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Royal Caribbean Cruise install HDTVs in their ships
Got to tell you. Cruises are great. Those ships are just so cool and are loaded with tons of things to do. The food is great and there are so many cool people on 'em. The only thing about cruises that kind of...well...dissapoint is the rooms. They are just so small and they have tiny little TVs in them. Truthfully, their isn't any room for any thing bigger then a 13 to 20-inch set, but Royal Caribbean Cruises has started to install 23 and 32-inch Samsung LCDs into their new ships. The plan is to install some 7,000 LCDs into two of their newest ships; Freedom of the Sea already has 1,700 of them installed.
FCC approves Samsung SGH-P900 T-DMB phone
Setting the stage for some good 'ol mobile TV squinting here in The States, the FCC just approved Samsung's SGH-P900 T-DMB handset. Announced back in February for the European market, the P900 represents Sammy's first DMB handset push outside Korea and sports tri-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE, a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, and MicroSD slot. But what makes this phone notable is support for digital mobile TV sure to slake that 2.2-inch mobile TV viewin' jones you may or may not be suffering. Now all that remains is for someone to launch a T-DMB service 'round these parts. Hello...anybody there, XM...anyone? [Warning: PDF link] [Via Unwired View]
Blu-ray recordable media appears at Circuit City Stores
Wow. This is a surprise. Circuit City is selling and stocking blank Blu-ray discs on their website and in their stores. They are single sided 25 gig TDK media for $24.99. We did know this was coming but not this soon. Do you think we need to go into how this is somewhat strange considering that there are no drives out yet to utilize these discs? Panasonic has a PC drive coming in June for $850 and and IO Data has their drive coming out a month later. But till then these discs will be nothing but a conversation starter.
HDTV Listings for May 14, 2006
What we're watching: Your mother is very upset that you never call or write, so stop by and catch a new episode of Desperate Housewives with her. Further confirming that there is an episode of Law & Order on somewhere in the world at all times, we get back to back new episodes of Criminal Intent starting at 9 p.m.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
HDTV Listings for May 12, 2006
What we're watching: No season finales here folks, the NBA Playoffs second round is not yet on elimination game status, while Close to Home, Las Vegas and Numbers continue their seasons as normal tonight. Numbers brings back bird flu as a topic, if Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America didn't already scare that nasty air-breathing habit out of you.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Is plasma still the king of HDTVs
NewTechnologyTV.com has an article about plasma's being the reigning king of HDTVs. We tend to agree with that statement, but are curous to know what you think. Plasma do offer a great picture at reasonable sizes and price. Sure, LCDs tend to be more versitale and can be made in different sizes but they do not offer the same type of picture quality that a plasma does. DLP is great technolodgy to make a very large high-def picture but again, does not offer a better picture then a quality plasma does. CRTs, a long time favorite, can produce a better picture then plasmas but top off at 34-inches; cannot be the king and be that small. What do you folks think? Is NewTechnologyTV.com and us off our rockers today?
Problems with Toshiba's HD DVD player
So, has anyone been having issues with their HD DVD players. There are only two of them out there, the Toshiba HD-A1 and HD-XA1 and they both seem to be having "issues." Most of the problems have involved freezing up during the movie. To solve this, a user would have to hit pause in order for the audio and video to sync back up. It seems that this happens on every movie and sometimes more then once. The bad units seem to have a common thread however; all seem to have been made in March. Are any of our readers experiencing this?
A high-def BBQ
What HD sports lover hasn't had this dilemma in the past? The football game is on in glorious HD but there is barbecuing that needs to be done. What does a guy do? BBQ Pits by Klose has a solution that will satisfy your eyes and belly. They have outfitted an already killer BBQ setup with HD satellite and a 23-inch HD LCD. Oh, there is of course a DVD recorder and satellite radio, with 24 karat gold fixtures and Tiffany lamps. There is just too much to take in but boy do we want one. [via BornRich]
Verizon continues their FiOS rollout in Pasco County, Florida
Notch another win up HDTV and broadband lovers everywhere. Verizon is moving into another county making there one less market till they move into your area. Pasco County is getting this service after their city council voted for more competition. This agreement will give 230,000 consumers another choice during Verizons 10 year contract. Their FiOS service transmits the data over fiber optic cable instead of the normal copper lines. This allows for a dramatically higher capability of data; we're talking 30 Mbs broadband here and lots more HD stations. Currently, they offer 16 national high-def stations plus locals per area. Just another reason to move to Florida we guess.
Bond, James Bond coming to VOOM HD
So glad you could join us Mr. Bond.Oh James Bond. How you have a cult following and we are guessing that a big portion of our readers are part of it; the three of us are. The classic spy films can always be found on some random TV station but VOOM's FILMFEST is running all 17 of them in June. Best of all the movies will be uncut and commercial free too. The only issue we can see is that for some odd reason David Hasselhoff is going to be the host.
HDTV Listings for May 11, 2006 - DVR ALERT
What we're watching: Just making sure everyone is aware, two of our high definition mainstays, My Name is Earl and The Office are doing things a bit differently tonight for their season finales. Instead of slotting a rerun in the place of the now-departed Four Kings, Will & Grace, Earl and Office will all be 40 minutes long, shifting the start time earlier by ten minutes for the latter two. Please adjust your DVRs -- and your lives -- accordingly.Also ending their season tonight are Smallville, Everybody Hates Chris, Love Inc., Eve and Cuts.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Pioneer updates Carrozzeria in-car entertainment systems
If you're looking to play almost every audio/video format known to man in your car, even MiniDiscs, then Pioneer has just introduced a whopper of an in-dash system that may be perfect for you (well, if you live in Japan, that is). The AVIC-VH009MD in-car multimedia system, which takes over the high end of Pioneer's Carrozzeria lineup, features a 5.1 channel amp, dedicated TV tuner, GPS receiver with birds-eye view, and a head unit that contains a 7-inch screen and plays back DVDs, CDs, MDs, and MP3/WMA files as well as DivX-encoded videos. Also new to the Carrozzeria line is the AVH-P90DVA, which also has a TV tuner and 7-inch screen, but *only* supports DVDs, CDs, VCDs, and the aforementioned codecs plus AAC, but not MiniDiscs or navigation. The all-in-one system will go for a cool $3,200, while the AVH-P90DVA costs $2,300, although if you want to listen to tracks from your cellphone, you'll have to forgo a lot of these niceties and stick with the Bluetooth-equipped AVIC-S1 that we brought you the other day.Read- AVIC-VH009MDRead- AVH-P90DVA
HDTV on a stick
File this the "why don't we have this in the States." This is a USB 2.0 HD tuner for the European market that picks up Freeview signals. Just plug this in to your laptop and way you go. The AverTV DVB-T Volar was annouced about a month ago but is now available for purchase around the 'net for about £55. The little tuner comes with a little antennia that we are sure is going to help little in pulling in HD signals. Has anyone used a tuner like this? Thoughts?
Sony's take on lack of HDMI on the $500 PS3
There has been a huge outcry from the gaming community about the lack of HDMI on the $499 PS3. Sony has responded by saying that the reason for the lack of HDMI support is that many HDTVs do not have HDMI on it and there is not a big difference in the picture quality. Fair enough. Many older HDTVs do not have HDMI but all the current and future ones do and will support HDMI. And no, there isn't a huge difference in the picture quality between component and HDMI, but lets think of the future here. The PS3 is a huge part of the Blu-ray strategy but without HDMI you aren't going to get 1080p and the ICT thing is huge. If, and we are saying if, the movie studios start using the Image Constraint Token, then you less expensive PS3 will not be able to watch your expensive Blu-ray movies at any resolution past 480p. Sony has been claiming the the PS3 is future proof and we just do not agree with it concerning this model. People do not care about the lack of built-in card readers or WIFI but HDMI is a major concern. When Microsoft launched two different priced XBOX 360s, they were just simply difference versions not different models. You could always add to you cheaper 360 what you choose not to buy initially, where with the PS3, you cannot simply buy an HDMI port.
NBC's US Open coverage will be in high-def
What is the best looking HD sport? Golf (period) Football and hockey just don't hold up against the tranquil beauty of the gentleman's sport. This year we have seen a good amount of high-def golf coverage on CBS but now NBC is getting in the game too. Their June coverage of the event will be in glorious 1080i beauty. The event spans four days and NBC has high-def coverage of all of them.
HDTV content coming to a hotel near you
Tell us how much you hate it when you are staying at a high-end hotel that features HDTVs and they don't have high-def content on them. It sure annoys us. LodgeNet is working on changing that though. They are indicating that 2006 will be the year that HDTV content finally makes inroads towards the 160,000 guest rooms that LodgeNet services. Don't think that these hotels are installing HD just for you though as this is something to set them apart from the competitors. Truthfully though, we don't care who they do it for as long has they have HDTV content on their high definition sets.
TViX M-3100U HDD recorder with HD out
We've become accustomed to seeing some good looking hard-drive video units from Korea's TViX, and the company's latest, the M-3100U, appears to be no exception. Besides having a sleek, HTPC-style case, the M-3100U can record video content from a TV, PC or just about any analog source, and can save it in MPEG 1 or MPEG 2 formats. The box is also apparently capable of HD output at resolutions up to 1080i, though we assume that's analog HD, given that this thing doesn't have HDMI or DVI, but does have component outs. We somehow suspect that, if you want a similar box with real digital HD, you're probably better off seeing what you can get from your cable company or waiting for a TiVo Series 3 box -- though neither of those may be quite as pretty as this one.
HDTV Listings for May 10, 2006
What we're watching: More new Alias / Lost / Invasion, although the biggest mystery may be how Miami got blown out by the Nets the other night. We'll see if they can repeat tonight at 8 p.m. on TNT. Fans of The Bedford Diaries can look forward to a two-hour season finale tonight while on Discovery they have Ice Cube's (wrong O'Shea) Big Adventure.Also could someone do me a favor, Starz schedule indicates their only high definition programming will be Hidalgo, and that they will be airing The Bourne Supremacy in prime time in standard definition. I honestly can't believe thats true, but it's what the schedule says. Since I won't be home to watch it myself, can someone flip over and tell us what sort of 480i miscegenation is going on here?Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Xbox 360 HD DVD player
Well, we finally have some details about the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Joystiq/Engadget has great coverage of the Microsoft press conference and snapped a pic of the PowerPoint slide. First, it looks like it is just an external optical drive that connects via USB. Second, it will be out this year just in time for the holidays. The big thing though that everyone wants to know is still missing; the price. We are hoping that it is around the $150 - $200 range but no one knows for sure yet. We will let you know as soon as the price becomes available.
HDTV Listings for May 9, 2006
What we're watching: Close only counts in hoseshoes, so despite a narrow loss or a blowout, the Mavericks and Cavaliers are both down 1-0 in their second-round matchups, they'll try to get back on track tonight on TNT-HD. If you feel like being scared silly in a ripped-from-the-headlines drama, Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America should be good to keep you inside for weeks.Also new tonight are back-to-back episodes of The Unit, and season finales for Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
