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YouTube TV gets a 1080p Enhanced option that offers better video quality
The company calls it the "highest video quality" it offers.
Logitech's Brio 300 HD webcams offer auto light correction and noise reduction for $70
Logitech has unveiled a colorful, budget-oriented line of 1080p webcams, the $70 (£75) Brio 300 series.
Google now offers a cheaper, 1080p version of the Chromecast with Google TV
Google has unveiled the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) device that offers features from the $50 4K model at a significantly cheaper $30 price.
Logitech's new Brio 500 webcams are made to be moved around
Logitech has unveiled the Brio 500 series webcams designed to fix things like "unflattering camera angles, poor lighting and field-of-view limitations."
Google’s next Chromecast with Google TV may be a 1080p budget model
The dongle's said to come with a remote and it could replace the aging third-gen Chromecast.
TikTok rolls out 1080p uploads and more editing features
You can now use GIFs from Giphy as Green Screen backgrounds and turn your voice into a cat's meow.
AMD's Radeon RX 6600 is a $329 GPU for 1080p gaming
The Radeon RX 6600 is AMD's final GPU release of 2021.
AMD's Radeon RX 6600XT is its next flagship 1080p GPU
After making a return to the mid-range with its RX 6700 XT GPU, AMD has launched its 1080p flagship, the RX 6600 XT.
Canon's pocket-sized PowerShot Zoom is part camera, part nature gazer
With regular compact cameras quickly going the way of the dodo, Canon is trying something completely different. It just unveiled the PowerShot Zoom, a “compact telephoto monocular,” with a design that looks like a golf rangefinder rather than a camera or camcorder.
Analogue's Mega Sg sounds like the ultimate Sega Genesis
Analogue, the retro console manufacturer behind the Nt Mini and Super Nt, excellent modern NES and SNES reproductions, is now bringing back a seminal '90s rival. The company has announced the Mega Sg, a Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and Master System recreation that can play over 2,180 classic cartridges. Unlike other retro console clones, Analogue, as its name suggests, doesn't use emulation methods. Rather, the company opts to use an Altera Cyclone V FPGA chip to ensure 100 percent compatibility -- and so that games can be played exactly how they were intended. It's not the exact chip used in the Genesis, but using an FPGA chip that runs off HDL (hardware description language), it can essentially be any other chip. It's a solution that bypasses emulation through an operating system, to connect and speak directly between game cartridge and motherboard.
Japan Display battles Samsung's OLED with curved LCD screens
One of Apple's main screen suppliers, Japan Display Inc. (JDI), has revealed a 5.5-inch LCD smartphone screen that can be bent like OLED displays from Samsung and LG. While not quite as flexible and thin as OLED, the "Full Active Flex" 1080p screen could be used in phones with curved screens like the Galaxy S7 Edge, the company told the Wall Street Journal. LCD is a lot cheaper than OLED, so you could see a lot more curved phone designs when it starts manufacturing the panels in 2018.
LG's Full HD laser projector is bright enough for daytime use
LG has unveiled a compact laser projector that, depending on the price, could appeal to a lot of folks. The LG ProBeam features 1080p (Full HD) resolution and 2,000 lumens of brightness, making it a viable home theater option. The laser system (LG didn't say which kind, exactly) should provide a sharp, accurate picture, and nearly maintenance-free light source. At the same time, it weighs just 4.6 pounds and has a table-friendly form factor, making it portable and easy to use in small rooms.
Motorola's metal body Moto M launches with ho-hum specs
Motorola has just launched the 5.5-inch mid-range Moto M by way of its listing on Tmall (China's equivalent of Amazon). The Moto lineup always garners a lot of interest, thanks to previous stellar models like the Moto G and Moto X Pure Edition. However, the latest model is a bit disappointing. It does have a splash-proof metal unibody and brand new rear fingerprint sensor, but at $295, it's specifications are wanting next to rival devices.
The PS4 Pro, as explained by the man who designed it
Sony really wants to clarify a few things about the PlayStation 4 Pro: First, the Pro doesn't signal the end of video game console generations, even though its specs and launch window fit a pattern that resembles PC or smartphone upgrade cycles more than traditional console releases. Second, the Pro is valuable even if you don't have a 4K TV. Third, though most games on the Pro won't actually be rendered in true 4K, they're still much improved over the standard PS4. Sony probably feels the need to clarify these points because after it revealed the PS4 Pro in September, there was some confusion over the capabilities and identity of the new console. It was pitched as a mid-generation upgrade that would usher in an era of 4K gaming, but after the scripted presentation, it became obvious that 4K was still out of reach for most developers. At the launch event, we found just one game on the demo floor that actually ran in 4K (that would be Elder Scrolls Online) while others took advantage of the Pro's upgraded guts in other ways. Impressive ways, but not 4K. After the reveal, it was unclear who the PS4 Pro was built for and what it signaled for the future of gaming consoles. It joined Microsoft's Project Scorpio in blurring the generational divide, and with all of this talk about 4K, its benefits for HDTV owners were uncertain. That's when Mark Cerny stepped in.
4K consoles will finally make 1080p gaming a reality
Microsoft and Sony have finally announced their new, more powerful console revisions. The PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio promise a significant performance bump over their current-gen counterparts, supposedly ushering in the era of 4K console gaming. Although we will see some 4K games, it's likely that neither console has the power to pull off the higher resolution without compromise. We've heard this story before. When the Xbox 360 was unveiled at E3 in 2005, it was supposed to play games at a crisp 720p or 1080i. The following year, when Sony announced the PlayStation 3, it did so by showing off Gran Turismo HD running at a native 1080i/60, with the promise of 1080p games to come. For the most part, that didn't happen. Instead, many Xbox 360 games upscaled just to hit 720p. The significantly more powerful PS3 also stuck mostly to 720p, with a smattering of 1,280 x 1,080 games (which were then processed to stretch out the horizontal resolution). To my memory, the only 1080p game I had on PlayStation 3 was Fifa Street 3 (I make bad life choices). Oh, and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue let me see my garage (and only my garage) in 1080p. Then came the current console generation and the pitch of true 1080p gaming. Very quickly, that promise unraveled. Xbox One launch titles like Ryse (900p) and Dead Rising 3 (720p) fell short, with only Forza Motorsport 5 hitting 1080p at the expense of anti-aliasing and texture quality. PlayStation 4 titles fared a little better: Infamous Second Son, Killzone Shadow Fall and Knack hit 1080p. But all three games suffered from serious frame-rate issues: Killzone developer Guerrilla Games was forced to add a 30fps lock to the single player through an update and faced a (failed) lawsuit when it was discovered the "1080p 60fps" multiplayer actually ran at 960 x 1,080 and pixels doubled using "temporal reprojection." The biggest cross-platform title of the launch window, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs, hit 792p on Xbox One and 900p on PlayStation 4. Both versions relied on adaptive v-sync (a trick that minimizes stuttering when frames aren't rendered in time) just to stick to 30fps. Things have improved a little since then, as developers now understand the consoles' respective limitations. We now see some 1080p games that mostly stick to 30fps, with exclusive titles Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One and Bloodborne on PlayStation 4 being prime examples. Even so, the vast majority of titles struggle, with shooters relying on dynamic scaling to hit 60fps and other games sticking with 30fps caps just to get by. There are outliers, of course: Lots of last-gen remasters are hitting the holy grail of 1080p and 60fps (1080p60). And some games -- like Forza Motorsport 6 on the Xbox One and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on the PS4 -- run almost entirely at 1080p60.
Microsoft hopes 1080p Netflix makes Edge your next browser
As Microsoft continues to nudge folks into trying its new Edge browser on Windows 10, its latest tease is the promise of better looking, more efficient video streaming. Just like Apple's Safari browser on OS X, it turns out that on Windows only Microsoft's browsers stream HTML5 Netflix in 1080p, while Chrome, Firefox and Opera all max out at 720p and a much lower bitrate. It also claims the browser makes use of Windows 10's enhancements to offload video and audio processing to the right hardware in ways that save significant battery life.
Netflix's new video approach looks better, uses less data
The last time we noted Netflix extensively discussing how it stores video for the best streaming performance, its HD quality maxed out at 720p, surround sound was still a pipe dream and tablets weren't a thing yet. A Variety report explains that after extensive testing it's going through and re-encoding the entire library with a process that applies compression in a smarter way to maximize quality and save a ton of bandwidth. Soon, when you press play Netflix's servers will do a better job of recognizing what kind of device you're watching on and, depending on the connection speed available, pick a stream that fits its capabilities.
Vudu finally delivers 1080p HDX movies on Android devices
One of the best features of Vudu's movie service has always been its high quality video, and now you can view it on mobile devices. The latest version of Vudu for Android brings a native interface for the first time that's far easier to use and looks better on screens of all sizes, as well as the ability to play HD (720p) and HDX (1080p) quality streams or downloads. That's a feature that's still not available on iPhones and iPads, but it should work on "select" Lollipop or higher devices (read: capable of high-res video and the accompanying DRM).
Final Fantasy 13 gets 1080p support on Steam next week
Square Enix will introduce a patch for Final Fantasy 13 on Steam next week that will give players additional graphics options. Slated to land on Thursday, December 11, the update will allow players to switch to custom resolutions, such as 720p and 1080p. The patch hits the same day that the game's sequel, Final Fantasy 13-2, will arrive on Steam as well. Final Fantasy 13 first launched in late 2009 in Japan, making its worldwide debut in March 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was followed by the aforementioned 13-2 in February 2012 and the final game of the trilogy earlier this year, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13. Those planning on picking up the Steam version of Final Fantasy 13-2 may want to pre-purchase the game, as it is 10 percent off at the moment ($17.99). [Image: Square Enix]
Samsung set to release its slimmest smartphone ever
Samsung is far from done releasing thin, all-metal, mid-range smartphones, judging by a leak at Chinese wireless regulator Tenaa. Though more modest in specs than the Galaxy Alpha, the new 5.5-inch Galaxy A7 is definitely the A-series' alpha model, trumping the Galaxy A5 and A3 phones. At 6.3mm, it's Samsung's slimmest model ever, and also sports a 1080p screen, 64-bit Snapdragon 615 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB (non-upgradeable) memory and 13-megapixel front/5-megapixel rear cameras. The model shown above is strictly for the Chinese market -- to find out whether it'll come to these parts, you'll have to wait for Samsung's official word.
