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Revolutionary: New Year's Res
Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. It is the year 2008 and we've all got jet packs to carry us from our front door to the flying car in our driveway. Our friends can leave us telepathic thoughtmails when we're summering in seclusion on the dark side of the moon. Skynet fought back and the treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron. Everyone is basking in the realer-than-reality goodness of their HD television sets. Wait a minute ... scratch that last bit. Not everyone's got an HDTV or even a DTV, so that broadcast switchover to digital transmission that the FCC mandated for the years leading up to 2007 wound up getting postponed until 2009. Nintendo engineers are patting themselves on the back (no doubt with fat stacks of cash) for predicting the relatively slow transition to HD, which allowed them to keep production costs down on the little white wonder. It's a point of contention to some, but seniors, girlfriends, your parents, and most Wii fanboys aren't giving it a lot of thought. Many people aren't even aware that it's not an HD console, so this edition of Revolutionary is intended to clear up any misunderstandings about the Wii's resolution ... -ary.
ByD:sign / EyeFi unveils antiquated 42-inch plasma
It's one thing to be fashionably late, but to arrive at a party that essentially ended months ago (at least) and expect to shake things up is probably an ill-advised move. Nevertheless, Japan's ByD:sign (badged as EyeFi here in the States) is offering up a 42-inch plasma TV (PE-4202DFK) that sports a built-in digital terrestrial tuner and manages to include an HDMI input, but somehow touts a completely uninspiring 852 x 480 resolution. Just in case the rest of the specs even matter after that blow, it also features 1,500 cd/m2 brightness, a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, Genesis DCDi chip, S-Video / composite, VGA, analog / optical audio, and removable 10-watt stereo speakers as well. While the lowly resolution may suit your Wii playing needs just fine, you won't enjoy any crisp HD DVDs or Blu-rays in their full, unadulterated glory here, and at a whopping ¥170,000 ($1,430), you can do a whole lot better for your money anyway.
Lumenlab releases Evo EDTV projector for five Benjamins
Lumenlab has released its Evo Projector V1, a $499 homebrew-style projector for home theater use. It incorporates a few features you normally don't find on projectors in this price range, such as a standard $30 projector bulb for cheaper replacement costs, component inputs. a 600:1 contrast ratio, and 1,000 lumens of light output. While its native resolution is 854 x 480 (great for DVDs and standard def content, not so much for high-definition), the low cost of bulbs and overall price puts it right into that sweet spot for the holiday buying season. Of course it's no 1080p Sony Pearl, but for five hundred a piece, you could buy four of them for less than half the price of the Sony, and matrix those bad boys up for over 18 diagonal feet of screen![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Hooking up a Wii to your HDTV? Preorder cables now
The Nintendo Wii might max out at a 480p resolution, but plenty of HDTV owning gamers will be picking one up at launch. Unfortunately, component cables for the console (not included -- although even some high priced consoles don't have them either) won't be available on store shelves at launch either. With the cables not listed as arriving until December at popular videogame retailers, the only sure option is to order now from Nintendo's website and spend extra on shipping. If you're asking yourself why cables are so important when the system is at best EDTV anyway, remember the lessons learned from the last generation. PlayStation 2 and Xbox games (and other sources) are considerably clearer on HDTVs when using component connections as compared to S-Video or composite cables, and early reviews of the Wii show the same trend. Remember, friends don't let friends game in 480i.Read - Wii component cables available online now, in stores December 5Read - PSA: Use the right cables for your TV
The demise of EDTV
EDTV: we hardly knew you and truthfully, we won't miss ya. Enhanced definition plasmas was a great alternative to what was then a high priced item. There was a time not long ago when high definition flat panels were more of a Luxist item but there was enhanced definition that offered most of what high-def had to offer at a fraction of the cost. But alas, you are leaving us soon.The average price of plasmas has nearly been cut in half each of the past years. Enhanced definition has always been there a cool thousand under the price of its big brother, but with HD plasmas easily reaching 2K, EDTVs are no longer needed. Later!
HDTV Game of the Week: Black
It's old -school week here at HD Beat, with no Xbox 360 titles debuting we'll take it back to EDTV with a new release for Xbox and PS2, Criterion's Black. This is a shooter in the purest sense of the word. Don't worry about the story, complex enemy AI or online multiplayer here, just blow stuff up. And when it looks this good that is not a bad thing at all.
Matsushita regains PDP lead
After losing the title of "PDP market share leader" to Samsung late in 2004, the parent company of Panasonic reclaimed the PDP title in the last quarter of 2005. Matsushita opened up new fabrication plants and is riding strong demand for it's Panasonic brand plasma set. In terms of PDPs supplied, the company took the lead with a 28% share over Samsung's 26.7%. LG is close behind Samsung with a 25.6% share for the quarter.Even more amazing is that HD plasmas outsold ED plasmas for the first time since 2003. With prices dropping as quickly as they are, there aren't many good reasons for an EDTV purchase these days, except in the case of a secondary set or if your budget still isn't ready for a full-blown HD set just yet.
MSM & HDTV: So close but yet so far
As we've noted, sometimes the media can be a bit shaky when it comes to talking about HDTV accurately. This time it's Cleveland's News Channel 5 reporting to make sure you don't buy an EDTV plasma assuming it's HDTV, a worthy cause and one we've mentioned before.The article is good, with enough warning and not too much hysteria, until they mention HDTV becoming standard in three years. Awww man. Everybody listen to Engadget, DTV ≠ HDTV. Thank you and please remember to tip your waitresses.
