss%26attr%3Dall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8633/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Interview%3A+Twentieth+Century+Fox+admits+confusion+over+benefits+of+Blu-ray&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Fnews%2Fhome-cinema%2Fvideo%2Fblu-ray%2Ftwentieth-century-fox-admits-confusion-over-benefits-of-blu-ray-969533%3Fsrc%3Drss%26attr%3Dall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3051/bookmarkl.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/106215387984/u/49/f/9809/c/669/s/161d8547/kg/216-221/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2598/17706062.gif" /></a><img height="1" src="http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/7959/64483801.gif" width="1" /></p>

Interview: Twentieth Century Fox admits confusion over benefits of Blu-ray

Blu-ray is five years old this week, with the first discs coming to market way back in June 2006. While the format may not yet be in the pu...

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