Archive for: tv
When we gazed upon the slew of gigantor 50″+ OLED tvs at CES, we instantly found ourselves awash in emotion. The most obvious and strongest one was awe. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe them. But at the same time, we were also left with a feeling of sadness for even taking scale into account, there was no way we’d be able to afford one of the fancy new sets for at least a couple of years. Reminding us of this fact was Sony’s old 11″ OLED “TV” that they’ve had for a couple years now which sold for a staggering $2,500.
Thankfully we won’t have to weep at night. A “discussion” given by Samsung after CES said that their upcoming 55″ Super OLED TV, the KN55ES9600, should cost “well under” the rumored $8,000 price tag that was floated around at CES. According to Samsung, the aforementioned barely there TV should sell at prices “slightly” higher than current high-end LED TVs. For comparisons sake, such TVs are in the $3,000-$4,000 range (though can obviously go higher based on brand). $3-$4k is still a large chunk of change, though it is 50% less than the chunk we thought we’d have to part with.
TV junkies and pixel lovers are no doubt letting out a huge sigh of relief. No one likes to go broke gobbling up the latest tech but it’s something we as aficionados of technology must do.
We haven’t been all that interested in the connected TV space — Give us a good computer/laptop/tablet/smartphone any day! — but alas, millions of people apparently are or TV manufacturers wouldn’t continue beating this horse. Well, add another item to the bucket list for Best Buy has just unleashed several new web connected Insignia (in-house Best Buy) TVs powered by TiVo…
Well, the rumors may hopefully come to fruition – Apple might be set to deliver us a display that will pwn all displays – EVER! I’ve had many a dry and wet dream of this day, as I did dreaming of when Apple would make a phone. The rumors have always been high, which makes sense from the sweet arse Cinema Displays that have been released with the Apple Brand.
But think about it, a full fledged Television – Apple Logo – Small remote – Even an iPhone/iPod remote – iTunes built in – iCloud doing cloudy things above it – really, think about it! “Sources” close to DailyTech whisper sweet nothings (hopefully somethings) in our ears involving a really neat relationship between a major Display OEM and Apple that will bring us super cool eye candy, and something that our kids (by which I mean us) can sit too close too. A former Apple Exec says that Apple is planning on “blowing Netflix and all those other guys away!” The TV will most likely have the AppleTV and iTunes bundled inside of it – INSIDE!!!!!
So what do you readers at home think? Good idea for Apple to dip their toes into the television world? Personally, I only think it is worth it if they will make my TV experience ‘Magical.’ They really need to ‘revolutionize’ the crappy TV I have sitting in front of me now. I think bundling the AppleTV and iTunes will be a neat idea, but I also think they should really integrate the iDevice family. Maybe something along the lines of how Nintendo is doing it with the new remotes, but with Apple cores and seeds. We’ll see this fall/Holiday season if the rumors will once again be squashed, or if it will bring a new iProduct into my househould. Small question still lingers though – with AppleTV already taken, what could ‘ol Stevie name it???
iPad users whom also subscribe to Comcast at home will soon have one more reason to pay for those high rates — live TV streaming with the blessing of Comcast themselves. The announcement was made to AllThingD’s Peter Kafka. But don’t go celebrating just yet, for it’s not quite as awesome of an announcement as it seems. The most glaring shortcoming of the upcoming iPad Live TV streaming is that it can only be done within the customers’ home. With that said, it begs the question: “What’s the point?” Of course, video licensing and live video licensing are two completely different challenges, unfortunately. The second shortcoming, at least initially, is that streaming will only be allowed to Apple’s iPad and Android tablets, leaving out a monumental smartphone-toting user base.
A live demo is supposedly going on today during a Citigroup investors conference, though release date, pricing, and any on-device restrictions are currently unknown.
Hopefully Comcast comes to their senses and realizes that streaming content in-house only isn’t worth our time, nor theres.
LG Had a slew of new products to announce at todays press conference and a relatively short 45 minutes to get the job done. Needless to say, my hands hurt. With that said, everything from the TV hardware itself to the new redesigned SmartTV dashboard have been redesigned — and for the better. Not only that, LG made the 2011 CES the first year in which they showcase home appliances. And yes, just like the TVs, they’re getting smart too. Finally, the highly rumored Optimous 2X dual-core smartphone made a brief appearance as well.
Hop inside for the loaded recap…
The big news with XPAND at today’s early morning press conference focused around the company’s “Universals” 3D glasses. Awarded for their breakthrough technology back at CES2010, the Universal 3D glasses have enjoyed healthy sales throughout the last year. For CES 2011, the glasses are expanded upon and tweaked with new software tools and a growing educational focus.
As a quick refresher: The glasses themselves come in various sizes, colors, and themes, with note worthy features including rechargeable batteries, USB port for upgrades (DLP-Link, Communication Module) and customizable software which can be configured via a special mobile app for smartphones called “Youniversal XPAND”.
The Youniversal XPAND app will allow users to customize the glasses for particular applications and scenarios — scenarios such as TV model, viewing distance, viewing distance/angle, viewing environment (dark/mid-day/evening etc.), 3D style (no ghosting, extra bright, light, aggressive, custom), and more. The approach makes since seeing as how one of our biggest complains with 3D thus far has been poor, spotty performance. The mobile app will initially be available for iPhone and Android only, but more platforms are expected. Press release after the jump…
Movie buffs in attendance at CES 2011 will want to make a special stop by Vizio’s booth. It is there you will be able to get an eyes-on experience with the company’s new 21:9 Cinema TV. The resolution on the 50-inch and 58-inch models will come in at 2560 x 1080, making it quite a bit more immersive than the current crop of widescreen TVs.
If you recall, Phillips jumped on this waggon earlier in the year with their own 21:9 TV. So far, market penetration hasn’t been all that stellar. Though that is in part to few retailers actually picking it up as well as a rather high price tag. But now that Vizio has entered the fold, perhaps we’ll see 21:9 take off in 2011. In our opinion, the 21:9 experiences are much more enticing and enveloping than the current 3D gimmick that is ravaging the tech world. With that said, check back later this week as we’ll be sure to hit up Vizio’s booth at CES!
- December 27, 2010 5:17 pm
The recent design refresh of the Apple TV is paying off — for Apple that is. The company announced today that they had officially crossed the 1 million sales mark a mere 3 months after going on sale. Not too shabby considering Apple sees the Apple TV as nothing more than a company “hobby”. Nevertheless, web TV and streaming media appears to be on the rise as competing technology from Roku recently had it’s CEO come forward and state that they too were seeing increased sales, even naming the Apple TV as one of the big reasons for the uptick in sales and revenue.
Have you jumped on board the web TV/streaming media train yet?
- December 20, 2010 7:53 am
I wouldn’t say Google TV is dead, but things certainly aren’t going well for the new web-infused line of TVs. Early reviews from around the web have more or less brushed off Google’s web-enabled TV efforts, with the NYT’s David Pogue calling it “a major step in the wrong direction”. Complicating matters, only Logitech and Sony are shipping Google TV’s as of writing. And if Google has their way, it’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future. According to a new NYT article, Google is apparently asking TV manufacturers such as LG, Toshiba, and Sharp to delay Google TV demos and releases so the company can work out some of the functional issues of the web TV service as well as lock in more worthwhile content — two big complaints with Google TV thus far.
I’ve only had an hour at most of hands-on time with Google TV, so I can’t really comment too heavily on it. From what I did witness however, I can say that it is fun and “new”. But I’m left feeling that once the new feeling wears off, it’ll lose it’s luster pretty quickly. Hopefully Google doesn’t request such delays for too long. Once TV manufacturers start losing interest it will pretty much be game over for yet another Google experiment.
