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Lytro Light Field Camera's guts get spilled on the FCC's dancefloor
There's a scene in Robocop 2, where our eponymous hero is set-to with an angle grinder and dumped in pieces outside the Detroit Police station. Now replace the cybernetic Alex Murphy with the Lytro Light Field camera and you'll know what was found on the sidewalk opposite from the FCC's concrete bunker this morning. Interesting tidbits revealed in the government-sponsored autopsy included a questionably small Zoran imaging chip and Marvell Avastar W8787 wireless SoC -- but the company's already swiftly denied it'll have WiFi capability. Still, the infinite-focus device is certainly on for that early 2012 launch date if it's passed through the FCC without derision. We like to treat you right, dear readers, so below you'll find a cornucopia of galleries to hunt through before these units arrive in your hands. What do you think? Should we equip all our staffers with Lytro cameras for our future hands-ons?
DTS and Zoran shake hands and make up, expect to see silicon this year
When it comes to Blu-ray deck price decreases, we'll take whatever we can get -- especially with the naysaying that seems to follow the format these days. So file the fact that Zoran and DTS have put their legal disputes behind them, and Zoran plans to have single-chip solutions for Blu-ray decoding with support for DTS' codecs shipping by the end of the year under "more competition has to be good." Zoran filed suit against DTS back in October, claiming that the company wasn't being fair in its codec licensing terms; not surprisingly, Zoran wasn't granted a license. But the suits ironed it all out, and after paying out a settlement that will have a "modestly positive" impact on DTS' financials, Zoran is the latest licensee to the DTS codecs.
Zoran intros highly integrated SupraHD 775 / 785 HDTV processors
In order for the thin to keep getting more anorexic looking, we need those internals to slim down, too. Thankfully, Zoran is looking out for those who know that no HDTV is ever thin enough by introducing two new HDTV processors. Designed for ATSC-tuning digital TVs, the highly integrated SupraHD 775 and 785 "eliminate multiple components from the DTV system design by integrating the TV microcontroller, 8VSB demodulator, audio codec, audio multiplexer, analog video multiplexer and a host of other functions including advanced audio processing and color management capabilities into the single-chip solution." Good show, Zoran -- we suspect you'll be a big help in making 0.1-inch HDTVs a reality.
CinemaNow all growed up, has its first PMP on the way from Zoran
Deets are slim at this moment, but Zoran is prepping a new OEM PMP that's designed to party down with CinemaNow, among other services. With a portable component, short of any fancy haxoring, CinemaNow gets a little more cred, but there's no telling if this will be enough to compete with a market now populated by Wal-Mart, Amazon and of course Apple. The player itself supports WiFi via a SDIO card, and sports its own HDD of indeterminate size, along with that plentiful amount of screen real estate. The player is also designed to work with the PassAlong Networks music store services. That's all we know for now, but we'll be keeping an eye out for Zoran and its partners.
