TV, Movies & Home Theatre - Page 53

Sceptre has been peddling some nice and inexpensive LCD TVs for a while now that come in a range of sizes. The sets can be purchased online and in retail stores like Target and more. One thing that many people who buy a new TV want and need is a place to set that TV for viewing. Sceptre has announced a nice new line of home theater furniture that you don't need tools to build.

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If you have ever put together one of those DIY style wood entertainment centers that has all the screws and cams, you know what a massive pain the build process can be. The big feature of the Sceptre line of entertainment furniture is that the build process needs no tools and claims to be able to be finished in only a few minutes. The line includes three different pieces.

The three pieces include the Oracle at $499, the Stello at $399, and the Delano at $299. The difference in the three is the length and the weight they can support. The entire build process has six steps and needs no tools to complete. The furniture has glass doors and is finished in a dark espresso finish that looks nice. The entire line will ship nationwide in September. Check out a video of the build process below.

I have had an Apple TV since the thing first came out and I can be honest when I say it sucks massively. The thing is worthless, I can buy DVD copies of movies or TV shows at the store for about the same price as the cost on iTunes. There was never any decent streaming content offered on the device either making it mostly just there taking up space on my entertainment center.

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Apple is reportedly set to replace the Mac Mini looking Apple TV device with a new and much smaller device dubbed iTV. The iTV is said to be an iPhone 4 on the inside and stream in up to 720p resolution. The Apple TV was able to support 1080p. We can only hope if the rumor is true about iTV, it is a much better supported and operating product than Apple TV was.

Redmond Pie cites Engadget's source claiming that the iTV will sell for $99, run the A4 processor, and have 16GB of flash storage. Most of the content for the device will be streamed. There will also reportedly be full App Store access so you can play some of your favorite iPhone and iPad games on your big screen. This sounds to me like Apple's first blatant attempt to grab some of the console gaming market. The iTV device is expected to be announced in September at the iPod event. Apple TV buyers should get a free iTV for the epic waste of money the Apple TV has turned out to be.

It's not hard to understand in today's world of technology why many services of yesteryear have become redundant and forced people and corporations to go the way of the internet highway. In many ways this is for the better for all parties involved, but there are a lot of cases where the ease of accessibility and usefulness of internet based services is a big black cloud hanging over many business owners heads.

Logitech is one of the key partners in the Google TV platform that is due out in the form of HDTVs and devices this fall.

Logitech's role in the platform is to provide a Google TV companion box as well as accessories to enrich the whole experience of this new and improved web TV from your couch. As Junien Labrousse, Executive VP Products of Logitech recently explained in a video just uploaded to YouTube (below), Logitech will not only provide a companion box that leverages the famous and popular Harmony Remote technology, but included in the package will be a controller that is said to be optimized for the Google TV experience that combines a compact keyboard, remote control and touch pad.

Google continues its worldwide international takeover plan today with the introduction of Google TV.

Information is coming out thick and fast right now and everything is still developing - stick with us here. It's been mentioned in the past on and off, but today Google officially introduced it today at its I/O developer event.

The concept of virtual house windows has been talked about and demonstrated in various forms for years now, but always left much to be desired and getting the right kind of effect to give a realistic and convincing impression was the most challenging and difficult hurdle.

However, what you're about to see in the video demonstration below is by far the most impressive setup known yet and goes the extra mile in making the illusion much more convincing than anything we've seen before with the use of an IR necklace (complete with baby for this particular demo) interacting with a Wiimote and the brains of the setup being a Mac Pro in this case.

CES 2010 - Even though I didn't get much time to cruise the CES show floor and look around and all the fancy new consumer focused technology, we did manage to stop by the humongous Samsung booth.

Samsung also put on a big showing at CES and this year clearly the focus was on televisions with large fantastic looking and thin OLED HDTVs and 3D TVs getting a big showing. At the front of the Samsung booth was a presentation with about 150 TVs at a rough count with large mirrors placed appropriate to present an excellent show of its technology.

EXCLUSIVE - Last Friday we visited the ASUS headquarters here in Taipei and got a look at some of their upcoming products.

Sony is much like Apple when it comes to pricing. They tend to get quite a bit extra for the name and the "design" of their products. However, Sony might be looking into changing that as the economy and flagging sales (not to mention losing money on the PS3) have hurt their profit over the last year or so.

To combat this, according to a rumor at Digi Times, Sony might be looking to marketing a line of low cost LCD TVs. These new TVs will come in both 32 and 40 inch flavors. While there is no information or speculation about the price of the 40-inch flavor it is rumored that the 32-inch could be as low as $465 USD, perhaps even lower when they finally make it to the US.

This is an effort to get the Sony brand name back to its status as a leader in the global TV market. Of course no one is saying if the quality is going to be comparable to their current line. Hopefully the cut in price will not mean a reduction in quality, but only time will tell on that. Of course this is if this rumor is true. It is very possible that none of this will come to pass and Sony LCD TVs will remain at their current price levels.

We have been talking about the Zune HD a lot lately especially given its potential as a true competitor of the existing champ, the iPod touch/iPhone.

We have seen the browser, the case, the hardware underneath, the dock. pretty much everything. The one missing component has been just how well does the 720p HD out to TV work?

If it is crap then the Zune loses a big part of its attraction. If it is great then there is another bit of ammo to fire at the iPod.

Well your questions have been answered. There is a video of the Zune's HD TV menu. This is used when you connect your Zune to your HD TV Via the Zune HD's Dock.

It is an impressive video as they show the all the HD functions. The Zune is not just about HD video. There is an HD Radio receiver (another thing the iPod does not have.

As with many other Zune HD articles the tone is showing just how impressive the new Zune with Tegra under the hood really is. Let's just hope that MS can market it right.

It is a slow news day when I start posting things like these but it has really stood out in my head (for obvious reasons)since I first looked at this one.

Someone, has decided to do a take on the old "girls in/on" theme and has come up with the novel idea of having girls in bikinis reading Star Wars.

The idea is brilliant really, although there could be the chance that the "listening" geek might zone out while, um "admiring" the girls' rather skimpy attire. But then again, does it really matter? It is just good fun in reality. But it has spawned an idea in my mind...

How about a full version of Star Wars done in the nude and an all female cast.

On the other side there was the minor complaint from the female fans looking for some "cute British rocker boys" as an alternative.

On July 20th 1969 the first humans walked on the surface of the moon. This was a technological and scientific achievement of unprecedented scope.

On July 20th 2009 we celebrated the 40th anniversary of this historic event. It was a time for people to think on the concerted effort involved, movies and specials to be replayed and the return to the moon effort to be pushed. But it was an occasion that was marred by an unfortunate event.

You see when the video from the moon was broadcast to the earth it was recorded in high definition but sent to everyone's Television sets by rebroadcast. Not in the traditional sense but in that a camera was pointed at a monitor and that broadcast to the world. These are the images we think of about the first moon landing. And this is all we will ever have as NASA cannot find the original footage and some even claim it was destroyed accidentally.

In an effort to bring a new generation a better view of the existing footage Lowry Digital used nVidia technology to reconstruct the vide frame by frame to a cleaner state. This should allow for a clearer picture of this historical event.

Personally I think the new footage looks like someone went a little crazy with a dust and scratches filter. Gone are the sharp outlines and textures. They are replaced by blurred lines and shadows.

VIZIO has announced their fall lineup of HDTV options, bringing eight new models between 32" and 55".

British chip shop ARM has announced it will be teaming up with LG Electronics, to combine ARM's tech with an up and coming LG line of digital televisions (DTV).

The press bumf claims the ARMed DTVs should give consumers a crisp 1080p video experience from their very own living room telly, not to mention Internet connectivity, Web 2.0 features, next generation 3D graphics and all that entails. This is down to the firm's Mali-200 and Mali-400 MP graphics processors.

ARM's Mike Inglis, EVP and GM of the firm's Processor Division, said punters had been pushing for this kind of home tech for a while now, in order to enjoy sharing their digital media from the comfort of their, ehem, ARMchair.

"The combination of ARM CPU and Mali graphics processors clearly represents a compelling package," said Inglis. Jim Wallace, Director of Home Segment Marketing at ARM added "LG is one of the top DTV brands in the world today and this is a key deal for ARM in the home space, as ARM becomes the processor of choice in the home."

In what is pretty much a win for fair use BluRay movies will have to move to Managed Copy next year. This means that you should be able to make at least one backup copy of your BluRay movies.

The problem is that the current hardware will not support it and it is uncertain if the newer players hitting the market will.

In most cases you will need to upgrade any existing players and make sure you check on any new purchases to see if it supports the Managed Copy feature.


Read more here.

If you have been around computers for any length of time you probably remember the ATi TV tuners and of course the All-In-Wonder cards. ATi was, at one time, one of the undisputed kings of the computer TV tuner market.

However when Vista came along ATi sort of dropped off the map. At Computex they have decided to show that they are not dead they have just been resting. To do this they showed off a new ATI Theater HD 750 PC Cip.


This new chip will feature just about every type of TV standard you can imagine. The support list looks like that Alphabet.

Availability should be towards the end of the year with PCI-Express and USB models on the list.

Read more here.

ATI has unveild the Theater HD 750 tuner card, offering HDTV viewing capabilities on desktop and notebook PCs using analog, digital, and FTA broadcast signals.

Apple announced that iTunes customers will finally be able to purchase and rent movies through the iTunes store.

Purchasing a movie in HD costs $19.99 and rentals will cost $4.99. The rentals will be available within 30 days after release. Currently the hit thriller Twilight is available and Quantum of Solace will be available on March 24. More movies will be added soon and you can view what iTunes has to offer here.

You can read the full press release if you'd like.

Something pretty cool popped up this morning while I was looking over news. It is a fanless, 1080p Small Form Factor HTPC from Habey USA.

This tiny and quiet little device has an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU under the hood comes complete with support for up to 2GB of RAM, two SATA II ports and options for Wireless and HDTV Tuners. HDMI support helps to round out the package.

There has been a push towards these types of devices for home entertainment as an HTPC can provide a broader base for digital entertainment than your stock Set Top Box from the cable company.

Of course the cable companies are not happy about this move but what they will do to stem the tide remains to be seen.

Check it out here .

Something of interest for home theater buffs, especially those who have adopted Blu-ray or are going to.

It seems that some of the people that hold licenses for Blu-ray might be willing to come down on the prices they charge for the rights to the technology. If this is true, it could bring prices down to a level allowing for more mainstream adoption.

The companies spearheading this charge are Sony, Panasonic, and Phillips. The program will launch sometime this year and should be under the care of Gerald Rosenthal, who used to work for IBM in their IP Department.

Read more here at The Inquirer.