HD DVD is dead.

Here at Schmadget we've been watching with interest as the next generation video format war played out. It's been a bitter, tit-for-tat affair but it seems the end is finally nigh for HD DVD with Reuters reporting today that Toshiba are on the verge of conceding defeat to the Sony-backed Blu-ray and are planning to wind down the operation, set to cost them a few $100 million.

Support for HD DVD has been slowly ebbing away over the last few months as major studios and distributors withdrew their support for the ailing format, with Netflix and Wal-mart putting the final nails in the coffin this week.

Looking on the bright side this is great for the consumer as it means the uncertainty and confusion is now over. You no longer have to worry about backing the wrong horse. Of course, those that did and bought HD DVD players will now be left with an obsolete piece of technology. The curse of the early adopter.

The PS3 has to be credited with significantly boosting Blu-ray's market penetration and credentials, it was a big risk for Sony but it appears to have paid off, at least on this front. Although you could argue that is has cost Sony dear on the gaming front with the high price of the PS3 with integrated Blu-ray player allowing Nintendo to steal a massive lead with the less sophisticated and much cheaper Wii.

As consumers, we can only hope that the big electronics companies will learn from this and avoid such 'wars' in the future. This is sure to be the last big physical media format war but the new frontier is digital of course and, unfortunately, I'm sure we'll see many more formats, wars and interoperability issues as long as there are big, greedy companies around trying to control the markets in which they operate, without first considering the consumers that buy their products.

Is the Panasonic 42PZ700 the ultimate plasma?

For quite some time now I have been holding out buying an HDTV until I could get a full 1920 x 1080 resolution 42" plasma. There are loads of 40"+ LCDs that have that high resolution but I am not a great fan of LCD, I much prefer the picture on a plasma. So I have been waiting.

Getting the 1920 x 1080 resolution into a 42" screen is a challenge for plasma technology but Panasonic have managed to achieve it with the TH-42PZ700 - and it's pretty special.



So is it the holy grail of plasma TVs? It has all the benefits of native 1080 resolution and the ability to display every detail of a 1080i or 1080p picture without having to scale it to fit. And if you connect a PC up to it you're going to be able to use a much higher resolution.

Certainly, from the reviews I've read so far, people seem to think it's a great TV. This is from HDTV.org's review:

Combine Panasonic's latest 10th generation screens with Vreal processing and Full HD however and in the TH42PZ700 you have what is possibly the best High Definition (HD) performance available today from a 42in screen. The level of sharpness and detail is absolutely stunning, showing every possible nuance of detail imaginable.

So it's good then. Deep blacks, high levels of detail. Cool. But do you really need 1080 resolution?

After all this time waiting for it, I'm now questioning whether, in the real world, it's necessary. You see, for my eyes to even be able to perceive the increased resolution, I have to be sitting about 5 feet away from the screen.

In my lounge I would be sitting about 7 feet away from it when sitting on my sofa. So will I see the extra resolution? Well probably not. But that's hardly the point is it? Gadget freaks need the best and I think I would always regret it if I didn't buy the full resolution set.

Anyway, I can just about justify it for gaming when I will be sitting about 4 or 5 feet away and for the extra resolution when connecting a PC :-)

But for most people who just want an HDTV in their lounge, I really don't think the extra £1000 or so over a Panasonic PX70 is probably worth it.

Panasonic only made the PZ700 for gadget freaks who insist on the best, normal people need not apply.

Plasma vs LCD - Plasma best?

I have to admit, I've always had a preference for plasma over LCD. Every time I've gone into any large retailer and looked at all the sets, plasma has always seemed to produce more realistic colours, deeper blacks and much less blur in fast moving scenes, in my opinion.

In recent years, however, LCD has considerably closed the gap and the top manufacturers are consistently producing sets with better contrast ratios and lower response times.

So it was with much interest that I found and read a piece of research on the subject that looks at the views of 603 people in London, Paris and Cologne directly comparing the two technologies in a controlled environment.

The research was commissioned by Panasonic, Pioneer and Hitachi, some of the largest and most respected plasma manufacturers, so clearly their objective was to highlight plasma's superiority. Having said that, Panasonic and Hitachi both also manufacture LCD.

The research was conducted by a completely independent and well respected research company, Synovate. Having checked them out, they do seem to be completely legit.

Onto the results of the research then, this is taken directly from the executive summary:

The results reveal a strong preference for the contrast, black tone, resolution, image depth, sharpness, colour and response speed of plasma.

More importantly, opinions among those who had some prior knowledge of the two technologies swung dramatically toward plasma once they viewed the content side by side in an environment similar to their homes.

Some specifics from the report:

• 65% favour Plasma over LCD for best Colour Quality
• 61% say Plasma delivers the best Sharpness Quality
• 62% indicate that Plasma has the best Response Time
• 72% deem Plasma to have the best Black Quality performance

So, the results of this survey seem very clear then, plasma is superior in almost every way. I have to say, I'm not particularly surprised, as I said, it's been my feeling for a long time.

It's a very interesting read though and even if you don't agree with the results, there are some excellent explanations of the differences between the two technologies and various myths are also dispelled.

I definitely learnt a lot reading the report and I consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the subject.

If you're in the market for a new big screen HDTV, you should definitely read the report thoroughly and then go and make your own judgement on all the sets in your nearest big retailer. The best judge will always be your own eyes.

You can read the report here.

Finally, I have Sky+

Oh it's been a long five years living in my flat with no Sky+, anyone that knows me can testify to that. You see, getting a second satellite feed into my flat through the central distribution system in the block has been hard to say the least. But I have finally triumphed through a mixture of good and bad luck and last Friday I finally had Sky+ installed.

The bad luck came in the form of a flood which destroyed all of the communal distribution system that led to me being without any TV at all for 2 weeks (well, I had channels 1-5 through terrestrial but that was like going back to the dark ages).

The good luck was that when the whole system had to be replaced after the flood, I made sure it was capable of distributing two feeds to each flat. Hence I now have Sky+ and my televisual life is complete.

Well, for now at least. You see, now that I have Sky+, I am also capable of getting Sky HD which also requires the second feed. So now I have the perfect excuse to buy one of those 42" 1080p HDTVs I keep blogging about. Happy days.

Sony release a whole load of new stuff

Sony have announced new products in virtually all their lines. As I'm not interested in some of them, I'll only post about those that I am. So here goes.

New V-series HDTVs

Not their top of the line X-series sets but the respectable 1080p capable V-series are updated to accept 1080/60p and 24p signals and have the advanced Bravia EX engine, thus far found on the X-series sets, for super high-quality picture processing. They also have 10-bit processing for better colour gradients.

Also interesting is that the displays now use Sony's XMB Xross Media Bar interface, the same as used on the PS3 and PSP. I'd like to see for myself if that works well, it could be really interesting.

They did also announce one updated 32-inch X-series set that has three HDMI inputs and a 120Hz refresh rate (Sony call it Motionflow) to help reduce blurring and motion artefacts.

The existing line of Sony LCDs have had great reviews, so I'm particularly looking forward to seeing how these new ones fair. For me right now, if you're buying LCD, it's Sony vs. Sharp.

Cheap(er) Blu-ray player

This is good news for anyone looking to grab a Blu-ray player. Sony announced a much cheaper version of the existing trés-expensive BDP-S1 player. The new BDP-S300 will be $600 as opposed to $1000 (no word on UK pricing yet) and offer pretty much the same features.

The model also supports AVC-HD discs encoded with xvYCC technology, a new international standard for wide colour space, which Sony has branded as x.v.Color.

This will hurt HD DVD I'm sure as it will bring the Blu-ray players down to a much more comparable price level. Although I expect we'll be seeing cheaper HD DVD players out soon as well.

New Cyber-shot cameras

"Sony is introducing a line of slim and stylish Cyber-shot T-series cameras that are destined to be the fashionista crowd’s favorite party companion."

Sony's lovely marketing speak but they actually look pretty well featured. The 8 megapixel DSC-T100 has a 5x optical zoom and 3-inch LCD screen and is available in red, black and silver.



Also 8 megapixels, the DSC-T20 has a more usual 3x optical zoom and a 2.5-inch LCD screen and will be available in pink, white, black and silver.

At less than half an inch thick, the cameras are easily portable and you can even buy matching cases in pink, red, green, grey, crème, brown and black! Good for the ladies ;)

Bluetooth headphones

I like the sound of these (no pun intended) bluetooth headphones. The idea of wireless headphones appeals, tangley wires always annoy me. These look perfectly suited for using in the house maybe streaming music from iTunes or something if your computer (or any other bluetooth-enabled music device) supports A2DP, AVRCP, HFP or HSP stereo bluetooth profiles, which my Mac doesn't.



They've got a 17-hour battery life (200 in standby) and you can even use them with your mobile phone to answer and end calls with the press of button. Nice.

Apple TV and other Macworld news

OK, so the iPhone wasn't the only thing Apple announced yesterday but it was all I had time to cover! So here's the other stuff.

Apple TV

As expected, the second major product launch was Apple TV (formerly iTV), the set-top box of tricks for streaming and storing iTunes content from your Mac or PC for playback on your TV.

The details are much the same as reported last year but just to recap, it's a slim, set-top box with a 40GB hard drive, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, ethernet, HDMI, component and optical output, USB 2.0 and an included Apple remote.



It supports output for either high or enhanced definition TVs in 1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz.

It works pretty much like an iPod in that it syncs with iTunes but it does so automatically across your wireless (or wired) network. So if you download a new album, podcast, TV show or movie on your Mac, or upload a new photo album from your camera, it will all automatically sync to your Apple TV ready for viewing on your big screen TV.



It uses the latest draft 802.11 'n' specification wireless technology but is also backwards compatible with the older 'b' and 'g' 802.11 varieties. With the extra speed of the new 'n' WiFi it can also stream video directly from your computer without having synced it first.

It syncs with up to 5 computers (even visiting friends' computers!) and sets itself up pretty much automatically with minimal configuration needed from you.

It definitely looks pretty cool and I would find it useful as I use EyeTV to record Freeview programs quite a bit, so I can use this as an easy way of watching that recorded content on my TV without having to burn it to disk (although it will mean exporting it to iTunes first).

Airport Extreme

To go hand-in-hand with the Apple TV and enable you to take full advantage of its new draft 802.11 'n' specification wireless, Apple also announced an all-new Airport Extreme base station. The new spec offers up to five times the performance and up to twice the range of networks created with the earlier 802.11 'g' standard.



It turns out all the latest Core 2 Macs have been shipping with 'n' spec wireless cards, so you'll be able to take advantage of that extra speed across your whole network if you are lucky enough to have recently bought one.

Connect almost any external hard drive to the USB port on the back of your AirPort Extreme and AirPort Disk turns it into a shared network drive. Anything on the drive instantly becomes available to anyone on your network, Mac and PC alike. The same USB port also allows you to share a printer throughout the network.

Apple, Inc

As if confirming their increasingly clear consumer electronics strategy Apple Computer, Inc is no more. Steve Jobs announced at the keynote that the company is to be known simply as Apple, Inc from now on.

It seems to make complete sense, they haven't been just a 'computer' company for quite some time now. After the announcements of the last couple of days, if I were an executive at Samsung, Sony or Philips I would be quite worried. Apple is coming.

CES roundup

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is under way in Las Vegas this week and there has been a deluge of new products announced from all the major manufacturers.

A lot of them are not that interesting or significant (to me anyway), so I'm going to try and cut through the crap and highlight here some of the things that interest me and hopefully you.

Xbox 360 IPTV

Microsoft kicked of proceedings with their keynote, of which the most interesting thing to come out was the announcement that in late 2007 they will be offering TV over your internet connection direct to your Xbox 360. They gave a demo at the keynote and there are some screen shots and a video about as well.

It does look quite cool and allows you to do Sky+ type things as well as some intriguing ideas such as recording a TV program in the background while playing a game in Xbox Live! Could be interesting competition to Apple's forthcoming "iTV" as well.

Microsoft really do appear to be trying to cram everything they can into the 360. They also announced that they have shipped just over 10 million 360s to date.

Samsung Blu-Ray player and 1080p TVs

Samsung announced the BD-P1200, their second generation Blu-Ray player. It's slimmer, cheaper and better specified than the previous BD-P100 and should be hitting the US in June.



Samsung also announced 3 new 1080p LCD TVs in 40, 46 and 52 inch varieties featuring 3 HDMI 1.3 ports, 12,000:1 contrast ratio and 1920x1080 resolution among other things.




Pioneer A/V receivers

You're gonna need some sounds to go with your new TV and Blu-Ray player, so how about one the of the four new monster Pioneer receivers: VSX-517, VSX-817, VSX-917V, and VSX-1017TXV (pictured).


Featuring satellite radio (big in the states), iPod integration, 120Watts over each of the 7 channel outputs and THX Select 2 certification for the top of the range beast.

Toshiba REGZA LCD TVs

Four new 720p LCDs in 26, 32, 37 and 42-inch screen sizes and updates to the 42, 46, 52 and 57-inch 1080p Cinema Series, which include 120Hz anti-motion blur technology, ethernet port and HDMI 1.3 connectors with Deep Color and xvYCC support. They also found the time to introduce two new 26 and 32-inch models that include a built in DVD player!

Philips wireless HDMI

Hate that clutter of wires behind your TV? Everything seems to be going wireless these days and HDMI is no exception with Philips announcing a new solution with enough bandwidth to send an uncompressed HD stream of up to 1080p resolution. It's based on an ultra wide band frequency so shouldn't interfere with other wireless stuff like your WiFi network or DECT home phone.

Sharp's new Aquos TVs

Sharp announced 4 new lines of TVs, from the top of the range, 8th Generation 1080p capable D92-Series to the more affordable 720p capable D43-Series with others in between. The D92s feature 15,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 4ms response time, 120hz refresh rate and 3 HDMI ports.



New Panasonic plasmas

Last but not least, Panasonic announced a new 42" prototype 1080p plasma, possibly the holy grail as far as I'm concerned, as well as new 50, 58, 65 and 103-inch plasmas. Also new HD camcorders, Blu-Ray and home theatre stuff.


Phew, that's about it. Now, get ready for the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld tonight, it looks like it's gonna be a big one.

Gadgets of 2006

Before we get into the 2007 stuff (and next week there's plenty going on with CES and Macworld), I thought I'd have a quick look back at my 2006 gadgets.

It was a good year, an excellent one actually. At the beginning of 2006 there were a couple of things I was really hoping for in the year to come - a new iPod nano with at least 8GB capacity and a redesigned Nintendo DS.

My wishes came true and both were delivered (and duly purchased) in the form of the 2G nanos and DS lite. I love them both (in sweet black).

Other highlights were my TomTom GO 510 sat-nav, Sennheiser CX 300 earphones to go with my new nano, Plantronics Voyager 510 bluetooth headset and last but in no way least, my Nintendo Wii.

I'm really pleased with all of my gadget purchases in 2006 and can happily recommend any of them. But if I had to pick one that was the stand out favourite, which would it be?

It's a hard choice. I now don't really go anywhere in the car without my TomTom, it's excellent and I love the traffic updates and bluetooth hands free features.

But what about the DS, playing New Super Mario Bros. was simply awesome, not to mention Brain Training and Mario Kart DS. And then there's the 8GB nano, I use it almost every day and think it's about as perfect as an MP3 player can get.

Or should it be the Wii? I don't think I've had it long enough yet to truly decide. I love all my gadgets, it's like asking me to choose my favourite child (I imagine).

But I have to choose one. And it has to be the iPod nano 8GB. I'd wanted one from the moment they released the original in 2005 - 4GB just wasn't enough for me. The 2nd generation nano is everything a great gadget should be - small, sleek, gorgeous and brilliant at what it does. It's what the nano should have been in the first place but Apple got it right second time around. I honestly can't fault it in any way.

The Wii would probably have pipped the nano to the top of the list if it had been around a little sooner in 2006 but it feels more like a 2007 product to me as I only really started playing it over Christmas. The DS lite comes a very close third and TomTom fourth.

So there you go. 2006 was a great gadget year. What will 2007 bring? Maybe a new Mac or will I finally take the plunge and grab an HDTV and Sky HD? Who knows, I'll keep you posted.

What were your favourite 2006 gadgets? Post in the comments and let us know!

How far away should you sit from your HDTV?

There's a lot written about HD resolutions and how amazing they are but what a lot of people don't take into consideration is how big your screen is and how far away you sit from it.

Both of those factors will determine whether you can actually perceive the extra resolution in your spangly new TV. If you sit too far away from your screen you won't be able to tell the difference between the standard and higher resolutions.

So, for example, with a 42" set if you sit within about 5 or 6 feet of it, you will see the full benefit of 1080p but move to 15 feet away and you will see no difference between 480p and 1080p.

Check out the graph put together by Carlton Bale that shows exactly how the 3 factors work together (click image for bigger version):





Very interesting stuff and it shows that the size of your screen and how far you sit from it are important considerations when buying your TV.

Via HDTV UK and HD Blog.

Tags: hd, high definition, resolution, 1080p, 480p, schmadget, gadgets, tech, technology, scb

Xbox Live Video to offer HD downloads

Microsoft have announced that they will start offering movie and tv downloads through Xbox Live on November 22nd in the US.

This is a significant announcement for a few reasons, perhaps most importantly that some of the content will be in high definition, which places them at the cutting edge of video downloading.

They're clearly moving to counter on two fronts: firstly to compete with Amazon's Unbox service and Apple's iTunes and iTV; and secondly to differentiate the Xbox 360 from the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii.

It's a very interesting move that gives Microsoft a leg-up on their competition in a few ways. If they decide to link the Xbox 360 with the upcoming Zune, it could give them an interesting eco-system with which to properly compete with the iPod, with the full living room through to portal device strategy that Apple is now obviously pursuing.

Could Microsoft actually get there before Apple?

And it kind of neuters one of Sony's key points about the PS3 and it's Blu-ray drive. In some ways it's a leap beyond the next-generation DVD battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Why buy physical high definition media when you can just download it to a device that is already plugged into your TV?

Everything is converging as the technology becomes more pervasive - where do you draw the line between the battle for the living room, next-gen consoles and high definition media or are they just part of a much wider war for our homes, content and entertainment in general? I think so.

For more details of Xbox Live Video head over to Engadget HD.

Tags: microsoft, xbox360, high definition, video, download, apple, nintendo, sony, blu-ray, hddvd, schmadget, gadgets, tech, technology, scb

Blu-ray becomes a reality in the UK

The HD war comes to the UK this week with the launch of the first Blu-ray players. The Panasonic DMP-BD10 and the Samsung BD-P1000 are both state-of-the-art offering 1080p output, perfect for one of those 1080p TVs you've been eyeing recently.


They're pretty pricey mind you, at around £1000 for the Panasonic and £800 for the Samsung. The DMP-BD10 paired with Panasonic's matching SA-XR700 AV Receiver and a Viera plasma would be a stunning combination though, even if it did set you back the best part of 3 or 4 thousand pounds.

The retaliation comes next month with Toshiba launching their HD-XE1 and HD-E1 HD DVD players, with the E1 half the price of the Panasonic Blu-ray player and the high-spec XE1 still several hundred pounds cheaper, it should make for some interesting competition.

So, let the battle commence. But unless you have a lot of money to throw around, you may just want to hold back, watch them fight it out and wait for prices to come down before you decide who to pledge your allegiance to.

Tags: hd, high definition, samsung, toshiba, panasonic, blu-ray, hd dvd, 1080p, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on coming to UK

Microsoft have announced that the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 is coming to the UK, North America, France and Germany in "mid-November" priced at £129.99 / $199.99 / €199.99.

The player comes with Peter Jackson's "King Kong" on HD DVD (for a limited time) and is bundled with the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote.

So, you can just add the HD DVD player to your Xbox 360 to get a cheap, next generation, high definition movie set-up.

They've priced it carefully so that when you buy a 360 and the add-on player, it equates to the same price as a PS3, which of course comes with Blu-ray.


Touché.

Tags: microsoft, xbox360, hd dvd, hd, high definition, schmadget, gadgets, tech, technology, scb

HD: More 1080p TVs from Fujitsu, Sony, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba

I've been trying to keep up with HDBeat's coverage of The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo - admittedly not something I'd heard of before - where there has been tons of HD stuff announced.

Your best bet is to head on over to HDBeat for all the details but from what I can tell, some of the best stuff announced (TV-wise) is as follows:

• Fujitsu 50" and 65" 1080p Aviamo plasmas
• Sony 52" 1080p LCD
• Hitachi 42" 1080p plasma
• Sharp 42" 1080p Aquos LCD
• Toshiba 42" and 47" 1080p REGZA LCDs
  

Of course, these are all US focused announcements but even since my last post on 1080p TVs in July, there are quite a few available in the UK now by the above manufacturers.

Personally, I like the look of the Toshibas and Sonys.

Update: Found the 42" Sharp LC42XD1E on the UK site, looks very nice. The screen has a 4ms response time as well. I think it's the same model as referred to above in the US. Also, having looked into the Toshiba WLT66 series LCDs currently available in the UK, I don't think they can accept a 1080p signal, even though they have 1920 x 1080 resolution. So the Sharp is my new favourite!

Tags: hd, highdefinition, plasma, lcd, 1080p, fujitsu, sony, hitachi, sharp, toshiba, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

Opinion: Is Sony heading for big trouble?

I'm worried about Sony. I think they could be about to have a couple of big disasters on their hands - the PS3 and Blu-ray.

I'm particularly worried about the PS3; it's complicated to manufacture, very expensive, a year behind the Xbox 360, has no killer games for launch, very negative press from practically all quarters, is inextricably linked to the fate of Blu-ray (which may turn out to be good or bad) and will be launched around the same time as perhaps the most innovative and interesting console ever - the Nintendo Wii.

This comes on the back of other recent failures for Sony - they've been stomped on by Apple in the digital music player space and Nintendo in the portable gaming space. Frankly, they can ill-afford either the PS3 or Blu-ray to fail, yet I can't help thinking that public opinion appears so against them, it could be an inevitability.

You only have to go and read the press articles or the comments on other gadget blogs to realise that people are very skeptical of Sony's strategy now.

They haven't exactly got a stellar record when it comes to media formats either, we all know the story of Betamax but what about UMD more recently? And Blu-ray, like the PS3, is going to be later and more expensive than HD-DVD, it's competitor.

I think HD-DVD and Blu-ray are going to hurt each other mind you, it's not quite as clear cut as the console wars. I think consumers will be very nervous to commit to either format until they are confident that it won't become obsolete in a year's time. But my personal preference at the moment is for HD-DVD - it appears to have superior picture quality and is cheaper.

Of course, Sony have been banking on the PS3 being a Trojan horse for Blu-ray, sneakily getting it into millions of households without consumers even really realising it. But I'm not sure this is actually going to happen. I think people are going to look at the lacklustre launch lineup of games for the PS3 and it's horrendous price tag and think "I could have a 360 and a Wii and get the best of both worlds for the same price as the PS3".

The 360 has already sold 6 million or so units and is on target for 10 million in the not too distant future, that's a massive lead over both Nintendo and Sony.

After a downbeat start the Wii has gained a surprisingly big following in the gaming community and there appears to be real excitement and great anticipation for the launch. People can't wait to get their hands on it and try the motion sensing controller and fun new gameplay styles.

The DS has proved that graphics and technical supremacy aren't everything - people want interesting, innovative and involving games. The DS has delivered that in spades but the PSP has seen far more than its fair share of derivative, lazy PS2 ports.

Yes, it's technically superior to the DS, has much better graphics, can play movies and music but people don't necessarily want all that, they just want to play great games.

I think the PS3 is making the same mistake, they're trying the PSP strategy again - they assume that by making it technically superior and cramming Blu-ray into it that it will win. Well I don't think it will.

I think the Wii is in a class of it's own and a lot of people will buy one in addition to either a 360 or a PS3; that means that the Wii could actually outsell both of the others and potentially the PS3 could come third. What a fall from grace that would be.

I don't envy Sony's position right now, they are up against one of the most innovative companies in the world with Nintendo and one of the richest with Microsoft. What a bad combination.

And as for Blu-ray Vs. HD-DVD, well the jury's out on that one, maybe they'll both fail or people will become less interested in physical media as Apple, Amazon and others launch proper movie download services?

Only time will tell, it's certainly interesting to watch but Sony have so much riding on these two pieces of their strategy, I dread to think what will happen if they've got it wrong.

Sources:
Joystiq
DS fanboy
The Guardian
Joystiq
Gamasutra
The Register
Engadget
Joystiq
HDTV UK

Tags: sony, ps3, wii, xbox360, ds, psp, hd, highdefinition, blu-ray, hd-dvd, gaming, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

1080p TVs from Toshiba, with a twist...

Everyone seems to be releasing 1080p TVs these days. Now Toshiba has announced updated REGZA LCD TVs.

The top 3 of the Z2000 series can handle the higher 1920 x 1080 resolution in 37, 42 and 47 inch variants. Their specs stand out from the crowd though with the 3 HDMI ports, 2 FireWire and 3 Ethernet ports.

Ethernet? Yup, apparently, they can playback content from a PC or a new Toshiba media server over your network.

It's an interesting concept I must admit and I wonder if it will catch on with other manufacturers. If it does, it kind of reduces the need for Mac minis and media centre PCs attached to TVs in the normal way, all you would need is some network attached storage.

Via HD Beat.

Tags: hd, high definition, toshiba, 1080p, regza, ethernet, hdmi, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2 review

Ultimate AV have a great, very detailed review of the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2 LCD TV (known as KDL-46X2000 in the UK).

Being a 1080p capable beast, I was very interested to read it. Sounds like it's pretty excellent for an LCD as well. Worth a read if you're in the market for a top of the range HDTV at the moment.

If I had to buy a TV tomorrow, this one might well be it.

Update: Added UK link.

Tags: hd, high definition, hdtv, 1080p, sony, bravia, 46xbr2, 46x2000, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb

HD: 1080i vs 1080p

Can you tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p? Does that even mean anything to you? The debate is raging over at HDBeat and Home Theatre mag.

Basically, it boils down to the difference in the way the picture is scanned (displayed) on your TV. The i or p at the end means it is either scanned interlaced or progressively.

Essentially the difference between the two is that with an interlaced format the picture you see is scanned to the screen in alternating lines, so in any single scan the tv will only get half of the lines of the picture. Then in the next pass the alternate lines are scanned. The perception by humans is that the picture is complete because this all happens so quickly.

Progressive scan differs to this in that it scans all the lines at once, thus giving a clearer and flicker-free picture.

In theory then, progressive scan is superior to interlaced. But (and this is where the arguments start) most HDTVs like LCDs and plasmas for example, can't physically display an interlaced picture (only traditional CRT TVs can do this), so what they actually do when presented with an interlaced picture is de-interlace it and convert it into a progressive picture! So the argument goes that there is no difference between 1080i and 1080p because your HDTV will convert the 1080i signal into a 1080p signal anyway!

But it's the complications with de-interlacing that cause the problems, some TVs don't even do it correctly; you can actually end up with less resolution than you started with. And there are many other factors that effect the perceived quality of the picture; from the TV's refresh rate to the way the picture is outputted from your device (e.g. HD-DVD or Blu-ray player). You only have to read the comments in the linked articles above to realise how many factors there are.

High definition is a quagmire of specifications, misinformation, interpretations and subjective opinions. So, how does the average consumer cut through all the hyperbole and crap? Well, not easily is the honest answer.

I do think it's fair to say that the average consumer probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p, for most people a decent HDTV that processes any standard def or HD signal properly will be more than satisfactory. But the real enthusiasts will need to sit and wait until all of these theories can be put to the test, HD is still too much in its infancy.

At the end of the day, the best thing the average consumer can do is read lots of reviews and go and see the TVs for themselves. Before buying ask the shop to help you set them up and fiddle around with them with various sources that you will actually be using (e.g. Sky HD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray) and see which TV you think is best. You're the one that has to live with it, so you decide what's best for you.

Tags: hd, high definition, 1080i, 1080p, hd-dvd, blu-ray, hdtv, schmadget, gadgets, tech, technology, scb

HD: 1080p TVs

1080p, the so-called "holy grail" of high definition, is pretty near impossible to come by at the moment, particularly here in the UK.

Basically, it's a higher resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels progressively scanned; as opposed to the 'normal' HD Ready TVs which usually have a resolution of 1280 x 720 or 1366 x 768, which can be used to display 720p or 1080i content. In theory therefore, 1080p should give a sharper, more detailed picture. More on all this and the pros and cons of each in a later post. (If you want to read more on this now, try this, it's quite techie though).

Anyway, with the imminent launch of next generation technologies like Blu-Ray and the PS3 that are capable of outputting 1080p, we are seeing more and more 1080p TVs being launched or announced. Here are a few examples of some of the 1080p capable TVs that are either already available or coming soon:

Sony KDL-46X2000
Sharp LC65GD1E
Sharp LC-37D90U
Panasonic VIERA PZ600 series
Toshiba 47WLT66 and 42WLT66

So there you go. They are about, if you're prepared to pay top dollar! I'm certainly waiting for the dust to settle a bit with HD before I get myself a 1080p set.

Tags: hd, 1080p, high definition, tv, sony, sharp, panasonic, toshiba, plasma, lcd

ATO's new iSee for HD

For those non-video iPod owners ATO has had an iSee product available for a while that lets you store videos on your pod and play em back through its sleeve-like adaptor. The announcement of an upcoming HD capable version at a relatively low price $200-250 makes for an interesting device for mobile video junkies with older iPods and spare gigs lying around.

Personally I'm going through a film or so a day with my PSP on the comute, its biggest drawback being the memory stick capacity. The chance to use some of that free space on my 60gig iPod is pretty tempting, especially as the ATO iSee sports a good sized 3.5 LCD display.