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HDTVMagazine: Don’t look now, but a production technology known as 4K is emerging that puts high definition television, Blue Ray DVDs and even IMAX to shame.

An “amazing viewing experience” with “wow factor” is how Neal Page, chief executive officer of Inlet Technologies, describes it. And just when you thought that 60-inch HDTV in the den was the ultimate in video entertainment outside of a 10-story IMAX.

Called super high definition (SHD) 4K, the technology is capturing a growing amount of attention in digital cinema production. Microspace, a Raleigh-based company owned by WRAL Local Tech Wire parent Capitol Broadcasting, recently reported an industry first: satellite transmission of a 4K production. Just last month in the Netherlands, SARA Computing and Networking Services unveiled technology for showing a 4K movie.

While 4K is several years away from broad adoption, Page is among those who is excited about what it has to offer. In fact, Page, a pioneer in technology related to digital media from the development of streaming to the complex compression applications Inlet has developed to make HDTV production much more affordable, calls 4K a “quantum leap” over HDTV. (…)

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Last September, an English consortium predicted 3D TV could be ‘three years away‘. Home Theater Blog is following up on the evolution…
Home Theater Blog: We’ve spoken about 3D TV/Home Theater here before on occasion, and even though I’m not sufficiently convinced this is even something we’ll I’ll want, much less see in the next 10-15 years, it is interesting to follow the research and development end of things. Mitsubishi Electronics Research Labs have been quietly perfecting the technology of 3D TV but not just any old 3D TV, the kind that doesn’t require those ridiculous glasses.

The 3D technology can work with regular TV but according to Mitsubishi, their prototype 3D TV would offer a “richer, more immersive experience than regular TV”, and again, most importantly without those silly glasses. Mitsubishi envisions one or two specialty channels (possibly even a premium subscription channel early on) providing the 3D content and then others catching on, if the consumer demand is there.

Currently the system appears limited to a resolution of 1024×768 but of course as with any research and development the potential for increased resolution is always on the horizon. The system is further described as using “high-resolution (1024×768) stereoscopic color images for multiple viewpoints” with “scalable architecture to manage the high computation and bandwidth demands”.
“In our system image acquisition consists of an array of hardware-synchronized cameras that capture multiple views of the scene. In order to deal with the high processing and bandwidth requirements, the system uses a fully distributed architecture with clusters of PC’s.
A multi-projector 3D display with horizontal parallax achieves large, high-resolution output images. The system is scalable in the number of acquired, transmitted, and displayed real-time video streams.”

Mitsubishi has implemented the 3D systems with rear-projection and front-projection lenticular screens. Ok I have to admit I had to go and find out what “lenticular” meant. According to this Wiki entry “A lenticular lens is a single convex lens that magnifies light through a prism effect,” which would seem to give us a clue as to how their by-passing the 3D glasses.

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About: Wouldn’t you just love to record the entire season of 24, LOST, The Apprentice, My Name is Earl, or your favorite Soap Opera, without having to reset your VCR or DVD Recorder every time? Well, using the “Season Record” feature on a DVR, such as TIVO, or a Cable DVR, you can do that and more.

Sal Prince tells you what it exactly is: Recording a TV Show by Season is an important feature of any Digital Video Recorder. (…) It can be configured to record all episodes of a show, or just new episodes, eliminating any repeats. This feature is very handy because it eliminates the need to manually set a show to record on a weekly or daily basis, just set up the show to record at the start of the season, and the Digital Video Recorder will record all the episodes for you. The season recording will even carry over into future seasons of a TV show.

Recording a Full Season of 24

Now for a practical example of Season Recording: I’m a big fan of the show 24 on FOX. On my Comcast Digital Video Recorder (the Motorola DCT6412 Dual-Tuner High Definition DVR) I have 24 set-up to record all new episodes (24 doesn’t have repeats, but older episodes from previous seasons are shown quite often, so I must set it up as record new only to avoid recording those older episodes). I can set up the recording to start and end a few minutes early and late to avoid missing anything. Once set up properly, I can safely watch 24 without worrying about missing an episode.

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Engadget:Sharp have just launched their new 7.1 Blu-ray in a box home theatre kit in Japan.

The BD-MPC70 pumps 175W across 7.1 channels, with playback support for single-layer BD-R/RE media in addition to DVD video, DVD±R/RW, DVD-RAM, music CDs, and CD-RW/-R discs.

It delivers a 12bit/148.5MHz video DAC and 24bit/192kHz audio DAC with a healthy smattering of the ol’ in and outs including 2x digital and 2x analog audio inputs and 1080p video output over HDMI.

Available June 25th in Japan for ¥1,050,000 (around €6,600).

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Akihabara: Japan is well known for its expensive real estate so it’s common to see small apartments. This can be a real problem for video and audio fans. Yamaha has been offering for a while a virtual Surround speaker, and today, they announced their latest model, the YSP-900. Designed for 32” TVs, this speaker can simulate different audio modes such as 2.1 or 5.1. It is also equipped with audio sensors to precisely focus the sound on your exact location in the room.

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AV zombie: Sound pioneer Dolby Laboratories saw earning spike according to its first quarter financials. Dolby’s net income soared to 29.8 million dollars (22,9 million euro), up from 17 million (13 million euro) year on year. Said Bill Jasper, Dolby President and Chief Executive Officer: “With Dolby’s recognized global brand, broad industry presence, and solid business model, we entered fiscal 2007 in a strong position. With the first quarter completed, I am encouraged by our continued progress. We continue to extend our technologies throughout newer markets, to drive the adoption of additional Dolby technologies, and to innovate.”
New technologies for 2007 include Dolby Volume, aimed at TV manufacturers and Dolby TrueHD, for high definition media. (…)

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About: If you are planning a home theater and are going to purchase a new television, it is a good idea to get one that is HDTV-compatible.

–Increased Availability of HDTV Broadcasts–

The amount of HDTV programming is increasing rapidly, with HDTV broadcast, cable, and satellite service increasing in availability across the country. Also, the audio that is supplied with HDTV video is in surround sound, which takes further advantage of your surround sound receiver.

–The Progressive Scan Factor–

Another twist in the setup is that even though DVD is not a high resolution format, HDTVs can display what is referred to as a progressive scan signal. This enables you to get the most out of your DVD player (most players can output progressive scan which gives the viewer a smoother film-like image when shown on a progressive-scan capable television).

–DVD Upscaling–

In addition, there are a growing number of DVD players that have HD-upscaling capability, which takes further advantage of high definition capabilities of HD-compatible televisions.

–The Future of High Definition–

Lastly, true high definition DVD, in the form of Blu-ray and HD-DVD is on the way, which will take full advantage of the capabilities of HDTV, superceding the capabilities, which respect to image detail, of current DVD technology, especially when viewing on large projection screens.

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TG Daily: Dolby promises to automatically control the volume of your TV. 

Dolby Volume technology will first be built into flat-panel television sets and will process digital audio signals to dynamically raise and lower levels, the company said. Incoming PCM audio is processed “psycho-acoustically” and PCM audio is exported.

According to Dolby engineers, Dolby Volume will work with all audio signals and won’t care about bitrates or sampling rates. In addition, the processing does not impact the audio signal.

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T3: If you’re looking for a “budget” Hi-Def  projector, this should be top of your audition list. It’s a winner before you even turn it on; where most projectors have all the chic style and chiselled good looks of your average technology journalist, this one is cloaked in purest black and features a strikingly muscular design.

This is HD-ready, with a native 720p resolution – it can also downscale 1080i and 1080p images – and produces really gorgeous-looking video.

Even better, you don’t need to have a living room that’s suitable for parking aircraft in to use this. It has both vertical and horizontal lens shift, controlled using a pair of dials rather than the usual, more fiddly, joysticks. That means dead straight projection, even when it’s sitting off-centre from the screen, while the short-throw lens produces massive images when it’s sitting relatively close to it.

(more…)

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AV Zombie: According to research by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), 44 percent of entry-level US home cinema systems are built around a screen 40 inches or larger.

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About: In audio and home theater, Dynamic Range is the ratio of the loudest undistorted sound that can be produced in ratio to the softest sound that is still audible.

For example the difference between a whisper and a loud rock concert (at the same distance from your ear) is about 100db – Decibels. This means, in mathematical terms, that the Rock Concert is actually 10 Billion times louder than the whisper.

The standard CD is capable of reproducing 100db of dynamic range, while the LP record tops out at about 70db. AV Receivers and amplifiers that can reproduce the dynamic range of a CD or other source that can produce such a wide dynamic range are very desirable.

> More about Dynamic Range.

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Ecoustics: If size were not a factor and budget were limitless, building truly awesome loudspeakers would be easy. One can imagine (and purchase) close approximations to the perfect speaker. For most of us, however, reality intrudes. Realistically, we need speakers sized to fit into our media rooms (leaving space for a nice bigscreen TV and one, or preferably more, people). And some of us would prefer not to tap into our home equity to meet our entertainment needs. As a result, we need speakers that are comfortably small and reasonably priced. Tannoy, no stranger to the realities of loudspeaker building, honed that equation and brought forth the HTS 200 home theater speaker system.

Priced at $999 (about 760 euro), the HTS 200 comprises short and slender towers, small but not tiny center and sats, and a comparably abbreviated subwoofer.

Plus:
•Bright, lively sound just right for some listeners
•Excellent transient response with good clarity
•Tastefully designed small cabinets will delight decorators

Minus:
•Bright, lively sound too much for some listeners
•Surrounds a bit bass-shy for the towers
•Diminutive sub hits only 5 on Richter scale

Full review?

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