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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Some rumors never die, and this one we heard even before the official Warner press release was issued. Now that the format war is officially over, newspapers and magazines everywhere are looking back on the events preceding Toshiba’s announcement. While no one really knows why each studio made its decision, The Globe and Mail cites “analysts” who think the payoff was a factor. Well, we asked Warner point blank about the payoff rumor and Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group said that it “was not a bidding war” and that it really came down to Q4 sales. This answer leaves us with the impression that while some money probably changed hands, the real reason why Warner went Blu was because during all of 2007 the Blu-ray versions of Warner’s titles always outsold the HD DVD. The bottom line is that regardless of any single payoff, since Warner owns most of the home media market, it had the most to lose if it waited too long to chose a format. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

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Source: Ben Drawbaugh

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV

The kind, loving folks over at Sony claim that they’re about to explode the video conferencing market wide open — HD style — and we’ve got front row seats to the festivities. According to the electronics-maker, the PCS-XG80 is the industry’s first 1080i, HD conferencing solution, and will provide dual streaming, 30 FPS performance over IP or ISDN connections. The system is backwards-compatible with its older SD setups, and we assume it plays nice with the behemoth’s earlier HD effort, the PCS-HG90 — though you might want to double check on that before dropping the $8,999 that the company is asking for the system. Finally, you can really see just how ugly the home office is.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio, Portable Video

At a glance, it’s easy to mistake the Maxian E900T for other members of the Maxian family, such as the E900DIC or D900 Neo. Let’s face it — this company has some fundamental problems when it comes to differentiating between models. The latest entry into the lineup comes in the form of a wild, do-it-all PMP — one which incorporates audio and video playback, a DMB receiver, GPS navigation, and an always-handy dictionary into one delicious package. The Windows CE-based system boasts an 800 x 480 4.3-inch touchscreen, a 30GB or 60GB hard drive, support for WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DiVX / XviD, H.264, WMA, AAC, MP3, and OGG formats (amongst others), plus the aforementioned DMB compatibility. The E900T is capable of outputting 720p HD video, sports Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound, and includes Burr-Brown audio circuitry which it outputs via S/PDIF. When you slap this thing into its carmount, it also becomes a full featured GPS navigator, taking advantage of the GPS receiver in the cradle to provide turn-by-turn directions and other navigation functions you know and love, like locating Wendy’s (in Korea, at least). No word on when, or if, this will be available in the States, but it couldn’t hurt to write some letters of encouragement.

[Via Navigadget]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Features

Ever wanted a full, 1080p camcorder that looked just like the Super-8 your dad used to shoot sun-soaked home movies with back in the 1970s? Well, you’re in luck, because Sanyo seems to be sharing your nostalgic vibes this year, particularly in the case of the Xacti DMX-HD1000, the world’s tiniest, full-HD video camera. We got our chance to manhandle this minuscule (yet powerful) camcorder at IFA today and honestly, it’s like holding a gun… a memory gun. Deep, right? Take a look at the totally ill photo gallery and let us know your thoughts on the matter.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/hardware/What_it_takes_to_produce_an_HD_newscast’; The only thing better than watching HD, is learning how it actually works. So we took a trip down to WFTS in Tampa Florida to get schooled on what it took for them to upgrade their daily newscast to HD, and yes we took lots of pics.

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Source: Ben Drawbaugh

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Filed under: Displays

NuVision, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based maker of LCD televisions, has just announced an veritable avalanche of new models on the way, and we’ve got all the succulent details. The new displays feature the company’s Digital Switching Deep Black (DSDB) technology, which supposedly adjusts backlight settings in relation to images onscreen, allowing for contrast ratios up to a whopping 15000:1; the screens also sport the company’s NiDO II or NiDO III image processor / color stabilizer. Sets range in size from a moderate 22-inches to the gigantic, impressing-your-in-laws size of 65-inches. Check out a little rundown of the vital stats, prices, and release dates after the break.

[Via AVguide]Continue reading NuVision debuts ten new Lucidium Deep Black 1080p displays

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: HDTV

Most of the time you’re probably just sitting around, staring at your plasma television and wondering how much longer you have till the thing starts going dim on you. Well luckily, Panasonic is seriously feeling your pain, and the company has just upped the half-brightness rating of a whole slew of its new plasma screens to 100,000 hours — a nearly 67 percent increase in lifespan. This means that longevity for the TVs jumps from 25 years for the current line, to 42 years for the new batch — not an insubstantial figure. The models mentioned in the company’s press release are the TH-42PZ700U, TH-50PZ700U, TH-58PZ700U, TH-50PZ750U, and TH-58PZ750U which you may have already seen when we spotted them back in March, but Panasonic has added another screen to the mix, the TH-65PZ750U: a 65-inch, 1080p monster which the electronics-maker says will be available sometime in September.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: HDTV

As noted on Engadget HD the other day, and further clarified by Major Nelson this morning, that story about Target going exclusively Blu-ray was false. Turns out they’re just installing Blu-ray aisle end caps, thanks to a new promotional deal with Sony, but HD DVD isn’t going anywhere. Hopefully you haven’t chucked out your HD DVD collection just yet in a concession to defeat at Thursday’s “news,” but if you have it’s always good to know you can score replacements at your local Target, just like always.

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Source: Paul Miller

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