March, 2006 | HD TV PROFESSOR

Month: March 2006

SpatiaLight LCoS HDTV Bounces Back?

March 31, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

TheStreet reported yesterday that SpatiaLight's stock on NASDAQ was up 20% on news that the company has shipped LCoS imagers to LG Electronics and Thinktek Optronics. According to the report, company representatives promised two weeks ago that they would ship 1,000 imagers within 30 days. It's now two weeks later, and they say that they've shipped 350 units, which they say is ahead of their schedule. Hmmm... they've shipped about...

A Big HDTV Screen

March 30, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

On Tuesday, I was in New York City for Panasonic's consumer electronics product line show. One of the announcements that they made was that before the end of this year, they will start shipping a 1080p plasma display that has a diagonal screen size of 103". Yes, that's one hundred and three inches: more than 8.5 feet, and nearly three yards. That's roughly the same diagonal size as a standard...

A “No-Box” DVR

March 29, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Digital video recorders -- DVRs -- have changed the way we watch broadcast television. TiVo is one example, but there are other products you can buy that will do much the same thing. It's like a VHS recorder on steroids: enormous capacities, easy to access the recorded shows quickly, and you get to watch what you want when you want. The Panasonic model we have even lets us archive off...

Reader Question: HDTV Product Recommendation

March 28, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Q: Is the [name omitted] 37-inch LCD HDTV any good? Should I buy one? Frank Noweder A: This is a reasonable question to ask, but it's one that I can't answer. In order to be able to tell you how good a given HDTV model is, I'd have to be able to compare it to everything else that is available. In2005, manufacturers released more than 850 new models of LCD...

New Releases Come Home

March 27, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Europe looks to be the bellwether in digital entertainment once again. Both Universal Picture and Warner Brothers have announced plans to make major movies available for download at the same time as the DVD version is released for retail sales. The studios hope that this approach will help stem the tide of piracy, just as pay-for-download services such as iTunes have transformed the music industry. Unlike other services that only...

IPTV for Europe

March 24, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Microsoft made the news this week over a new deal with Germany's Deutsche Telekom. Starting this summer, Microsoft TV software will be used to deliver television programming and video on demand over a VDSL Internet Protocol network. According to a Reuters report, the service is scheduled to be available in 50 German cities by the end of 2006, and the company forecasts 1 million users by the end of 2007....

More Blue Laser DVD Woes

March 23, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Sony recently made it official and announced delays in their Blu-ray drive shipments. Now the other shoe has dropped, and the HD DVD camp has a delay of their own. Warner Home Video was supposed to ship the first HD DVD titles last week, but that's now put off until April. And only three of the original 20 will ship then, with the remainder appearing in subsequent weeks. Warner also...

Gamers Get HDTV

March 22, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Who says that there's not enough HDTV programming out there? VOOM HD Networks has an HD channel just for gamers. Gameplay HD is available on the DISH Network, and features original programming, coverage of gaming tournaments, and news about the gaming world that include a show produced by CNET Network's GameSpot. This leads me to two related points. First, the new PC and console games support high-definition graphics that get...

Reader Question: 720p or 1080p?

March 21, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Will 1080i sources look a lot better on the 1080p TV? Will DVDs and SD TV actually look better on the 720p TV? While I will watch some HDTV and DVD movies, the majority will be SD, as that is what is currently available. Matt Simmons 1080i should look better on a 1080p display than on a 720p display. The 720p display must scale the image, losing data in the...

Cheap Digital Tuners on the Way?

March 20, 2006 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Earlier this month, a company named Microtune announced a new chip. The MT2131 actually incorporates three separate tuners on a single chip just 7 mm square: analog NTSC, digital ATSC, and Digital Cable Ready. NTSC is the standard analog broadcast signal, ATSC is the new digital broadcast signal, and Digital Cable Ready means that you don't need a set top box for the digital cable connection. Miniaturization and technology integration...