05
Sep
2006
AV Zombie: Philips has announced at IFA (Berlin) that it will not introduce a Blu-ray player into Europe until some unspecified time in 2007. It is concentrating on its American launch of the BDP9000 (pictured) first.
As for a BD recorder, Philips says the jury is out on the HD recorder market. “We will have to see how that develops,” said a spokesman.
05
Sep
2006
AV Zombie: Panasonic will introduce its first Blu-ray player into Europe as early as October. The DMP-BD10 is expected to sell for around €1,400.
Part of the justification for the price is the state of the art electronics used inside, according to Panasonic. These include a 297MHz, 14bit Video Analog Devices D/A Converter, able to theoretically reproduce 4,400 billion colours; a 192kHz/24bit audio DAC and a revolutionary new picture technology, called P4HD (Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD), able to processes more than 15 billion pixels per second for super-smooth diagonal lines. This is apparently far superior to the Faroudja deinterlacer featured on other DVD players.
05
Sep
2006
HDTV UK: Philips seems all set to launch a “3D” high-definition TV in a few years’ time, according to Broadcasting and Cable magazine. Apparently a casino in Breda (60 miles away from this week’s IBC conference in Amsterdam) has a 42-inch 3D HDTV on display.
What’s new about this TV is that you don’t have to wear 3D glasses to appreciate it. “The set, which was developed by Philips, is entertaining guests (presumably a few conference attendees) with 3D images of gaming action.” reports TVPredictions.com.
Reports of feeling slightly nauseous after extended viewing could potentially mean it’s quite realistic – or ultra-realistic – and a Philips spokesman is reported to have said that it could be adjusted to make it more palatable for a living-room environment.
05
Sep
2006
Born Rich: An Italian Italian manufacturer has designed what is the most expensive LCD TV in the world – the opulent “Yalos Diamond” TV set is studded with 160 real diamonds worth 20 carats, and retails at $130,000 (just over €100,000).
And just when it was revelead in a recent study that most woman would prefer a plasma or LCD TV instead of diamonds – now they can have both.
05
Sep
2006
Aldi-UK is to sell a 40 inch (102 cm) screen for 850 UK pounds (approximately 1260 euro). The set goes on sale in Aldi stores in the UK from September 7.
Features include:
* Huge 40″ Samsung LCD panel with anti-reflective coating
* Fully HD Ready LCD TV with HDMI interface
* 1366 × 768 pixel resolution
* 2 HDMI ports
* HDTV (480i, 480p, 1080i, 720p) with HDCP decoding
* Free tilting wall bracket (±15°)
* Free 3 year warranty typically worth £199.00 (295 euro)
(source AVzombie & Aldi newsletter)
05
Sep
2006
Life is a rollercoaster for SanDisk. One day, they’re proudly announcing a full range of accessories for their Sansa MP3 players. The other, they’re facing a lawsuit.
BBC News: German officials seized MP3 players from SanDisk’s booth at the IFA show in Berlin after an Italian patents firm won an injunction against the company. Italian patents company Sisvel alleges that SanDisk refuses to pay licensing fees it needs to playback MP3 files. (…)
According to Giustino de Sanctis, head of Sisvel’s US-based subsidiary Audio MPEG, SanDisk’s refusal to purchase an MP3 licence leaves them out of step with some 600 other manufacturers and software developers. (…)
Sisvel President Roberto Dini told the website DigitalLifestyles.info that SanDisk could gain an unfair edge over competitors and could potentially offer trade customers at the high-profile German show a lower price for its MP3 players.
05
Sep
2006
Anythingbutipod.com: SanDisk has signed deals with 40 companies to produce accessories for the Sansa line of MP3 players, according to their press release. These companies will join SanDisk’s “Made for Sansa” licensing program much like the “Made for iPod” program.
The third party accessory manufacturers are already showing an impressive line up of goods found on their Made for Sansa landing pages: Macally, Altec Lansing, Griffin, and DLO to name a few. These products include a vast majority of the same types of accessories iPod owners have been enjoying for years, including several different kinds of speaker docks, chargers, FM tuners, cases, cables, headphones with built-in docks, and the list goes on.
04
Sep
2006
Heise online: Together with the launch of their new YP-K5 MP3 player Samsung announced it will also launch its own music service in Germany, France and the UK at the end of 2006.
MusicNet, that also runs the Yahoo! Music service, will set up a Samsung music portal that will allow customers to subscribe or download and pay for tracks or albums individually.
04
Sep
2006
Hexus.lifestyle: Pioneer has strongly denied that its third-generation high-def Blu-ray Disc DVD burner, the BDR-103, will be a combo model that’s also able to write to HD DVD.
According to Pioneer, there’s no truth in the rumour that is sweeping the internet.
Pioneer spokesman quote: «Currently we have no plans to support HD DVD and I cannot confirm that we will be adding HD DVD support to any of our future-generation BD writer drives. However, Pioneer will monitor the market situation with other formats and will consider adopting those formats as and when the market demands it.»
04
Sep
2006
Could former vice-president Dan Quale spell the word ‘potato’? Is Melbourne the capital city of Australia? Are Blu-Ray and HD-DVD compatible?
The answer is no. And you can read it here.
04
Sep
2006
A classical orchestra appearing in a news aggregator about consumer electronics… who would’ve guessed?
All credits go to Rob Hubbard & Jeroen Tel who composed classic tunes for the Commodore 64. The C64 was an immensely popular computer, often merely used as a game console. Both composers pushed the small soundchip to its limit, composing powerful and catchy tunes like One Man And His Droid.
Their compositions proved to be good material for a classical orchestra. The newly founded Dutch Ricciotti-ensemble focused its attention on the groundbreaking 80s computer and will perform game scores like Monty on the Run, One Man And His Droid and International Karate (22nd of September at Gigant theatre, Apeldoorn, Netherlands).
Have a look at the rehearsals…
(source: bright.nl & wikipedia.net)
03
Sep
2006
Pocket-Lint: Kenwood showed six new car cd players at IFA 2006. All of them can connect to USB flash, hard drives or portable music players to access music in MP3, ACC or WMA formats. The 1-DIN models feature a USB cable connection on the rearside. The double height models both have the USB connection at the front. 