April, 2010 | HD TV PROFESSOR

Month: April 2010

Sanyo 120 Hz HDTV Projector

April 30, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Earlier this week, Sanyo announced a new front projector, the PLV-Z4000. The LCD projector has 1080p resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate, interpolating the intermediate frames from a 60 Hz signal to produce smooth motion on moving images. It can also handle the film-based 1080p24 signal (24 frames per second) that can be produced by some Blu-ray players. The projector is rated at 1,200 lumens, which should be sufficient...

Amazon Explains 3DTV

April 29, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

There's no doubt that 3DTV is creating a lot of buzz, but it's also creating a lot of confusion. Do you need special 3D glasses to see the images? Can you get 3D on both plasma and LCD HDTVs? How does the 3D effect happen? Thousands of words have been written to answer these questions, but Amazon apparently feels that a video is worth at least a thousand words. The...

Would You Wear Goofy 3D Goggles?

April 28, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

One of the most common complaints that I hear about 3DTV is that people won't wear 3D glasses in order to watch TV. I'm not so sure that's true. Let me paint an alternative view for you. Let's start with the fact that if I asked you 15 years ago whether or not you'd be willing to carry around a portable phone with you wherever you went, you'd almost certainly...

YouTube Expands Movie Rental Catalog

April 27, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

As reported here earlier this year, Google has started experimenting with renting films on the YouTube site. At the "YouTube Store", you can rent feature-length films as well as shorter program episodes. Much of the content is from the Sundance Film Festival, but the offerings have been expanding to include other titles, some of which are familiar commercial films such as "Brothers", "The Cooler", and "Reservoir Dogs". Rentals range from...

Panasonic Announces VT25 3D HDTV Series

April 26, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

On Friday, Panasonic announced delivery dates and list prices for the VT25 Series plasma HDTVs, the newest line of VIERA models with 3DTV support. - 50" TC-P50VT25, list $2,599.95, ships May 3, 2010 - 54" TC-P54VT25, list $2,999.95, ships May 3, 2010 - 58" TC-P58VT25, list$3,399.95, ships June 2010 - 65" TC-P65VT25, list $4,299.95, ships June 2010 These will join the 50" VIERA TC-P50VT20 3DTV that started shipping last month....

Who Has the Most HDTV?

April 23, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Ah, the HDTV channel wars are heating up again. Earlier this week, Dish Network announced that it was going to add eight more HD channels, bringing its "total" to 200 HD channels. Then DirecTV revealed plans to add 30 more HD channels this year, bringing its "total" to 160 HD channels. Now, I've put "total" in quotes because not everyone might agree with the count. For example, Dish Network includes...

Change of Heart by Cable?

April 22, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Jim O'Neill is the editor of Fierce Online Video, and he made an interesting observation in his column today : At the American Cable Association's policy summit this week in Washington, several smaller cablecos posited that acting as a "dumb pipe" for the flood of online video that was moving across the system of late might actually be a better business model than the current pay TV model they've rallied...

Best Buy Sues Ultimate

April 21, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Be careful what you say out there, especially if you're in the consumer electronics retail business. Ultimate Electronics has been advertising that they comparison shop at Best Buy and Walmart, then adjust their prices so that consumers can be sure that they are the lowest. Not so fast, according to Best Buy, which is the leader in the business. According to a suit filed in federal court, Best Buy's prices...

Seagate Adds Netflix

April 20, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Seagate announced this week that it is adding support for Netflix streaming video content to its FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player. Existing owners of the device can add support for this new feature through a free download. The media player also now supports online access to content from YouTube, vTuner, and Mediafly. The device can connect to a local USB storage device, and since it supports DLNA, it can access...

More LED Backlight Price Drops Forecast

April 19, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Two months ago, I reported on DisplaySearch's forecast that prices for LED backlight units for a 40" LCD HDTV would fall about 15% this year, though LCD HDTVs with LED backlights would continue to cost significantly more than equivalent models with traditional CCFL (cold-cathode fluorescent lamp) backlights. Now another display market tracking firm has weighed in on the subject. DisplayBank has stated that they expect prices for LED backlights for...