Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Portable Video
As a natural followup to their Wireless Audio Gateway AD-42W (pictured), it looks like Nokia might be getting into the video streaming game with a new WiFi
[Via atmaspheric]
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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video
So, we weren’t exactly effusive when it came to describing the iLoad to y’all, but this new “iLoad +” add-on is quite a bit less confusing and a tiny bit more exciting then its iLoad brother, so we’re going to give this another shot, aight? The iLoad + hooks up to your cable or satellite box for a bit of DVR action, and you can hook up your TV via S-Video to see what’s going on. From there it’s fairly straight-forward to schedule recordings from the iLoad +’s built-in interface and then pop them over to your 5/5.5G iPod
[Via eHomeUpgrade]
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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.
Filed under: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment
You didn’t think we’d leave you without some accompanying videos, now do you? Dave shot some sweet videos of unboxing the new TiVo Series3, the new TiVo
Watch [WMV] - unboxing
Watch [WMV] - startup sequence
Watch [WMV] - video mode options
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Filed under: Digital Cameras
The latest piece of technology originally intended for military / security applications to be rebranded for peaceful, consumer purposes comes from a Silicon Valley startup called MotionDSP, which has licensed technology from a military research project that can enhance low-resolution video and improve the output of phone cameras, webcams, and other low quality feeds. The technology, which will go into a consumer beta later this year, compares multiple frames in a video to replace lost pixels in any given frame without an increase in file size. Eventually the company plans to offer an online service where consumers can enhance their pixelated creations for free, although the company also wants to make deals with current online video services. Until that day comes, we’ll continue to suffer through our daily fix of YouTube in all its aliased and pixelated glory.
Without MotionDSP.
With MotionDSP.
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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Portable Audio, Portable Video
You’d think that we would have heard of a company that’s made (or perhaps rebadged) literally hundreds of DAPs and PMPs since 2004, but until we came across the swivel-screen M790, we’d never caught wind of a Chinese manufacturer called Newman. Most of its products are simply cookie-cutter devices that resemble so many of the other products we’ve featured on these pages, but the M790’s unique design and large-ish 2.5-inch screen convinced us to give it another look. As with many foreign products of its ilk, this DAP’s exact specs are a little hard to come by, but we do know that it sports a QVGA resolution, built-in speakers, a camera
[Via Anything But iPod]
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Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless
While it seems that there’s just too many of those not-exactly-functional FM transmitters
[Via OhGizmo]
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Filed under: Home Entertainment
Advertising Age is reporting that Amazon is close to launching an ad-free video download service, side-stepping Apple
[Thanks, Chris]
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Filed under: Multimedia, Software
Perhaps looking to get a quick hit of cash before the onslaught of competing services gets into full swing, MobiTV has announced a deal with Oak Investment Partners, a venture capital firm, to provide $70 million in exchange for a board seat. No word on what kind of spending spree will ensue, but MobiTV's saying that the cash will "fuel the Company's rapid expansion in response to the overwhelming demand for its mobile television and radio service across international markets." To their credit, the numbers show that these guys are growing pretty rapidly, clocking over a million total subscribers at latest count -- not bad for a company whose domestic carrier partners have launched at least partially competitive services. Having sampled MobiRadio, though, we'll say this much: we hope a few bucks of that VC cash goes toward offering higher-bitrate streams.
Contest time again! Who's excited? Yes you are, yes you are! Made in Eureka is a show premiering on the Sci-Fi channel next Tuesday, July 18. I'll let them explain the show.
Nestled in the Pacific Northwest, Eureka is a seemingly ordinary town whose residents lead ordinary lives ... at least to the naked eye. Shrouded in secrecy, the picturesque hamlet is actually a community of scientific geniuses assembled by the government to conduct top-secret research.
video courtesy of the Made in Eureka folks. You need to create and design an original invention and include some kind of a sketch or mock-up with a full explanation of what the gadget does. Hit up the link here to get an idea of what the citizens of Eureka have been brewing up. Once you have the entire mock-up and description done, shoot it over to gizmodobox@gmail.com with MADE IN EUREKA in the subject line. Contest ends next Tuesday, July 18, so get brainstorming! The usual Gawker Contest Rules apply.
The fun doesn't end there. Sci-Fi is also having a similar contest with a Sony
Filed under: Portable Video
stick with integrated analog tuner, and voila, you're ready to stream the sweet, sweet TV out the Internet to any of the newer Skype clients capable of video calls. The TV will even call you and then allow you to change channels via a chat window if we're reading the machine translation correctly -- enter "the ##12#" to switch to channel 12, for example. Not likely to give Slingboxers any competition in terms of functionality or quality, but for ¥9,800 or about $85, you're not likely to find a cheaper solution boxed up so neatly. Oh Skype, come 'er and give us a cuddle.Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Video
There are plenty of ways to get your favorite TV shows onto your iPod
[Via iLounge]
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Filed under: Laptops
's trackpad in action, or any untethered use, so both the interface (not that there's any software to interface with right now) and the battery life are fairly unproven. Ah well, we're glad we get a peek just the same, and look forward to 2007 when this thing starts getting some polish.Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Windows Mobile
scene, Sling is making good on its promise to port its SlingPlayer Mobile to other platforms -- if you call Windows Mobile Smartphone a different "platform," that is. (We don't.) Given the dearth of 3G Smartphones on the streets these days, finding a suitable device to stream glorious full-motion video to might be trickier than with the Pocket PC version, but the EV-DO equipped Q and WiFi equipped T-Mobile SDA are thankfully both on the compatibility list.Filed under: Robots
If you have one of those floors that need very close monitoring throughout the day, the Surveyor SRV-1 is the robot for you. The little unit can crawl around your home at around one foot per second, and reports back on its surroundings with a miniature VGA camera
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Filed under: Robots
. The software can support up to 16 roombas, so we're looking forward to some Roomba symphony action. You'll want to throw together that Bluetooth control hack to give Roomba real freedom of expression, but after that it doesn't seem like there's much trouble in setting up RoombaMidi control, and you can even use the software as a mere remote if you're not feeling like a song. Be sure to check the vid for Roomba's interpretation of the Mario theme.Filed under: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment
In today’s How-To we get to play with other people’s toys. We upgraded a home theater to a high definition front projection system. We lay it out, set it up, drill holes, nearly die in a Texas attic, and bring home the popcorn.
Our project home theater already has the essentials for taking advantage of a high definition display: a progressive scan DVD player
Screen Selection
It may seem counter intuitive, but it’s helpful to consider (but not purchase) the screen before choosing a projector. Knowing the size of screen you want in your room will determine where the projector needs to be mounted, and how bright it needs to be. If you’re not sure, marking out the dimensions of the screen with some blue masking tape and checking out the view from your seating area can be helpful. Click on to read the rest of this week’s How-To!
It’s wise to consider the content you intend to view when choosing your screen. 16:9 (the ratio of width to height) is standard for HDTV content as you well know. The widest movies are presented in 2.35:1 format; standard definition television is 4:3. We’ve drawn these as constant height, just to give a rough idea of the differences. Check out the Letterbox and Widescreen Advocacy page for a great explanation.
After a few days of debating, the owner of our project theater determined that he wanted a 100 inch diagonal (49 x 87-inch) 16:9 screen.
The projector is the heart of any projection system. We selected the Panasonic’s PT-AE900U high contrast LCD projector. It displays 1280 x 720 resolution and has plenty of inputs (2 component, HDMI, VGA, S-video, etc.) and a great user reputation. The $400 rebate from Panasonic makes it even more attractive to the bargain hunting AV geek.
The screen size you want will determine how far away the projector needs to be mounted. This information is usually found in a table in the projector manual. Calling the manufacturer or downloading the manual is a good way to get this information. According to this table from the manual, the zoom range of the lens allows for a flexible 10 feet 2 inches, to 20 feet 4 inch distance from a 100 inch screen.
Before ordering your screen, we suggest getting your hands on the projector first to test out the size you’re considering with a temporary screen (aka bed sheet or wall), and the lighting conditions you intend to use it under. If you can’t put up curtains, a brighter room may call for a less reflective (lower gain) screen to get the best picture.
We finally settled on a Da-Lite Cinema Contour 16:9 100-inch diagonal wall mount screen. This screen has a gain of 1.3 (it will reflect 1.3 times more light than a standard white surface) and comes with a 3-inch wide matte black frame with permanent wall mount brackets.
It’s important to keep eye height in mind when mounting a screen. Have a seat and measure how high your eyes are as you look straight ahead.
Subtract 1/3 of the screen height from your eye height. That should be the height of the bottom of your screen. (Add the screen height to that to get the top of screen measurement.)
Mounting the Da-Lite screen is simple. We used 2 inch drywall screws to mount the upper and lower brackets. Once the first screw is in, use a bubble level to level the screen mount. Thanks to our stud finder, we managed to secure the brackets to three separate studs.
The screen fits over the top bracket, is centered, then the bottom of the frame just pops over the lower bracket for a nice clean installation.
Since the room is about seventeen feet deep, we decided to mount the projector on a shelf. A ceiling mount was an option, but the shelf was easier and cheaper to install for this project. The shelf was leveled and centered on the back wall four inches lower than the top of the screen. The Panasonic can be located off center, but keeping the image centered in the lens will produce the best image. It’s important to place the projector as parallel and level to the screen as possible.
Having attic or basement access to run your cables is a must if you want to hide you cables. Just remember that attic space in Texas gets seriously hot later in the day (as we found out). We pulled our cables from an access box near the equipment rack, through the attic, down to our freshly cut hole for the projector.
Once you have access into the wall and through the top or bottom of the stud wall, a wire snake is great for fishing access through the wall. For ease, we pulled a light nylon line through the wall and tied that to our bundle of cables to pull them through the wall down to the plate.
For the DVD player, we made a set of components; for the Satellite receiver, we purchased a 35 foot DVI to HDMI cable. Because the HDMI cable is so thick and lacks any method of securing the cable (dear HDMI designers: what the hell were you thinking?), we cut a new box hole directly behind the future location of the projectors HDMI port. We also pulled the power cable through the wall to the projector — it’s connected to a dedicated outlet installed in the attic.
We had problems getting a component cable in time for the install, so we tried making our own from shielded cat-5 and a set of RCA ends. It can be a challenge getting good solder type connectors, so we sacrificed a prebuilt cable to get a set of color coded, machine terminated connectors.
We used three pairs of the cat-5 for our component cables and left the shielding disconnected. Heat shrink tubing was used to insulate each connection as it was built, and the entire assembly was covered in heat shrink tubing to finish off each cable end. For ease, we finished the other end of the cable after we pulled it through the walls. The final cable performed just as well as our shorter cable, but we suspect a high end cable would provide slightly better video quality.
The adjustment joystick on the Panasonic could be smoother, but with the right touch, you can align the image pretty decently with it. The ring behind the lens zooms the image and rotating the lens itself focuses the image. We wish these controls were electronic, but once it’s set, you can forget about it.
Once the projector is connected, powered and aimed, take the time to calibrate it a bit. The AVIA Guide to Home Theater on DVD is an excellent tool for calibrating the video your projector displays. It’s a bit on the Mr. Rogers cheesy side, but it’s loaded with test patterns and tones for tuning your setup. Some of it is specific to the older CRT systems, but with it you can calibrate your video to meet NTSC standards. The colored filters (Gels) are used for blocking out the other colors so the levels of red, green and blue can be adjusted individually. Even with the great ratings of the Panasonic AE900U we used, it was very helpful for calibrating contrast and just a bit of color level tweaking.
Finished up, and tweaked with AVIA, we’re getting the popcorn and kickin back. It was a hit with everyone, even a uh, friendly scorpion (with claws and stinger) came by to check it out. We kid you not. Texas, man, Texas.
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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Laptops
We knew Acer was going to be one of the first vendors after Toshiba to roll out an HD DVD-equipped laptop, and now it looks like the company is ready to be one of the first out of the gate (after Sony, of course) with Blu-ray as well. Although Acer is refusing to comment, reports out of Taiwan are that the company will introduce both Blu-ray and HD DVD-equipped portables at the upcoming Computex 2006 trade show. We’re ready to see it happen — though what we really want is one box with both drives in it. Maybe they can follow up with that.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Filed under: Portable Audio
boombox to choose from? Memorex thinks so, as evidenced by their recent introduction of a 12-watt 'box -- called, unsurprisingly, the iMove -- which accepts fourth and fifth generation 'Pods along with nanos, the iPod photo, and even the good old Mini, plus anything else you can plug into its auxiliary port. Also sporting a remote, AM/FM tuner, and SRS WOW sound enhancement, the iMove can be powered from your car or boar's cigarette lighter, eight D batteries, or a regular wall outlet -- and by using the latter option, you can simultaneously charge whatever iPod you have docked as well. No word yet on a release date, but as long as its cheaper than the Hi-Fi (it is, at around $100) and more polished than models like the Toolbox Player or iBoom (which it seems to be), it should probably be able to eke out some decent sales when it finally hits Wal-mart shelves.Filed under: Multimedia
If you’re a fan of watching shakey videos of teenagers fighting each other and illegally racing cars, then you’ll be pleased to learn that YouTube has just launched a new service allowing members to upload videos directly from their cellphones
[Via jkOnTheRun]
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Filed under: Games, Multimedia, Ringtones
Yeah, everybody is doing it, but there's always room for
one more media conglomerate to create overpriced mobile content for the masses. Universal Studios has just launched a
mobile unit, Universal Mobile Entertainment, that will provide mobile content based on Universal properties. Turns out
they'll be playing it pretty safe, with games, ringtones and mobile versions of existing video clips. Tie-ins will
include modern hits like "Battlestar Galactica" and classics such as "Jaws." They're also looking
into the possibility of doing mobisodes like those done for ABC's
"Lost" and Fox's "Prison Break," but nothing solid on that front yet.Filed under: Digital Cameras
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Remember that hot
Handycam we first set eyes to at CES? Yeah, the one with a 30GB hard disk, 3.3 megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch touch-screen
LCD, and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound recording — that one. Well, CamcorderInfo laid fist-to-product and inked a full
review for our consumption. JVC may have been first to market with a hard disk recorder, but the review claims the
SR100 is the first to produce “good video.” In fact, they say it blows those JVC
recordings (Sony goes MPEG-2) “out of the water.” Granted, the SR100 still isn’t quite up to the quality of
MiniDV-taped recorders but the gap is no doubt, “closing quickly” which is good news indeed. Sure, the cam
suffers from only a few manual controls and the reviewer doesn’t like the Sony touch-screen interface which makes
handling the unit a problem. Still, the camera
shooting needs. We’ll just have to wait and see how it holds up to that mysterious
GZ-MG505 before getting ourselves in too much of a tizzy over this $1,000-ish camcorder.
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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
nano — have a chance of winning back Apple’s business as Cupertino gets, though he did sayRead | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Filed under: Digital Cameras
If you're not
sure you want to spend $30 for one of those single-use video
cameras -- with the prospect of spending another $13 for a 20 minute DVD of your footage -- but still would like to
do some video on the cheap, Pure Digital is releasing
a standalone version of their video camera for a mere $130. The new Point & Shoot Video Camcorder bumps video
storage to 30 minutes, and includes a USB connector to offload video to your PC using included software that can email
clips to friends and relatives. There's also a TV connector cable to watch clips straight off the camera, or you can
always drop off the camera to have a DVD made, the difference being that you get the camera back this time. Now
available at Target, the camera still isn't going to do much more than a decent digital camera or phone can pull off
these days, but it doesn't seem a bad option for the tech-phobic or in risky situations you wouldn't want to stick your
$1000 camera intoFiled under: Multimedia, Helio, MVNOs
That MySpace and Yahoo integration wasn't the
only thing Helio rolled out for their user media services today; in addition to the leaned MySpace interface and customized Yahoo services
portal, Helio users with the All-In Membership will get a slew of other things to keep them occupied when
constantly fidgeting with the Kickflip's hinge.
There's Helio On Top (H.O.T.) access, which is a simple 10-channel news and info aggregation feature, MMS picture and
video messages, which can be sent up to 1MB per; free streaming video from major networks like MTV, Comedy Central,
ABC, etc., $2.49 music video downloads (uh, what?), and of course those purchased, "gifted," or
"begged" games, which are going for $5.99 to buy, or $0.99 to "rent" on your phone for a week.
(The gifting and begging thing isn't only limited to games though, and can be applied to any purchasable content as
well.) Not a whole lot in there that we're super interested in, ourselves; but you know us, we're more the Bluetooth
DUN, A2DP, SlingPlayer, data overload types more prone to exploring
mobile media on our own than holding a carrier's (or MVNO's) hand.Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, LG, 3, UMTS
