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Sapphire shows off 56-inch QuadHD LCD
When it comes to QuadHD, if 82-inches is too big, and 52-inches isn't quite big enough, maybe Sapphire's 56-inch, 8.3 megapixel, 3840 x 2160 res LCD is just right. TGDaily pegs the price at around $60,000, a price which might compel us to spring for Astro Systems' pro model. Unfortunately, even a willingness to drop that amount of coin for this HDTV wrangled details on exactly when it will be available or any other specs, but things have come a long way from CMO's demo unit two years ago. The only question now is what to do when 33 megapixel Super Hi-Vision hits airwaves.
Sapphire Technologies demoes new 3D monitors and drivers at Computex
Sapphire Technologies is showing off some new 3D gear at Computex this week, with a pair of 3D monitors and a new stereoscopic graphics driver on display. The driver works with ATI graphics cards to send a polarized image to the dual-layer monitors, which displays a 3D image to viewers with special glasses. Details on the monitors are pretty sketchy, but Sappire says it's not working with Zalman and that it'll have something on the market in the "next couple of months." Great -- now just ditch the shades and we'll be all good.
Cheaper blue lasers on the way?
Whether the format war is over or not, one thing that would definitely get more buyers off the fence and owning more high definition players would be lower prices. Aonex Technologies and Kyma Technologies are the latest to announce they've found a better (and cheaper) way to pump out the blue laser diodes necessary in every Blu-ray and HD DVD player. Aonex claims its A-Sapph wafer technology improves on current sapphire based processes, enabling an increase in the number of chips per wafer and improving yields substantially. As fans of lasers in general, and not just in relation to HDTVs and lower prices, we're excited, but without even the hint of an expected release date it will probably be a while before these are ready for the market.
Sony displays prototype "Sapphire" second-gen Blu-ray players
Unfortunately they were only given a passing mention during Sony's CES press conference earlier, but a quick look at the fact sheet revealed a few additional details about these two second generation Blu-ray players with launch and price TBA. Named Sapphire 1 and 2, we don't know what makes them different from each other, but the only features listed are 1080p24 output, and support for x.v.Color, Sony's term for the xvYCC expanded color space. Of course, we're most interested in seeing if they can load a Blu-ray movie as fast as the PlayStation 3, but that remains to be seen. Impress Watch got a look at the two players, but it will likely be a while before we find out more about what the followups to Sony's BDP-S1 will be capable of.[Via Impress]
