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Sharp BD-HP22H takes a green approach to Blu-ray in the U.K.
The UK is getting its own taste of Sharp provided BD-Live Blu-ray playing tech with the BD-HP22H, complete with DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD and 1080p24 support. Still, to get buyers to come up with the £199.99 pricetag, its touting a 0.7W/standby 20W/playing energy rating. Buyers should be able to decide if that's worth a few quid later on this month.
LG 15-inch OLED TV on sale in December
We knew that LG's 15-inch OLED TV was entering into production this summer, now we've got a ship date: December. This according to an interview with Won Kim, LG's VP of OLED sales and marketing. While 15-inches is small, it easily trumps the world's first production OLED TV, Sony's $2,500 11-inch XEL-1, and is a reasonable size for the bedroom (if you must) or kitchen counter. No word on specs but we expect the production set to offer the same million:1 contrast, 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution, and 30,000-hour shelf life as the prototype unveiled in January. The TV will launch first in Korea for an undisclosed price that is bound to be punishingly expensive.
Home Theater Mag welcomes VIZIO's VSB210WS soundbar to the audio fray
The $350 price point for soundbars is a kind of sweet spot -- it's a fairly modest price, but companies have to deliver dramatic increases in quality over built-in TV audio. From reading Home Theater Mag's review of VIZIO's VSB210WS setup, it sounds like the brand will deliver the goods to value-conscious (an who isn't these days?) audio shoppers who don't want or need a full-blown multi-speaker surround system. The 2.1-channel VSB210WS soundbar+sub combo picked up both SRS TruSurround HD and TruVolume, and while it sounds like the TruVolume was a little too obvious about its on-the-fly volume adjustments, TruSurround HD got a nod from the reviewer. But more than signal processing, it was the fundamentally good sound quality that took the cake -- it's always better to deliver good quality stereo than poor multi-channel. Hit that link for the full details.
VuNow's internet video-to-TV streamer finds a home in Sherwood receivers
The VuNow platform is sitting a lot prettier, as it has grabbed an OEM deal to be included in Sherwood's upcoming line of receivers. Already making an appearance as the Netgear ITV2000 standalone unit, now high end amps and surround sound systems will have access to a variety of internet video sources without additional hardware. Verismo's said it will be pursuing many different opportunities for its technology, we'll wait and see where the YouTube / CNN / ESPN and more streaming hardware shows up next, though your cable box would appear to be a safe bet.
HDTV Listings for June 16, 2009
What we're watching tonight: TNT (1080i) brings the series premieres of Wedding Day at 8 p.m. and HawthoRNe at 9 p.m., then the season premiere of Saving Grace at 10 p.m. TLC (1080i) has 18 Kids & Counting at 9 p.m. and The Little Couple at 10 p.m. Fox (720p) has Mental at 9 p.m. ABC (720p) airs the series finale of Cupid at 10 p.m. Sci Fi (1080i) has ECW at 10 p.m. Discovery (1080i) brings Deadliest Catch at 9 & 10 p.m. FX (720p) airs Rescue Me at 10 p.m. History (720p) has Life After People at 10 p.m. ESPN (720p) has Texas/Arizona State College World Series action at 7 p.m.
PopcornHour's latest C-200 media box is Blu-ray (& anything else) ready
The followup to the popular PopcornHour media streamer series has finally been announced, and the list of features makes it look worth the wait. Revealed in a post on the Networked Media Tank forums the C-200 contains an upgraded Sigma SMP8643 667 Mhz processor, HDMI 1.3 out, two SATA slots, a drive bay for mounting your own HDD, DVD or even Blu-ray drive (requires internal HDD or 1GB USB stick) and supports a list of networking standards, codecs and containers far too long to recount here. At first glance, only DivX jumps out as missing from the list, have a look at the forum posting and let us know if you spot. Of course, there's already a video unboxing available, seen after the break (along with the copied list of specs) or check out the full Google translated early hands on impressions from HomeTheater.co.il. The most pressing questions of when will these be available and for how much, will have to be answered at another time.[Via HomeTheater.co.il & Geek Tonic]
Paradigm's new Reference Hybrid Millenia speakers split the in/on wall difference
Oh, what's a well-heeled audiophile who's also a fashionista to do about speakers? If you're in the enviable position of having to decide between top-notch in-wall and on-wall speakers, why not split the difference with Paradigm's new Reference Hybrid Millenia 10 and 20 speakers? These new models literally straddle the divide: part of the speaker is recessed into the wall so you get the benefits of a completely-designed enclosure, and about 1.5-inches protrudes into the room, getting the drivers out-of-plane with the wall without making your speakers envious of that new flat panel during the "thin is in" competition. Well, at least until OLEDs come into the living room. The LCR Hybrid Millenia 10 and 20 sport drivers that enjoy the full benefit of Paradigm's wizardry with materials and design, and come priced at $379 and $529 each, respectively. Would you expect anything less than a great compromise from a Canadian company? Full details and some more pics after the break.
Audyssey's Sub Equalizer aims to tame the pro bass
Audyssey's Sub Equalizer may be targeted at the pro market, but if it's good enough for the pros, some enterprising home enthusiast will find a place for it in their home setup. Much like the Paradigm Perfect Bass Kit we just reviewed, the Audyssey Sub Equalizer will do its level best to get that pesky subwoofer properly integrated with the rest of your system -- except it'll work with subs of a non-Paradigm variety. For those who can't fit some upper-tier Denon, Onkyo/Integra, or NAD electronics into their signal chain, this little piece of kit brings the well-regarded MultEQ XT technology to your low Hertz. Available July 1, but with this being targeted at professionals (and looking the part, we might add), we've got a feeling that the price won't be wallet-friendly.
New Total Home DVR, remote scheduling & guide features coming to U-verse
C'mon now, you knew as well as we did that AT&T couldn't just...stop after rolling out Total Home DVR to its entire U-verse service area, today it's announced a few new tweaks that it plans to roll out over the next few weeks and months. Look forward to the ability to schedule and manage recordings from any U-verse receiver, not just the DVR itself, a newly enhanced remote scheduling website and an On Demand top picks app to find movies viewers might like based on their past recommendations. If that's not enough, Starz is free for July, plus a speed bump to 12 Mbps for Internet Max subs and a slightly streamlined program guide that should make the Enter button a bit more useful while browsing or watching TV. Check out the PR for the full details as most of these will be rolling out in different markets over the next few weeks, or check out the video embedded after the break.
DDD CEO talks the future of 3D HDTV
On the 3D movement, DDD has consistently been a step ahead so far, shipping add-on hardware for Samsung televisions and jumping on the bandwagon in Japan, but if you're still unsure about its impact check out this interview with I4U. Unfortunately there's no new details on the latest 2d-to-3D hardware we're waiting on, but CEO Chris Yewdall drops science on glasses free 3D, new laptops on the way from Acer and 3D gaming. Most notable are his comments that users are happy to wear glasses, given the much greater resolution experienced compared to autostereoscopic solutions, plus the company's open approach to porting PC games to its TriDef Ignition platform allowing enthusiasts to create a profile and use any display with their solution. That enough info to have you itching for a 3D TV?
Blu-ray releases on June 16th 2009
Up this week is a big ol' slew of TV shows and catalogs, but that's ok because we're very excited to see the first season of our favorite shows on Blu-ray: Lost. But as much as we love it, we're still waiting on the super all inclusive complete season box set, and since it'll probably cost a small fortune, we'll be saving up in the meantime. That isn't the only great show coming to Blu-ray this week either, as Burn Notice Season Two also comes out, and if you haven't checked out the best action show on TV since the A-Team, you need to go ahead and at least add the first disc to your queue. The last one we'll mention because we loved it so much was John Adams, and we'll just say that we wish our teachers in school made history this interesting. Lost: The Complete First Season (Disney) Lost: The Complete Second Season (Disney) Miracle (Disney) Morning Light (Disney) The Greatest Game Ever Played (Disney) Burn Notice: Season Two (Fox) The Diary of Anne Frank (Fox) Generation Kill (HBO) John Adams (HBO) The Cell 2 (New Line) Ghostbusters (Sony) No Way Back (Sony) Striking Distance (Sony) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Sony) Fracture (New Line) Friday The 13th (2009) (New Line) Friday The 13th: Part 2 (Paramount) Friday The 13th: Part III (Paramount) Kickboxer (Lionsgate) The Seventh Seal (Criterion) Spaceballs (MGM)
FCC says DTV transition going smoothly, few TVs shot up
Well, the DTV transition finally went down, and after the endless delay and countless arguments, it seems as though June 12 hit with more of a whimper than a bang: the FCC says there haven'y been any widespread service disruptions, and although the agency's toll-free help lines recorded 700,000 support calls between June 8 and June 12, most converter box issues were resolved in less than five minutes by a simple channel re-scan. Similarly, we can't say we've heard of any particularly big problems out there, so really, we're just wondering what the hell took so long.
Analyst: Blu-ray can't stop video sales slump, sees modest growth in 2010
As frequently predicted, Blu-ray hasn't been enough to make up for sagging DVD sales, as a new Screen Digest report indicates a 4.8 percent slide worldwide last year, falling more than $2.6 billion. After plateauing approaching 2007, disc sales have been falling ever since and even Blu-ray's $482 million contribution can't hold up the slack. Still, it's looking at online rentals like Lovefilm and Quickflix to make up for some of the rental losses internationally, but don't expect Blu-ray to help grow the market at all until at least 2010. Of course, the company did also predict the format war would remain stalemated just weeks before Warner ended the whole thing, so we'd keep a grain of salt handy while reading.[Via Financial Times]
HDTV Listings for June 15, 2009
What we're watching tonight: ABC Family (720p) has the season finale of Greek at 8 p.m. TNT (1080i) has The Closer at 9 p.m. and Raising the Bar at 10 p.m. NBC (1080i) airs I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here at 8 p.m. USA (1080i) brings WWE: Raw at 9 p.m. TLC (1080i) has Jon & Kate Plus 8 at 9 p.m. and Cake Boss at 10 p.m. A&E (720p) has Intervention at 9 p.m. and Obsessed at 10 p.m. HBO (1080i) premieres Joe Buck Live at 9 p.m. Showtime (1080i) has Weeds at 10 p.m. and Nurse Jackie at 10:30 p.m. ESPN (720p) brings Brewers/Indians baseball at 7 p.m. ESPN2 (720p) has LSU/Arkansas College World Series baseball at 7 p.m.
Viewsonic announces three new 3D projectors
Good news, 3D fanboys and girls, looks like Viewsonic's back on the scene with a clutch of 120Hz 3D-enabled projectors. The first new model, the PJD6381, looks to be aimed at schools and businesses, with an extremely short throw ratios (around .68) for reducing shadowing effects, and a number of interactive whiteboard options. Available in August, this guy has 1024 x 768 XGA resolution, 2,500 ANSI lumens, a 2,500:1 contrast ratio, 120Hz refresh rate, and is compatible with the both Texas Instruments' DLP Link and NVIDIA's 3D-Vision 3D technology -- expect it to have an MSRP of $1,249. The PJD6211 and PJD6221 ($849 and $899, respectively) also sport 1024 x 768 XGA resolution, as well as up to 2,700 lumens, a 2,800:1 contrast ratio and both DLP Link and 3D-Vision compatibility. These two should hit the stores some time in July.
Marantz UD9004 SACD / Blu-ray player combo priced & dated
Finally, here's a peek at the Marantz UD9004 Blu-ray / SACD player announced a couple of months ago. Besides posing for the cameras, it has a release date and price now available, due in Japan next month at a cool 577,500 yen ($5,894 U.S.) As mentioned, all that doesn't buy DVD-Audio support, but 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta chipset, BD-Live, and RS-232 are present and accounted for those with the requisite taste and pocketbooks.
HDTV Listings for June 14, 2009
What we're watching tonight: ABC (720p) has Magic/Lakers NBA Finals Game 5 at 8 p.m. HBO (1080i) has the season premiere of True Blood at 9 p.m. History (720p) has Ice Road Truckers at 9 p.m. and Expedition Africa at 10 p.m. USA (1080i) lines up Law & Order: CI at 9 p.m. and In Plain Sight at 10 p.m. A&E (720p) has Gene Simmons' Family Jewels at 9 & 9:30 p.m. and the series premiere of Hammertime at 10 & 10:30 p.m. ESPN2 (720p) has College World Series action with Southern Miss/Texas at 7 p.m. and NHRA SuperNationals at 10 p.m. ESPN (720p) airs Cardinals/Indians at 8 p.m.
Digital transition causing grief for Windows Media Center users
You know we really thought Microsoft learned its lesson back in February when the first wave of the analog channels went dark, but we were wrong. A quick trip to The Green Button shows that the hottest topic this weekend is the fact that any ATSC channel that changed frequencies on Friday, doesn't work anymore. The exact cause isn't known, but what is, is that while anyone who has a $50 digital converter box can just rescan to find the channels at their new home, Media Center users have to go well beyond anything your mom could do to get all the channels back. Our guess is that instead of looking at the PSIP data of discovered channels, Media Center uses guide data to map the frequencies to the channel and this data wasn't updated on Friday. On Vista you'll want to first manually delete the channels in your atscchannels.xml file, then you can add the missing channels via a menu (Settings>TV>Guide>Add Missing Channel) -- Windows 7 users don't need to edit the file first. You will need to know the new frequency when doing this, which you can find on Antennaweb.org. Or you can just wait a few days until Microsoft gets its act together, it isn't like there's anything on TV in the Summer anyways.
FiOS TV expansions: June, 13, 2009
FiOS TV expansions continued as usual this week, with two new areas in New York signing up for the service as Verizon made note of its infrastructure investments in the area, and the company switched on access in Marblehead, Mass. Otherwise, there was a note about the VOD offerings (no mention of 1080p,) but not much else this week.Read - Video That Is in Demand is 'On Demand' From Verizon Read - Two Additional New York Communities Approve Television Franchises for Verizon Read - Upstate New York Areas Benefit Through Verizon's Network Investments for Region Read - More Cable TV Choice for Consumers in Marblehead, Mass
HDTV Listings for June 13, 2009
What we're watching tonight: NBC (1080i) airs Kings at 8 p.m. ABC (720p) brings the series finale of Pushing Daisies at 10 p.m. CBS (1080i) continues Harper's Island at 9 p.m. Sci Fi (1080i) tosses in Star Runners at 9 p.m. ESPN (720p) has 2009 NCAA College World Series action at 7 p.m. ESPN2 (720p) airs NASCAR Nationwide Series @ Kentucky at 8:30 p.m. Speed (720p) continues 24 Hours of Le Mans coverage until 10 p.m.
