October 29th, 2009

Portable HDTV and DVD player costs $300

If you long for the ability to watch high definition TV on a seven-inch screen that’s resolution is a mere 480×234 but you also want to have the option to watch standard definition DVD’s as well, then here’s your next purchase.

According to Hammacher Schlemmer, this is “The First Portable HDTV And DVD Player.” → Read More

October 15th, 2009

Green: California getting closer to banning power-hungry TVs

Uh oh, another vaguely political post on CrunchGear. As you already know, the Consumer Electronics Association, the trade group that organizes CES, is fighting tooth and nail against possible regulations that would see California essentially ban the sale of power-hungry HDTVs. This mostly affects plasmas because they consume the most electricity of the different types of TVs out there. → Read More

September 2nd, 2009

If it could, the MPAA would push you right off the swingset and into the mud

You probably already hate, for whatever reason, the MPAA (and its music industry cousin, the RIAA), but here’s another reason to do so. The group is asking, for like the zillionth time, for the FCC to approve something called selectable output control. In essence, this allows a video signal to be sent to your TV from, say, a video on-demand service, that prevents the use of certain, non-aproved audio/video outputs. In other words, if you want to watch Terrible Movie 2: Yes, It Has Contrived To Be Worse Than The First on Comcast On-Demand, you won’t be able to record it using an old TiVo that connects via component cables. → Read More

July 30th, 2009

How does a 55-inch LED HDTV from Samsung sound to you?

As a reader of CrunchGear, I can only assume that you’re familiar with a recent invention called “television.” It’s truly a remarkable thing: it transports lights and sounds from the four corners of the planet, and brings them right to your living room. It’s like you’re actually at the big game! A recent upgrade, called high-definition television, improves the quality of the picture. Samsung, which is a company based in far-away South Korea, has a new line of high-definition televisions called the 8500 Series. It uses something called light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”) to light up the image—no more replacing tubes! → Read More

July 29th, 2009

A great photoset of high-end home theaters

→ Read More

July 23rd, 2009

Epic Games: 50 percent of Gears of War 2 players didn't use an HDTV

When Microsoft first showed off the Xbox 360 on MTV, what, four years ago, that was supposed to be the birth of the Era of HD Gaming. And while you and I may have a 1080p TV (and maybe even an entry level surround sound setup), it turns out, at least according to Epic Games’ Mark Rein, not even half of the people who played Gears of War 2 played it on a HDTV. That’s right, 50 percent of the people who battled the Locusts didn’t do so on an HDTV! → Read More

July 8th, 2009

LaCie's LaCinema Rugged plays 1080p video for $350

If money is no issue, and you’re looking to play 1080p content—alt.binaries.hdtv.h264 says hi—on your big screen TV, you really ought to look into getting a proper PC, one with one of those fancy nVidia GPU that you can use to hardware accelerate said Blu-ray rips. That being said, it looks like LaCie just came out with a stand-alone device that should play most of the HD content you “find” online. Oh, it’s called the LaCinema Rugged HD, and LaCie wants $350 for it. → Read More

June 22nd, 2009

LG Electronics to stuff ARM processors into HDTVs

HDTVs are increasingly becoming Internet appliances as much as they are televisions. The latest trend from all the major manufacturers are to include widgets and local network access which is pushing the limits of the custom CPUs. This is why LG has shifted focus away from making the central CPU itself, and outsourced the work to ARM.

LG has reportable chosen the ARM11 MPCore Processor to do the dirty in upcoming HDTVs. This chip is a multi-core CPU that, along with the ARM Mali graphics chip, should eliminate everyone’s main complaint about on-TV widgets: lag. → Read More

June 10th, 2009

Hands-on with the Toshiba Regza SV670 LED HDTV

Let’s start with Toshiba’s ad that looks like it came straight out of the early 90s. Pretty boring if you ask me. Aside from that the SV670 is quite stunning. For one thing, the 55-inch model would take up my entire living room and I’d be happy to watch from the next room. I can’t say too much about the local dimming and simulated 240Hz because all the Toshiba sets were looping the same video of the Rose Gardens in Portland, OR. The Deep Lagoon design might seem gimmicky, but when you’re in the store staring at hundreds of black trimmed TVs on the wall, the Regza is going to catch your eye. I can’t give it a proper “hands-on” because it didn’t seem to be calibrated correctly because the ZV650 seemed to be properly calibrated and the color on that particular set blew away the SV670. I was thoroughly impressed with Toshiba’s lineup that was re-announced today, but I’ll reserve final judgment until I’ve had proper time with each. In the meantime, check out the photos. → Read More

June 8th, 2009

VIZIO has new HDTVs, the XVT, M, and E series

Ready for new VIZIO HDTVs? The bargain brand has some new sets that should appeal to shoppers looking for a deal and those seeking high-end features. Really, the new models seem to have a bit of both. → Read More

May 27th, 2009

The Champions League final will be in HD on ESPNHD today

Good news, sports fans in the U.S.! It looks like ESPN will broadcast today’s Champions League final in HD on ESPNHD. Well, at least according to the schedule on its Web site. Why the network didn’t bother showing the whole tournament in HD when UEFA provides an HD feed, I don’t know. → Read More

May 26th, 2009

JVC now shipping $2400 42-inch LCD "monitor" for DSLR users

Announced back in January at CES, JVC announced today that the LT-42WX70 LCD “monitor” is now shipping for $2400. JVC is marketing the 42-inch LCD 1080p/120Hz HDTV in the hopes that it will snag photographers using a DSLR who might be shopping around for a high-end “monitor”. Sure, it displays 96 percent of the Adobe RGB spectrum and includes 52 image quality tweaks, but do photographers really need a 42-inch “monitor”? → Read More

May 22nd, 2009

CrunchDeals: Sceptre 32-inch 1080p LCD for $449

Need a cheapish, smallish 1080p TV? Newegg just put this one, the Sceptre X32BV, for sale at $449. The TV usually goes for $999, so you’re saving quite a bit of money. → Read More

April 10th, 2009

Myka BitTorrent set-top box now has a legal source of 5,000 movies in EZTakes

So, Myka. Remember what it does? Right, it’s a little set-top-box that plays high-def videos on your [presumably larger than your computer monitor] TV; it can download using BitTorrent right onto its built-in hard drive. That, or you can manually load previously downloaded videos onto it via a thumb drive or through a network. Oh, and now it plays “independent, foreign and cult films you can’t find in video stores” from EZTakes’ 5,000+ movie library. Neat-o, said the cow. Then he mooed, powerfully. → Read More

April 1st, 2009

ViewSonic outs 22-inch 1080p HDTV for $350

ViewSonic might be known for their line of computer monitors, but their HDTVs aren’t too shabby. Today, they released the VT2230, a 1080p 22-inch LCD for $349. With an 8000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920×1080 native resolution, the VT2230 just might bump my VX2240W out the door. → Read More

March 31st, 2009

Video: Yahoo!'s Connected TV clutters your HDTV with widgets, but we're OK with that

First announced at CES, Yahoo!’s widget engine, Connected TV, is now shipping with the Samsung 7000 series LED HDTV, which starts at $2500. The 7000 series Samsung LED HDTVs can either be wired into your home network or connected through a wireless router that costs an extra $80 from Samsung.

The widgets essentially let you surf the Web while you’re catching up on some boob tube. There are shortcut buttons on the TV controller itself and new widgets can be downloaded via the Widget Gallery. Here you can find widgets for Twitter, USA Today Sports, Flickr, Netflix, Amazon, The NYT, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Weather and Yahoo! Finance. → Read More

February 26th, 2009

Video: Oh look, it's AC Milan's Kaka in a Sony Bravia commercial (that's only airing in Australia)

I bet the boys and girls over at Sony breathed a huge sigh a relief when that “Kaka-to-Manchester-City” rumor finally died last month. After all, he’s the star of its latest commercial, seen here, promoting the company’s Motionflow technology. Fast-paced sports benefit from all those hertz (and a nice helping of signal processing). → Read More

February 25th, 2009

The 16943 concept TV swings both ways

→ Read More

February 19th, 2009

Calibrate your HDTV on the cheap

Seriously, calibrate your HDTV. It only takes a few minutes and most Pixar DVDs/Blu-ray discs have the tools you need built-in. Robert Heron takes you through the basics and how to do it cheaply on this weeks Systm. I’m telling yah, even if you don’t have high-end equipment like the pros, calibrate your HDTV. Episode after the break. → Read More

February 10th, 2009

Review: Sharp Gaming Aquos 32-inch 1080p TV

This attractive, wine-colored Sharp Aquos HDTV is aimed at gamers with a few specific features. Its 32 inches may not satisfy the more home theater-orientated of you, but maybe its wealth of inputs and the mysterious “Vyper Drive” will make it worth your while.

Read on for our full review. → Read More

Real-Time
Crunchbase

Durham Graphene Science — Received £1.2M in Seed funding from IP Group Plc
2.13.2012
OpenLabel — Company added to CrunchBase
2.13.2012
2.13.2012
Cidade Internet — Acquired by Populis.
2.1.2012
Jive Software — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:JIVE.
2.3.2012
Cidade Internet — Acquired by Populis.
2.1.2012
2.1.2012
2.9.2012
LetsBuy.com — Acquired by Flipkart.
2.9.2012
Cocoafish — Acquired by Appcelerator.
2.9.2012
Durham Graphene Science — Received £1.2M in Seed funding from IP Group Plc
2.13.2012
ClevrU — Received $550k in Unattributed funding
2.10.2012
OpenLabel — Received $80k in Seed funding from Peter Kirwan, Tim Drees, and Doug Taylor
2.10.2012
sneakpeeq — Received $2.67M in Unattributed funding from Bain Capital Ventures, Metamorphic Ventures, Keith Rabois, Tim Kendall, Mike Murphy, and Vikas Gupta
2.10.2012
Noble Biomaterials — Received $8M in Series B funding from Northwater Capital, TL Ventures, and DuPont Capital Management
2.10.2012
2.13.2012
Peter Kirwan — Invested in OpenLabel.
2.10.2012
Doug Taylor — Invested in OpenLabel.
2.10.2012
Tim Drees — Invested in OpenLabel.
2.10.2012
Metamorphic Ventures — Invested in sneakpeeq.
2.10.2012
Jive Software — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:JIVE.
2.3.2012
OpenLabel — Company added to CrunchBase
2.13.2012
Bookt — Company added to CrunchBase
2.12.2012
Kigo.Net — Company added to CrunchBase
2.12.2012
LiveRez — Company added to CrunchBase
2.12.2012
Preference Digital — Company added to CrunchBase
2.12.2012
2.12.2012
Metier HR - Cloud Based HR Process Automation Suite — Product added to CrunchBase
2.12.2012
TweepsMap — Product added to CrunchBase
2.12.2012
Wupbox account — Product added to CrunchBase
2.11.2012
Pocketbook (Mobile app, coming soon) — Product added to CrunchBase
2.11.2012
CrunchBase