High Definition

Olive, renowned maker of audiophile products including the Opus 4, has served up another addition to its impressive line of music servers with the Olive 4 HD, which the company says can play back your music at 250 times the resolution of CDs! Read More

Epson has developed a high definition color LCD panel for use in professional camcorder viewfinders that's only 0.52 inches diagonally, offers 1.56 megapixels resolution and uses a filter to prevent color breakup that often occurs when recording fast-moving objects or panning. Read More

With the development of the ZMS-08 system on a chip, ZiiLabs is aiming to bring high performance media processing to low power devices. As well as allowing full Blu-ray quality 1080p video playback, the chip supports simultaneous HD encode and decode, 3D and 2D image processing and advanced audio. Read More

Canon didn't allow Nikon to enjoy the limelight for too long after all, announcing the forthcoming release of its new EOS 1D Mark IV professional D-SLR camera before the fanfare that accompanied Nikon's D3S had even died down. As well as slightly improving the huge ISO range of the D3S, Canon looks to have seized the opportunity to further raise the standard a little by opting for a 16.1 Mp sensor and 1080p high definition video. Read More

Nikon seems to have once again raised the professional digital photography bar with details emerging of the upcoming D3S DSLR. Rather than try to wow with megapixels, the company hopes that excellent noise reduction and a huge ISO sensitivity range will better serve its customers. The new camera also boasts low light capable HD video, fast and accurate autofocus, a burst frame rate of 9fps and in-camera RAW image editing. Read More

With the release of its first pocket camcorder, the Picsio GC-FM1, JVC is no doubt hoping to chip away some of the success enjoyed by the Flip family. On paper JVC's effort appears to be a powerful little device - it produces full 1080p HD video, has 4x digital zoom and an 8Mp still camera. Read More

Of Amazon's top five selling camcorders, versions of the Flip take four of the slots. The 4Gb MinoHD holds fourth position, but things never stand still for too long in the world of gadgetry and the MinoHD has just been supercharged. The second generation model features more memory, a bigger viewing screen with better resolution and a more powerful lens. Read More

Michael Bennett-Levy's extraordinary collection of early technologies went under the hammer at Bonhams in London on Wednesday with 90% of the 758 lots on offer sold for a total of £683,384. A tidy sum no doubt, but having had the opportunity to examine the treasure trove closely, and the benefit of speaking at length to Bennett-Levy about the significance of key items, we can't help but conclude that many pieces were a steal for shrewd investors. The largest privately held collection of early televisions in the world - including 26 pre-war sets - made up a large slice of the auction and in the first of a series of interviews, Michael Bennett-Levy talks to Gizmag about outstanding items in his collection, starting with the much sought after Teleavia type P111, a rare 1958 console-stand television by Citroën DS designer Flaminio Bertroni that was not only a hallmark in style, but also one of the earliest examples of high-definition TV. Read More

After receiving an email from a Japanese enthusiast, a group of amateur radio high altitude balloon buffs jumped at the chance to help record the first ever non-professional near space high definition video, and maybe set a new altitude record on the way. After squeezing the HD camcorder and tracking hardware into a styrofoam box, and a couple of false starts, the 1500g high altitude, hydrogen-filled balloon was away. Read More