Kaleidescape BD Server Begins Shipping

Movie server company Kaleidescape has begun shipping the industry’s first Blu-ray Disc movie server, which can rip and stream high-def copies of discs throughout the home when paired with Kaleidescape’s M500 or M300 players.

Priced at just less than $1,500, the server must be connected to a player and the discs must remain in the server.

The server displays high-resolution cover art along with a brief synopsis of a film, as well as other movie details.

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TV Bargains Come Early This Year

Retailers and manufacturers are slashing flat-screen television prices more aggressively than usual this holiday season in hopes of avoiding a pileup of inventory. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Amazon.com Inc. are touting deals ahead of Black Friday to clear out older and cheaper sets before an anticipated flood of deeper price cuts in coming weeks.

The frenzy is being fueled by such top makers as Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., which are reducing suggested retail prices and sweetening their promotions with such extras as free Blu-ray movie players and 3-D glasses after initially overestimating the American consumer's appetite for pricey features.

Cutthroat television discounting has been a holiday rite in recent years as major retailers wrestle for a larger share of a big-ticket sales category. But analysts say this season could be different because more than half of all households in the country have at least one flat-screen TV, and newer gadgets such as Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer are enticing consumers.

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