Digital Trends
Sony’s new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday.
Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai said the service, set for launch next year, highlights an advantage that Sony has over rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. and other manufacturers that don’t produce their own content. Sony’s business empire spans gaming, electronics, movies and music.
The state of California often leads the rest of the United States on environmentally-conscious regulation and legislation, perhaps most notably with a long-term effort to reign in motor vehicle emissions. Now, the state has turned its attention to televisions, adopting energy efficiency standards that will be imposed on new televisions starting in January 2011—and then get even tougher in 2013.
“In California, televisions (along with DVRs, DVD players, and cable/satellite boxes) now consume about 10 percent of a home’s electricity,” California Energy Commission members Arthur Rosenfeld and Julia Levin wrote in a statement. ” Increasing sales of flat screen televisions, larger screen sizes, the growing number of TVs per household, and increased daily use of televisions all contribute to greater electricity consumption.”
Looking for a convenient and wireless way to view your PC’s content on your crisp HDTV? HD semiconductor manufacturer AMIMON may have the connective solution for you. Today, AMIMON introduced its WHDI modules which can be embedded into notebook and netbook PCs for a “seamless” wireless HD connection to your HDTV. Meaning: You can watch Hulu on an actual big screen, rather than the maximized screen size of your laptop.
Market analysis firm iSuppli has released its figures for LCD TV sales in the United States during the third quarter of 2009, finding that South Korea’s Samsung has retaken the top position in sales, accounting for 16.8 percent of the market. The results knock low-cost flatscreen maker Vizio down to the number-two position, with 15.7 percent of the market—but interestingly, Samsung and Vizio remain the only brands with market shares over 10 percent.
Most home theater experts have praised Blu-ray as being the only high-quality form for home movie viewing. Luckily, with the price of Blu-ray players dropping, Blu-ray disc price points are falling as well, making all of these following Blu-ray movie suggestions a budget-friendly purchase possibility for the holiday season. Check out our Best Blu-ray players guide as well.
So you’re thinking about buying a Blu-ray player, but they all seem so pricey and you’re not quite sure what you should be looking for. You can quit your worrying for two reasons: Black Friday sales will bring Blu-ray players with low price points and we’ve conveniently complied the ten top-rated Blu-ray players to give you some shopping ideas.
This Oppo Blu-ray disc player has full HD 1080p output and supports online content with BonusView and BD-Live.
Check out CNET’s review
Demnark’s Bang & Olufsen has updated their BeoVision 7 high-end LCD television for North American consumers just in time for the end-of-year-holidays…at least for those North American consumers to whom money is no object. Previously available in a 40-inch size, the BeoVision 7 is not available with a 55-inch screen size, and rolls in a Blu-ray player and B&O’s exclusive BeoSystem 4 video engine, which the company promises offers superior video processing and image quality compared to other similarly-sized displays. Plus, the company offers two motorized floor stand options—one low and one tall—so customers can control the angle of their TVs with the touch of a button.
Major Hollywood studios are getting ready to light up the new Epix online streaming movie service this weekend…but consumers who were hoping Epix might give outlets like Netflix or Hulu a run for their money are bound to be disappointed. For now, Epix will only be available to Verizon FiOS customers as an additional $9.99 charge on top of their current FiOS packages…and in an age of Netflix’s and Hulu’s, why would consumers want to go for that?
Digital television makers Sony and Vizio have resolved their long-running patent dispute in a rather surprising way: the companies have cross-licensed each others’ digital television patent portfolios. Under the agreement, Sony now has access to Vizio’s digital television patents and Vizio has access to Sony’s.
“Having successfully resolved the disputes, we shall continue to aggressively protect our rights and actively expand Vizio’s licensing program,” said Vizio’s VP of operations and administration Rob Brinkman, in a statement. “As an owner of patent rights and as a licensee of legitimate patent right held by others, Vizio respects intellectual property and we expect our competitors to do the same.”
Runco announced the newest additions to its Crystal Portfolio series of LCD displays: the CX-42HD; CX-OPAL42; CX-55HD; CX-OPAL55 and CX-OPAL65. These new displays feature three new screen sizes and the company’s OPAL (Optical Path ALignment) image-enhancement technology. The company says OPAL is “a unique combination of a proprietary panel application and enhancements to create stellar images.” OPAL diminishes diffused reflections in rooms with high-ambient light that can wash-out images, and it also increases image sharpness by reducing glare.
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