Philips releases “green” LCD
Philips has introduced a new LCD TV, the Eco FlatTV, that it claims will reduce your current electricity bill, regardless of how much TV you watch.
According to Philips, the Eco FlatTV’s backlight can be dimmed to reduce the TVs electricity draw, but more importantly, “without compromising the picture quality.” The “sensor monitors the surrounding ambient lighting level and adjusts the brightness of the TV’s backlight accordingly,” says the company of its new feature, Ambilight.
While in standby mode the TV consumes less than 0.15W of electricity which is indeed under the average for LCD TVs. You could however, save full electricity by turning off the TV but that is neither here nor there. The TV also uses lead-free components and flame-retardant materials which are reportedly friendly on the environment. Even the package the TV is shipped in is made from all recycled materials.
Does the TV stand up to other LCDs on the market though? It seems that way. It sports full 1080p Resolution, Pixel Plus HD image enhancement as well as four HDMI ports and invisible built-in speakers. The company says the TV will cost $2200 USD when it is released in June.
Guitar Hero coming to the DS
Activision has announced that it will be releasing the blockbuster hit game “Guitar Hero” on the world’s most popular handheld, the Nintendo DS.
The new game, “Guitar Hero: On Tour” will include a plug-in accessory (pictured later) and a mock guitar-pick that will allow gamers to strum on the bottom screen.
There was no price point set yet, but Activision says the game will hit retailers in June or July. The average Nintendo DS game costs $30 USD but gamers can expect GH: OT to cost around $50 because of the peripheral.
The blockbuster franchise has made over $1 billion USD since its launch in 2005 and the DS is the best selling gaming hardware for the last few years. The combo could be lethal.
Picture courtesy of IGN:
Philips to finally bring Blu-ray to UK
Philips has finally confirmed that it will be releasing a Blu-ray player in the UK, however if you are expecting it soon, you will be disappointed. The company will be releasing the BDP7200 in October meaning consumers will have to wait over 7 months for the player.
Making the news even more disappointing is the fact that the player will only support Blu-ray Profile 1.1 despite that fact that its American counterparts will already support 2.0 by then. The company could not even confirm that the player would have an Ethernet port, meaning an update to Profile 2.0 via the internet might not happen ever.
The player is the first the UK will see from Philips, and sports 1080p Resolution, multi-channel audio decoding and digital audio optical outputs.
ITC to probe Sony Blu-ray patents
The U.S. International Trade Commission has announced that it will be investigating possible patent infringements related to Blu-ray players and peripherals, and that Sony was one of 30 companies that are included in the probe.
The probe began because of a complaint filed in February by Columbia University Professor Emeritus Gertrude Neumark Rothschild who claims that short-wavelength light-emitting diodes and laser diodes used in Blu-ray players infringe her patent.
Other notable companies besides Sony in the investigation are Nokia, Motorola Inc, LG Electronics Inc, and Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial.
Sony spokespeople refused comment as the investigation is ongoing. We will keep you updated.
China shuts down video sharing sites
The Chinese government will be shutting down or “punishing” dozens of video-sharing sites that carry content deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national security, announced a regulator yesterday. The news comes as China tries to tighten Internet control over the country.
Recently, the Chinese government blocked all access to YouTube after videos of protests in Tibet surfaced on the site.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which made the announcement, noted that Tudou.com, China’s most popular video-sharing site, was among the sites that was being penalized.
Rules that had taken effect on January 31st ban Chinese sites from posting or distributing online video that “involves national secrets, hurts the reputation of China, disrupts social stability or promotes pornography.” With the upcoming Beijing Olympics, the government is hoping to stop any bad media that might tarnish the event.
New app turns iPhone into remote for Multiroom Music System
Sonos, maker of networked music players, has introduced a free iPhone application for controlling their multiroom audio system. It allows the iPhone to emulate a proprietary remote, the Sonos CR100 Controller, which sells for $399.
The Sonos MultiRoom Music System can be used to play music from any networked computer in your house. It also interfaces directly with several music download and subscription services, as well as recently introduced support for free internet radio services.
Even though it seems you no longer need the remote, it appears that you’ll still have to buy one with each ZonePlayer. Both the ZonePlayer90, which outputs a line level signal to feed other audio equipment, and the ZonePlayer120, outputting directly to speakers, are only sold with the controller. They cost $349 and $499 respectively.
Perhaps more interesting than the ability to control Sonos systems is the idea of programming smartphones to be advanced remotes. Arguably one of the biggest problems various mobile computing products, from PDAs to ultra mobile PCs, have had is their inability to perform tasks normally associated with desktops or laptops.
Now many companies are starting to zero in on things more suited for their size. A prime example is providing an interface with the increasing number of household appliances connected to the network and internet.
Western Digital introduces media hub
Western Digital has announced the release of the HD TV Media Player, a networked media hub that will allow users to attach up to two USB hard drives, media devices or other gadgets and browse the contents via your TV.
Electronista says “the Media Player merges the content of two USB drives into a single pool of media and uses both file names and metadata for menus and the search process, so those with incomplete music or video tags can still find content.”
Video playback is supported for up to 1080p through HDMI although what formats are playable was not disclosed. RCA outputs also allow for SD compatibility for older TVs.
The hub is available today and is priced at $130 USD without any HDDs.
Roku will offer HD through Netflix
Roku representatives have posted on the official Roku message boards that they will be partnering with Netflix again to deliver HD content to subscribers of the rental company before the end of the year.
Differentiating from the recent Microsoft-Netflix deal, Roku will “use different Advanced Profile encoding to deliver the HD content at significantly lower bit-rates.”
The official post on the forum says the following:
Roku will be delivering Netflix in HD by the end of the year
- Roku will be using Advanced Profile encodes which will deliver HD at substantially lower bit-rates than what Xbox is offering
- The number of titles is up to Netflix but the library will be the same as or larger than the Xbox library
- The UI will be updated to run in 720p and more covers will be visible on the screen at a time
- And the release will include another major new feature that you’ll have to wait a bit longer to learn about.
DirecTV lobbied over a million USD on digital TV switch
The popular satellite-television provider DirecTV spent a hefty $1.2 million USD in 2007 lobbying the US’s switch from analog to digital TV.
Other broadcasters, cable operators, and satellite providers have all been campaigning to educate consumers about the government mandated transition that is scheduled for Feb. 17, 2009.
Current cable and satellite customers have nothing to worry about, even if they have old analog TVs, because their providers will provide devices to help them with the transition. However, “viewers who get free, over-the-air programming” will now need to buy converter boxes now available in stores. The US government is providing coupon vouchers to help citizens pay for the devices if they need such help.
DirecTV spent $600,000 USD for the second half of 2007 to lobby Congress, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The company spent $640,000 in the first half of 2007 on the same issue.
CBC set to release TV show for free via torrents
Canada’s public television broadcaster CBC has announced that they will be releasing the upcoming TV show “Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister” for free via torrents. The move marks the first time a North American broadcaster will use the very popular filesharing protocol.
Although not completely confirmed, early reports show that the TV show will be published the day after the show airs on TV, DRM-free and in HD. Despite being the only North American broadcaster to have the idea, European broadcaster, especially the BBC are working on ways to distribute their content online via torrents. Torrent distribution would cut costs substantially.
Different studies have shown that approximately 50 percent of all BitTorrent downloads are TV-shows and that some hit shows such as “Heroes” can see up to 10 million downloads per new episode so it should become clear to broadcasters that torrents are a great way to get a show distributed. The only question is how to make it a profitable market.
