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LitPhone projector phone, new pocket PJs surface in Hong Kong
Outside of Samsung's W7900 Show and a few nondescript prototypes, the projector phone sector has been largely stagnant. Thankfully, it seems at least one no-name company is looking to make a name for itself by developing yet another entrant. The LitPhone, designed and showcased by China's own SCT Optronics, is a GSM handset that sports CMMB TV tuning, a touchscreen and a built-in projector with an undisclosed native resolution. Furthermore, the company also demonstrated its USB-powered PCLit mobile projector at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, which debuted alongside Join Technology's JP77 and WE3 Technology's WE8626. Have a glance at the whole bundle down in the read link -- just don't get those hopes too high about a US release date anytime soon.
Panasonic delivers first LCD packing built-on Japanese HD DTV antennas
Inside what appears to be a run of the mill Panasonic 17-inch 1366 x 768 edge LED backlit IPS LCD (ok, maybe not so run of the mill) is a world's first, picking up that title because it can go where your external antenna wiring doesn't. Capable of picking up all 12 segments of Japan's digital TV broadcasts courtesy of that funky rear mounted antenna -- lighting up (pictured) is thankfully optional -- the TH-L17F1 HDTV is completely ready for Japan's still upcoming DTV transition. Of course, diversity antennas alone are nothing new, with plenty of DVB / ISDB (the digital TV format of choice in Europe and Japan) tuners capable of picking up multiple sub channels or, in this case, able to kick down to 1seg in particularly bad signal conditions, to improve picture quality. We don't know how well that could work with ATSC broadcasts in the U.S. but never fear, we're sure Panasonic will figure out a way to bring over annoyingly distracting (and hopefully better at picking up digital TV signals) antenna technology soon enough.[Via AV Watch]
Mitsubishi's AVCREC Blu-ray recorders stuff HD content onto standard DVDs
Toshiba was first to score a high def recorder capable of stuffing HD content onto your choice of hard disk, blue-laser disc, or standard DVD. However, its HD Rec solution suffers from one little problem: the recently deceased HD DVD format. Now Mitsubishi steps into the void with a pair of 500GB DVR-BZ200 and 250GB DVR-BZ200 Blu-ray recorders. Both feature support for Blu-ray's AVCREC specification allowing them to record about 2 hours of Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) content in MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format direct to standard 4.7GB DVDs. That's about 8 hours to a single-sided Blu-ray disc. Now the catch, the standard is limited to ISDB broadcasts making this a Japan-only solution for the time being. Nevertheless, we expect to see more AVCREC capable devices including camcorders and PC optical drives as the standard prepares for take off. Damn you ATSC![Via Akihabara News and Impress]
Sharp intros teeny, tiny digital TV tuner
Everyone wants digital OTA TV on their cell phones, right? We sure do and are glad to see Sharp making that dream come true for at least part of the world. Their latest creation crams all the goods into a tiny 1.3x1.3x1.25 mm chip which only uses 85mW of power. Unfortunately, this little guy isn't headed to the States though, thanks to our ATSC digital standard - the VA3A5JZ912 only works with Japanese "Wansegu broadcasts." In other words, this OneSeg or ISDB-T tuner simply will not work over here due to our type of digital broadcasts. ATSC tuners are getting smaller by the press release, so hopefully sometime soon we too can watch TV on our cell phones without paying a provider. Just because you can watch TV on your cell phone though, doesn't mean anything good is going to be on.[Via I4U]
D-PA relaunches to hasten 2011 DTV cutover in Japan
Yes, the beginning of the end if officially upon us, and yes, the Japanese are still probably more interested in colonizing the moon with robots than worrying over that pesky DTV cutover, but "a stronger and larger Association for Promotion of Digital Broadcasting (D-PA) will be relaunched next month, merging two separate organizations" in an effort to "speed up" the adoption of Digital TV. The newly-formed entity is now supported by "local broadcasters, mobile phone service providers, and TV manufacturers," and essentially hopes to broaden the marketing efforts in order to "achieve a target goal of 30 million DTV sets sold in Japan by March 2008, or about 63-percent of the country's 48 million households." Of course, the D-PA should probably get started on fleshing out an actual set of guidelines for making the switch by 2011 if they hope to garner any sort of following, but they should really take heart in the fact that they've got an extra 24 months to get things in order compared to we Americans.
South Americans countries hem and haw over HDTV standard
While it's admittedly unfortunate that the world just can't agree on a single high definition broadcast format to use around the globe, boundaries have already been laid across most of the first world nations. Many South American countries, however, still haven't chosen which format to support, and proponents for both ISDB and DVB are lobbying intently to get their support business. As we suspected early last year, Brazil has finally made its choice, and will take in ISDB as it looks to create more local jobs by manufacturing the equipment from within in new construction factories. Brazilian officials were even able to solicit $2 billion in Japanese funding to erect a "local semiconductor factory be financed by Panasonic, Toshiba, NEC, and Sony." Argentina, however, wasn't swayed one way or the other by the snazzy presentations it saw, and enters 2007 with an "undecided" bid. So as unfortunate as it may be, it looks you'll probably be picking up a separate portable tuner for almost every nation you visit, but hey, at least some things are universal, right?
Brazil chooses ISDB for their digital broadcasts
Brazil is happy. They have their plan for their digital TVs done. Japan is happy. Brazil choose Japan's expensive ISDB format. Everyone is happy - except Japanese soccer fans as Brazil beat them the other day but that is a whole different story.This standard was chosen over ATSC and DVB. We used ATSC here in the States and it works fine, but ISDB has many benefits over our system; cost is not one of them. Brazil felt that the ISDB standard would fit their residents better now and in the future. This is the same system, by the way, that can send high-def video to your cell phone or car. The only downfall really is the cost. But then again if the States could avoid gas at three dollars a gallon and run entirely on ethanol like Brazil, then maybe we could be getting HDTV on our cell phones right now.
