HDTV
Tyra Banks Heads to College and More Celebrity News
Want to know what's going on with your favorite TV stars when the cameras aren't rolling? Check out the latest celebrity news from our friends around the Web and at PopEater.• Tyra Banks has traded in her head-turning 'America's Next Top Model' fashions for some scholarly style. The 37-year-old media mogul is now attending Harvard Business School.
• The eldest Duggar, Josh, 23, and his wife, Anna, 22, are expecting their second child this summer.
• Even though Angelina Pivarnick isn't on 'Jersey Shore' anymore, she's still talking trash about her former castmates. Her latest target is Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, who she believes is gay.
Start the 3D TV Revolution Without Me
Technology is a marvelous thing, right? No, no, this is not a story about the Apple iPad coming out this weekend or the wonders it promises to bring -- just ask Phil Dunphy. He called it the first day of the rest of your life. But no, the technology that has me scratching my head is 3D television. That's right, the state-of-the-art, mind-blowing idea that you will be able to watch television in a way you never have before. Bigger than a big screen. Better than high definition. More powerful that a home theater sensurround experience.
Next weekend, if you have invested in a first generation 3D TV for about $2,500, you'll be able to watch the Masters Golf Tournament in 3D. And you had better spend on the glasses, too, because not all sets are sold with the spectacles that make the 3D possible in the first place. Funny, you would think that the glasses were included, but apparently not. It's like some computers that ship without a power cord. Are you kidding me?
Giveaway Tuesday: 'Boston Legal' Joins TV Land and Someone's Winning an HDTV
Are you ready for some fun stuff, like maybe winning a free HDTV? Well, get ready. 'Boston Legal' is going into syndication on TV Land, which means if you have yet to enjoy the antics of Alan Shore, Denny Crane and company, this is the chance of a lifetime to enjoy one of the best legal dramas in recent TV history. Oh heck, ever! 'Boston Legal,' starring William Shatner and James Spader, runs weeknights at 11 PM ET on TV Land. And to celebrate, you may be able to tune into 'Boston Legal' five nights a week with a brand, spanking new TV! Yes, sir. There will be one (1) Grand Prize winner receiving a 26" LCD HDTV (MSRP $349.99). The contest begins today, March 9, 2010.
Do you still watch a black and white TV?
I haven't owned a black and white television in 20 years, but a lot of people in the UK still do. In fact, 30,000 of them, according to the story at BBC News.That seems like a lot to me, but I figured I'd ask TV Squad readers if they still watch one or not. Sometimes I'll watch a color movie in black and white (by turning off the color), to see how it looks and see if it gets any better (note: does not work with Pauly Shore movies).
| Yup! Who needs color? | |
|---|---|
| I own one but I don't watch it. | |
| Black and white? Seriously? |
Is Apple looking to take a bite out of TV next?
Apple has left some fairly noticeable heel marks on the free throw lines of the computer, digital music and the cell phone industry. So what technology business does Steve Jobs have next on his "To Dominate" list? Why TV, of course. What did you think I was going to say? Toasters? Did you not read the name of this blog?
A financial analyst with the Piper Jaffray investment banking firm speculated that the company is eying at taking a stab at TV technology by releasing its own high definition television by 2011.
Is Best Buy right in not honoring $9.99 big-screen TV offer?
Is Best Buy just using good business sense or are they being mean?Yesterday their web site listed a 52-inch Samsung HDTV for only $9.99. That's three dollars off of the regular $12.99 price! Well, no, it's actually $1600.00 off of the regular price. It was a typo, obviously, but several people did order the TV at that price (some even ordered two) before it was taken down. But Best Buy says it's not going to let those orders stand.
Jimmy Kimmel dives face first into HD - VIDEO
Does the thought of this face in 720 lines of crystal clear resolution make the soup you had for lunch a week ago rise in your gullet? If so (you extremely shallow human being who will spend life alone until you die), then you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn that Jimmy Kimmel's first foray into high definition television was quite an improvement.
He even showed his viewers just how beautiful the difference was by making the switch live on the air during Tuesday night's episode.
The recession: bad for cable...good for the Internet
As we all know, and are probably tired of hearing because it makes us so damned depressed, the recession is hitting everyone hard. Businesses are closing left and right, people are losing their jobs, and unemployment rates are hitting levels not seen since the days of leg warmers, headbands and tainted Tylenol. It's bad enough that even if people still have a job, their employers are taking extensive belt tightening measures to make sure they are prepared for the worst.
One of the things being eliminated from families' budgets during this belt tightening is their cable or satellite hookup. With costs that can total over $100 a month, families are just not ready to dump that kind of cash on something they feel doesn't have any value. That doesn't mean they are going without television (especially after the DTV switchover) and turning to a simpler life of canning vegetables, making quilts, and attending square dances. Rather, they are switching off their hi-def flat screens, turning on their computer flat screens, and getting their TV fix over the Internet.
From HD...to 3-D?
So you've got that new high definition television in the living room, your 120 gig TiVo recording all of your favorite shows and a cable box with more channels than a Roman aqueduct. Think you've reached the pinnacle of home entertainment? The Consumer Electronics Show would beg to differ.
Some 3-D TV's popped up on the convention floor and the advent of the burgeoning technology is starting to create a bit of buzz that it could become the next step over HD TV.
What Joel is thankful for
As I think about the past year, in both my life and in the world of TV, there's plenty I have to be thankful for. The life stuff is obvious: health, family, my girlfriend, a roof over my head, food on my plate, and a job that I enjoy. But the TV stuff isn't quite as obvious. So, as the balloons float over midtown Manhattan and people get ready to gorge themselves, here are a few things that made me happy to be a television watcher this year:The election - Yes, it was too long. And, yes, it was exasperating at times. But it was the source of a lot of entertaining television. Of course, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and SNL were in top form (Tina Fey became a huge star, thanks to Sarah Palin). But entertainment came in many forms this election season, from Katie Couric's skewering of Palin to David Letterman's spat with McCain to just about anything that came out of Joe Biden's mouth. Finally, I have three words of infinite entertainment for you: Chuck Todd's goatee.
Hulu offering more HD content
This news might actually get me to start watching Heroes weekly again.This week, Hulu.com bulked up its free HD Gallery to include new episodes of Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock and all of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in 720p high definition. I just streamed "It's Coming," last week's ep of Heroes, and it looked great on my 25-inch iMac. I'm no tech wiz, but I can easily see the difference in visual quality between the site's HD offerings and its regular streaming content. (Too bad HD can't work the same magic on Tim Kring's script.)
I don't have an HD TV. I usually watch my favorite shows on an out-of-date 20-inch box. So, from my perspective, Hulu's HD content looks pretty amazing. It's the greatest thing to happen to TV since last night's ep of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Yes, I have a short attention span.
Cannon PC shows off media center with 6 CableCARDs
Think your TiVo HD is pretty hot stuff because it can record 2 shows at once? Cannon PC, makers of high end media center computers recently demonstrated a system that's cable of recording 6 HDTV programs simultaneously using 6 CableCARDs. As you can tell from the screengrab, Cannon PC isn't ready to sell a consumer model with 6 CableCARDs just yet. But the company wanted to show that it is possible. Windows Vista Media Center only includes native support for 2 CableCARDs, so the trick isn't just designing a system with a huge hard drive, massive amounts of RAM, and space in the box for 6 tuners. The company also had to adjust the software to allow additional CableCARDs.
You can see the results yourself in a YouTube video posted by Cannon PC.
FCC seeks public comment on plan to prevent some HDTV recordings
You know that shiny new personal video recorder you got from TiVo or your cable company? You know, the one that records high definition movies and TV shows in crystal clear quality? Yeah, well the MPAA isn't so thrilled about those high quality recordings that you make from "free" over the air broadcasts. Sure, you pay by watching (or skipping) the commercials or subscribing to cable/satellite channels. And movie studios get paid a wee bit o' cash every time a deal is struck to broadcast a movie. But the MPAA wants the FCC to allow the use of technology called Selectable Output Control that would block your PVR from recording some HDTV movies.
The MPAA filed a petition with the FCC last month asking for the abillity to prevent users from recording movies that are broadcast before they are released on DVD. The idea is that if you can record a higher than DVD quality video before it's available for purchase, why would you go out and purchase it? So obviously, the solution is to prevent you from using perfectly legal technology to record it. Never mind the fact that the film studios could easily avoid this problem simply by moving up DVD release dates and/or refusing to sell broadcast rights before the DVD release.
The FCC is seeking public comment on the proposal. If you have some thoughts you'd like to share, you can file a comment at the FCC web site. The docket number is 08-82.
First look at the Hauppauge HD-PVR
Blogger Brent Evans got his HD-PVR yesterday and posted the unboxing video you can see above. He says setup was easy and that the latest beta version of SageTV recognizes the tuner. The software that comes with the HD-PVR lets you record programs, but it does not let you watch live television.
Evans says while his computer seems to have done a decent job of recording HD video, he can't get it to play the video smoothly. The HD-PVR also locked up twice during his initial test, and he had to reboot it by turning it off and on again.
You can find some more first person accounts at the GB-PVR forums. It looks like Brent Evans isn't the only one having some problems. Several GB-PVR user says they've been having problems with recordings failing or the device locking up altogether. In other words, if you've been waiting patiently to get an HD-PVR, it looks like you might want to wait a little longer.
Hauppauge HD-PVR begins shipping
Hauppauge has begun shipping the HD-PVR. This little box is the first consumer level device capable of capturing HDTV from an analog source and performing real-time H.264 compression. What that means is you can hook the $249 box up to your digital cable, satellite, or other set top box and record high definition TV shows on your PC without the need for a pricy CableCARD.The quality might not be as high as the video quality you'll get from an ATSC, ClearQAM, or CableCard tuner. But the HD-PVR is extremely versatile since it works with a variety of devices. It includes S-Video and composite and component inputs. So if your video device supports any of those standards, you're all set.
The box can handle 1080i and 720p resolutions. Several major media center applications for Windows already support the HD-PVR, including BeyondTV, SageTV and GB-PVR. Windows Vista Media Center support is coming, and MythTV developers are working on adding support to the open source Linux media center application.
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