Recent Comments:
The Ultimate Matrix Collection to make Blu-ray debut on October 14th {Engadget HD}
Jul 24th 2008 8:33PM All I want is the first movie. Except for a few scenes here and there, the rest isn't very good. So, I'll wait for the singles.
Onkyo launches TX-SR806 / TX-SR706 receivers, HT-S7100 / HT-S6100 HTIB systems {Engadget HD}
Jul 24th 2008 12:42PM I love it that everyone is adding more and more HDMI ports. But what none of these manufacturers (Onkyo, Denon, Sony, etc) tell you is that they may have 5 HMDI, 4 component and 8 other video inputs, but you only get 6 or 7 total sources overall because the internal switch cannot handle all wources at once. RTFM before you buy.
Hollywood can already control what you record on your DVR {Engadget HD}
Jul 22nd 2008 11:09PM Copyright is a limited government-enforced monopoly given to encourage creation of works for the public to enjoy. It would only take a vote of Congress to cut copyright terms in half, or limit its effect, or put conditions on it again. Copyright was 26 years in living memory, now it's 95 years (retroactive). It can go the other way.
It would take a groundswell of resentment directed at copyright holders to get Congress to act, but they do seem to be intent on offending every last customer.
AT&T splitting 2 HD / 2 SD and 1 HD / 3 SD into separate service levels? {Engadget HD}
Jul 22nd 2008 11:21AM Hmmm... I'm 22,000 miles away and I get 6 HD channels at a time into 3 boxes. U-verse is obsolete junk. Even cable is better. I guess they continue because none of the SBC, oops, AT&T suits want to take the write-off on their watch.
Industry professionals chime in with preferred demo material {Engadget HD}
Jul 22nd 2008 11:16AM Yeah, the DVD looked better.
Industry professionals chime in with preferred demo material {Engadget HD}
Jul 22nd 2008 11:06AM There's always the Laura Croft vs robot scene in Tomb Raider. Pretty much certain to keep male buyers appreciating the fine points of HD.
New head of BBC HD aims to get serious about high-def programming {Engadget HD}
Jul 21st 2008 2:30AM Doctor Who HD would be nice. If not that, what?
How could Popcorn Hour's A-100 be improved upon? {Engadget HD}
Jul 13th 2008 2:25PM Guy--
Most systems for moving stuff between a computer and a TV need to process the data while this happens. Almost always the data is stored in a format that is different than what the TV box needs.
For example, most downloaded video files are in either Xvid or DivX format. A very common set-top box is the DIrecTV DVR, which can play files over ethernet, BUT they have to be in another format, Mpeg for it to play them.
There are several popular programs for streaming files between the computer and TV box. THey do two things -- they connect the two boxes together on the ethernet and they convert the file from one format to another.
Problem comes up when you want to alter the flow, with, say, rewind. The software has to stop the conversion it is doing, and go back through the computer file and start over. IF you want REWIND, and not just SKIP BACK, it would have to convert the file backwards, with is awfully hard to do if not impossible. So they don't do it, and some software doesn't even do the SKIP BACK thing.
Since Popcorn Hour accepts many video formats AND understands Windows File Sharing, it doesn't need any software on the computer and doesn't need any translations. So "rewind" is mostly just a matter of accessing the file backwards. To get speed rewind, frames are discarded. There are a few technical issues still, but not nearly so many.
My comment was that I was just happy to have rewind -- how well it works isn't nearly as important. Many "free" solutions don't offer it.
How could Popcorn Hour's A-100 be improved upon? {Engadget HD}
Jul 12th 2008 4:06PM Considering many other solutions (e.g. TVersity transcoding Xvid to Mpeg for a DirecTV box) where rewind isn't even available due to the datapath gyrations needed, I'll settle with 8x rewind.
How could Popcorn Hour's A-100 be improved upon? {Engadget HD}
Jul 12th 2008 4:49AM Since I have wired ethernet it doesn't matter to me, but I know people who are buying the DLink 330 instead for the WiFi. 802.11b chips should be getting cheap about now....
