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Sony CRTs can't stop, won't stop
In fact, they may not even know how to stop, but that hasn't stopped people from saying they're on their way out. Sony is shipping a few new models, including the KD-34XBR970. It's an HDTV with integrated tuner, HDMI input and all the great features and quality you'd generally expect from Sony's XBR line. They also have a few other new CRTs with integrated tuners coming out, but those are SD so we know you're not that interested.As skeptical as we might be about the Playstation 3, Sony has been delivering with their XBRs for a long time and we don't see them stopping now. All that heavyweight CRT 1080i goodness will set you back $1,199 when they start shipping in March.
Richard Lawler02.14.2006Breaking News - TI's OMAP 3430 processor adds HD to phones
Ok, so we thought the iPod would let us store and carry HD content from HDTV to HDTV. We were close based on Texas Instrument's newest OMAP3430 processor for cellular phones. The new OMAP3430 samples are due out in mid-year, but not for use in devices until 2007 is the likely story. The processor provides HD playback capability in a mobile phone; theoretically you could download some HD content via a 3G data link and then connect your phone to a high-def monitor for playback. The OMAP3430 will support MPEG-4, WMV-9, H.264 and RealVideo 10 when we see it next year. Sounds like we'll have a new poll question next year: Will your next phone be 720p or 1080i?
Kevin C. Tofel02.14.2006HDTV Listings for February 14, 2006
What we're watching: Heck with the Academy Awards, how about watching a movie that won three MTV Movie Awards? "Napoleon Dynamite" hits HBO-HD in 1080i this evening at 7:15 p.m. which still gives you time to catch some HD coverage of the Winter Olympic games on NBC afterward. The quirky-funny Dynamite focuses on comical characters in a small high-school setting and was a surprise hit in 2004.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Kevin C. Tofel02.14.2006Love your Sony Bravia so much you can't turn it off? Good, you might not be able to
That's what Sony informed Reuters today. About 400,000 of the flat panel displays and rear-projection TVs in the Bravia or Grand Wega line have faulty software that could leave users unable to turn them off (kinda bad) or bring them out of standby mode (really bad). Affected owners can simply unplug the sets to reset them and/or visit Sony's website Update My TV . Depending on model, you can either update the firmware yourself or you may need a technician to do it for you. Hopefully this problem is not more widespread than they think, the Bravia line has been very popular for Sony.[via Engadget]
Richard Lawler02.14.2006Swanni's HDTV Grammy awards
Phillip Swann is at it again, this time evaluating and passing judgment on the HDTV celebrity appearances at last week's Grammy awards on CBS. Swanni, did you hear the music in 5.1? Maybe I'm just upset because he's picking on one of my faves: Sheryl Crow. Anyway, here's Swanni's list with our commentary. We'd love your commentary too, but sorry; we can't offer you a Grammy for the best sounding one.Worse in HDTV: Sheryl Crow = C'mon, C'mon Swanni; she looks great at 44 years old! Madonna = can't argue here. Strike an SD pose, girl. Britney Spears = huh? You lost us here. Alicia Keys = she looks OK in this pic from the 2005 Grammys. Mick Jagger = Two out of five right isn't bad, but this one was a "gimmie".
Kevin C. Tofel02.14.2006Xacti HD1 camcorder caught on tape
We caught wind of the Xacti HD1 high-def camcorder last month, but it hasn't hit the shores here just yet. Akihabara spotted it in the wild and grabbed a short video of Sanyo's 720p camcorder; our first thought: wow is that small! The 80x119x36mm camcorder captures 30fps at 1280 x 720 res and rumor has it that we'll see it for around $800 here next month. Check out the video and then decide if this small wonder is worth $800 to you. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than that HDC-1000 we pointed out earlier; plus it's a tad more portable.
Kevin C. Tofel02.14.2006Sony HD equipment takes gold medal in Torino
Love it or hate it, there's no denying that NBC is working hard at their high-def coverage of the Olympics. The real question is: what the heck are they using for equipment? Enter Sony with a plethora of powerful production props. In the main booth, Sony's HDC-1000 multi-format 1080/60P cameras are capturing the desk action, while in the field, Sony HDCAM HDW-730S camcorders are sprinkled within the snow. Over 70 Sony monitors in the BVM-D HD line are used for mastering; each of these display the Olympic imagery in the native res and frequency of the inputs.We were curious what some of this gear costs and surprise, surprise: a 20-inch monitor in the BVM-D HD line was found for a paltry $300 (Edit: the $300 is a daily rental fee, which makes more sense. Thanks Alan!). That's OK, NBC probably blew their wad o' cash on the HDC-1000's pictured above. We're saving up our pennies for one of these, thinking a 1080p HDBeat videocast would be an excellent partner for our HDBeat podcast.
Kevin C. Tofel02.14.2006Yamaha's YSP-800, YSP-1000 virtual 5.1 sound projectors
Flat panel speakers to match flat panel HDTVs are all the rage these days. And why shouldn't they be? It's no fun to have a nice Panny plasma hanging on the wall with those big Fisher speakers ya got back in college. Yamaha came out with a single-speaker solution back in September that allowed flat panel owners to get quality surround sound from just one speaker and now it's time for a refresh on the line with the YSP-800 and YSP-1000.This time around they come in a variety of color...er...shades of black. If the black one doesn't look good with your silver TV, just pick up the silver one. These units have built-in amps and you can plug your DVD player and HDTV receiver into them just like any other surround sound receiver. The YSP-800 is 32-inches wide and pushes 82 watts, while big brother YSP-1000 is 42-inches and has 120 watts of simulated surround sound.Would you consider putting one of these speakers under your flat panel? We would.
Matt Burns02.14.2006Remove commercials and compress HD files with DVRMSToolbox
Want to shrink down or convert some of the DVR-MS high-def files on your WMCE machine? How about stripping (no not that kind) commercials out of your favorite HD recordings with a $10 add-in? Enter DVRMSToolbox, a 3.2MB download that lets you do that and more. The freeware application also converts your television recordings to WMA or MPEG-2 as well, which gives you just a little more freedom from that WMCE box. The free tool can be paired with the Dragon Global ShowAnalyzer for ten clams, which helps remove those commericals and frees up your FF finger for other uses. No, we don't want to know.Dave Mathews tipped us off to the free app, and he provides some insight on how he's shrinking every 4.3GB episode of "24" into a 2.6GB file without commercials or losing any audio or video quality. Looks like Edgar and Chloe have some technical competition at CTU aside from Senator McCain!Download info
Kevin C. Tofel02.13.2006Universal-HD's coverage of the Olympics
We have never been that impressed with Universal-HD as a station and now that they're covering the Olympics with NBC's other stations, the feeling is back. Ben was not impressed with NBCs main coverage and I have not been with Universal HD. I've watched some of the hockey games in HD thanks to Universal and it's not pretty. HDNet has always done a good job with their hockey coverage and the picture has been superb, but that amazing demo of HDTV isn't carried over to Universal-HD. Sure, it still gives the feeling of "being there," but it was like "being there" behind the dirty glass. If this is a sign of the quality NBC is going to give us, I for one am not going to watch as much as I thought. Have you noticed this too?
Matt Burns02.13.2006Light Blue Optics PVPro mini projector
Is that a projector in your pocket or are you just happy to me? That's what people might be asking if you carry a PVPro from Light Blue Optics. This mighty-mite has no moving parts and is just 3.78 cubic inches, which is roughly the size and shape of a matchbox. Lo and behold, the PVPro uses lasers to project green monochrome images at up to a 1024 x 512 resolution, although the company kindly points out that up to 2048 x 1280 is available by request. The PVPro is really geared towards short-range projection from a mobile device (can you say video iPod?) and there won't be a full color version until later this year, so don't pull your projector from the ceiling just yet.[via HDBlog]
Kevin C. Tofel02.13.2006Indie Blu-Ray factory owner hammers HD-DVD
In case you were wondering: yes, Blu-Ray is still battling against HD-DVD as the format war continues. Today's latest lob is from Erick Hansen, one of the first Indie DVD factory owners. Hansen is in the news with an announcement that he'll open the first indie Blu-Ray factory before the 2006 holiday season. Along with the news is a quote regarding HD-DVD: "Simply put, HD-DVD is a transitional format. I have met few executives of digital delivery who believe otherwise. They are pilotlessness, leaderlessness and even sloppy when it comes to technological prowess -- plus run on an antiquated business model."Are the formats really that different Erick? C'mon dude, tell us how you really feel. Any HD-DVD die-hards out there with a comment for Mr. Hansen?
Kevin C. Tofel02.13.2006HDTV Listings: February 13, 2006
What we're watching: If you're all tapped out on the Winter Olympic games already, there are two great NCAA basketball games on ESPN-HD. The first tip is at 7 p.m. and features Connecticut traveling to Philly for a battle with the Villanova Wildcats. Immediately following that game, the Jayhawks of Kansas head south to visit Oklahoma State at 9 p.m. Both games are in 720p, which actually might be better than the 1080i Olympic feeds, no? Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Kevin C. Tofel02.13.2006DLP projectors ride the Kentucky Derby
Sure, you could watch the Kentucky Derby from the grandstands, but why not watch from inside the track? The Kentucky Derby Museum tapped Panasonic for nine of their PT-DW7000U DLP projectors and built a 360-degree viewing area. The 720p projectors beam their high-definition signal all around you, so it's as if you're on the infield grass, but you don't have to watch where you step. Various footage is shown on the racetrack oval's 211 linear feet, which is much shorter than the Derby's one-and-a-quarter-mile track; it probably smells better too. Hey Panny: we're hard at work for a similar screen surround as we wait for the Xbox 360's Halo 3; care to lend a hand?
Kevin C. Tofel02.13.2006AVerTV USB tuner for WMCE
AVerMedia's AVerTV USB MCE external TV tuner is a step in the right direction for folks without a tuner or available expansion card slot in their Windows Media Center PC. The $129 device is USB 2.0 capable and provides MPEG-2 hardware compression, which is generally faster than software compression. If you need a primary or even secondary tuner, this is a simple add-on, but there's only one problem as the tuner is NTSC-only. WMCE requires an NTSC tuner (we still don't understand that one) for you to configure an ATSC tuner, so this could still be helpful for some folks. We tried to check for an MPEG-4 or ATSC solution, but the company's domain expired a week ago, so all we see is static.
Kevin C. Tofel02.13.2006Got HDCP? Think again
You know, we hate Chicken Little as much as the next person, but man the sky might be falling. Everyone here at HDBeat knows you're going to need HDCP to watch HD on your PC, but now it appears that alone won't be enough to enjoy the disc you bought for your computer, since every PC will have to pay a license fee for HDCP. The fee is $15,000 annually with a per device cost of $0.005, which of course seems like nothing until you consider this means no white boxes. We know that not all of you build your own, but it's still nice to have the option, and of course this goes for those who hope to upgrade their video card to support the new standard as well. So it appears with this fee anyone who wants to watch the next generation HD on their PC will need to buy a new PC from one of the big boys.
Ben Drawbaugh02.13.2006HDTV Listings for February 12, 2006
What we're watching: Hopefully, there aren't any issues with the Winter Olympic games HD feed tonight; last night there were some issues. The games fire up on NBC in 1080i at 7 p.m. tonight. If you missed 2002's "The Sum of All Fears", you can catch up with Jack Ryan at 9 p.m. on CBS in 1080i. Don't forget that this Jack Ryan isn't Harrison Ford; Ben Affleck was tapped for Tom Clancy's hero.
Kevin C. Tofel02.12.2006HDTV Listings for February 11, 2006
What we're watching: We're increasing our listings a smidge beyond primetime for the Winter Olympic games over the next two weeks. There's just so much HD Olympic Coverage on NBC that we don't want you to miss a thing, especially the new "Synchronized Curling" events. The highlighted events of Skiing, Speedskating and Figure Skating all kick off at 8 p.m. tonight. If warm-weather sports are more your climate, you can join me in celebrating the return of NASCAR. I know it's silly because the cars go in a circle, which is "no where" and the first car to go "no where" effectively wins, but I'm a sucker for the driver drama. Tonight is a non-points event starting at 8:30 p.m. on TNT-HD. And according to them, they know drama.
Kevin C. Tofel02.11.2006Radiospire: HDTV with no wires
In our quest to remove wires and dust bunnies from behind our HDTV sets, we stumbled across Radiospire, a company touting a wireless HDMI solution. Don't yank the cables out of your set just yet; the current iteration of their chipset supports transmissions up to 15-feet only, but it's a start. Better yet, the transfer rate is up to 3 Gbps, so according to the company, there's no need to compress your data. With full HDCP support and resolutions of 720p, 1080i and 1080p, this sounds like a viable product to remove that clutter of cables in the future.
Kevin C. Tofel02.10.2006HDTV Listings for February 10, 2006
What we're watching: The Winter Olympic games are here! Well, not exactly here; they're in Turin, Italy but you catch our drift. The Opening Ceremonies are typically filled with vibrant color and vivid sounds, just perfect for high-definition television. Tonight, you can join the games at 8 p.m. on NBC in 1080i. Kick your ski-boots off tonight and catch the beginning of the games, would ya? Oh and just to squash the rumors before the games even begin, there is absolutely no truth to the story that Howie Mandel will be hosting the game show "Medal or No Medal" during the games.
Kevin C. Tofel02.10.2006