Widescreen
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Dell quietly announces 2407WFP
Say it loud and proud, Dell, you're finally bringing the 2407WFP to the Yoonited States. Looks like among the other things Dell brought to the table yesterday, the US launch of the latest version of their 24-inch monitor was included, however quietly (it still doesn't appear to be up on their site, but according to CNET they've definitely loosed the thing). As we well know, It's not a whole lot different than its predecessor, the Engadget-gold-standard 2405FPW, but this one -- for better or worse -- adds HDCP to the mix. CNET says you'll pony up $949 to get one, but before you do you'd better make sure you're emotionally prepared to erase that desktop color mode for good.[Thanks, Pramit]
Slingbox released in UK
Because you can never have convenient enough access to all that great BBC programming, Sling Media has just released a version of their popular Slingbox for British TV junkies. The UK model has been tweaked a bit for European viewing, with PAL tuners replacing the NTSC versions found in US boxes, and a DVB-T tuner thrown in for placeshifting that sweet, sweet OTA Freeview content. In conjunction with the UK rollout, the folks at Sling also announced an updated version of the SlingPlayer PC software, whose main upgrades include widescreen 16:9 support and a skinnable client. Slingbox: UK will initially be available exclusively at PC World's website and retail locations -- and at Currys stores in four to six weeks -- for £180, VAT included.
How-To: Build yourself a front projection home theater
In today's How-To we get to play with other people's toys. We upgraded a home theater to a high definition front projection system. We lay it out, set it up, drill holes, nearly die in a Texas attic, and bring home the popcorn.Our project home theater already has the essentials for taking advantage of a high definition display: a progressive scan DVD player with component video output and a hi-def DISH Network satellite receiver provide a HD video source for the projector.Screen SelectionIt may seem counter intuitive, but it's helpful to consider (but not purchase) the screen before choosing a projector. Knowing the size of screen you want in your room will determine where the projector needs to be mounted, and how bright it needs to be. If you're not sure, marking out the dimensions of the screen with some blue masking tape and checking out the view from your seating area can be helpful. Click on to read the rest of this week's How-To!
Inkel's WIDETOUCH 5.6 does navigation and multimedia
We see a lot of GPS-enabled foreign PMPs pass through here, but rarely are they being pitched by a mascot quite as appealing as Inkel's Starfox-meets-Robin Hood spokesperson. Available in black or white, the WIDETOUCH 5.6 features -- you guessed it -- a 5.6-inch widescreen LCD for navigation and media viewing, 400MHz Samsung ARM CPU, and built-in DMB receiver on select models. That digital TV option hikes the price up to almost $600, but since this model will only be sold in Korea, things like pricing and availability probably don't matter much to you.
Lenovo's Z-series ThinkPads to get Core Duo options in the Z61t and Z61m
If you've been bugging your corporate IT department for a new laptop, try to hold off a few more days before making the final push, because Lenovo is set to upgrade its Z-series line of ThinkPad notebooks with dual-core processor options on Tuesday. Both the 14.1-inch Z60t and 15.4-inch Z60m will be bumped to the Z61t and Z61m, respectively, and offer three varieties of Core Duo procs (maxing out at the 2.0GHz T2500) or two flavors each of the Core Solo or Celeron M chips. All the other specs on both models seem to remain unchanged: you still get WXGA widescreen displays (at the minimum), integrated graphics (along with the option of upgrading to ATI Radeon cards in the m), 256MB of RAM to start, your choice of hard drive capacities and speeds, all three 802.11 standards, optional Bluetooth, and of course, the option of built-in EV-DO which have made the Z-series so popular. No word yet on exact pricing for these new models, but you can expect them to start around the same price points as the Z60 models did when they were first released.
Wii Twilight Princess in widescreen, GameCube in 4:3
According to a Nintendo press release titled, "Nintendo Introduces the Next Leap in Video Games," the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will feature a widescreen mode, but the GameCube version will not. This can be inferred from the following statement:"[Twilight Princess] will also be playable on Nintendo GameCube, but without the widescreen format or special controller functions."Is this Nintendo's subtle way of urging us into its next generation? Why does a stripped-down GameCube version of Twilight Princess even exist? Is Nintendo simply satisfying fans that are hesitant to upgrade to Wii? Wouldn't a Wii-exclusive Twilight Princess drive more sales of the next-gen console? What's Nintendo's strategy here? Questions ... questions ... questions ...[Via Nintendo press release; thanks, Oro]
Asus PW191 reviewed
If you're curious like we are about how Asus' PW191 widescreen 19-incher handles itself in the real world after you've returned the first two or three on its dead-pixel guarantee, we've got good news: Tom's Hardware took a very long, in-depth look at it. After the praise and adoration for it being possibly "the best looking monitor available," (which we might have to take issue with -- Dell's new biz ain't too terribly far behind Apple's Cinema Display industrial design these days), they found it suffered from some insensitive buttons (aww), a glare filter that messed with the picture, and generally not so amazing panel performance. So sure, you could plunk down the $400 for a display with a 1440 x 900 resolution, 600:1 contrast ratio, 330cd/m2 brightness, 8ms pixel latency, and VGA and DVI inputs -- or for even less you can snag a larger, better specced, higher res Dell 2005FPW on sale, or its successor, the 2007WFP. Just saying, is all.
Dell's XPS M1710 gaming laptop
Today Dell dropped a new XPS gaming laptop in the form of the M1710. This rig hauls up to a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo T2600, 17-inch widescreen display, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX graphics, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120GB SATA disk, dual-layer DVD combo drive, and an array of ports including Firewire, 6 x USB 2.0, DVI and component video, S/PDIF digital audio out, hi-def sound with integrated sub, and 5-in-1 memory card reader. But this type of performance ain't cheap. A fully specced slab in Special Edition Formula Red "armor" will set you back right around $5,000. Look out Velocity, game's on cuz.[Thanks, Micum M]
Would you rather have your sports in stretch-o-vision or letterboxed?
Going back through the files, we noticed that Canada's The Score announced last week they were launching the nation's first HD sports channel that is widescreen 24/7. They're achieving this by stretching any 4x3 SD content to fit a widescreen frame, much like TNT does, no word if its the exact same technology.They will be unveiling native HD content (no stretch-o) during the NBA playoffs, but till then, do you prefer the way ESPN (and presumably TSN also?) does SD. or do you want full frame upconversion, no matter what the distortion?
Dell's 2007WFP 20-inch widescreen now available
The new 2007WFP 20-incher from Dell has already made it to Dell's support site, so the specs are nothing new, but the display is now for sale in their online store, just in case mere availability was all that was holding back. The 1680 x 1050 widescreen LCD display goes for a fairly reasonable $529, and still has that 800:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness, and 16ms response time we mentioned last time.[Thanks, Ehsan]
Widescreen iPod video is next?
TUAW is on the case, letting us know that the latest Apple rumor is a 3.5" touchscreen-enabled media player. The mockup pictured here is from Rainy Day Magazine. We've been waiting for a widescreen video iPod for a while, but TUAW doesn't expect it till the end of the year if at all. I just want to know if they'll let me download 720p versions of Lost from iTMS.
Is Apple about to announce new Viiv-powered plasma TV's?
Maybe, or maybe not. But thats the basis of an offbeat piece on Powerpage. Apple branded 42 and 50" widescreen plasmas, running MacOS, and with Bluetooth and Airport technology also built in. Only thing missing is an iPod video dock, then it would be the perfect Apple rumor, hinging on their new partering with Intel.So what do you think, a possibility, or someone pulling at the strings of the Apple and HDTV-addicted?[Via digg]
Shocker: 32" widescreen set is smaller than 32" 4x3
From the Capt. Obvious department, if you're shopping for a new HDTV, and you buy a widescreen TV (there 4x3 HDTV's also, which this site fails to mention), even if the size is listed as the same, it will be a few inches shorter in height. They've got a chart to make sure you don't actually end up with a smaller (height-wise) TV than you had before.Of course, you'll probably be gaining quite a bit of real estate when you watch widescreen formatted programming like high definition broadcasts or DVD's, which in my opinion is a lot more important. I know I'm looking at my 4x3 32" Sony with a questioning eye now that I do all of my gaming in 1080i. I suppose especially for people who might not be getting high definition broadcasting right away (like 50% of you), the last thing you would want to do is spend the money and look at a smaller picture, so consider this an FYI. [Via digg]
