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Download 3D Movies At Home![teaser]CinemaNow, Sonic Solutions work to bring 3D to PCs, TVs.[/teaser] Sometimes technology moves amazingly quickly. Just 10 years ago, the idea of downloading a movie in a matter of minutes seemed impossible, email was still a bit too niche for professional communication, and flying cars still hadn’t hit the market. Scratch that last one. Some technology seems to move very slowly, and the 3D movie is a prime example. Finally though, the dream of every boy and girl raised in the 50s is coming true, 3D movies in the home are a reality. According to a recent press release, CinemaNow will be working with Nvida, Mitusbishi and Samsung, in an aim to bring 3D movies to their popular download service. “Ultimately, we believe Blu-ray will be the dominant format for the distribution of 3D content” commented Michael DiMaria, VP of Product Management for CinemaNow. While many PCs and televisions are 3D capable already, there is a demand for 3D content, but Blu-ray publishers have yet to agree on a technology standard. That’s where CinemaNow comes in. "We see an opportunity to bridge that time gap.” said DiMaria “We think anyone who's buying this technology, especially in the early-adopter stages, they're going to want to throw at it what they can find. We want to make sure our player can play back whatever content someone reasonably has”Posted Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Toshiba To Produce Blu-ray Player By Year’s End[teaser]It looks like Blu-ray sales are just too big to ignore.[/teaser] We reported a few weeks ago on the statement by Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida that his company was finally considering a jump into Blu-ray production. It seems Mr. Nishida had an ace or two up his sleeve. According to the Daily Yomiuri, a prominent Japanese newspaper, Toshiba will be entering the Blu-ray market before the year is over. According to their source, Toshiba was reticent to join the Blu-ray team after the failure of HD-DVD, and was in fact working on a new format to try and overtake Blu-ray, but with the market as big as it is, Blu-ray became impossible to ignore. Expect to see Toshiba Blu-ray players by this holiday season. Recorders on the other hand, will not be part of the new strategy, as Toshiba feels that the demand for Blu-ray recorders is unlikely to increase.Posted Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 07:30 AM PDT by: -
Universal Launches iPhone Features For Blu-Ray Discs[teaser]New feature to debut on 'Fast & Furious' disc July 28th.[/teaser] It’s one of those things that seems like it should have happened long ago. An inevitable pairing, Universal has announced that it will be releasing a series of iPhone apps to go along with Blu-ray disc releases starting with 'Fast & Furious' on July 28th. The bonus iPhone feature on 'Fast & Furious' is pretty bare bones, allowing users to interact with the Virtual Car Garage on the disc, and pull up some specs and information about the cars featured, as well as to control a 360 degree view of the cars. Universal’s plans for the future however, are intriguing to say the least. The initiative to connect to information while the movie is going on has always had the playback issue to face. Do viewers want a movie stopped to see a special feature? If not, what’s the best way to deliver it? Universal sees the iPhone as being the perfect device for this. Of the pairing, Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment stated, “By harnessing Blu-ray technology and combining it with Apple's highly acclaimed iPod touch and iPhone, we continue to raise the bar in delivering an array of unprecedented, user-friendly home entertainment experiences.”Posted Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 11:50 AM PDT by: -
OLED Production Pushed Back By LG[teaser]It may be a while longer before consumers can purchase OLED technology from LG, with the company delaying 30 inch displays until 2012.[/teaser] The jewel of the Consumer Electronics Show for the last few years, OLED technology is absolutely enrapturing. Sadly though, it may be a bit longer until everyone is able to get their hands on it, at least from LG. The Korean based company will be ramping up this year, and hiring 1700 new employees specifically for work in R&D according to comments by CEO Kwon Young-soo, who said, "We plan to produce 30-inch OLED panels for TVs in 2012. The commercial success of OLEDs hinges on how it shows its superiority compared to existing liquid crystal display technologies." Certainly consumers will only adapt if there is a clear difference between the OLED and LCD. Young-soo could in fact be alluding to the success of LCD that certainly had help from their brighter screens and ability to really ‘pop’ out at consumers in retail stores. OLED is a superior technology, but if it doesn’t look better than LCD from 10 feet away under bright Best Buy style lights, it may not see the adaptation rate it needs to take off. So we have a three year wait instead of the two year wait we were anticipating. If it means the displays will be better and less expensive, and with an extra 1700 people on research this should certainly the case, it may be well worth the wait indeed.Posted Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 11:30 AM PDT by: -
Belkin Officially Cuts The FlyWire[teaser]A wireless HDMI poster child bites the dust.[/teaser] According to a press release from Belkin, it’s now official: the FlyWire, the company’s oft touted wireless HDMI transmitter, has been put down. A seemingly strong contender and one of the most well known wireless HDMI devices, it was an impressive, if expensive unit. Belkin’s release states “We realize that its retail price of $1499 would be out of line given the current state of the economy. With that in mind, we’ve opted to halt production of FlyWire.” It seems though, that a $1499 piece of hardware designed to save a few cords would appeal to a niche market in any economy, and would still have an appeal to a lot of consumers. To the disappointed and expectant purchasers of the FlyWire Belkin says “We know there will be some disappointed folks out there, but our end goal is to introduce products that are accessible and that make sense in the current environment.” Belkin doesn’t seem to think there’s much consumer demand for their higher end product. With the recent release of cheaper, lower signal quality options, like the Atlona HDAiR, we should see a fairly telling indicator of how much demand there is for wireless HDMI technology.Posted Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
The HD Advisor Turns 21Editor's Note: Each Friday, High-Def Digest's own HD Advisor will answer a new round of questions from our readers. If you have home theater questions you need answered, send an email to [email protected]. If you've already sent a question and don't see it answered yet, please be patient as we work our way through them. To browse through previously answered questions, visit the main HD Advisor page. By Joshua Zyber Before we start this week's Q&A, I'd like to thank everyone who read last week's article and voted in the subtitle placement poll. With your help, the option to place all subtitles in the active movie picture has taken a decisive lead in the voting. Unfortunately, this isn't over yet. In order to move the studio to action, we need as large a majority as possible. If you haven't voted for Option #1 yet, please do so. And if you have voted, spread the word to your friends, blog about it, Twitter it, make a Facebook group. Get the word out. Every vote matters. Thank you. Projection Screens Q: What do I look for in a projector screen? Do I need to spend $2-3k for a high-end screen (aka Stewart screen), or will something more reasonably priced do almost as well? My home theater supplier is really pushing the Firehawk by Stewart and the on-site demos certainly make it look amazing. A: Your choice of projection screen will depend on a variety of factors, including your room environment, screen size, and the brightness and contrast characteristics of your projector. Something as seemingly-trivial as whether you ceiling-mount or table-mount the projector can significantly affect the type of screen material best for your installation. Projection screens are rated in terms of gain, which is a measure of how much light they reflect back to the seating position. The most neutral types of screen are those made of Matte White material, generally rated with a gain of 1.0 or thereabouts. If you have a lot of ambient light in the room, light reflecting back toward the screen from white walls or ceiling, or a projector with a poor contrast ratio, you may benefit from a gray screen, which will have a gain rating lower than 1.0. A darker screen material will make your black levels appear darker. In contrast to this, high gain screens with ratings higher than 1.0 are typically made of beaded material that reflects more light directly back to the seating position and makes the picture brighter overall. These are useful for very large screens, or situations where the projector just doesn't output enough light to produce a bright and vivid picture. It's also possible to add a high gain surface to a gray backing material, which is how the Stewart Firehawk works. Each of these screen types will have its own advantages or disadvantages. For example, while a gray screen will make black levels appear darker, it will also make bright parts of the image seem dimmer. Depending on how dark the shade of gray is, it may also affect your color accuracy. On the other hand, common side effects of a high gain screen are hot-spotting, poor off-axis viewing, or "sparklies" visible in bright parts of the image. The higher the gain, the more washed out your black levels will appear. Which one will work best for you is hard to say. Personally, I've long stuck by my simple Matte White screen. But I'll be honest that I've often considered switching to something that might improve my contrast performance. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found anything that has thoroughly satisfied me that it would be worth the investment. When you view a screen at a retailer or installer location, always remember that the results you see will be biased by the room environment there and the projector being used, which may be very different than your own. Most screen manufacturers will send you free fabric samples if you ask. This can be helpful to see how the material will fare in your own room, compared directly against your existing screen. However, the samples are usually too small to adequately judge what an entire screen would look like. As far as cost, you can often save a lot of money by purchasing the raw screen material and framing it yourself. There are many other "Do It Yourself" options that will cost less than screens from the major brand names. I recommend visiting the Screens forum at AVSForum to do some research before deciding on anything. You should also contact the AVS sales staff there to see what kind of pricing they offer on whatever screen you eventually choose. Dolby Digital Plus on Blu-ray? Q: I'd like to know how the Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD codecs work to increase the quality of sound. Is there any chance that Blu-ray should one day use Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 soundtracks instead of the old Dolby Digital on other soundtracks? A: For your first question, I'll direct you to my earlier Blu-ray Audio Explained and Uncompressed vs. Lossless Audio articles. Those should fill you in on the basics. Regarding Dolby Digital Plus, that format is rarely (if ever) used on Blu-ray. For the most part, it isn't needed. Most studios have chosen to embrace Blu-ray's larger storage capacity to offer full lossless soundtracks. As far as the secondary backup tracks go, standard Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 are still the defaults because they're the most backwards-compatible with all types of sound system. Dolby Digital Plus may not work with many older A/V receivers, or with first-generation Blu-ray players for that matter. Keep in mind that the version of Dolby Digital used on Blu-ray runs at a 640 kb/s bit rate, which is superior to the 448 kb/s version used on standard DVD. So you should hear some degree of improvement no matter what. Region Coding on Warner Blu-ray Discs Q: Having seen 'Watchmen' at the cinema and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, I couldn't wait to get it on Blu-ray and enjoy it again at home in HD. Knowing that it will be the Directors Cut made it worth the wait even more. But I live in the UK and we will not be getting the Directors Cut. I have been looking at the US version to import. I cannot find anywhere that says whether it is a region-free disc. I wanted to know before I order it. Do you know if it will be region-free? A: 'Watchmen' is a Warner Home Video title. To my knowledge, Warner has never restricted any of their Blu-ray releases to a single region. You should be safe to order this one. I recommend bookmarking this page for region code information on many Blu-ray titles. In fact, they've already confirmed the 'Watchmen – Director's Cut' disc as region free. Enjoy the disc! Homework Assignment: You Be the Advisor Some questions that the HD Advisor receives are best answered with a consensus of opinions from our readers. If you can help to answer the following question, please post your response in our forum thread linked at the end of this article. Your advice and opinions matter too! Home-Theater-in-a-Box Recommendations Q: I have a nice home theater system myself, but a relative of mine is getting married and has listed a Home-Theater-in-a-Box on the gift registry. I would love to get this for them, but the specific item they've listed is a real bottom-of-the-barrel piece of junk that will probably short out within a week and set their new house on fire. I'd like to avoid that. I can't afford to spend major bucks on this, unfortunately. I'm not expecting high-end performance, but I want to get them something that isn't a complete piece of garbage. Is there anything at all even semi-decent that can be had for around $300? It will need to include 5.1 speakers and a receiver. Thanks! Check back next week for another round of answers. Keep those questions coming. Joshua Zyber's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of this site, its owners or employees.Posted Fri Jul 17, 2009 at 12:00 PM PDT by: -
New Line of Marantz Blu-ray Players Launching In August[teaser]BD 5004 and BD 7004 set to wow high end consumers[/teaser] Marantz is launching its new line of Blu-ray players, the BD 5004 and the BD 7004, this August. An established brand in high end electronics, the folks at Marantz are sticking with what they know best, high quality for a high end consumer. The BD 5004 features DivX playback, BD-Live support, AVCHD, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD bitstreaming, and the 7004 adds 7.1 analog outs, DTS-HD MA decoding, as well as an Anchor Bay Reference Series processor. Missing are some of the newer features that are becoming standard in Blu-ray players such as access to streaming video, but Marantz seems to be betting against that need. With so many new TVs taking care of that role, a high quality standalone Blu-ray player may be just what the market ordered.Posted Fri Jul 17, 2009 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Widgets And Web Video Added To Verizon’s FiOS TV[teaser]Could FiOS TV’s Widget Bazaar be the next App Store? [/teaser] Verizon’s FiOS TV is about to start overflowing with widgets. According to a recent press release, the company will be launching their Widget Bazaar later this month with a few free applications including Facebook, Twitter, and ESPN’s Fantasy Football widget. In addition, an Internet Video feature will allow searches on various sites, such as Veoh, blip.tv, and Dailymotion, though at the moment, no YouTube or Hulu. This will be free later this month to current subscribers of the FiOS Home Media DVR. Perhaps most interesting, is the fact that the Software Development Kit (SDK) will soon be published to allow open development of widgets for the service. Just what kind of response this will curry from the development community we have yet to see, but this could spell big things for Verizons FiOS service.Posted Fri Jul 17, 2009 at 08:00 AM PDT by: -
Rebuilding The Human Body – With Old LCD Screens[teaser]Just when you thought your HDTV couldn’t get any cooler![/teaser] According to James Clark, director of the York Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at the University of York, a key ingredient in LCD screens plays an important part in helping to regenerate human tissue. Polyvinyl-alchohol (PVA) is a substance that does not provoke a response from the human body, making it the perfect material for tissue scaffolds. "Liquid crystal displays represent a significant and rapidly increasing proportion of this waste" Clarks report states” as such, utilization of any of this waste stream is of both environmental and commercial interest.” He stresses that even though PVA isn’t a significant environmental hazard, there’s absolutely no reason to let it go to waste. Get all the nitty gritty info in Clark’s report, published on Green ChemistryPosted Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 12:25 PM PDT by: -
Altona Launches Wireless USB To HDMI Adapter[teaser]Wanna send a 720p signal up to 30 feet with HDAiR?[/teaser] Altona Technologies has partnered up with Wisair to create their new wireless USB to HDMI device. Using resources from both companies, they’ve created the HDAiR, which is capable of sending and receiving a wireless USB signal up to 30 feet and converting it to either VGA or HDMI. Picture qualities of up to 720p or 1440x1200 are possible, but sadly no 1080p yet. Marketing Director Christopher Bundy said of the HDAiR “We believe this product is a great place to start; we plan to build on the idea, giving users as many connection options as possible”Posted Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 11:20 AM PDT by:
