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Posts Tagged ‘Tvs’

XpanD X103 3D glasses universally compatible with 3DTVs, but not all wallets

During CES 2010. RealD managed to slide its 3D glasses in with most of the new televisions coming our way this year, but XpanD is continuing its promise to work with any IR-enabled set from any manufacturer (Samsung has already stated its glasses will only work with its TVs, Panasonic couldn’t confirm cross compatibility with other brands when we asked) with the X103 series. XpanD is claiming compatibility with “virtually any monitor capable of displaying 3D content”. Even with plans for 12 different colors and sizes for kids or adults it’s more likely you’ll end up in a caption contest than a look book rocking these, but as long as they get the job done they seem like a natural go to for additional pairs when they launch in June. The main problem? Pricing isn’t final but Chief Strategy Officer Ami Dror told PC Mag he expects them to run $125 – $150 — even if the local cinema uses active shutter technology, that’s a lot of 3D flicks before you recoup the cost and makes it nearly out of the question to grab a few spares for friends to watch.

XpanD X103 3D glasses universally compatible with 3DTVs, but not all wallets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA’s 3DTV Play finally solves the HDMI 1.4 gap for 3D Vision

In case you hadn’t noticed, there was some trouble brewing in the NVIDIA camp. After ages of reigning atop the land of stereoscopic 3D playback on the PC, NVIDIA is finally being confronted with a real, bona fide standard for 3D, with zero GPUs capable of meeting it. The current NVIDIA 3D Vision-compatible cards pump out the necessary pixels over DisplayPort or dual DVI plugs, while the official spec for 3D TVs is an HDMI 1.4 plug that accepts data from both frames at once. We were in doubt there for a moment, but it turns out NVIDIA’s cards upgrade to 1.4 just fine, and all 3D Vision customers will be getting this as a free upgrade later this spring. NVIDIA will also be offering this 3DTV Play software in a standalone version for $40 to folks who don’t want to bother with NVIDIA’s 3D Vision stuff at all (with HDMI 1.4 you can just use the stereoscopic glasses that come with your fancy new 3D TV, no need for NVIDIA’s setup). NVIDIA is naturally hitting all the high points of the 1.4 spec, with 1080p24, 720p60 (the official gaming spec), and 720p50. The cards will also support 3D Blu-ray. So, just about time to splurge big on that home theater PC? We don’t know… is it just us, or does that guy and his couch look a little lonely?

NVIDIA’s 3DTV Play finally solves the HDMI 1.4 gap for 3D Vision originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s first 3D TV now available in the US, all 55-inches of it

Hope you’re ready to see the make believe world in a new dimension ’cause Samsung’s first 3D set is now shipping Stateside. Amazon shows a pair of 55-inch UN55C7000 TVs with 3D 240Hz motion technology in stock with a $3,299.99 price tag and free delivery. Yeah, that’s a day earlier than expected but we doubt anyone’s complaining. Remember, you’ll still have to drop another $150 or so on the shutter glasses if you ever plan to flip the switch from 2D to 3D mode; something you might want to do when actual 3D content starts to arrive.

Samsung’s first 3D TV now available in the US, all 55-inches of it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dolby keeps pushing high-quality sound into new frontiers

When I watched James Cameron’s Avatar movie, I noticed how the three-dimensional sound really popped and made the movie seem more immersive and realistic.

That’s music to the ears at Dolby Laboratories, which is trying to get its cool sound technologies into all sorts of digital entertainment devices. At the Consumer Electronics Show, where everything focuses a little too much on visual entertainment, Dolby has a lot of reminders about the importance of sound.

The company is getting its technologies into web-connected TVs, Blu-ray movie players, PCs, smartphones, set-top boxes and game consoles. It’s part of a campaign dubbed Dolby Everywhere. Part of the effort is Dolby Volume, a technology adopted by Motorola and others that reduces the noise level of TV commercials so they’re not as jarring.

The company is also demonstrating Dolby Mobile to help make smartphones sound better, with richer sounds and cleaner, powerful bass sounds. Vudu, the set-top box maker, is using Dolby Digital Plus to deliver 5.1 surround sound for its service on a variety of TVs. More than 2,000 TV models from 19 TV makers use Dolby Digital Plus. More than 50 set-top boxes from 26 manufacturers also use it. Dolby has also launched surround sound voice chat for online games, dubbed Dolby Axon. Those are just some of the various Dolby technologies on display at the show.

If there’s competition for Dolby, it isn’t anything on a grand scale. Rather, it’s that users who0 are using things like phones, games, and other devices haven’t learned to appreciate things like surround sound or higher quality. It’s Dolby’s job to teach them what they’re missing.

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Sony teams up with RealD for 3D, headaches in the home

While Sony is certainly no stranger to 3D, RealD has proven more than capable when it comes to active shutter technology (as we saw earlier when the company partnered up with 3ality to broadcast an NFL game). According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony will license RealD’s technology and equipment (including 3D eyewear) for use on its TVs and other products — with the fruits of this partnership due to hit store shelves sometime next year. Could this be the big push that home 3D has been waiting for? We don’t know, but if it brings our dreams of Becker in 3D! one step closer to reality, we’re all for it.

Sony teams up with RealD for 3D, headaches in the home originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide, 2009!

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We know that between the traffic jams, mall moms on a mission, kids who’d rather be elsewhere, and the sheer crush of holiday cheer, it can be hard to find a little time to get your head straight and find the gifts that really count. The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Every time the holidays roll around, we put together this list to make shopping for the tech lovers in your life a little simpler — it’s our way of helping out in these hectic months.

This year, we’re taking a new approach to the guide; in the past we’ve always done the selections by person (him, her, etc.), but we think there’s a better way. Starting this year, we’re breaking down the guide by product category (smartphones, laptops, TVs and the like), and grouping those picks into price ranges — so you can find something easily, no matter how much you have to spend. The HGG is a series of smaller guides, but the picks will be collected in a landing page which can be helpfully sorted by price and category (which will be up soon). We’ll publish a new guide every few days through Christmas (things are kicking off today with e-book readers), so you’ll have plenty of time to shop around online and in stores, and we do suggest you check out all the guides — especially since you never know when you’ll find something you want for yourself.

Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide, 2009! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boxee Gets Into the Hardware Business

Boxee just announced that it plans to release a dedicated Boxee hardware device in partnership with an undisclosed consumer entertainment company. This is a big step for Boxee. The software, which aggregates Internet video content from a wide variety of sources, is already designed to run on home entertainment PCs that are connected to TVs. The market for these devices is still very small, but if Boxee manages to get its software on a large number of connected TVs, set-top boxes and BluRay players, the company could easily establish itself as the standard interface for bringing Internet content to the living room. Boxee will share more details about the device on December 7.

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Boxee’s Ambition: To be on Every Connected Device

Right now, the easiest way to use Boxee in the living room is through hacking an Apple TV. While this is an easy hack, it doesn’t help Boxee to bring its service to a mainstream audience. According to today’s announcement, Boxee’s goal is “to be on every Connected device in the living room” – and to do so, the company will need to partner with large, well-known brands that can push its software into the living room as a default feature.

On Collision Course With Roku

This announcement, as the NYTimes’ Brad Stone points out, also puts Boxee in direct competition with Roku. Roku made a name for itself by offering a cheap and easy-to-use hardware device that allows users to stream online movies to their TVs. Just last week, Roku announced it will branch out from just offering streaming movies and that it plans to offer different channels with Internet content in the near future. Chances are that within the next few months, both Roku and Boxee will offer very similar services and hardware devices. If Boxee manages to strike up enough partnerships and gets its software into more devices, however, it will have a major advantage over Roku.

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Tru2way plug-and-play digital cable support still AWOL

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2008, Comcast and Panasonic showed off a pair of “tru2way” devices that were harbingers of a brave new world, one in which two-way services over digital cable would be plug-and play. TVs and DVRs would soon get Java-based middleware that could download and execute cable apps, including program guides, video-on-demand, caller ID, even e-mail. In May 2008, six other major cable companies signed on, as did Sony. The CableLabs research consortium estimated that 90 million US homes would have access to tru2way by the end of 2008.

But in late 2009, tru2way remains a niche product.

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