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TV
Moxi HD DVR with three, count 'em, three tuners
By Jeff Salton
18:33 November 25, 2009 PST
It seems that these days one tuner just isn't enough in a DVR. While not as huge as Sony’s Type X digital recorder with seven tuners and 1TB of recording space, the Moxi HD DVR has three turners (which is one better than most other PVRs, including the TiVo). This means you can record two shows and watch another, or, be prepared for that very rare night on TV when there are three shows worth recording simultaneously. Hey, you can even play back a fourth show and watch that while all that recording is going on in the background. And there’s no monthly or lifetime service fees with Moxi units. Read More
November 2, 1936 - the beginning of television
By Darren Quick
15:22 November 19, 2009 PST
Although computers and the Internet have eaten away at the dominance of television, it remains the most popular form of entertainment and source of information in the world. And with the line between TV and computers blurring with the advent of Home Theater PCs (HTPCs) and devices like Apple TV it’s likely that television in one form or another will retain its crown for some time to come. Television is no longer limited to a big box sitting in the corner of the living room. It can be accessed on sexy, slim panels hung on a wall or on mobile phones while sitting on a train. In fact television is so pervasive today it can be hard to imagine life before it existed – but there was such a time, and it wasn’t even that long ago. Read More
Unused TV channels bring broadband to rural U.S.
By Jeff Salton
07:23 October 23, 2009 PDT
Discarded and left-for-dead, old TV broadcast channels (called “white spaces”) that have been freed up by the transition to digital TV in the U.S. are being given new life and used to wirelessly deliver high-speed Internet connectivity to business, education and community users. Under an experimental license granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Spectrum Bridge designed and deployed a wireless TV white spaces network to distribute broadband Internet connectivity in Claudville, Virginia. To ensure the local residents make the most of this new high-speed connectivity, Dell, Microsoft and the TDF Foundation have contributed software and hardware to the local school and the town’s new computer center. Read More
Feature: What is an LED TV?
By Jeff Salton
04:06 October 19, 2009 PDT
Buying a TV has become as complicated as selecting the right mobile phone plan. Before large flat panel displays invaded our lives, the only real question when purchasing a CRT (cathode ray tube) TV was how big did you want it and how much space did you have in your room to house it? Sure, there were some quality issues but mostly it was dictated by how many diagonal inches you could get for your buck. While some of that justification still rings true with today’s TVs, now there’s the issue of plasma versus LCD to contend with, and just when you had that sorted out, LED TVs have entered the arena as an option. However, there still seems to be a fair bit of confusion surrounding what exactly an LED TV is. Well, basically, it’s another form of LCD TV that uses LEDs to provide its light source. Read More
Stream and access media files on the big screen with the definitive WD TV Live
By Paul Lester
17:52 October 14, 2009 PDT
Despite being relatively late to bat in the media streamer/jukebox market, Western Digital came up with a gem of a product last year with the WD TV, which featured in our recent take on Media Streamers. This slimline, stylish device was designed to attach to a TV and play back music, photo and video files from connected storage, but lacked the streaming capabilities and HD support of more versatile (and expensive) rivals. Buoyed by the success of the WD TV, Western Digital is back with the WD TV Live, which addresses the above issues by offering full-HD, 1080p playback via an HDMI 1.3 port, and the ability to stream files across a wired or wireless network. Read More
Toshiba's Cell Regza 55X1 is the pinnacle of LED TVs
By Jeff Salton
21:05 October 5, 2009 PDT
Toshiba has upped the ante in TV technology by unveiling its flagship model, the Cell Regza 55X1. This new 55-inch LED unit has the TV junkie in mind with many features not seen before, including the ability to record up to eight channels at once, a 3TB hard drive (record and store up to 26 hours of HD programs), a powerful processing chip identical to the one found in the PS3, a dynamic contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, 240Hz scanning, a display divided into 512 distinct areas (each with individually-controlled lighting and luminance that deliver an industry high 1250cd/m2 – 2.5 times higher than typical TVs, and a seven-speaker sound bar. All for a lazy ¥1 million (US$11,500 approx). Read More
Teleavia type P111 - high definition TV circa 1958
By Gizmag Team
14:49 October 4, 2009 PDT
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
Go live! Livestream Livepack puts a satellite truck in your backpack
By Jeff Salton
22:50 September 30, 2009 PDT
A new backpack from Livestream called the Livepack puts a broadcast TV truck on your shoulders without the weight or cumbersome dimensions – but with the same broadcast capabilities. If you get A-list invitations that put you up close and personal with celebrities, or just fancy yourself as part of the paparazzi, this is a must-have device. The Livestream Livepack crams into a backpack the hardware unit to encode and transmit HD video, a Firewire cable, and six load-balanced built-in 3G modems in order to get the highest possible available bitrate. The system even comes with a dedicated IP address to stream to your Livestream channel - you’ll be a professional roving reporter before you know it (as long as you can provide your own Firewire DV camera). Read More
Stream TV from home to iPhone with Elgato's EyeTV app
By Darren Quick
00:16 September 30, 2009 PDT
iPhone owners, who find themselves away from their TV at the time of that all-important game or latest episode of their favorite soap, already have the choice of a number of live streaming apps to get their live TV fix. Now Elgato, the maker of the popular EyeTV tuners and software for Macs has joined the fray with its EyeTV app for iPhone and iPod touch. Read More
Creative gets in touch with ZEN X-Fi2 PMP
By Mick Webb
10:32 September 29, 2009 PDT
Creative's latest personal media player - the ZEN X-Fi2 - is the company's first full touch screen offering and features a 3” screen with a simplified navigational menu in landscape format, X-Fi sound enhancement and a TV-out connection for viewing video and photos on the big screen in a package that weighs just 75g. Read More
BBC to sell 'Project Canvas' web-based TV concept around the world
By Paul Lester
17:12 September 16, 2009 PDT
Those outside of the UK may not be overly familiar with the BBC iPlayer, a streaming web-based TV service for the British institution’s range of channels that has seen burgeoning success and spawned a number of terrestrial and satellite-based rivals. It’s also worth summarising the aim of Project Canvas, a venture by the broadcasting giant that looks to bring a similar streaming service to the home and will notably look to incorporate other channels, on-demand services and web-based content from sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Facebook, as well as built-in PVR functionality though a set-top box connected to a TV. Read More
LG’s flagship SL9000 ‘BORDERLESS’ LED TV
By Darren Quick
03:53 September 8, 2009 PDT
LG unveiled its flagship SL9000 ‘BORDERLESS’ LED TV to a string of 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' at IFA 2009 this week, where it stood out from the pack with a uniform, seamless surface from edge to edge, with no visible frame. By using a special sheet of laminate film LG was able to eliminate the gap between the screen and the bezel and also reduce screen glare. The SL9000 is also extremely thin at just 2.9cm, with the end result being a TV that appears to be a continuous sheet of smoked glass. Read More
Grundig’s latest TVs turn any USB drive into a PVR
By Darren Quick
22:46 September 7, 2009 PDT
Grundig has just come up with a replacement for your Tivo or similar recording device, and the odds are you already have it – well, part of it anyway. By adding USB-recording technology to various models of its new TVs, which it had on show at IFA 2009, Grundig has turned any standard USB flash drive or external hard disk drive (HDD) into a personal video recorder (PVR). The only catch is you will only be able to watch the recorded content on a compatible Grundig set. Read More
Elonex introduces radical new motion-sensing TV Games Dock for the iPod
By Paul Lester
21:35 September 6, 2009 PDT
When it comes to over-saturated markets in gadget circles, the iPod Dock surely wins hands-down. The massive range of varied designs for a product that’s primarily intended to port audio or video to another source is staggering, but Elonex is about to buck this trend with something truly innovative. Its iGAME dock may not look too inspiring at first glance and, indeed, it's capable of handling music, videos, podcasts and video podcasts in the usual way. What makes it special is that it’s primarily a games console, or more specifically a TV Games Dock, designed to utilise the advantages of Apple’s newest players. Read More
LG 15-inch OLED TV jumps out of the blocks
By Darren Quick
22:08 September 1, 2009 PDT
Although Sony may have delayed development of larger screen OLED TVs, it seems LG can’t wait to get its 15-inch active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) unit into stores with news it is set be released in Korea even sooner than the previously announced December 2009 to January 2010 timeframe. As well as announcing the TV is due to hit the shelves in Korea next month, LG also released some mouth-watering technical details about the world’s largest consumer OLED TV ahead of its unveiling at the IFA 2009 consumer electric show in Berlin. Read More
Qualcomm working on handheld TV for FLO TV
By Darren Quick
22:47 August 26, 2009 PDT
Qualcomm is reportedly working on a new portable digital TV called the FLO TV Personal Television, or PTV. The iPhone-sized device will be used to tune into broadcasts on Qualcomm’s FLO TV terrestrial digital TV service and could mark a departure for a company that rarely introduces hardware itself. Read More
Sony delays larger screen OLED TVs?
By Darren Quick
19:49 August 23, 2009 PDT
Those of us eagerly awaiting the arrival of a successor to the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV may have to wait a little longer, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Sony has delayed development of larger screen OLED TVs. Although Sony had attendees at CES 2009 salivating at prototype 21-inch and 27-inch OLED TVs, according to ‘sources close to the company’ the XEL-1, which was released in late 2007, apparently won’t be getting a bigger brother until 2010 at the earliest. Read More
PrimeSense paints future of home-tech interaction
By Paul Lester
19:21 August 17, 2009 PDT
Nintendo certainly created a stir when it introduced motion-sensing controls to the video game industry, but subsequent developments that are no more than a year or two from fruition are already threatening to confine this relatively new technology to the proverbial scrap-heap. The latest of these is PrimeSense, a 3D camera that allows devices like televisions to ‘see a view of the surrounding area’ by scanning a room to determine who is present through a combination of shape recognition and thermal imaging. Read More
Studio FRST multiple aspect ratio TV concept
By Darren Quick
22:44 August 5, 2009 PDT
Whether you’re sticking it out with your trusty old 4:3 TV or shelling out for a shiny new 16:9 widescreen model, there’s no escaping the black cropping bars that come into play when viewing programs in the incorrect aspect ratio for your particular TV – I know most widescreen TVs have a zoom option to fill the screen of 4:3 content, but that runs the risk of cutting people’s head’s in half. Now a creative studio in France has come up with an interesting solution to the problem with a concept TV design that maximizes the viewable picture area and minimizes the black bars for both aspect ratios. Read More
Sky to launch 3D TV channel in UK next year
By Mick Webb
05:59 August 3, 2009 PDT
With 3D television becoming more than just an excuse to don the ubiquitous red and blue glasses, UK broadcaster Sky is hoping to broaden the appeal and get an early jump on the competition, by announcing plans to launch Europe’s first 3D TV channel. Requiring a "3D ready" television, the channel is due to be available next year as part of the BSkyB subscription service. Read More
Hillcrest motion sensing mouse keeps you in the Loop
By Jude Garvey
20:27 June 21, 2009 PDT
Almost three years after we first encountered the Loop pointer, Hillcrest Labs has announced that its uniquely designed motion sensing mouse is available direct to consumers. Read More
Media streamers – the future of home entertainment
By Paul Lester
19:00 June 21, 2009 PDT
In the not too distant future, the most essential set-top box for the modern home will not be the Blu-ray player, freeview box or even a satellite or cable receiver, but the home media streamer. While still at a relatively early stage of development, a streamer offers a similar service to the humble MP3 player in its ability to support playback of digital media formats, most notably video. So what exactly do these devices do, why are they so special and what do you need to look for before making your purchase? Read More
LG entering OLED-TV market
By Darren Quick
02:19 June 19, 2009 PDT
The OLED TV market is ever so slowly heating up with the announcement from LG that it will launch a 15-inch OLED TV in the Korean market at the end of the year. LG first revealed a prototype 15-inch OLED TV at CES 2009 in January where it impressed with the incredible contrast and 0.8mm thin profile that OLED technology provides. Read More
Toshiba introduces LED TV with local dimming and motion enhancement
By Darren Quick
00:34 June 15, 2009 PDT
Toshiba’s flagship REGZA SV670 series that first caught our eye at CES 2009 is set to hit stores alongside the REGZA XV648 and ZV650 series. The SV670 is Toshiba’s first-ever LED-backlit HDTV and incorporates the company's FocaLight Full Matrix LED with local dimming instead of the standard edge LED lighting used in many other LED TVs. This ability to turn off individual groups of LEDs where required allows the SV670 to achieve deep blacks without sacrificing peak brightness and according to Toshiba, delivers a dynamic contrast ration of 2,000,000:1. Read More
Movie studios look at the big picture (and small) with Epix service
By Paul Best
20:10 June 10, 2009 PDT
A triumvirate of major movie studios – Lionsgate, Paramount and MGM – is planning to launch a new TV service called Epix that will screen recent catalogue titles in HD. But what’s interesting is the group's move to bundle it with a Hulu-like on-demand, commercial-free service that streams the same films in 720p HD. Read More
rob yates
- November 26, 2009 @ 12:49 UTC
