HDTV Information

If there was any doubt that cable operators were to blame for the crappy set-top boxes most people use — and not Motorola or Cisco — then this VIP2060 puts it to rest. This DVR will likely never see the US shores with its four tuners and 500GB hard drive because that would be just too awesome. Add in the box’s ability to tune IPTV, satellite and over the air signals and it really makes it a dream box that we’ll never get. Of course all these specs don’t shed any light on quality of the software and since the box is unobtainable, we’re going to just believe that the software is dreaded, because that is what its going to take to get us through this post.

Motorola’s 4 tuner DVR for Japan originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 31 May 2010 22:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh

Not a bad week considering the time of year. We have a pretty nice day and date that even the Netflix and Redbox customers will get to enjoy — but not 3D fans. And we have a fantastic documentary from the BBC, although we were really annoyed to see that Netflix is currently only offering the crappy version for rent. Then best of all — well maybe — we have a number of great Clint Eastwood titles like Heartbreak Ridge, Absolute Power and The Rookie. Well the last one isn’t that great.

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney)
Life – David Attenborough (BBC)
Life – Oprah Winfrey (BBC)
Absolute Power (Warner)
Heartbreak Ridge (Warner)
The Rookie – 1990 (Warner)
Bad Boys (Sony)
Wild Things: Foursome (Sony)
Undisputed III: Redemption (New Line)
War of the Worlds (DreamWorks)
Class of Nuke ‘Em High (Troma)
Tromeo and Juliet (Troma)
Someone’s Knocking at the Door (Vicious Circle)

Blu-ray releases on June 1st 2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 31 May 2010 20:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh

Good news / bad news, folks. First with the smiles: PlayStation 3‘s first 3D-enabling updates are due out on June 10th for downloadable titles Super Stardust HD, WipEout HD, and Pain. The first two games get the added dimension for gratis, but Pain lovers (who should be accustomed by now to its abundant premium add-ons) will need to fork over ¥300 (approximately $3.28) for the benefit. The other stickler is that these updates are so far only announced for Japan — and by merit of a Bravia promotion, Europe as well. So what’s a North American gamer with a penchant for wearing special glasses to do? Keep waiting, true believers.

PlayStation 3′s first 3D title updates coming June 10th to Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 18:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ross Miller

We’re sure you get HD from a number of different places, but until the software engineers that make Engadget work add the ability to create polls that allow you to vote for more than one answer we’re going to have to stick with these types of questions. That’s ok though because everyone has one favorite source of HD content and we want to know what it is. If you do have two, you’re just going to have to decide on a favorite. With all the talk of cord cutting the results of this one could prove to be interesting.

Poll: What’s your primary source of HD? originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 31 May 2010 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh

The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been tracking the satisfaction of pay TV customers since 2001, and in that time the results have never been as high as they were in the first quarter of 2010 — thanks to the new players. Verizon’s FiOS service lead the charge with a score of 73 out of a 100 with U-Verse close behind at 72. Dish Network was right in line behind those two with 71, while DirecTV moved in the opposite direction, as the rest of the industry, dropping three points to 68 — which is stil above the overall overage of 66 for the entire pay TV business. Not a big surprise that Charter, Comcast and Time Warner brought down the average by brining up the rear scoring 60, 61 and 61. Although this is a trend headed in the right direction it is hardly stellar as the average for other sectors like wireless, utilities, health care and even motion pictures is considerably higher.

Survey says pay TV customer service is at new heights originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 31 May 2010 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh

I’ve got my feet up, sitting under the shade of a big tree, sipping on something cold. I’ll be back at the HDTV Almanac tomorrow, but for today, I’m taking some time off. I hope that you get to do the same.

Alfred

Original post by Alfred

After seven years of development, the Xbox Media Center team says they’ll no longer support the console that gave the project its name. We can’t blame ‘em: the writing’s been on the wall for years now, and 733MHz will only carry you so far. If you can’t live without your chunky horizontal monolith, don’t despair — you’ll still find lingering threads of code being woven at our more coverage link, and you can always lend a hand yourself if updates aren’t as quick as you’d like. Don’t let that keep you from pouring out your sorrows in comments, though. We’re sure Boxee, Media Portal and Plex already have a tear in their eye.

[Thanks, bgjz]

XBMC bids farewell to its progenitor: the original Xbox originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 03:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sean Hollister

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

In a world of connected screens it’s sometimes hard to classify what’s what. I mean, what’s a PC? We call smartphones “phones,” but the reality is they’re tiny PCs that go in our pocket. Similarly, the TV has undergone an evolution as well, and now Google is attempting to bring the PC and TV even closer together with the introduction of Google TV. What is it? Well there are three core elements: Android 2.2, the Chrome browser and the Android app marketplace. It’s ambitious, but I’m skeptical. I feel like I’ve heard a lot of this before — and in fact, I have. By no small coincidence, Android is headed by Andy Rubin, the man who was in charge of a product called WebTV before it was sold to Microsoft. And just as with WebTV, there’s a lot of potential in the ideas behind GoogleTV, but I’m not sure Google has nailed it.

Continue reading Entelligence: Hello WebTV part II

Entelligence: Hello WebTV part II originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 May 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Michael Gartenberg

Fox’s flat denial appeared to squelch the possibility of a 2010 release of Avatar on Blu-ray 3D disc, but HollywoodinHiDef is suggesting Panasonic has secured an exclusive and will pack it in with HDTVs and Blu-ray players in November. Of course, that matches the original information mentioned to the Wall Street Journal by James Cameron, plus Panasonic has participated heavily in the movie’s promotion and would love a little return on its investment sooner rather than later. Still, this remains firmly in rumor territory so we’ll bring the question to you, will we be able to watch Avatar in 3D, at home, in 2010?

View Poll

Poll: Do you think Avatar will ship on Blu-ray 3D this year? originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 29 May 2010 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

It is a road to nowhere in this post-apocalyptic tale on Blu-ray where the most important part of life for a father and son is just surviving.

Original post by Richard Lawler

Just in case you can no longer stand your Wii hogging a component (or God forbid, composite) input, Wii2HDMI has come to the rescue as an easy plugin that gives you a digital connection. Of course, that’s really all it does — there won’t be any 720p Wii gaming courtesy of this add-on, just the same old 480p you’re used to. We’re sure there’s a setup or two that might benefit from something like this, but everyone else can just keep moving ’till the Wii HD — or maybe Wii 3D — arrives.

Wii2HDMI does what its name indicates — no more, no less originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 28 May 2010 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Recently we’ve gone decidedly high end with our queries, but now we’ve got a question that returns to the opposite end of the home theater spectrum. Our friend Jason wants to upgrade to surround sound without spending too much cash, so think about passable HTIB (home theater in a box) systems while you read his question:

“I’m looking to add a surround sound system to my living room. It’s a pretty small room, so I don’t need anything too powerful. I’ve already got an upscaling DVD player, and plan to add a PlayStation 3 later this year so I also don’t need one with a DVD/BD player included. I wish I could say money was no object, but this is going to be my Birthday Present from my fiancé and since I’ll be purchasing the PS3 soon I need to keep it in the low to mid range. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.”

He asked for solutions under $500, so feel free to suggest any HTIB that might fit — Sony’s 3D ready, LG kicks in VUDU and Harman Kardon has refreshed hardware just to mention a few — or would you try to talk him into a higher end / custom system? The power is in your hands, use it wisely.

Got a burning question that you’d love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google’s blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space — your inquiry could be next.

Ask Engadget HD: Best HTIB for under $500? originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 28 May 2010 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

If you thought that Apple’s foray into the world of home entertainment died with the last iteration of the Apple TV, you’re quite wrong. A tip we’ve received — which has been confirmed by a source very close to Apple — details the outlook for the next version of the Apple TV, and it’s a doozy. According to our sources, this project has been in the works long before Google announced its TV solution, and it ties much more closely into Apple’s mobile offerings. The new architecture of the device will be based directly on the iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage — 16GB to be exact — though it will be capable of full 1080p HD (!). The device is said to be quite small with a scarce amount of ports (only the power socket and video out), and has been described to some as “an iPhone without a screen.” Are you ready for the real shocker? According to our sources, the price-point for the device will be $99. One more time — a hundred bucks.

Not only will this be priced to sell (like hotcakes), it seems that Apple is moving away from the model of local storage, and will be focusing the new ATV on cloud-based storage (not unlike Amazon’s streaming scheme, though we’re talking instant-on 1080p, a la Microsoft). For those still interested in keeping their content close, there will be an option to utilize a Time Capsule as an external storage component, but the main course will be all about streaming. The new ATV will do away with its current OS X-lite variation as a operating system, and will instead adopt the iPhone OS for the underlying experience. There’s no word at this point on whether apps and the App Store will be coming along for the ride, but it makes sense given the shared platform. Of course, scaling iPhone apps to that 52-inch plasma in your living room isn’t exactly a no-brainer. Perhaps not surprisingly, Apple won’t deliver the ATV news at the upcoming WWDC — that event will be focused on the capabilities of the new iPhone — but development on the product is most definitely full steam ahead. Is your TV screen the next battleground in the platform wars? Survey says: hell yes.

The next Apple TV revealed: cloud storage and iPhone OS on tap… and a $99 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Übergizmo: One of the many benefits of OLED displays are that they can be flexible. Now Sony has announced an ultra thin flexible OLED display, and we’re talking 80µm-thick, which is less than…



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Original post by Ine

 
Übergizmo: Bose systems are rarely cheap, let alone affordable to the average Joe, but that doesn’t mean the company cannot turn a profit as it has been in business all these years as the…



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Original post by Ine

Gizmag: iLuv, one of a number of manufacturers of Apple accessories, has added three small and portable speaker options that provide high quality sound while eliminating cable clutter. The three…



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Original post by Ine

T3: If God is a DJ…. he’d probably use these uber-pricey decks. Since their arrival a decade and a half ago, Pioneer’s CDJs have become ubiquitous in the DJing market, and are incumbent…



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Original post by Ine

GPS Business News: Nokia and CE4A (Consumer Electronics for Automotive) working group have released the Terminal Mode technology specification as a proposed industry standard for the integration of…



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Original post by Ine

It’s getaway day here in Seattle for me, but as always, it has been a packed week at the Society for Information Display (SID) annual conference. There were no earth-shaking developments for the HDTV market revealed here, but I want to recap the overall themes based on what I saw and heard here.

First, 3DTV is real and it’s here to stay. I didn’t see anything that changed my view that active glasses will be the only commercial solution for the living room. Passive glasses add too much cost to the TV set, and auto-stereoscopic just can’t work for multiple viewers in a living room setting. It’s great for single user situations – 3M’s clever portable 3D screen proves that — but until you have many more images than just the two used in stereoscopic 3DTV, the limited “sweet spots” are just too restrictive. (Now, when you get to the 200-camera system that has been demonstrated in Japan, that’s a different story.)

Next, the debate over “native 3D” versus “synthesized” content developed from 2D originals won’t end soon. Yes, the best content is made in 3D from the start when it is initially captured. (Note that some of the worst content is also native 3D, as content producers are still struggling to learn the basics about stereoscopic imagery.) And yes, you can get a good result (though some would not call it more than “acceptable”) if you carefully convert 2D to 3D using human graphic artists to make painstaking decisions about the details in each frame. This gets expensive, however, because it is similar to hand-drawn animation in terms of effort. And yes, the real-time conversion of 2D source content into 3D in a $2,000 home television set is not going to be as good as the best examples of the native or hand-c0nverted content. The key question is whether it’s “good enough”. I think it is for most viewers, and if I were buying a 3DTV today (which I’m not, by the way) I would definitely get one that could do the realtime conversion. I’d rather have the feature and decide to not use it than not have the feature and wish I did.

Finally, LED backlights will take over from fluorescent backlights for LCD HDTVs. They are friendlier to the environment in terms of manufacturing, energy consumption while in use, and ultimate disposal as waste or recycling material. They have better color. And they make it possible to create thinner displays that people appear to prefer. The increasing demand for LEDs for all sorts of applications, including HDTVs, is resulting in rapid growth of production capacity, which in turn should drive down costs. Between that and the fierce competition among manufacturers, I expect to see the price differential between LED and fluorescent models to continue to shrink.

So I don’t think we’re going to be buying holographic 3D HDTVs or quad-1080p super high definition sets next year. The story is that we can expect steady improvement in the technology (and perhaps a sprinkling of both useful and wacky features as manufacturers struggle to differentiate their products) along with some continued price erosion so by the holiday season, a big flat panel HDTV will be more affordable than ever.

And that’s enough good news to satisfy me.

Original post by Alfred

The new "SATC" movie scores too high on the histrionic scale, but it brings bigger laughs than the previous go-round.

Original post by Richard Lawler

At Engadget HQ, we take great care not to trumpet the claims of a web survey, as it’s always difficult to tell who’s actually doing the surveying — and even if we could, consumer surveys are all about a “what if” that may never actually come to pass. That said, it looks like maybe ABC is conducting a study asking folks whether they’d be interested in a subscription to an ABC.com streaming video service, and maybe that service might have a wide variety ABC shows, past and present, fully on-demand. Sound familiar? Interestingly, the subscription would seem to be offered alongside the existing free service, and both paid and free would have advertising, though reduced by 20 percent for those coughing up the fee. You can find a list of potentially potential shows included in the gallery below, forwarded to us by an anonymous tipster; we tried to take the survey ourselves, but were promptly rejected for our love of FlashForward.

ABC’s subscription video plans leaked in consumer survey? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 20:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sean Hollister

Enjoy copying DVDs onto $5,000 boutique home servers? If you’ve got the dough, ReQuest has got you covered — CEO Peter Cholnoky says that even if California courts make the practice illegal, his firm isn’t afraid to push back. When CE Pro asked whether he was concerned about the fallout from the Kaleidescape lawsuit, he said, “Nope, should I be?” adding that ReQuest could convert existing equipment to use third-party DVD-copying software “in two seconds” should the courts try to shut him down. Given that the company’s new $1,200 MediaPlayer (above) doesn’t have the requisite DVD drive for ripping discs anyhow, that sounds an awful lot like braggadocio, but we have to say we love Peter’s stick-it-to-the-man tone. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that MediaPlayer is slated to ship in June; you’ll find a full spec sheet at our source link.

ReQuest threatens to enable DVD piracy on its media streamers, announces one sans DVD originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 19:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sean Hollister

It looks like those private beta rumors earlier this month were legit, seeing how Sling Media is now officially showing off its latest SlingPlayer Mobile incarnation on HTC’s lovely EVO 4G for Sprint. The company is boasting that the app has the fastest load time of any version of SlingPlayer Mobile to date — and we can’t imagine that WiMAX hurts, either — so this should be the perfect accessory to your EVO 4G purchase when the phone launches early next month. It’s not clear yet what other Android devices will be compatible with the software, but we imagine Sling will be saying more soon, so stay tuned.

Continue reading SlingPlayer Mobile for Android teased on an EVO 4G

SlingPlayer Mobile for Android teased on an EVO 4G originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Roku originally told us its new Netflix channel would roll out in June, but it looks like things are actually happening a little early — the updated interface will go live starting tomorrow, and it’ll be rolling out to everyone over the next week. As promised, the new interface lets you search the entire Netflix Watch Instantly library directly from your TV, and you’ll be able to browse through Netflix categories like New Releases, Action, and Comedy as well, which definitely makes the casual turn-on-and-watch experience far easier and nicer. We do wish there was a filter for HD content, though, and we noticed some lag as titles and artwork loaded in when we clicked around a little too fast, but there weren’t any major hassles apart from the general annoyance of trying to type on an on-screen keyboard with a remote control. A little Bluetooth integration in the next revision would be nice — or hey, why not a smartphone app? Overall, though, the new channel is a nice solid update for Roku owners, and we certainly can’t argue with free.

Roku Player’s new Netflix channel rolls out tomorrow, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Golly. We never thought to invest in a 20-inch all-in-one PC just to watch converted versions of Free Willy in 3D, but darn if we’re not reconsidering now. NEC has today revealed its Valuestar N range, with the VN790/BS being the standout in the range. The machine offers up a native 1,600 x 900 resolution panel, integrated Blu-ray drive, 4GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, WiFi, six USB 2.0 sockets, an undisclosed Intel Core 2010 CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), and of course, native 3D support. You’ll need to spring for an optional (but not really) pair of glasses to fully enjoy the third dimension sans intense headache-inducing blur, but given that they aren’t of the active variety, any ole set will probably get you through. Pricing looks locked at ¥220,000 ($2,422) for a June debut in Japan, with approximately none of that actually going to save the whales. A crying shame, we say.

NEC’s 3D Valuestar N all-in-one PC: orcas all up in your retinas originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

We’ve been following WHDI’s story for quite awhile now, and Brite-View looks like it will be one of the first to bring the wireless HD technology to laptops with its HDelight. The setup is pretty self explanatory — you’ve got a larger-than-we’d-like box that hooks up to your laptop via HDMI and then a even larger box that attaches to a monitor or HDTV. The Brite-View guys had a demo running at the Netbook Summit, and we found ourselves quite impressed — thanks to the second-generation 5GHz WHDI chip, there’s no noticeable latency when streaming 1080p video from the laptop to the larger display. According to Brite-View, the delightful product (sorry, we had to) will ship this summer for some amount under $150. Not a bad deal, but even if the quality is better than Intel’s WiDi, you really can’t beat the convenience of having the technology built-in to your laptop — though, WHDI’s CEO promises a similar solution by the end of the year. Jump on past the break for a quick video of the HDelight in action (and the full presser, too).

Continue reading Brite-View HDelight brings WHDI to laptops and netbooks

Brite-View HDelight brings WHDI to laptops and netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Joanna Stern

The concept of overscan seems particularly difficult for geeks to comprehend — normal people usually don’t care to even understand it — and some even get down right confrontational when they first learn that all TVs do it. But the fact is that even the latest LCDs and plasmas don’t show all 2 million pixels of a 1080p signal out of the box. Instead about 3 percent of ‘em are cropped off the edges (as illustrated by the red line in the image above) and the remaining pixels are scaled to fill in all the pixels of your HDTV. The real kick in the head is that the reason isn’t a good one, especially when you consider the advanced technology that’s available today. So in this HD 101 we’re going to cover what overscan is, why it’s there, and finally how to “fix” it.

Other HD 101 goodness:
What is ATSC, PSIP, QAM, and 8-VSB?
How to use Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD with your PS3
Why there are black bars on HDTVs

Continue reading HD 101: Overscan and why all TVs do it

HD 101: Overscan and why all TVs do it originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 27 May 2010 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh

An innocent bystander is struck by a stray bullet. Along with a group of misfits, he attempts to take revenge on the manufacturer of the bullet in this so-so slapstick-y French comedy.

Original post by Richard Lawler

Can’t handle the tooth? We don’t blame you. Still, this Blu-ray transfer sparkles like a freshly polished pair of choppers.

Original post by Richard Lawler

It’s ancient Egypt, and the Christians and pagans are at each other’s throats. Some things never change.

Original post by Richard Lawler

A movie producer of artsy film is fast heading towards bankruptcy. I know I should have cared about the poor fellow, but I was more concerned about which candy bar to eat during the show.

Original post by Richard Lawler

You know, HTPCs never did anything to deserve the worldwide shunning that they’re dealing with right about now, and Mvix apparently couldn’t care less about the overall lack of interest in buying a PC that’s chained down to the den. Rather shockingly (given the company’s past endeavors), the HDHome S2 and S4 are the latest to emerge on the living room scene, but unlike most other pre-built HTPCs, this one has an atypically weak processor and an unusually large amount of storage capacity. Both boxes get powered by a dual-core Atom 330 CPU, yet you’ll also find a Blu-ray player, HDMI output, Bluetooth 2.0, a half dozen USB 2.0 sockets, WiFi, an embedded TV tuner and your choice of NVIDIA’s Ion or ATI’s Radeon 3200 HD on the graphics front. The main differentiating factor is the amount of hot-swappable drive bays; the S2 moseys along with just a pair, while the S4 can handle four drives at a moment’s notice. Frankly, this thing looks more at home in a closet or server room than beside your HDTV, but either way, they’re both available to customize starting at $999 and $1,599, respectively.

Continue reading Mvix intros HDHome S2 and S4 media servers: HTPCs, with a capacious twist

Mvix intros HDHome S2 and S4 media servers: HTPCs, with a capacious twist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

At the IMS Market Focus Conference at SID 2010, yesterday was devoted to all aspects of the 3DTV market. During the session on the 3DTV Market Outlook, one of the speakers was Jim Sanduski, Senior Vice President for Sales with Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. He made a number of interesting comments during his presentation, such as the fact that Panasonic does not feel that the current real-time 2D-to-3D conversion technology produces adequate quality, which is why the company does not include the feature in its models.

But another comment might be of more interest to the average consumer. He showed a picture of the kiosk that Panasonic has developed for retail display. The kiosk clearly was more expensive to develop and roll out than just simply putting a display on a retail shelf, but he pointed out that the in-store experience for the customer must be top quality. It appears that Panasonic is concerned that shoppers might not understand the 3DTV and could come away thinking that it doesn’t work well.

The comment that is most noteworthy, however, is that because Panasonic wants shoppers to have a good experience with the 3DTV, the company will not authorize the sale of their 3D-capable models over the Internet. Now, this certainly makes sense from the viewpoint of wanting to control the shopper’s experience, but I suspect that there’s more to that. To make room for a kiosk that looks like a smaller version of the starship Enterprise’s bridge deck, a retailer will be giving up a lot of space for just a single HDTV. It’s clear that Panasonic wants to protect its brick-and-mortar retail partners by prohibiting online sale of these models.

If the past provides any hint of the future, however, this is a genie that will be difficult to keep in its bottle. Not authorizing their sale is no guarantee that some units won’t leak out the supply channel, however. Once the unauthorized online retail sales start, you can be sure that Panasonic’s authorized online retailers will be clamoring for permission to compete. We’ll see how long the Web sale prohibition lasts.

Original post by Alfred

Fox Mobile launches Bitbop beta, a Hulu for your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 21:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sean Hollister

We thought it was pretty cheesy when cable operators broadcast The Masters in frame compatible side by side 3D without updating the set-top boxes, which forced users to manually select the format with their 3DTV’s remote, but this is much worse. Today DirecTV started rolling out an update so its H21 and HR21 (and higher) receivers were 3D aware, but left the first generation H.264 HD receivers out. So instead of forcing customers to manually select side by side 3D, they have to upgrade their receiver. We’re sure there are other benefits to the upgrade, like a 3D guide or something, and other features the latest hardware offers, but still. The other item of concern is that the set-top does check to make sure your 3DTV is up to the challenge and we’ve posted the compatible 3DTVs below. Just about every 3D set available today is on the list and even the older Mitsubishi DLPs will work if you have the checkerboard converter.

• Panasonic – TC-P50VT25, TC-P54VT25, TC-P58VT25, TC-P65VT25
• Samsung – LN55C750R2F, LN46C750R2F, UN55C9000ZF, UN46C9000ZF, UN55C8000XF, UN46C8000XF, UN55C7000WF, UN46C7000WF, UN40C7000WF, PN50C7000YF, PN58C7000YF, PN63C7000YF, PN50C8000YF, PN58C8000YF, PN63C8000YF
• Mitsubishi – WD-60737 with Dongle 3DC-100

DirecTV rolls out 3D upgrade for newer set-tops, older ones left in the cold originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 26 May 2010 17:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Ben Drawbaugh

For those wondering why ESPN is so eagerly launching a dedicated 3D channel, VP Sean Bratches was on stage at a 3DTV conference in NYC comparing it favorably to the launch of ESPN HD. The HD launch was mostly concentrated on smaller cable providers, while ESPN 3D is kicking off with DirecTV and Comcast, while the network sees 3DTV penetration surpassing DVRs by 2019. Also, there may be a few more 3D produced events than the 85 originally promised for the first year, with a schedule of up to 100 events now. Multichannel News has the rest of the details from the conversation, but we’re pretty sure you can tell how serious ESPN is about 3D with one glance at Mr. Bratches’ incredible eyebrows.

ESPN sees 3D penetration surpassing DVRs by 2019 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 26 May 2010 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

The latest addition to the Squeezebox line provide a modern update to the classic Squeezebox, with a slicker, more friendly user interface, the same great sound quality and, of course, touchability.

Original post by Richard Lawler

Panasonic’s latest entry in the budget Blu-ray home theater in a box category packs a punch for remarkably little coin.

Original post by Richard Lawler

This mildly diverting video game adaptation strives to be nothing more than exactly that. It’s both comforting in its predictability and depressing in its lack of ambition.

Original post by Richard Lawler

If you’ve seen the most recent Engadget Show, then you know that Kevin Lynch is one interesting dude. In fact, we had such a lengthy conversation with him that we couldn’t fit the whole thing into our allotted time! Still, we thought what he had to say was pretty darn interesting, so we wanted to share the entire clip here. If you’ve got about 37 minutes and a hankering for Flash talk… today is your lucky day.

Continue reading Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch: the full interview

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch: the full interview originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 11:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Chad Mumm

OLEDs make my heart sing. They are everything that a display should be: thin, light, great color, emissive, energy efficient, no viewing angle problems. Other people seem to agree; according to some sources, 45 million OLED displays will be sold this year for mobile applications such as cell phones and personal media players. And if you have been monitoring my InBox, you’d know that lots of people who read the HDTV Almanac are anxious to buy a large format OLED HDTV.

So it was with great anticipation that we went to the SID 2010 keynote address yesterday by Dr. Sang Soo Kim, Executive VP with Samsung Mobile Displays. This is the company that is now responsible for the research and production of Samsung’s OLED displays. The talk generated a lot of advance buzz, as it was rumored that Samsung would make a major announcement about OLED, perhaps building on the news that it was building a Gen 5.5 production line for OLED.

The biggest news coming out of the presentation, however, was that Kim predicts that OLED display shipments could reach 1 billion units by 2015. Given the increased production capacity, that seems possible though quite optimistic. The only other news was that Samsung was developing plans for a Gen 8 OLED line, though no dates were given.

The problem with Samsung’s announcements is that it did not adequately address the backplane problem. At this point, standard amorphous silicon works fine for LCDs, but does not work for OLED. OLED requires a poly-silicon backplane, which is created by heating the amorphous silicon layer with lasers so that it crystalizes. It is an expensive and slow step, and currently does not work for substrates larger than Gen 4.5. That’s fine when you’re making 3″ displays for cell phones, but expensive for an HDTV size panel. Samsung’s approach for Gen 5.5 and Gen 8 is to use the same slow, size-limited laser process to anneal the silicon in Gen 4.5 size segments. This means that the process will take about as long as if you were producing the panels on a Gen 4.5 line, so there is little efficiency gain. So it’s not going to have much impact on the costs. So the sets aren’t be even close to LCD prices.

So as much as I’d love to tell you that you’re going to have some wonderful choices for OLED HDTVs next year, I don’t believe it will happen. DisplaySearch doesn’t expect OLED TV revenues worldwide to reach a few hundred million dollars until 2013, so I’m not the only one who is thinking this way.

And after looking at displays here like the beautiful 2.6 mm thick (that’s one tenth of an inch, folks!) 42″ HDTV from LG, I wonder if we really need OLED HDTVs at all.

Original post by Alfred

It’s seriously not even close, is it? Crystal just wiped the floor with Lee, didn’t she? All of Lee’s shortcomings were on display tonight, while all of Crystal’s strengths came through. She played it ten times better than he did, and I almost had to feel sorry for him.

“Everybody Hurts” and “Beautiful Day,” really? Could they have been anything other than karaoke? I felt badly for him on “Beautiful Day.” Without that guitar, he might as well thrust his hands into his jeans pockets and stand there motionless.

Though I did have kind thoughts for him when I saw him just staring out into the crowd and taking it all in. You could see it was slightly humbling for him. He seems like a nice enough guy. He’s got a voice that would fit well in commercial bland copycat radio. He probably has a career.

But he’s nowhere near as good as Crystal, who somehow managed not to cry at the end of that lost song, barely. And, sure, her ode to Simon may have been awkward and she didn’t know where she was walking to in the introductions, but — she sang her face off tonight.

Tangent: The great thing about high definition TV? You can clearly read along with the contestants as the lyrics float up the teleprompter. I actually don’t have a problem with them being there, and I didn’t ever catch either Lee or Crystal relying on them. (Crystal sings with her eyes closed half the time, while Lee is glancing awkwardly to either side to avoid the camera, I guess. Still, the occasional grin was endearing.)

So, there you have it. An often boring season ends with the two strongest contestants, and one was able to pull it off.

While anything is possible, I think Crystal wins this one tomorrow. I love the Idol Finale show. It’s a true spectacle. Can’t wait to see what they come up with for Simon. And will Paula return to say her goodbyes while Andrew sings “Straight Up?” Will there be duets between the contestants and beloved contemporary artists? How much of a workout will the gospel choir get this year? What matching outfits will the Top 12 wear at the top of the show? etc. etc.

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.

So, you’ve got a few options here. Do a little research and piece together your own surround system, hire a voyeur from Geek Squad to do it for you, or just hire a live-in technician to handle both present and future issues. Whatever you settle on, you can pretty much rest assured that it’ll be cheaper than forking out for one of Bose‘s hilariously overpriced Lifestyle systems. In typical Bose fashion, the company is introducing a new trio of 5.1 rigs (the V35, V25 and T20), each of which utilize a new “Unify” technology that is said to make “connecting speakers and sources, programming remotes, and accessing content easier and faster than ever before.” And by that, they mean “we’ll show you pictures of the connectors on your television screen.” Each setup comes with a handful of tiny, cube-like speakers and a surely unimpressive Acoustimass bass module, and if you’re hoping to find detailed specifications — you know, things like RMS, impedance, frequency response range and other vital audio statistics — we wish you the best of luck. Oh, but here’s a few figures that are being handed down: $3,299, $2,499 and $1,999. Yeah, those are the MSRPs in order of mention, and amazingly, we aren’t kidding.

Continue reading Bose simplifies surround sound setup with Lifestyle systems, charges dearly for it

Bose simplifies surround sound setup with Lifestyle systems, charges dearly for it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 22:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Congratulations PSN, you are the first video game console to sell content from HBO. That means you can’t buy True Blood, The Sopranos or Rome on Xbox via Zune yet, but you already could on iTunes if you were willing to pay $3 per episode. Contrary to a few reports, that premium pricing doesn’t extend to the rest of HBO’s lineup which share their $2 per episode pricing with the SD versions of most TV shows on the PSN and elsewhere. It’s actually not a terrible price, with the season two DVDs of True Blood available for $32 on Amazon buying all twelve episodes one by one will only cost an extra $4, and still let you avoid any that don’t feature your character of choice removing their shirt. the only sad part is that just like iTunes, there’s still no HD availability, so we hope you like 480p — and if you’re reading this site, you probably don’t. Hey Sony, make a big deal when you’ve negotiated some higher resolution or lower prices than what’s available elsewhere, and tell HBO to stop crowing to the Wall Street Journal about its ability to charge premium prices when it really isn’t — when you sell an episode of The Wire for the same price as the pilot for Bionic Woman that’s nothing to brag about.

Continue reading PlayStation Network adds HBO content before Zune / Xbox 360, follows iTunes pricing

PlayStation Network adds HBO content before Zune / Xbox 360, follows iTunes pricing originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 25 May 2010 20:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

If you hung around for the live show, you know our podcast lasted nearly as long as the six seasons of Lost, so we’ve decided to break it up into two parts. Hopefully everything stays in order, so anyone craving more Lost talk and theories (featuring Engadget Classic editor and Lost fan Ross Miller) can press play and go back to the island one more time. Looking for our usual weekly chat? Check out #194 for plenty of Google TV talk and other news.

Get the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS - AAC] Enhanced feed, subscribe to this with iTunes.
[RSS - MP3] Add the Engadget HD Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
[MP3] Download the show (MP3).

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh, Richard Lawler
Special Guest: Ross Miller

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Program

Poll: Lost ends this weekend, are you ready?

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Continue reading Engadget HD Podcast 195: LOST edition – 05.25.2010

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Engadget HD Podcast 195: LOST edition – 05.25.2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 25 May 2010 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Trent Wolbe

After finally seeing the Google TV we take some time to talk about the future of connected HDTVs, and we’ve brought in industry veteran Jeremy Toeman and Engadget editor Ross Miller to figure out what the future may hold. Once we get through all the Google talk, there’s still plenty of news including the truth about HDTV specs and testing, a new version of SageTV and good & bad news for some Comcast subscribers. Then it’s on to the potential of holographic broadcasts in just 12 years and the first 3D blu-ray announced for retail in the U.S. If you prefer your movies digitally, we’re trying to figure out the potential of $30 early releases, before moving on to the latest Watch Instantly update and Best Buy’s new VOD outlet. HTPC talk brings things home with the bad news of another Ceton delay and a look at Elgato’s new HD PVR for Macs, but don’t forget to check out part 2 of the podcast in #195 — it’s all about Lost.

Get the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS - AAC] Enhanced feed, subscribe to this with iTunes.
[RSS - MP3] Add the Engadget HD Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
[MP3] Download the show (MP3).

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@Rjcc)
Special Guests: Jeremy Toeman (@JToeman) & Ross Miller (@ohnorosco)

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Program
00:02:08 – Google I/O recap: more web than you can shake a frozen dessert at
00:13:34 – Editorial: Engadget on Google TV
00:38:00 – Logitech’s Google TV companion box includes smartphone apps, we go eyes-on (updated: video!)
00:41:58 – Google TV: Who is the competition and what are they saying about it?
00:47:05 – HDTV tests pit fantasy land specs against real world performance — guess what happens
00:54:18 – SageTV 7 due to arrive tomorrow with new look
00:56:14 – Comcast Cisco/SA markets are finally getting the iGuide
00:59:22 – Japan proposes holographic 3D broadcasts for 2022 World Cup
01:03:00 – Having problems seeing 3D? The American Optometric Association will be happy to help
01:04:40 – Disney’s A Christmas Carol Blu-ray 3D box art — and $50 srp — revealed
01:13:27 – Movies could be available as a VOD rental before DVD, Blu-ray — for $20 to $30 each
01:24:20 – Windows Media Center Netflix plugin updated for Watch Instantly in HD
01:25:43 – Best Buy’s internet movie store launches this month under the CinemaNow brand
01:26:37 – Ceton’s InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner delayed again
01:29:20 – Elgato’s EyeTV HD records shows to your Mac, slings live to your iPad

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Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget HD Podcast 194 – 05.25.2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 25 May 2010 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Trent Wolbe

Amazon is offering a great deal on a networked Panasonic Blu-ray player giving you up to 4 free movies with purchase of the player.

Original post by Richard Lawler

Looks like TiVo wasn’t kidding about expanding beyond DVRs, now that its Best Buy partnership will result in integrating non-DVR TiVo software in Insignia-branded HDTVs. That will bring online content (presumably Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy’s store and the others that currently find a home in the DVR menu) to televisions in the first -off set-top box appearance of a TiVo UI, but there’s no word in the press release about whether or not to expect any multi-room support with existing DVRs. The company looks to be turning its Premiere software into a platform ready to compete with the other connected HDTV solutions out there, but even after (or maybe because of) our hands-on experience with the latest TiVo DVRs our doubts are many — if someone says “IR blasters” we are out of here.

Continue reading Best Buy to include TiVo’s software — but no DVR — in Insignia HDTVs

Best Buy to include TiVo’s software — but no DVR — in Insignia HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 25 May 2010 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Sookie, Bill and the rest of the Bon Temps freak brigade return in this sexy, scary, witty sophomore season, with vibrant HD reds and terrific extras.

Original post by Richard Lawler

Tim Burton’s reinvention of Alice is definitely worth the trip, although in all ways but one the Blu-ray is not the stunner it should have been.

Original post by Richard Lawler

After almost 30 years, this ’80s Mel Brooks romp is still raunchy, funny, and actually pretty nice looking on Blu-ray.

Original post by Richard Lawler

All this week I’ll be reporting from the Society for Information Display (SID) annual meeting which is being held this year in sunny (not) Seattle, Washington. This annual gathering of the worldwide display industry is the best place to take a peek over the horizon at what’s headed our way in terms of displays.

The symposium doesn’t start until today, but the week kicked off yesterday with the Business Conference which was jointly organized by SID and the market tracking firm DisplaySearch. The day was started by an interesting keynote address by Stan Glasgow, President and COO of Sony Electronics, whose presentation extolled the value of 3D in cinemas and at home. He also warned that “Sony feels that poor quality 3D threatens its success.” A cynical observer might have heard this message as an attempt to preserve the higher profit margins that 3D set current deliver. He also mentioned that Playstation 3 units will get a firmware upgrade to support 3D gaming, and another upgrade later that will provide support for 3D Blu-ray discs.

This last point might be of particular interest to fans of Avatar, James Cameron’s movie that broke the box office records. Later in the program, Peter Fannon, a Panasonic VP, was extolling the advantages of 3DTV. He mentioned that Panasonic has partnered with DirecTV in bringing about that service’s three 3D HDTV channels that will launch in June, and that the company will have a 3DTV camcorder on display in the SID exhibit hall this week (which I plan to check out). He then dropped a bombshell that some of the audience may have missed. It was almost an off-hand remark, as he was talking about how Panasonic is a partner on the Avatar project. He said Avatar will be available “soon” on 3D Blu-ray. He didn’t get specific about a release date, and it certainly was reasonable to speculate that this would happen eventually, but it was still a bit of a surprise given the fact that the 2D version was released so recently. A cynical observer might conclude that this is an attempt to get fans of the movie to buy the Blu-ray disc twice.

Original post by Alfred

The Diffusion Group came out with a report that predicts that consumers will watch more video content from the Web than from traditional television sources (free broadcast and subscription services) by just 10 years from now. Then on Thursday, Google announced “Google TV”. I’m starting to think that The Diffusion Group might be a bit pessimistic about video over the Internet.

First, Google is a proven game-changer when it wants to go after a market segment. The idea of using its Androind operating system to open Google TV up to the riches of the Web is a cool idea. It runs completely counter to the “walled garden” approach taken by manufacturer’s to date for their Internet-connected NeTVs. Instead, the idea is not to write off the huge variety, but rather just make it simple to find what you want. Who would you want — other than Google — to help you find something? (Don’t tell me you rather have Bing!)

But the second part is just as important. Look who is partnering with Google on this project: Sony, Best Buy, Adobe, Intel, and Logitech. And there’s even a subscription TV service pitching in: Dish Network. Google TV will be built right into some televisions, or you can get a separate box (that presumably will be inexpensive) to add the functionality to an existing system.

Will this accelerate the adoption of video streamed from the Internet into our living rooms? I certainly think so, and I definitely would not bet against Google TV.

Original post by Alfred

Ferris Wheel at Night

This picture was taken at 8:30 p.m., about a half hour after official sunset time. The sky looks pitch black, but it’s really still a dark blue. Ramp up your ISO high enough, and you’ll pick up that color in the sky.

You can even see some clouds in the sky in this image, as blurry or noisy as they might appear.

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.

Engadget: Before you dismiss this as just another crazy idea out of Japan, hear us out. The newly developed, crab-simulating Navi Robo is designed to give drivers visual navigating assistance as a…



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Original post by Ine

msnbc: Google TV was announced today. But what exactly is it? Give us two minutes.
It’s a software platform
You know how the Nexus One is a piece of hardware by HTC that runs Android, a piece…



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Original post by Ine

Übergizmo: If it weren’t about the price, most folks out there would want a few Bang & Olufsen products in their home. Now the company has just announced its BeoVision 8, which is a smaller…

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Original post by Ine

Übergizmo: If it weren’t about the price, most folks out there would want a few Bang & Olufsen products in their home. Now the company has just announced its BeoVision 8, which is a smaller…



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Original post by Ine

Techradar: Blu-ray sales in Europe are looking better than ever, with new figures suggesting that the format has almost doubled in popularity in a year.
In Q1 of 2010, Blu-ray sales managed to…



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Original post by Ine

Dvice: Now that simple home theater gear like soundbars is popular, is there really any reason to own a home theater receiver anymore? One thing holding back receivers is that manufacturers have been…



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Original post by Ine

Audiojunkies: Denon has released six new headphone models, bringing the total number of Denon phones available up to 14. The new introductions consist of five new affordable in-ear and on-ear models…



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Original post by Ine

Pioneer.eu: This week Pocket-Lint.com interviewed Dom Feeney, Pioneer Product Executive, resulting in a video tour of Pioneer’s new iControlAV app for iPhone & iPod Touch. The free…



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Original post by Ine

Born Rich: In today’s home interiors, it is persistent to see furniture systems with integrated technology, commonly designed to increase cost effectiveness, apart from being an excellent home décor…



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Original post by Ine

Okay, this one is going to get a little propeller-headed; feel free to skip this technical entry and just come back on Monday.

In order to send video over the Internet, you need to package the digital data in packets. The more you can condense the data, the smaller the data stream required, and the better your performance will be. Just like with MP3 digital music, squeeze the data too hard and you can start to see and hear the difference. One exciting development was the creation of H.264 – used in MPEG4 video compression — which was able to cut the data stream size about in half compared with the MPEG2 encoding used by DVDs. This makes it much easier to send HDTV which requires so much more data than standard definition video such as DVDs.

There’s just one problem; the intellectual property used in H.264 is owned by a bunch of companies — including Apple and Microsoft — and they sell licenses for its use through an organization known as the MPEG-LA. Many developers don’t want to incur the extra expense and hassle, so they want to avoid using H.264 technology.

Now they have an alternative. Google has released the VP8 video codec as open source, through an open media project call WebM. The open source code is available with a royalty-free license. Google has added support for WebM to Chrome, and YouTube is using it as part of its plan for an HTML5 version. Both Microsoft and Adobe have also announced their support for the new codec. Mozilla and Opera were also part of the project, and will support the codec.

One interesting aspect of this technology is that it can be used to play video and audio content from a Web site without the need of a separate plug-in.

As the demand for video streamed from the Internet grows, a royalty-free codec may well speed development of new applications. And it should help keep the costs down for everyone.

Original post by Alfred

It would be a minor thing here, but I really wish I could have had the camera lower. Shooting at eye level with your subject can often make a BIG difference in the final image. Here, it wasn’t possible. I had a second or two to fire off a pic. Crouching would have meant losing the pic, so it’s a compromise. (ALL of photography is a compromise, you quickly learn.)

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.

One thing I’ve learned in almost 30 years in the technology products business is that it’s inevitable that as competition gets more intense, the manufacturers play faster and looser with the whole idea of “specifications”. I saw it in the processor speeds of IBM PC AT compatibles, and in the dots-per-inch claims for personal computer printers, and in the resolution claims of picture tube (CRT) computer monitors. And it’s been a part of the HDTV market nearly from the start. (One plasma company claimed that 1,024 by 1,024 pixels was enough to be called “HDTV” even though it couldn’t show all the 1,280 by 720 pixels in the 720p image; amazingly, a federal judge agreed with the company.)

Now my friend, colleague, and mentor in display technology has taken on the manufacturers and their misleading or misconstrued features and specifications. In an article on the Maximum PC site, Ray Soneira of DisplayMate doesn’t pull any punches. I’ve weighed in on many of these same topics in the past: LED TVs are actually LCD TVs with LED backlights, contrast ratio specifications are useless at predicting what you’ll see, and LCD “viewing angle” specifications are measured in a way that renders the results pointless. Ray digs into these and more, including Sharp’s new 4-color LCD technology and 120 Hz refresh rates. And he finds good reason to criticize them all.

Now, Ray is not some crackpot or a technology lightweight who is just shooting off his mouth. He created the DisplayMate software that we used for every monitor and projector test for years at PC Magazine Labs. He taught me a lot about testing displays, which I then applied when I developed all those test protocols for PC Magazine Labs. And this recent article of his is based on hard results that he got from an extensive shoot-out project that he ran in his New Hampshire lab.

So before you buy another HDTV, be sure to check out what Ray has to say about the specifications and other manufacturers’ claims, just so you’ll know what you’re looking at when you see the emperor’s newest clothes.

Original post by Alfred

Thinking about entering the LCD HDTV business? Here are some numbers that might make you rethink that plan. According to Quixel Research, unit sales were up in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, which sounds like good news. However, first quarter revenues declined from $5.2 billion in 2009 to just $4.1 billion in 2010. That’s a drop of almost 27%. Ouch! And that’s even with some impressive growth rates in the larger sizes, 55″ diagonal and larger.

There’s no doubt that the HDTV business is brutal; sometimes I wonder if the only companies making any money on them are UPS and FedEx. And sure, manufacturing costs continue to come down, so it makes sense that prices will drop as well. But there aren’t many businesses where you can have growth in unit sales paired with revenues dropping by more than a quarter in just one year. Just see what happens when you ask a car dealer to give you that kind of a deal.

The net result is that I expect to see continued consolidation in the mid-range brands, as companies decide it’s not worth trying to keep up with the big dogs in this race.

Original post by Alfred

The big trick about shooting animals at zoos through fences is to put your glass close to the fence and shoot at a wide open aperture. The fence disappears.

Sadly, this trick doesn’t work while on a moving train where the fence is a few feet away. Still, look! BISON! MOOSE! Cool!

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.

Bad Bird Backgrounds

Be aware of your backgrounds. They can ruin a pic. That garbage can behind the bird on the left is a killer.

I knew that going in, actually. I saw it there. But I thought I’d give the bird shot a chance. I could always crop heavily in, right? But the bird isn’t looking all that great when seen close up, either, so the whole thing is a wash. Still, it’s a good lesson to learn.

See more pics from my trip to the zoo all week at AugieShoots.com.

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.

How to ruin a good pic: Overexposed Highlights

Lesson #1 of photography: Always check your settings before taking a picture. I forgot I had played with manual exposure at the last set of animals at the zoo before taking this pic. All my ostrich pics turned out way overexposed because I thought I was still in Aperture Priority mode. Whoops.

This is the only pic that was salvageable. The rest were far too blown out to recover any details in Lightroom with. Still, that hot spot in front of the bird’s beak destroys the pic.

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.

What HiFi: Pioneer may have pulled out of the TV market, but it has a comprehensive line-up of new products for 2010. There are two new Blu-ray players (with a pair of 3D models to follow later in…



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Original post by Ine

Cnet: Ideally, GPS devices increase safety by allowing drivers to focus on the road instead of fumbling with a map. And though most will admit that it’s safest to not take phone calls when…



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Original post by Ine

The Guardian: If you want to be wired for sound without any wires, TDK’s WR700 wireless headphones are a decent – if pricey – option.
TDK’s Life on Record WR700 wireless headphones…



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Original post by Ine

Pioneer.eu: Pioneer introduces MusicSphere, a new software plug-in for iTunes which allows you to breathe new life into all of the music you have collected over the years. With digital music…



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Original post by Ine

 
Gizmag: If your residence is cramped for space, so much so that you don’t have any shelves left on which to place your iPhone/iPod dock, then you need one of these. Finite Elemente’s Hohrizontal 51…



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Original post by Ine

Cnet: 3D this, 3D that: anyone would think the whole world was 3D or something. However you feel about the third dimension being displayed on your telly, if you’re looking for a new TV —…



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Original post by Ine

I’ve been a Mac guy for about five years now. Still use my original Mac desktop as a matter of fact, a creaky PowerPC based leviathan with a second hard drive installed to handle all the photos, music, etc.

I’ve rarely needed to use the Genius Bar. I used it once when a power pack died on my monitor, and one other time when my first iPod had battery issues after a month or two of use. (I sense a pattern, all of a sudden.)

So when my two year old laptop developed issues — the backlight turned off after opening the screen past 90 degrees — I went to Apple.com and made an appointment for a Sunday morning visit to the Genius Bar.

It went very smoothly. An employee with an iPad found my appointment and got me the next available genius. The Genius, himself, (Hi, Doug!) saw what was wrong and had two possible diagnoses in an instant, explaining them clearly and succinctly. (It was just the backlighting, and one of two issues were to blame.) He gave me both price quotes.

Then he saw some chips on the plastic around the edges where my wrists rest, and told me it would be a free repair on my model and lined that up, too.

I gave them the laptop, sheepishly admitted my insecure password for it, and was on my way.

They called a couple of hours later and I returned to get everything back in one piece and fully functional again. $100 is a lot cheaper than a new laptop, though let’s face it: I’m a tech geek. A new laptop would have been cooler. (Completely unnecessary, though.)

On the way out the door in the morning, I got to touch an iPad for the first time.

Steve Jobs is right — it IS magical. Everything glides across the screen. It’s like everything is on ice, it moves so quickly. Pinching to zoom in and out happens quicker than anything I’ve ever seen a computer do. Swiping from page to page is slick.

And then I had to go, because my daughter was getting antsy inside her stroller. I showed her a video off SesameStreet.org and she was entranced, but I didn’t want to push it.

Sadly, the Mrs. was home sick and couldn’t witness the glory.

When I went back in the afternoon to pick the laptop up, the two tables with six iPads each were crowded with people checking it out. I saw lots of kids — tweens and teenagers — showing their parents the iPad, and lots of people smiling. It’s true — when you get yours hands on the device, you can’t help but fall in love.

No wonder Apple just hired a Nintendo fanboy to manage their iPad Games section. This thing might upset the entire portable games market, even at its larger size in comparison to the DS, PSP, et. al. (Wait, are there others past those two?)

So what’s the point of all this? The iPad looks really cool. It gives a great demo to those playing with it. And the Genius Bar worked for me yet again. Heck, thanks to on-line scheduling, it worked better than ever.

I’m a happy Apple guy.

Original post by Augie De Blieck Jr.