YouTube has announced that it will allow users to upload 1080p HD video content without limiting playback to a lower resolution. The web-based interface will provide a choice between the current maximum, 720p, and full 1080p. The change brings YouTube up to speed with the limited number of video portals, such as SmugMug, that support the higher resolution.
Livestream has launched a new broadcasting system that enables wireless live-streaming of HD video, Livepack. The device is designed for situations where users don’t have a reliable fixed internet connection, but want to broadcast events such as weddings, ceremonies or send transmissions from a moving car. The device features six built-in 3G modems to help deliver a strong internet connection, and records all data to the Livestream server. Livepack comes complete with everything needed for live video streaming including encoding hardware, FireWire cable and 30-hours of streaming uplink per month.
Today's featured deal of the day from DealNN is on the Sharp Aquos Blu-ray player from OneCall.com. It is regularly priced at $249.95, but has been reduced to $219.95, and a fathers day promo code drops the price again by $20 to $199.95 making this the lowest total price we could find on this Blu-ray player by about $45. The Sharp Blu-ray player features 1080p HD-resolution and provides playback of Blu-ray discs as well as DVDs and CDs with full up-conversion.
AMIMON has announced several new chips designed for the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) standard, the AMN 2120 transmitter and AMN 2220 receiver. Both components work in conjunction with the company's RF transceivers, the AMN 3110 and AMN 3210, and support uncompressed 1080p/60Hz HD video and computer graphics, equivalent to video rates up to 3Gbps. The modems transmit on the 5GHz unlicensed band, which the company claims extends range beyond 100 feet even through walls. Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) is designed to reduce interference by automatically switching to the best channel.
Amazon has expanded its Video on Demand service with new HD content, including movies and TV shows. TV shows are available on compatible HDTVs, set-top boxes or on a computer as a stream or download. The HD movies are not yet available for computers, however. The company already has 500 TV shows and movies available, with more to be added in the future.
Sony has debuted a new high-definition camcorder, the HDR-TG5V, that is designed for travelers requiring lightweight gear. The Handycam features a Carl Zeiss lens, with 10X optical zoom, and captures 1920 by 1080 pixel video and four-megapixel still images. A titanium body and compact form factor contribute to the low weight. An integrated GPS antenna and NAVTEQ maps can be used to automatically geo-tag videos or images to keep a record of the exact shooting location.
EchoStar has introduced the T2200S, a cable version of its SlingLoaded DVR that was designed to work with Dish Network. The new device is compatible with any Tru2way cable system and provides standard DVR features in addition to integrated Slingbox functionality. The box features a 1TB hard drive, dual-tuner and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) support, a built-in DOCSIS cable modem and a SlingGuide search engine.
Following the release of iTunes 8.1, Apple has announced that it will allow customers to download HD-quality movies. The content will be available to download or rent within 30 days after release. Users can view the movies on Mac or PC systems, televisions, Apple TV and in standard-definition on the iPhone or iPods with video support.
Sony has expanded its line of home theater systems to include three new configurations with integrated five-disc DVD/CD changers, the DAV-HDX587WC, DAV-HDX589W and DAV-HDX285, along with two new DVD players. The HDX587 and HDX589 models support 5.1-channel audio signals and offer an iPod cradle that can be used to play music or video. The systems also feature video upscaling for DVD content, along with an HDMI port for connecting HDTV sets. Digital Cinema Auto Calibration is designed to assist with proper installation, while Portable Audio Enhancer and Dialogue Enhancer are designed to enhance sound quality.
Samsung at CES unveiled several products including new LED TVs, Blu-ray players, an SSD camcorder, MP3 player and a point-and-shoot camera that also records HD video. The LED TVs include the 8000, 7000 and 6000 series, each featuring high contrast ratios, refresh rates between 120Hz and 240Hz, and power consumption claimed to be 40 percent less than comparable LCD models. The flagship model is slightly over an inch thick and can be mounted just .6 inches away from the wall.
Electronics company Samsung has announced the latest addition to its line of CMOS image sensors, the S5K4AW, a 1/4-inch 1.2-Megapixel HD system-on-chip (SoC) unit. The embedded component is designed for notebook or desktop computers, with a focus on video capture for conferencing, web-based video sharing, or biometrics and security functions. The company claims that the sensor supports 720P HD video at 30 frames per second, and captures VGA-resolution streams at 60 frames per second.
A variety of HDTV Black Friday deals are currently being featured at DealNN. Starting with the SENS 22-inch LCD HDTV/DVD combo for $379.99 and on November 28th the price will be reduced by $80 to $299.99. J&R.com has reduced the price on the Panasonic VIERA 42-inch plasma 720p HDTV by 50% from $1,199 to $599.99. The refurbished Westinghouse 47" 1080p LCD HDTV is now priced at $664.99 (was $1,449.99) after rebate at MacMall.com. The refurbished Vizio 32-inch widescreen LCD HDTV is availabe at Buy.com for $429.99 which is $570 off the list price of $999.99.
Microsoft is set to launch its New Xbox Experience, beginning Wednesday. The update pushes beyond the standard-definition video stream and into the realm of the next-generation Netflix HD. Users will initially have access to 300 movie and TV show titles, with more to be added in the future. Although a Netflix subscription and Xbox Live Gold member ship are both required for the HD content, the system diverges from competitors by allowing unlimited streaming instead of charging for each viewing.
LaCie has announced the US release of its LaCinema Rugged multimedia storage device. The drive features HDMI output and HD upscaling, allowing content to be viewed on an HDTV. Users can load video, images, and music onto the drive via USB 2.0, and then play or view content from any television. The Rugged features aluminum shell protection, combined with internal anti-shock absorbers and an exterior rubber bumper. Users can view the content by navigating the graphic menus of the user interface.
Gefen has introduced the A/V Scaler Pro, a device that up-converts video signals to 1080p while offering integrated audio amplification. Users can connect a variety of sources, including HDTV televisions, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, DVD players, computers, and more. The input is converted to HDMI with embedded and coaxial/optical audio output. The devices combines a frame rate conversion engine, 3-D motion adaptive de-interlacers, color engine, and dual scaling engines.
Gefen has released its latest product for A/V installations, the GefenTV HDMI v1.3 Repeater. The device can transmit a 1080p 60Hz HD signal across 100 feet of standard HDMI cable. The repeater overcomes the limitation of cable-only connections that are limited to 50 feet before signal loss is experienced. Both HDMI 1.2 and HDMI 1.3 features are supported, including 12-bit Deep Color, 225MHz, Lip-Sync, Color Space Conversion, and CEC. Users can connect 8-channel digital audio components as well.
Gefen has released a 3x1 rack-mounted switcher with support for HDMI v1.3. "Always on" switching allows users to instantly change between three 1080p HDMI inputs, such as a Blu-Ray player, Apple TV or Sony Playstation 3. The output can be connected to an HD monitor or projector and it works with the latest generation of HDMI, which includes supports features such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS master audio.
Anchor Bay Technologies has begun shipping its DVDO EDGE video processor that upscales and deinterlaces signals to 1080p for HD home theater systems. The device offers six HDMI inputs, including one on the front panel for gaming consoles. Two HDMI outputs are provided, one for audio and video for connecting to an HDTV, and one that offers only audio signal for connecting to an A/V receiver.
At the opening of the CEATEC show in Japan, Panasonic held demonstrations of its 3D HD system built around its 103-inch plasma display. The setup also relied on a standard Blu-ray disc player and battery-powered 3D glasses to produce three-dimensional moving images. Panasonic claims this is the first system using a plasma display and producing true-to-life 3D images, which, the company says, are on par in terms of image quality with Hollywood-produced 3D movies.
Epson on Thursday unveiled three new LCD projectors, all sporting 1080p resolution, at the CEDIA expo. The PowerLite Home Cinema 6100, PowerLite Pro Cinema 7100 and use the company's 3LCD imaging technology. The two Pro Cinema projectors are ISF certified, giving custom installers a standard to work with when integrating the units into customers' home theater set-ups. The flagship Pro Cinema 7500 UB, for UltraBlack, projector sports one of the highest dynamic contrast ratios found in commercial projectors, at 75,000:1. To enhance HD images further, Epson employs its C2Fine software in the 7500UB, while judder is decreased or eliminated thanks to the company's FineFrame technology. The use of a 12-bit 3LCD driver gives the projector a wider color range to work with, and Silicon Optix' HQV Reon-VX scaling and de-interlacing video processor enhances 1080i HD signals. An optional lens gets rid of the black bars above and below a picture, allowing for 2.35 or 2.4 aspect ratio viewing.
Epson today announced it released two complete home entertainment systems, with the Ensemble HD 720 and Ensemble HD 1080 systems. Either is capable of throwing up high definition images on a 100-inch motorized screen that is part of each package courtesy of Epson's PowerLite 3LCD three-chip HD projector. As the product names suggest, the projectors are the main difference between the two packages, with the former capable of 720p (1280x720) HD images, the latter of 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution video.
InFocus on Wednesday introduced the X10 Full HD 1080p projector in the UK. Part of the company's Home Theater range of offerings, the X10 features a 16:9 native aspect ratio, and a contrast ratio of 2500:1, which can be boosted to 7500:1 via the active iris built into its lens. The DarkChip1 DLP chipset was sourced from Texas Instruments.
InFocus on Thursday introduced the X10 Full HD 1080p projector in the UK. Part of the company's Home Theater range of offerings, the X10 features a 16:9 native aspect ratio, and a contrast ratio of 2500:1, which can be boosted with a button push to 7500:1 via the company's Active Iris in the lens.
Japan's Victor-JVC has developed a dual-codec video camera LSI (Large-Scale Integration) chip, the company announced on Monday. The HD Gigabrid chip allows recording of HD videos in the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format as well as the Internet- and YouTube-friendly MPEG-2 codec, both at the same time. The chip allows for Full HD (1920x1080p) recording, and is capable of extended HD recording with a 5MBps setting. MPEG-2 format video can be written at 27MBps.
Tsutaya, Japan's biggest rental chain, today announced it will launch an HD video on demand service, allowing users to download titles from home. The service will be made possible via the acTVila portal, and give customers a 48-hour window to view the content. The acTVila service works directly with dozens of plasma and LCD HDTVs, and Japan will stop analog signal broadcasting by 2011.
Sanyo has launched its compact, lightweight Xacti HD1010, a full 1080i high-definition digital camcorder featuring "Face Chaser" face detection technology for both video and stills as well as a new slow-motion video mode at 60 fps and seven frames-per-second sequential shooting for action photography. The HD1010 features a 10x all-glass optical zoom, image stabilization, and a large 2.7-inch LCD; it takes 1920x1080 video at up to a slow-motion 300fps and 4-megapixel digital still images and records both to SD memory cards or SDHC cards up to 32GB.
ASUS on Monday revealed its Mini PC Nova Lite PX24, a computer it claims is the world's smallest to offer 1080p, or full HD, playback capability thanks to a dedicated graphics card. Combined with its compact 9.5 by 7.2 by 2 inch size, low 26dB sound levels and touch-button interface, ASUS hopes the PX24 will find its way into living rooms as a high-performance home entertainment center in a small package.
Five years from now, Apple will have made significant strides in its consumer product strategy, expanding its digital home offerings to include products and services to connect PCs and digital content to the HDTV-stereo audio-visual infrastructure in consumers' homes, according to Forrestor Research. CNET reports that the research note predicts a bridging of the "AV/IT divide [...] for video, music, and photos in most homes." The report also speculates that Mac OS X will likely be sprinkled throughout the home, and predicts the introduction of a home server product that would act as the digital hub to push video streams, music, and photos throughout the home. Other potential products include an "AppleSound universal music controller" that could serve many purposes: a standalone iPod, a music and video controller, via dedicated home stereo amplifiers.
Sharp on Monday announced it will debut 22 new models in all for its AQUOS RX5-, GX5- and DS5-series HD LCD TVs. The flagship RX5 series will be available in 65-, 52- and 46-inch sizes and will allow users to surf the Internet. Either model features Sharp's backlight control technology which endows the sets with a high 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Without it, the panels feature a 3,300:1 static contrast ratio.
Mvix on Thursday launched an ultra-compact HDD-based, portable media player: the new high-definition Mvix MV-2500U media decoder supports the small 2.5-inch hard drive, while including key features of its predecessors like MX-780HD or MX-760. The black device, which can support HDDs as large as 250GB, measures under 5x3x0.5 inches; it uses a 2.5-inch PATA / IDE HDD and when connected to the PC, it works like a standard external USB 2.0 hard drive; however, it ships with an IR remote control to allow playback of standard or high definition digital video (480p, 720p, 1080i) in over a dozen file formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX (3/4/5/6), Xvid, BivX, VCD (DAT) for both PAL and NTSC systems.
Apple has reached one of its goals announced at the Macworld Expo in January while missing another, with 100 high-definition Dolby Digital-enabled movies available in the iTunes store of a total library of 604 movie rental titles. iLounge writes that Apple had set a goal of 1000 rental titles by the end of February, but has since fallen short. Apple's main competition in the digital rental marketplace comes from Amazon's Unbox service, and Netflix, who offer thousands of titles.
CalDigit has announced HDElement, a new compact 4 bay storage device that works in conjunction with the CalDigit RAID card offering full hardware RAID capabilities. Users can connect up to 3 HDElements to the CalDigit RAID card. The HDElement is also bootable. CalDigit's RAID Shield GUI allows users to manage drives, run performance checks and monitor system settings are a snap. In the event of any errors, alerts or changes to the RAID array can send an email notification. The CalDigit RAID card offers dedicated Intel processor, and 256MB of built-in cache memory. This gives true hardware RAID capabilities via PCI-e expansion slot.
Toshiba on Wednesday announced the launch of four lines of high-end LCD TVs; the ZH500, ZV500, RH500 and CV500, all under the company's REGZA line. The ZH500 and RH500 series come with a built-in 300GB hard drive for recording videos or TV programs, while all four offer a recording option to a Toshiba Qosmio media-oriented notebook via USB. Furthermore, the ZH500 and ZV500 TVs feature built-in LAN and DLNA network support, as well as Bluetooth connectivity to sync photos with cell phones.
Clear Channel Radio says it is now offering more than 340 of its primary HD stations with the iTunes "tagging" function, capable of transferring a song heard on the radio to an Apple iPod (after purchase). "Radio continues to be the number one way that people discover new music, and the HD Radio iTunes tagging capability lets listeners add songs to their iPod playlists with just a push of the button," said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. "With the vast majority of our HD primary stations now offering this exciting feature, we're demonstrating how radio's collaboration with the iPod benefits consumers."
The Super Bowl is expected to spur sales of approximately 2.4 million HDTVs, according to the third annual Sports and Technology survey performed by the Consumer Electronics Association and the Sports Video Group. The finale for seasonal NFL activity has so far been the cause of $2.2 billion in HDTV sales this year, making it the largest driving factor in the industry for three years running. The Super Bowl is followed by college bowl games, the World Series, NBA Finals, and NCAA March Madness, in terms of events that notably spike sales of HDTVs.
A series of new RAID and related storage solutions debuted at last week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco. First up, the CalDigit card is 100% hardware RAID that frees up your computer's processor. The card has a dedicated Intel processor, and 256MB of built-in cache memory. Utilizing the PCI-e expansion slots in the latest MacPro or PC machines has level 5 speeds of 330MB/s externally (with the New HDElement - 4 bay external drive enclosure, with RAID 0.1.5,6 and JBOD connected through external mini-sas) and internally 4 drive speeds of 247MB/S, internal and external drives scale up to 16TB capacity. The CalDigit RAID card is priced at $550.
Pyro AV has unveiled Pyro Kompressor HD, a PCI Express-based accelerator solution that encodes HD MPEG-2 and HD H.264/AVC up to eight times faster than software-only video compression. The single-slot PYRO Kompressor HD board is powered by the Ambric Am2045, a parallel processor with 336 RISC processors delivering 1.2 teraOPS-class of video horsepower for consistently high throughput encoding. Pyro Kompressor HD for the Mac platform will be available this spring for $3,500.
JBL today unveiled a slew of music docks designed for Apple's iPod and iPhone. The company revealed no less than six different docking stations with built-in speakers due to ship at various times between now and Winter of 2008. The company's new offerings include the JBL On Time 200ID, JBL On Stage IIIP, On Time 400IHD, On Stage 200ID and On Stage 400ID, and JBL Duet 200. The company also announced that it is offering its JBL On Stage Micro in new color variations.
Hitachi Maxell today introduced an SRS WOW HD-enabled Bluetooth audio transmitter (site not updated) for iPod to enhance sound quality of the portable player's digitally compressed audio and video files. The new Bluetooth-enabled dongle is compatible with all full-size iPods as well as iPod nano and iPod mini, and uses the proprietary Apple DIN connector that attaches directly to the iPod dock. The company offered no shipment details or pricing.
MotionDSP today unveiled H.264 support on FixMyMovie.com, its free online one-click video touchup service. Originally designed for military applications, FixMyMovie.com allows users to upload video footage from digital cameras, mobile phones, or webcams and remove pixelation errors, and the service also supports up-sampling – taking low resolution video and retrieving high definition content from it. MotionDSP opted to support H.264, as the format is quickly becoming the standard for broadcasting high quality HD footage.
Hollywood studios are taking a chance on the Vudu set-top box by granting the service the right to distribute the first of many major movies simultaneously with the official DVD release. The Bourne Ultimatum will be available Tuesday for rent or purchase, in standard and high definition. Universal Pictures is one of a few studios that have agreed to sell high definition content through the Vudu box, though there are not many titles currently available, in contrast to the 5000 standard definition titles that Vudu offers. Vudu sells the set-top box for $400, with rentals ranging from $1 to $5.
WeaKnees.com has recently unveiled upgraded Series 3 TiVo DVRs, featuring both an internal and external hard drive, each rated at one terabyte. The hard drives work in tandem to provide 292 hours of HD video storage – up from TiVo's current 20 to 30 hours – or 2800 hours of standard definition video. The units come with cables, a backlit, programmable remote, and a six month warranty for parts, labor and technical support. WeaKnees.com is selling the upgraded TiVos for $1800, and are offering a $200 mail-in rebate
Cellphones will have the option of not just playing but also recording high-definition video in as little as two years, Nokia chief technology officer Tero Ojanpera said in an interview today. The senior official explains that the technology strong enough to encode the sharper video on a handset in real-time is "a couple of years away" for practical purposes given the current state of video. The Finnish company only began shipping phones with NTSC (640x480) video capture late last year with the release of the N95, which is considerably smaller than the minimum 720p (1280x720) often considered the baseline for HD.
A select number of people now have access to HD video-on-demand through FiOS, Verizon has announced. Customers in Tampa, Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, Richmond and Virginia Beach can now download approximately 75 HD videos through FiOS TV, among these free episodes from shows such as Golfweek Magazine, and paid movies like Transformers and The Hoax. An HD set-top box is required, which costs $10 a month in addition to FiOS TV service.
Access will expand in 2008 to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC; during the same year, the number of videos should gradually increase to over 1,000, while the total HD channels available will grow past 150.
