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All posts tagged "1080p"


Sunday, March 25, 2012

iTunes New Video Encoding Compares Favorably To Blu-ray

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Digital Home Talk" @ 01:00 PM

http://arstechnica.com/apple/guides...=1#comments-bar

"Ars was recently able to conclude that the newly launched iTunes movies encoded in 1080p do, in fact, look better than the same content encoded in 720p, despite the modest increase in file size. That's good news for iTunes customers. But the real question is: how do iTunes 1080p downloads compare to the reigning king of home video image quality-Blu-ray Disc (BRD)? This is what we set out to test."

With the recent announcement of the new iPad, Apple also launched iTunes movies encoded in 1080p. This was welcome news for many video enthusiasts. Many questioned, though, just how good the video and audio encoding would turn out to be, especially compared to Blu-ray. Ars Technica resources were up to the task of examining this question, and their report indicates the encoding is pretty good indeed (video, at least) although it is not quite as good as Blu-ray. The Read link has the complete story.


Thursday, February 17, 2011

Panasonic Launches New Line of Camcorders, Several of them Waterproof

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 06:41 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/17/...hapes-sizes-an/

"Panasonic today announced the release of the new waterproof Full-HD Camcorder HX-WA10, which allows easy, effortless photo and video shooting. The WA10 is also optimized for shooting outdoors and in rainy weather. It captures stunning, detailed images with Full-HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, thanks to Backside Illumination (BSI) technology for shooting in dimly lit conditions, and 16-megapixel still image recording with top-class digital camera quality. This lets users easily enjoy authentic HD shooting in a wide range of situations."

Engadget has the breakdown of all the products, but the one that interests me the most is the HM-TA20 (pictured above right). I've been looking for a new Flip-style camera and the fact that this one is waterproof to 15 feet and dust-proof is quite appealing. I like that it has a three inch screen - my Flip Mino's screen is so tiny it's kind of ridiculous.


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Digital Trends Reviews the Sony Internet TV with Google TV (NSX-46GT1)

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 04:00 AM

http://www.digitaltrends.com/tv-rev...x-46gt1-review/

"If every HDMI cable on earth were suddenly shredded to copper threads and you could never connect another device to your TV again, Sony's Internet TVs would be the ones to own. Simply put, no other connected television packs this much content into one clean, self-contained unit. Though the lack of cables and all-in-one approach eases setup and use, Google TV's rough edges will still make us warn non-geeks away from this otherwise sharp connected TV for the time being, but patient tech enthusiasts will find a bevy of content and possibilities built right in."

There's a lot to like about the Sony Internet TV, but ultimately the Google TV part of the experience leaves a lot to be desired. Google TV is a 1.0 product, and Google is known for rapidly improving products - just look at the constant flurry of Android releases - but from the sounds of it most people would feel a sense of buyer's remorse after investing in Google TV at this stage. Or maybe not? I recall there being a few people that were feeling very pro-Google TV in our forums here before the products it was running on shipped. Anyone bought a Google TV product and want to share your thoughts on it?


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Warpia Release StreamHD with 1080p and 5.1 Sound

Posted by Andy Dixon in "Digital Home News" @ 11:00 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/...pports-1080p-5/

"Let's try this again, shall we? We were none too impressed with the first iteration of the device you see above, mostly because it failed to support audio. A few generations later, and seems as if Warpia may finally have its ducks in a row. The StreamHD is a USB-to-HDMI adapter, presumably relying on Wisair technology to whisk 1080p content from one's USB-enabled laptop or desktop onto your HDMI-equipped television. It'll handle material with resolutions as high as 1920 x 1280, and we're told that both Hulu and Netflix content will be passed along sans issue."

Engadget have previously reviewed this USB to HDMI wireless adapter and were disappointed with it. Warpia have now upped the game to include 1080p, and just as importantly allow 5.1 surround sound as well. If it works as it has the potential to, then this could be a nice device for those of you who require wireless HDMI.


Sunday, September 19, 2010

HP Release The HP V5020u Camcorder

Posted by Andy Dixon in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 08:00 AM

http://www.chipchick.com/2010/09/hp-camcorder-v5020u.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: ChipChick (Chip Chick)

"Every company has at-least one answer to the Flip nowadays, so why shouldn't HP. Their new V5020u Digital Camcorder offers full 1080p HD recording with electronic image stabilization via a built-in gyroscopic sensor that prevents image blur caused by camcorder movements. It also features a 10x digital zoom, a 2″ LCD screen, a 5MP sensor, an SDHC slot, the ability to record H.264 videos, a motion detection feature, and the ability to hook the device up to your TV via HDMI. A wrist strap, cleaning cloth, HDMI cable, and carrying pouch are all included with the device. The HP V5020u camcorder will retail for $159 and will be available in October."

HP have announced the new V5020u camcorder which is another entry in to the competitive mobile video arena. There are a huge choice of devices out there now with just about every need covered for from normal usage, to the more rugged and waterproof needs. This is definitely in the more day to day usage category and at $159, it's not a bad price either. I've never tried one of these but I'd love to know if how they compare to some of the new HD mobile phone videos, and if it's really worth investing in one compared to just using my phone.


Friday, June 25, 2010

Rocketfish Wireless HD Adapter Delivers 1080p Video

Posted by Reid Kistler in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 12:30 PM

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/re...elesshd_adapter

"Best Buy is now expanding beyond commodity products such as A/V cables to offer highly specialized components. The $600 Rocketfish WirelessHD Adapter (model RF-WHD100), for example, can stream an HDMI signal (with surround sound and 1080p video) across a room without wires. It's comparable to the $1,000 Gefen Wireless for HDMI UWB."

This is an odd fish, in a manner of speaking: apparently the Rocketfish RF-WHD100 is among a mere handful of wireless 1080p solutions - but faces new technology (WHDI: Wireless Home Digital Interface) that is likely to completely outperform it by year's end; it is less expensive than the current competition - but still costly enough for most potential buyers to give careful thought before purchase. Still, if your HD display is located away from the rest of your system, and you dread the thought of running wires around the room, Rocketfish has a solution for you - at least as long as the distance falls within 32-7/8 feet, with a clear line-of-sight. (That is the official specification: "32-7/8 ft." Cannot help but wonder what happens at 33 feet, or beyond?) Personally, waiting for WHDI, with its promise of a 100 foot range (and through walls!) seems attractive; but then I would also be willing to relocate gear rather than spend $600 on any in-room A/V transmission device. For those with deeper pockets, is this an appealing product? Or will you wait for WHDI?


Wednesday, March 24, 2010

New VIA VX900 Chipset To Support 1080P

Posted by Jon Childs in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 06:00 AM

http://hothardware.com/News/For-Wan...bility-Dubious/

"VIA Technologies is talking up its VX900 chipset, and promising that its new "media system processor" (MSP) will offer silky-smooth 1080P playback when paired with a VIA Nano 3000. "VIA's trail-blazing VX900 will bring welcome relief to those pining for the best view of HD video online," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA VX900 represents the most complete solution for HD digital content consumption on the market today."

VIA is promising to demo the chipsets and boards at Computex to be used in netbooks and nettops. The included video is quite impressive. The chipset can handle 1080p video at 80Mbps without any stuttering at all, while never using more the 50% of the CPU. It could make for a really nice netbook. Unfortunately, there is not a ton more info available (such as price) so we will have to wait a while to see if this really can be a competitor to the current top of the line netbooks.


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Broadcom's Crystal HD Helps out Intel's N450 Chipset

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 11:30 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/...abilities-of-n/

"NVIDIA's Ion technology may be hogging the limelight when it comes to netbook graphics, but Broadcom's no stranger to the space. After giving Acer's Aspire One HD playback capabilities that it could only dream of just months prior, the company's newly announced Crystal HD platform could provide Intel's Atom N450 with the multimedia boost it badly needs."

Intel's Atom 450 chipset doesn't do squat for HD video playback - I guess Intel hasn't gotten the memo that this HD thing is kind of big - but Broadcom's Crystal HD chip will give any Intel 450-based system the ability to play back 1080p content, including acceleration of the Flash 10.1 player. This is a chip we'll supposedly see in netbooks from Samsung, Dell, and Asus. I suspect HP will be on that list too, as the HP Mini 110 can be purchased with an earlier version of the Broadcom chip. HP has a $30 up-charge for the current Broadcom chip, so as long as the new chip is in that range, I can see consumers going for netbooks that can handle 1080p videos.


Friday, November 13, 2009

YouTube Packing More Pixels With 1080p Video

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 03:00 PM

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/...to-youtube.html

"We're excited to say that support for watching 1080p HD videos in full resolution is on its way. Starting next week, YouTube's HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from our maximum output of 720p today."

It had to happen. Camcorders are increasingly offering 1080p HD level video. Movies are coming out in 1080p HD. TV shows can be seen in 1080p HD. I even hear that life has gone beyond 1080p HD resolution. So now YouTube has joined the pack and will stream 1080p video starting next week. You better make sure your computer is up to scratch and have a fat pipe as I imagine that rendering YouTube videos at 1080p, even with hardware acceleration, will be quite a strain. Time to get ready and see your favourite YouTube stars in more detail than you could ever want!


Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Canon 1D Mark IV 1080p Video Shot at ISO 6400

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 08:30 AM

http://vincentlaforet.smugmug.com/L...n-1DMKIV-Video/

Vincent Laforet is at it again: Canon gave him their new 1D Mark IV to shoot some video with, and he create a great video short that shows off the low-light performance of this new camera. As usual, he makes it look easy - but DSLR video is anything but...


Friday, September 19, 2008

Photodex Releases ProShow Gold 3.5

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Software" @ 04:33 PM

http://www.photodex.com/company/pre...s/20080917.html

"Photodex Corporation today announced the release of ProShow Gold 3.5, the latest version of its award-winning slide show software designed for consumers and photo hobbyists. ProShow Gold 3.5 gives users the ability to create high resolution Blu-ray slide shows from start to finish. No complicated formatting or conversions - users simply create a slide show in ProShow Gold and output directly to Blu-ray."

1080p HD video looks great, but getting the right kind of content onto your HD display isn't always easy - if you're into creating photo slide shows, ProShow Gold is some of the best software on the market for that purpose. They've just released version 3.5, and they've added direct Blu-ray output.


Saturday, August 2, 2008

What's Apple's Big "Transition" News?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 01:31 PM

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/...801_005339.html

"I reported more than a year ago and repeated in this year's predictions that Apple would be adding H.264 hardware support to its entire line of computers. The chip they are adding comes from NTT in Japan and was developed in cooperation with Japanese broadcaster NHK. The chips began sampling a year ago and should now be available in volume, though Apple may be paying as much as $50 each for early production...The NTT chip is not just an H.264 decoder, it encodes, too, which is what makes it so special. The last I heard NHK was claiming the chip could compress a 1080p video and audio stream into four megabits per second, down from the 20 megabits normally required. If we assume Apple will apply the same kind of wink-wink, nudge-nudge transcoding to 1080p that they've already applied to 720p in the Apple TV, then it is within reason to expect they'll claim to distribute 1080p over iTunes in two megabits per second."

The quote above is from one of my favourite technology pundits, Robert X. Cringely, and his article on what he thinks is going to be coming from Apple. I think it makes a fair deal of sense. h.264 is a truly spectacular format for video, but it's also spectacularly taxing to encode and decode. The decoding side of it can be handled with enough CPU muscle, or any number of decent video cards. Read more...


Friday, March 14, 2008

Cringely on Apple, Blu-ray, and 1080p Downloads

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 12:25 PM

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/...314_004511.html

"Before we attempt to calculate what's at risk here for Apple, let's think about what the company has to gain -- or what they might THINK they have to gain – by delaying. Apple clearly sees a huge part of its future in content distribution including TV shows and movies. I can only guess that Jobs sees Blu-ray as a threat to that download business and this decision to delay Blu-ray deployment is an expensive stalling action, buying time for Apple to launch its own true HD alternative. Yes, you can download some movies from iTunes in 720p right now, but in the surging HD market 720p is no longer good enough. The obvious standard is 1080p and right now you need Blu-ray or BitTorrent to get that. Putting on my near-futurist hat, then, I'm guessing Apple is working madly to deploy its own 1080p download solution and is hoping the world will wait for it."

An insightful article by Robert X. Cringely about why Apple, a core supporter in the Blu-ray camp since 2005, hasn't equipped a single Mac with a Blu-ray drive. It makes a twisted kind of Jobsian sense when you ponder all the variables. Apple's new Apple TV is a big leap up from the first version, and the infrastructure is in place for Apple to do some impressive things in the downloadable HD video arena...but not without help moving those gigantic files around. Some big things are happening here.

Meanwhile, I'm still sitting here staring at my Xbox Live Marketplace TV shows section and wondering why there are only three items of content and one of them is a UFC event from two years ago. Sure, Microsoft has added some new HD movies, but overall I still perceive the effort as being rather feeble. Microsoft has the infrastructure in place (Vista + Xbox + Zune + Windows Mobile) to do some amazing things, yet year after year they only manage to inch forward. What gives?


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