Archive for: high definition
- September 30, 2010 9:16 am
We’re just getting to the point now here in the US where 1080p is getting pretty ubiquitous. Granted, millions of people still don’t have any type of HD device or signal coming into their house. But millions in the grander scheme of things — hundreds of millions — is rather tiny. But just as we catch up, the Japanese are off on the next venture already where our standard 1080p HD has been around for years…well before us.
The new standard: Super HI-Vision. What makes this so “super” is the pixel count — 16 times that of 1080p — 7680 x 4320! Transferring that massive amount of pixels consumers 24Gb/s! That’s insane! Japanese public broadcaster NHK is aiming to have Super HI-Vision broadcasts enter homes by 2020. More near-term goals, however, are a bit more within reach. Specifically, NHK wants to have the 2012 Olympics outfitted with Super HI-Vision broadcasts and equipment. But they’ve got a long way to go before then. To give you an idea of the challenges: There are only three cameras in the world that can record at 7680 x 4320 resolution. On top of that, NHK had to have custom made 103″ plasma TV’s built just to demo the technology.
It’s interesting to think that once we move on to Super HI-Vision and other higher definition forms of video, physical formats will die out pretty quickly. There’s only so much you can put on a physical object.
By the way, what was this bleeding edge demo? The Charlatans live in concert…
While trying to avoid the beating of the poor horse that’s been beaten one too many times, I stumbled upon an article and felt the need to share it with you. It’s rather short for what it covers — HDMI cables and why you don’t need to spend more than $5-$15 on any cable — but does so in a very clear and precise way.
Check out HD Guru if you’re tired of listening to your poor, technologically retarded old man boast about his new $1500 TV and accompanying $200 3′ HDMI cable. Being the tech junkie you are, it’s the least you could do. The less grossly overpriced cable sold the better.
Want to go big? I mean…really big? If size is of the upmost importance to you, Panasonic has just the beast for you — a 152-inch 4k resolution, 3D behemoth that easily surpasses any and all current TV’s on the market. Just so you understand, that’s 4,096 x 2,160 pixels of resolution. Eye candy it is indeed!
If 152 inches is too big for you, Panasonic has slightly smaller 1080p variants weighing in at 103″ and 85″. Speaking of weight, that 152-incher tips the scales at 590kg! And you thought all flat screens were light as a feather, haha.
Pre-orders will start on July 1st, though no mention of pricing has been made public yet. But given the fact these monster displays are labeled as “professional” products, we can all assume that a “professional” price tag will ensue. Dream away folks…
Any type of HD guru will tell you that OLED is the promising future. Granted, OLED still has some issues with direct light. But in a nice dark theater room, an OLED truly sings. The only limiting factor so far has been a sort of “chicken or the egg” conundrum.
For example, Sony’s 11″ OLED TV costs consumers $3,499. Who’s going to spend that much on such a small TV? And Sony likewise can’t lower the price simple because of the lack of mass production. So what do you do?
A recent breakthrough at Dupont appears to have paved the way for much cheaper and large OLED production…
Were you finding it difficult to cram all that you wanted onto those tiny 50GB Blu-ray discs? I mean, 50GB isn’t sh*t anymore. The Blu-ray Disc Association apparently cares for you and I and has come forward with a new solution for those with an almost limitless amount of 1′s and 0′s to store. The added increase in storage size comes compliments of their new, freshly announced BDXL format which adds third and fourth layers to Blu-ray discs, pushing the total capacity up to 128GB! That much on a single disc is pretty insane really. The only bad news — it’ll cost you hundreds of dollars. It’ll cost you simply because those extra layers aren’t readable by current one and two-layer loving players meaning all new hardware will be required. (I’m sure Sony is bummed…)
A second new format unveiled (that will also require all new hardware) is the Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (IH-BD) that from what I gather, is an odd concoction of sorts. The deal here is that part of the disc is permanent, read-only material while the second half/layer is read/write capable. So essentially you have a disc that you can always go back and customize part of while having a “safe” permanent section.
The second format just highlighted sounds more like a cash grab honestly. I can fathom a few limited instances when such a feature would be worth it. Otherwise, Sony is waging a losing battle. For the price 128GB Blu-rays and read//read/write discs are going to cost, I’d much rather splurge on some cloud storage/huge flash drive for portable storage/safe backup/whatever it may be.
Anyone seeing themselves dropping a truckload of cash on all new Blu-ray hardware for the goods mentioned above?
Electronista
- February 23, 2010 1:52 pm
If you’re like most consumers balancing on the edge of merely understanding technology, specifically TV/LCD technology, simple terms such as “3D” and “HDTV” probably contain the vast cope of your knowledge. On that note, all 3D and HDTV’s sold in stores are some form of 16:9 or 16:10 with a few 4:3′s still hanging on for a tiny shred of attention. That’s all groovy and all if you’re into “normal” movie watching. For video junkies who really want a piece of the theater inside their house, the Phillips 21:9 uber wide (cinema edition) LCD is the only answer. We looked at this particular TV several months back and are still just as enamored with it’s shear size and length as were were back then.
Even with an aspect ratio that’s almost longer than life itself, the 21:9 beauty couldn’t milk that feature forever. So how exactly do you improve a 21:9 uber TV? Add 3D of course! For naysayers bringing up the valid point that movies aren’t released as 21:9 titles, take note. The TV actively resizes the picture to fit on the extra long screen. And from the videos I’ve seen of it in action, does a fairly damn good job.
Unfortunately, an anemic wallet as well as utter lack of any easy way to pick one up in the states means that for now, the Phillips 21:9 3D TV will still remain an object of desire.
Price? Don’t expect anything remotely affordable…
TechRadar
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- February 12, 2010 11:37 am
The Olympics are a grand time for many people and groups all over the world. It’s a time for said groups to represent their country on the world stage, proving that they are just a cut above the rest. For decades, watching the Olympics meant catching time in between your busy life schedule to sit down and enjoy the (tape delayed) games. And then there was the VCR. Recording the not only the Olympics but TV in general was a huge revolution, as now people didn’t have to babysit their TV. Then the digital revolution took over and has brought us to where we are today.
Consuming any type of media is easier that it’s ever been — except if you want to watch live Olympic coverage over the internet. This year for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, NBC is going to great lengths to talk up their exclusive coverage. Part of their big marketing push for the 2010 Winter Olympics is the vast amounts of all-HD video footage and other high tech overlays such as “best line” and ghosting effects for skiers/snowboarders to make it easier (and cooler) to watch them fly through the air. Topping it off, a nifty little factoid has surface concerning the amount of cable being used to make this whole shebang run this year — 730,000 feet!
Yet the digital only avenue for Olympic consumption (read: online streaming) is a joke. A paltry ~400 hours worth of live coverage on NBCOlympics.com with the bulk of free online content being “highlights” and athlete bios. If you recall, the 2008 Beijing Olympics featured over 2,200 hours of live online/streaming Olympic coverage on the same site. So what gives?
Even worse, this year NBC is using an authentication layer of DRM of sorts to limit the bulk of honest live coverage to paying cable subscribers. Those whom don’t pay for cable — SOL.
It’s a collection of decisions and policies built on greed no less. It frustrates me that NBC continues to do this as the bulk of the population hoping to watch the Olympics online this year have moved more twoards online streams. It is these people who will suffer, not knowing how to get around NBC’s draconian attempts to earn an extra buck.
For me and many other more tech savvy people however, there are plenty of sources and outlets to fool NBC’s lame attempts to prevent live Olympic streams.
If you find yourself curious on this whole “beating around the NBC bush” type of approach to Olympic streaming, spend a little time Googling proxies and VPN’s. They’ll be a big factor, though not the only options.
If you must take anything away from this, let it be this: NBC is yet again missing the entire point of the digital world we live in today by artificially limiting content and coverage — essentially what consumers really want. Doing so will only drive them away and to other sources — what NBC doesn’t want. NBC has yet again ruined the online Olympic experience.
Dvice
NewTeeVee 2
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- February 4, 2010 12:14 am
Is 3D going to be the “next big thing” as far as TV tech is concerned or is it more of a passing fad? I’m kind of leaning towards fad. Make no mistake, the 3D movies I’ve seen in theaters are pretty tight. The TV’s at CES were pretty impressive themselves. Though because of the obvious differences between a projector situated behind you, displaying a picture in front of you and a TV positioned in front of you, displaying an image in a very different manner, pros and cons of each method become apparent. I personally prefer how objects continue to jump “at you” and off the screen on 3D projectors while all of the 3D TV’s I’ve seen so far go flat at the edges of the screen. Such differences I’m sure will be cleared up and the gap narrowed as the tech for 3D TV’s progresses.
For now we’ll have to take what we can get. And finally official tonight, we consumers can finally get in and even download the 3D portion of the HDMI 1.4 specs that were recently finalized. Thanks yous can be sent to HDMI Licensing, LLC for their loosening lips and more sharing nature.
So if you find yourself bored, unable to sleep, and nothing to eat at this late hour of the night (it’s 12:09am here), why not head over to hdmi.org and get acquainted with the new spec?
Slashgear
- September 10, 2009 8:03 pm
Take any mind blowing, wallet raping, eye melting gaming rig or big screen you can think of and throw it out of your mind. AMD’s up and coming new hotness, graphics cards packin’ the DirectX11 moniker have some truly impressive muscle under the hood. How much muscle? Well, lets start with the fact that the new cards will support Display Port technology allowing you to daisy chain monitor after monitor via USB. Even better is that the new DX11 AMD cards also support running said daisy chained monitors as one monitor. And the icing on top you ask? The example shown above (more pictures inside) consists of 6-30″ Dell monitors corralled together and pumping out an astonishing 7680 x 4800 quintuple HD resolution. *Jaw drops…drool trickling out…speechless*. The possibilities are enough to make any geek lose their vocabulary for long spans of time. Gaming, PC use, TV, etc. The list of uses goes on.
The lucky folks of Maximum PC were able to physically see this visual monstrosity in the flesh pushing XPlane 9 and Far Cry 2 at full resolution at a respectable 12-20 frames per second. Another batch of lucky folk at HotHardware had the privilege of seeing an upcoming DX11 game, Dirt 2, demoed at 7680 x 3200 and noted “respectable frame rates” were displayed. Now, looking back at the earlier 12-20 fps figure isn’t very reassuring as 12-20 is hardly “acceptable” in the gaming world. Though at 7680 x 4800/3200, pretty much any other set up would choke, die, and subsequently explode.
As promised, a few more pics to gaze over just after the click.
