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AMD Radeon HD 6000 cards receive VESA DisplayPort 1.2 certification, merit badges
When the certifications come in, you wipe a tear from your eye and ponder how proud you are. On Thursday, the Video Electronics Standards Association announced that AMD's Radeon HD 6000 series graphics cards, including the high-end Radeon HD 6990, are the first to receive DisplayPort Version 1.2 certification. That means the cards are rated to support DisplayPort's 5.4Gbps HBR2 data link speed and also feature increased display resolution, color depths and refresh rates, plus improved support for Full HD 3D stereoscopic displays. For the multiple monitor die-hards, there's also better support for multiple monitors connected to a single DisplayPort receptacle to make your lives easier. Full technical details are in the PR below, but it's good to see a capable card series grow up a bit / become a man.
Sony, Panasonic, Samsung team up for 3D supergroup
Normally when the giants of the entertainment industry team up, it's to record "We Are The World"-- but not this time. Sony, Panasonic, X6D and Samsung are forming a supergroup that makes the Traveling Wilburys seem small-time. They're forming the "Full HD 3D Glasses initiative," a project to standardize 3D glasses. Currently, we have wholly incompatible active-shutter models based on different technologies, which the consortium wants to replace with a unified standard that will let you use the same pair of spectacles on any display or at any theater that uses the Xpand 3D standard. The doors open on the joint testing center later this month, which will check and approve products to the program, gaining the logo you see before you as a badge of honor.
Sony announces a 4K projector for the home, prices HMZ-T1 3D head mounted display in the US
There's a new king atop Sony's line of ES projectors: the VPL-VW1000ES. Presented at CEDIA this afternoon, it bypasses all the beamers Sony's delivered for home use so far -- including the recent VPL-HW30AES and VPL-VW95ES models -- by featuring a stunning 4K resolution, four times that of standard HD projectors based on an all new SXRD panel. Scheduled to go on sale this December it also claims a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,000 ANSI lumens of brightness that allows it to project on screens of sizes up to 200-inches. Whether or not you can scrape together the ducats for a 4K projector this Christmas, there are other options for home theater nuts in the form of two new receivers for the ES line that will also be available. The STR-DA5700ES and STR-DA3700ES will ship in November but more than their hardware specs, they feature a new onscreen UI that's supposed to be easier to use. The only device at the presentation with a pricetag was the HMZ-T1 3D viewer we tried out at IFA last week, which has been announced for the US in November with a price "around" $799. Expect more in person pics in a moment, meanwhile the press releases after the break have all the information currently available. Update: Now with more pictures. During the presentation Sony showed a 4K clip from its upcoming Spiderman flick on a VPL-VW1000ES that looked every bit as beautiful as you might imagine. Also in the gallery is a shot of the new "activity based UI" for the receivers that looks at least something like the graphical upgrade the XMB has always needed. You'll also spy one more device, the funky new SA-NS500 Network Speaker. It's a portable sound blaster with 6 hours of battery life and AirPlay compatibility for $399, shipping in November. %Gallery-132923%
Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and XpanD finally team up for an active 3D glasses standard
The lack of a universal standard for active shutter 3D glasses became painfully clear during our 3D TV shootout last year, and gave plenty of reasons for buyers to skip the pricey specs altogether. Nine months later we see that LG has jumped onto passive 3D and CEA is playing catch up on the IR glasses problem, but many of the new HDTVs for 2011 are using Bluetooth technology to keep their glasses in sync -- again without any promise of cross-manufacturer compatibility. A day late and a few dollars short, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and universal glasses maker XpanD are announcing the "Full HD Glasses Initiative" which should lay down a standard for consumer active shutter glasses to communicate over Bluetooth or IR. The new glasses should be backwards compatible with this year's TVs, although early adopters from 2010 have no such guarantee. The press release (included after the break) indicates we can expect the new models to arrive in 2012, assuming they haven't lost more ground to the FPR army and can still convince buyers to even look at 3D by then.
ASUS debuts, showcases new 3D and IPS-based Designo displays
If it ain't broke, don't fix it; ASUS has taken this old adage to heart, offering up some moderate, but worthwhile changes to its latest consumer and 3D monitor lines. Retaining the award-winning style of its Designo series, the outfit is launching a trio of new 22-, 23-, and 24-inch IPS and VA panel displays -- each vaunting a 178-degree viewing angle, 1920 x 1080 resolution as well as more accurate color reproduction and a higher contrast ratio than previous models. Too bad this change didn't carry over to ASUS' 3D line -- despite adding an integrated IR transmitter for NVIDIA 3D Vision, the 1080p 27-inch LED VG278H sports a backlit TN panel (boo), same as its predecessor. But hey, at least the integrated transmitter ought to free up some desk space... right? No official price on these just yet, but check out the more coverage link below for a spate of eyes-on impressions. [Thanks, TheLostSwede]
Panasonic's 2011 HDTVs shown off in Japan with prices, March release dates
Panasonic's found time to show off its latest series of HDTVs in Japan, including the new top 3D-capable VT3, GT3 and ST3 generation plasmas, and DT3 LCDs, . As one might expect, the feature list is predictably similar to the US models with the next iteration of 3D panel technology, including a few Japan-specific features like VOD services and recording TV to USB drives. According to AV watch it looks like the starting prices have gone down slightly YoY as well, with the new 50-inch VT3 predicted to arrive March 18 for 380,000 yen ($4,654) down from 430,000 yen ($5,267) last year. The lower end GT3 series and new DT3 3D LCDs should arrive a week earlier on March 11, though we'll probably have to wait until much closer to launch again to find out precisely what the predictably lower US pricing will be this time around. Click on through for all the details you can stand in the meantime.
Verizon and Panasonic demo broadcast Full HD 3D at CES
Currently the only way to feed your 3DTV full HD 3D (1080p per eye) is to watch a Blu-ray disc, which is great and all unless you're a sports fan, than not so much. Motorola and others have been working on ways to deliver Full HD 3D via typical broadcast delivery avenues -- yes, we also want to know what happened to 1080p60 2D -- but at the CES Bloggers Lounge Verizon and Panasonic were demoing said 3D format over a Verizon FiOS TV lab setup. The press release and embedded video (after the break) were short on details, but Verizon did tell us that it takes twice the throughput of 1080p 2D -- which isn't actually the case, but what do you expect when you don't get to talk to the engineers? We assume the demo is using H.264 Multiview Video Coding like Blu-ray uses -- especially since the demo was on a Panasonic Blu-ray player -- but many in the industry question this codec's application in the broadcast world since ESPN claims that its backwards compatibility with 2D isn't as valuable as Dolby and Sensio's way of encoding full HD 3D, which are more efficient. We're very skeptical that this demo will actually amount to any foreseeable measurable benefits to consumers, but are reassured that both companies like 3D enough to spend the time to get together and make a demo happen. Update: Verizon PR responded and confirmed that the demo is using the same format as 3D Blu-ray; H.264 Multiview Video Coding.
Panasonic's VT25 3DTVs will be nearly 50% off Japanese prices, launch this week at Best Buy
Good news for those who found themselves a few yen short after hearing the Japanese prices of Panasonic's first 3D plasma HDTVs -- their American counterparts will be considerably cheaper. Even at a recent line show the company kept the MSRPs close to its chest, but March 10 Best Buy's 24 hour location at Union Square will sell the first full HD 3D home theater system, consisting of the aforementioned VT25, DMP-BDT350 Blu-ray player and active shutter glasses. Japan's Nikkei pegs the bundle price at around $3,000, with 50-inch televisions by themselves arriving for around $2,500. Compare that to the ¥430,000 ($4,813) price in Japan and you've got an idea of the discounting going on so Panasonic can hit its targets of 1 million 3DTVs (worldwide) sold in 2010. Can't get to Manhattan by Wednesday? The Panasonic/Best Buy team up will reportedly place demos at 300 or so stores shortly, rising to 1,000 locations by the end of the year. Unfortunately they won't be able to advertise an Academy Award for Best Picture winner (catch Samsung's ad last night?) in the 3D demo reel, but between Avatar and this week's box office smash, Alice in Wonderland, we're sure there will be at least a few people interested in taking 3D home once it's available.
Sony's Blu-ray players do 3D in 1080p even with HDMI 1.3
More than a few commenters were confused to see Sony's first 3D Blu-ray players sporting HDMI 1.3 outputs when they were announced recently. Rumors circled that we would see some sort of lower res, even "3D-Lite," experience (similar to the quality of DirecTV's side by side compression) as a result of a lack of bandwidth in the connector. We went straight to the source to find out what buyers can expect from the BDP-S470, BDP-S570 and other hardware when they receive those MVC encoded discs later this year. Luckily, Sony's Greg Belloni has responded and informed us that will definitely not be the case: "The 3D-ready models mentioned in the release will be fully capable of 3D playback of Full HD 1080p for each eye. The players and theater systems support the HDMI 1.4 spec for 3D playback, but may not support all of the qualifications of spec (which is why we haven't labeled it specifically 1.4 at this time)." We're not sure if that's enough to make the buying decision on your next player easier (the BD-C6900 does have that ever enticing window) but we have yet to hear from any manufacturer that when it comes to 3D, buyers will be limited to lower resolution playback because of player bandwidth issues. Our only quibble is why DivX playback is limited to the Canadian editions of these players (check the manual after the break,) but if there are any remaining questions, let us know and we'll get them answered.
VIZIO's 2010 XVT LCDs go up to 72-inches with 3D, LED, WiFi & WirelessHD
Remember VIZIO's LED backlit 55-inch XVT LCD with WiFi and widgets that debuted for two grand last year and seemed like such a value? Great, now go ahead and forget it because the company's top of the line model in August will switch over to a monster 72-inch 480Hz LCD (above) with 3D, WirelessHD, VIZIO Internet Apps widget platform and Wireless-N for $3,499. If that's too big to fit your budget (or in our case, tiny shoebox apartment) there will also be 55- and 47-inch versions available, with all the same features plus a new antireflective panel for those of you who like to keep the lights on during, they'll cost $2,499 and $1,999, respectively. These 3D displays feature SENSIO technology and Bluetooth-synchronized active shutter LCD glasses from XpanD, while a VIZIO XVT Pro Wireless HDMI Adapter is available separately with 4 HDMI inputs to blast HD signals across the room on the 60Ghz band. Cinema enthusiasts also have something to look forward to, check the gallery below for shots of the 58-inch ultrawidescreen 21:9 aspect ratio XVTPRO580CD, no word on a ship date or price but when it appears later this year you can kiss black bars during movies goodbye. We're sure we'll see more models from VIZIO before CES is out for the smaller, less 3D friendly homes, but right now it doesn't look like the company plans on giving up its LCD sales crown anytime soon -- these combinations of features and pricing may prove very difficult to say no to. PR with other details is after the break. %Gallery-81478%
Blu-ray 3D specifications finalized, your PS3 is ready
In case plans by AMD and a slew of other tech vendors planning to showcase 3D Blu-ray compatible products at CES wasn't a tip-off, the updated specifications are done. The key details? First, that the Blu-ray Disc Association has chosen the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec to store 3D, so that even though it is now providing a full 1080p frame for each eye, it will only require about 50% more storage space compared to the 2D version, and all discs will be fully backwards compatible, in 2D, on existing players. Better than backwards compatibility, the PlayStation 3 will be forwards compatible with the new discs -- a new HDTV setup (the spec promises to work with plasmas, LCDs or projectors equally well) with IR emitters and glasses will still be necessary. According to the PR (after the break) we can expect Blu-ray 3D-stickered products in 2010, our only advice is to keep those responsible for the Cowboys Stadium abomination far, far away from it.
AMD readying a demo of the Blu-ray 3D standard, might not wait for it to exist first
AMD and CyberLink, which recently integrated SENSIO 3D technology into its PowerDVD player, are already touting a 2010 CES demo promising to show off their implementation of "the forthcoming Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D standard." While the world continues to wait for an announcement on what the 3D Blu-ray standard will actually entail (backwards compatible 2D combo discs, and Full HD stereoscopic technology are definitely on the list) AMD is ready to leverage its position as a contributing member of the Blu-ray Disc Association and make sure that when discs hit the market -- likely around the time Avatar is released at home -- it has compatible software and hardware available. We've prepped and ready for the glasses-required trials that promise to be featured at many booths during next months Las Vegas experience, so a note to potential exhibitors: sports and videogames are the best bet for an impressive 3D showing, bring Space Harrier 3D for extra bonus points.
