CSI helped defined HD in its early years and now it will finally be available on Blu-ray. The show, along with ER, was one of the first primetime programs to showcase why the 16:9 format at a higher definition was so damn spectacular. I don’t even think CSI: Miami would still be on the air if it wasn’t for the HD eye candy compensating for the horrendous acting. Anyway, the show’s first season… → Read More
Oh boy. After 12 seasons stuck in standard definition, South Park will finally be shown in glorious high-def. The new season starts on March 11th and is a long time coming. The season 13 premier hopefully sets a standard that the likes The Simpsons and Family Guy must follow. I mean, come on. It’s 2009 and those cartoons are some of the last prime time shows stuck in the past. Some would argue… → Read More
Just what every housewife has been asking for, Regis and Kelly is going high definition on January 5th, 2009. I doubt the world will be a better place once the forever-young Regis will be seen in all the detail that HD provides, but still, it’s great seeing staple morning shows making the switch. More and more consumers are going to purchase HDTVs with the digital switch looming and there is… → Read More
Sound & Vision has a list of what they feel are the top high definition shows this fall. CSI: Miami Pushing Daisies The Mentalist Heros True Blood The Office Dexter While I don’t disagree with first two, Dexter (best show on TV, btw) and True Blood should be higher on the list. Plus SNL, Stargate: Atlantis, and ER all better looking than The Office. Great show, but there are… → Read More
My goodness, there has been a lot of digital cameras launched within the last few days. Nikon, Canon and now Sony. This firm’s latest sports a 10.1 megapixel paired up with a 5x optical zoom and a 3.5-inch touchscreen, but the main selling point of the T500 has to be the HD video capture mode. This mode allows for up to 10 minutes of continuous video that should fill a 4GB memory stick. Said… → Read More
Vudu has big plans for their IP-based content delivery service. Big plans and we don’t mean that .99 cent rental thing. “In a very short time we’ll have 1,000 HD titles,” says Donnigan. “That’s more than Blu-ray. We have some huge deals.” That’s a lot of high-def content. More than any service we can think of. But also, the company wants to help… → Read More
The boob tube has been squawking lately about some big political event next week in Denver. If you plan on tuning in, Multichannel News is reporting that CNN plans on broadcasting the entire shebang in high-def. Apparently, the outfit splurged on new cameras and related gear for the event. You would think that this gathering was important or something. Multichannel News via TVP → Read More
Three of the best Christmas flicks, and Elf, are coming from Warner later this year to your Blu-ray player. The set includes, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, The Polar Express, and yes, unfortunately Elf. No word on price just yet, but does it really matter? A Christmas Story – in high definition. Come on! Plus, nothing brightens up the depressing Christmas… → Read More
We’ve featured Neuros’s wares on Crunchgear before, so we’re glad to see the DIY Linux systems mature to high definition age. Their latest box, the OSD2.0, aimed at developers is going to have the capability. Yeah, you read that correctly, as of right now it doesn’t but as soon as the functionality is available, a firmware refresh will add it. Once you throw in the… → Read More
I’ll be honest. I’ve never met anyone in real life who subscribes to DISH Network, but I’m fairly convinced that the company does exist and probably turns a profit. If you happen to be a DISH subscriber and you have one of the HD packages, then you, my friend, are in for what appears to be some sort of treat. Tomorrow, DISH will start rolling out a big, fat update to all of its MPEG-4 HD DVR… → Read More
Samsung adds some over-the-air HD goodness to its line of LCD monitors with the 22-inch T220HD, 24-inch T240HD, and 26-inch T260HD, priced at $429, $549, and $599, respectively. All three models feature an integrated ATSC/ClearQAM tuner for watching over-the-air TV channels. The 24- and 26-inch versions each feature two HDMI inputs while the 22-inch model features just one. Contrast ratio for all… → Read More
Good morning and happy Monday to everyone. My name is Doug and I’m here to tell you about three new hard drive-based camcorders coming from JVC. It’ll be fun! Okay, so we’ve got the Everio GZ-HD10, the Everio GZ-HD30, and the Everio GZ-HD40. All three of them do high definition, while the HD30 and HD40 can do dual-mode recording – either MPEG-2 format or AVCHD format. The GZ-HD10 just does… → Read More
There’s certainly no shortage of flash-based camcorders these days and the trend, happily, has been to improve the image quality of these inexpensive-yet-pocketable devices. I had the chance to try out a relatively affordable high definition camcorder recently; the $150 566V from DXG. → Read More
DXG (yes, that DXG) has announced the 569V series of flash-based high definition camcorders. I’m currently playing with the 566V, which is similar to the 569V except that it’s shaped more like a conventional camcorder. I’ll have a review up soon. Anyway, the 569V is now available at Radio Shack and other fine retailers for just under $170. It records 30-frames per second high… → Read More
The wait is finally almost over. Sometime later this year, TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD owners have access to the wonderful world of YouTube, allowing them “to search, browse and watch these videos directly on their television sets through their broadband connected TiVo DVRs.” Dave Zatz finds it interesting that only Series3 and TiVo HD owners will be getting this feature, wondering if… → Read More
[photopress:twbb.jpg,full,right] There’s confusion surrounding the pending high-def release of There Will Be Blood. The movie, which will be released here in the U.S. by Paramount on HD DVD, was scheduled for an April 8 release. Then it disappeared from Paramount’s site. Axed? No. Hardly. Apparently Paramount was just restructuring its Web site to reflect a new March 4 release detail… → Read More
[photopress:popcorna100.jpg,full,center] Well, someone was impressed by Popcorn Hour, an inexpensive ($180) networked media streamer that handles pretty much every kid tested, pirate approved codec/container, save for Ogg—Xvid, H.264, MPEG2 and MKV are all playable out of the box. Three cheers for MKV support, since that’s the preferred container for high-def movie rips these days. She… → Read More
[photopress:36050.jpg,full,center] Flickr’d Rumors point to a massive price drop for the Xbox 360′s HD DVD add-on. As a result of the format’s death, Microsoft will tell retailers to let the drive go for $50, a full $80 off the previous price. Why exactly you’d spend $50 on an outdated, dead technology I don’t know. You’re better off playing Mega Millions or… → Read More
iPod Observer recently spoke with someone at Apple and was able to get a little more information about renting HD movies using the new Apple TV software. The basic gist is that HD movies can only be rented, not purchased. Standard definition movies can be purchased, but high-def movies can’t. The movies are streamed directly from Apple’s servers and displayed on your TV. Nothing is… → Read More
The very-nice people that work at CamcorderInfo.com down the street from me here in Boston got a first look at the new Canon HF10 high definition camcorder. I’ll let them do most of the talking but the basic pros include 16GB of flash memory, plus the ability to record on SDCH memory cards, full 1920×1080 resolution for true HD recording with a 17Mbps bitrate at 30P (it also does 60i… → Read More
Forget holiday shopping deals, many Toshiba HD DVD players are now selling for under $200 anyway. The HD-A3 and HD-A30 are going for $134.98 and $174.98 on Amazon, respectively. You’ll still get two free movies in the box (Bourne Identity and 300) plus five more by mail, too. These may very well be closeout prices, though. Often times, retailers will change the last two digits in the price… → Read More
Check the calendar, last-minute Christmas shopper. You’ve only four days (if you count today) till D-Day, so here’s a gift that should be easy to find at pretty much any retailer: “Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector’s Edition).” This is the final, that’s-all-she-wrote version of the cult classic starring Harrison Ford. Director Ridley Scott and some mega… → Read More
When new home owner Josh Goldman reviewed Vudu in September, it could only be used to watch movies. That’s no longer the case, with the set top box now able to pull in a dozen TV shows, including “Family Guy,” “Arrested Development” [ed. yes~!~!~!] and “The Shield.” It’s $2 per episode, so it’s right in line with iTunes pricing, but still… → Read More
After somehow destroying my 20-inch LCD TV in a cross-country move, I needed to face down the task of replacing it. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money and I didn’t need a huge TV but I did want something a little bigger than 20 inches. This TV has been a great replacement. There’s a built-in HD tuner, two HDMI connections, two component inputs, two composite inputs, VGA… → Read More
Looks like we won’t be seeing Warner Home Entertainment’s hybrid HD DVD/Blu-ray discs after all. The company recently reported that it’s pulling the plug on the project that would have offered consumers movies under the Total HD moniker, simply meaning an HD DVD version on one side of the disc, Blu-ray on the other. To date, Warner is the only major studio that produces… → Read More
Howard Stringer (Sony Corp. CEO) says that Blu-ray and HD DVD are in a stalemate. He has to say that, though. I’ve stayed out of the debate since it started because, as a consumer, I don’t care who wins. I care about how much it’s going to cost me versus how much benefit I’ll get out of it. As it stands right now, I wouldn’t buy a Blu-ray player for $450 when… → Read More
…and I say "take on" loosely, although this is going to be interesting to watch. A company called New Medium Enterprises (NME) has manufactured a "low-cost true high definition solution" that uses standard red lasers found in today’s CD and DVD players. The format is called "HD VMD" or High Definition Versatile Multilayer Disc. → Read More
Say hello to the new Advanced Interactivity Consortium. Its goal is to promote "superior interactivity for a wide range of next-generation consumer devices, digital content and distribution scenarios [and] maximize consumer satisfaction worldwide by accelerating industrywide adoption of advanced interactivity and interoperability across a broad array of HD DVD products." → Read More
According to the Apple Fairy, close relative of the Fat Nano Fairy, there’s gonna be a pretty substantial update to iTunes sometime this month that’ll help to bring AppleTV back from the teetering edge of extinction. Apple has apparently placed a gargantuan order for more AppleTV units in anticipation for the upcoming “iTunes HD” or whatever it’ll be called. The name… → Read More
Adobe is getting set to support the H.264 high-definition standard, the same standard used in Blu-ray and HD-DVD players and set-top cable and satellite boxes. Most popular video sites on the Internet use the Flash video format and as more and more videos get published in this new format, we can expect to see the visual quality of web video improve exponentially. → Read More
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