Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Be sure to register in our forums and post your comments - we want to hear from you!


Zune Thoughts

Loading feed...

Apple Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "720p"


Saturday, June 12, 2010

Fujifilm FinePix S1600 Super-zoom

Posted by Reid Kistler in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 10:00 AM

http://www.photographyblog.com/revi...ix_s1600_review

"The Fujifilm FinePix S1600 is a new super-zoom digital compact camera that looks and feels like a DSLR. Featuring a 15x zoom lens with a 28-420mm focal range, 12 megapixels and a 3 inch LCD screen, the Fujifilm S1600 offers full manual photographic control for the more experienced user and an Automatic Scene Recognition mode for beginners."

Although it may indeed be a case of "another day, another superzoom," FujiFilm's FinePix S1600 does appear to have at least one thing going for it: a remarkably low price tag ($229 CAD MSRP) for its feature set - so much so that I literally had to look twice to be certain that that was not a misprint! Although at a 15x zoom it stands near what is now the lower end of the "superzoom" market, the S1600 includes a number of competitive features, including image stabilization, 720p video, a panorama mode, and a "Natural Light & With Flash" mode that takes two pictures in quick succession, with and without flash. In addition, Photography Blog gives the S1600 a nice review, and it includes two items that I find very attractive: a 2-year manufacturer's warranty, and the ability to run off AA batteries. Indeed, the primary drawback from a personal perspective is that it is not officially available in the USA: instead the US market starts with the S1800, which adds an 18x lens and lists for $229 (USD), but is readily available for less.


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.


Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 Reviewed

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 02:30 PM

http://www.photographyblog.com/revi...dmc_tz7_review/

"The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 (also known as the DMC-ZS3 in the USA) is a brand new ultra-compact super-zoom camera, offering several major improvements on its predecessor, the popular TZ5 model. There's now a 12x, 25-300mm optical zoom lens, both wider and longer than the TZ5's, the megapixel count has increased from 9 to 10, the Venus IV Engine processing engine promises enhanced responsiveness, and the 720p HD video mode is recorded in the new AVCHD Lite format which almost doubles the recording time."

I have the previous generation of this camera, the DMC-TZ5, and it's a nice little unit - well, not so little actually. That's one of my main gripes - it's much harder to fit into my pocket than my other point and shoot camera, a Canon Powerhsot SD870. But with the 10x optical zoom and 720p video, I can forgive the Panasonic camera for being a little bulky. The successor to my DMC-TZ5 is this new DMC-TZ7. Zoom is boosted to 12x, it's 3mm wider, there's that new AVCHD Lite for video, and it has stereo microphones - even a wind-cut function to block wind noise. Nice!

With a son on the way, suddenly I have a lot more to think about when it comes to capturing all the precious moments I know are going to happen. I'm pondering whether or not the TZ7 (which is actually the ZS3 in North America - I know, so confusing) is a worthy upgrade over what I have now. Does it offer enough improvements to warrant replacing what I have now? The ZS3 comes in red, which is simply awesome (I love red gadgets!), but I'm wondering if I'd get more milage out of getting one of their new rugged cameras (the DMC-TS1D) instead. Thoughts? Opinions? I guess I'd better read this review first...


Friday, July 11, 2008

Kodak Bringing Media Hub To Your Living Room

Posted by Tim Williamson in "Digital Home News" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/news/20...me_theatres.php

"ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today unveiled the KODAK Theatre HD Player, a High Definition (HD) media player that enables consumers to interact more freely and creatively with their most valuable possessions -- their memories. Harnessing Wi-Fi and HD technologies, a wide array of organizational and display features and access to online content through unique partners, the KODAK Theatre HD Player turns consumers into the directors of their own show with a wireless remote control pointer in-hand. The device will roll out in stages, with a market trial commencing in September 2008."



It looks like Kodak will be bringing their own HD media hub to your living room, the KODAK Theatre HD Player, which appears to be in competition with Windows Media Center and Apple TV. I haven't seen any pictures of the interface or actual hardware, but it will be really difficult to compete with Media Center's interface and Apple TV's hardware. Right now it looks like it will only be able to display video at 720p, why wouldn't they have this device future-proofed and give it the ability to display at 1080p??? I'm not too excited about this device, but I'll have to see the final hardware before making final judgement.


Featured Product

The Canon PowerShot S100 - The incredibly fun and small camera that offers you 12.1 megapixels with a bright f/2.0 lens and full 1080p video recording . MORE INFO

News Tip or Feedback?

Contact us

Thoughts Media Sites

Windows Phone Thoughts

Digital Home Thoughts

Zune Thoughts

Apple Thoughts

Laptop Thoughts

Android Thoughts

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...