Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

Remember back when TVs were just boxes that were just used for watching movies, cable and playing video games? I guess that wasn’t all that long ago, since the TV I just bought a few months ago still needs another device in order to really do anything. However, soon you’ll be able to go and get yourself a Vizio HDTV that comes with all sorts of cool applications built-in.

I’ve got a small PC that sits in my entertainment center which gives me access to streaming video, audio and of course the web. With the new line of Vizio XVT HDTVs, I could almost get rid of it. Owners will have access to free streaming content from Revision3, Showtime and Pandora while also being able to subscribe to services such as Vudu, Netflix, Blockbuster OnDemand, Amazon Video On Demand and Rhapsody. The icing on the cake is access to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Yahoo Widgets.

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By Andrew Liszewski

At just 20 inches in size, you wouldn’t expect this new AQUOS DX LCD TV from Sharp to be brimming with features, and to be honest it’s not. It’s got a 1366×768 HD resolution with a 1500:1 contrast ratio and 450cd/m2 brightness, but what makes it unique is the fact that it will include both a DVD and Blu-ray burner built-in, allowing you to record over the air digital broadcasts to the medium of your choice.

Of course there’s no ETA on when the AQUOS DX will be hitting North America, but Japan will be privy to it come June for about $1,580.

[ Akihabara News - Sharp's New AQUOS DX, World's First 20” LCD TV with Blu-ray Recorder ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Details are a little vague right now, but Akihabara News is reporting that the Cube 100HD portable media player not only supports 720P video content, but will actually pump out a 1080i signal to a connected hi-def display. Now I’m not entirely sure where the video-out connection is on this thing, given those 2 product shots cover pretty much every angle (minus the back I guess) so I’m going to assume it uses some proprietary break-out cable. Other features include a 5-inch WVGA (800×480) touchscreen display, FM tuner, e-Book reader and even basic flash game support. Pricing and availability are unknown though.

[ Akihabara News - Cube H100HD, the first PMP with 1080i video Out ]

By Shane McGlaun

I have been feeding on a steady stream of HD TV and movies for years now and I can’t stand to watch SD programs. It would really suck to have to go back to SD programs and thankfully, DirecTV has all the channels I like to watch in HD.

The HD lineup was the reason I chose DirecTV over Dish Network for my new house. Dish Network is trying to improve its HD offerings though and has just introduced seven new national HD channels. I wonder if that means they got that satellite that failed to reach orbit correctly last year repaired.

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by Shane McGlaun

Back when I was a kid getting a better picture on the TV Friday nights for watching Dukes of Hazard and The Incredible Hulk meant making my brother stand on one leg with tin foil in one hand and rabbit ears in the other. Today we have HD images and I have become so accustomed to the great picture quality I can hardly stand to watch SD programs.

The problem is that for people with smaller rooms and not enough space for a big 1080p TV there were few options other than a SD TV. Viewsonic has announced a new 22-inch screen TV that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 offering full HD 1080p image quality. The set has integrated ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital tuners, so it’s ready for the summer transition to all digital broadcasts.

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By Andrew Liszewski

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can’t deny that Sony makes some really nice toys sometimes. Their latest ultra-compact camcorder, the HDR-TGV5, records “full” 1920X1080 video (compressed to AVCHD) to 16GB of built-in flash memory which should accommodate about 6 hours of footage in LP mode. And if that runs out, you can always throw a Memory Stick PRO Duo card in there when you need more storage.

The 2.7-inch LCD display should help reduce the camcorder’s battery life, but it also serves as a touch screen interface, reducing the amount of buttons that usually clutter up the exterior. The HDR-TG5V’s also got a built-in GPS antenna and comes with NAVTEQ digital maps allowing you to geo-tag your videos and photos and see where they were captured right on the camera’s display.

The HDR-TG5V is expected to ship sometime in May, and will set you back about a grand.

[ PR - Sony TG5V ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’ll be honest, GE isn’t exactly the first brand name that comes to mind when I think of digital cameras, but I do like the fact that their new E1050TW comes with an HDMI connector allowing you to connect it to the flat screen TV in your living room and bore your friends with vacation photos in stunning high-def! The camera also follows the recent trend of using a large 3 inch touch-screen display in lieu of most buttons, which also features an auto-brightness function that keeps it viewable whether you’re indoors or out. Other specs include a 10 megapixel sensor, 5X optical zoom, 4.5X fake (aka digital) zoom and a 28mm wide angle lens. You also get software features like in camera panorama stitching, smile, blink and face detection, electronic image stabilization, red-eye removal and a 720P MPEG4 video mode. It’ll be available near the end of September for about $260, and if interested you can pick one up in your choice of black, blue, red, silver and white colors.

[ GE E1050TW ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I think it’s impressive that many consumer and prosumer digital video cameras can record a 1920×1080 high-def signal onto a commonly available miniDV cassette tape, but that convenience comes at the cost of your footage being highly compressed, which kind of sucks, particularly if you’re the type who likes to do a lot of post-processing. So Ikonoskop, who is already known for their 16mm film cameras, is now offering a digital motion picture camera that not only captures in true 1920×1080 HD, but stores those frames as individual 12-bit RAW, DNG or TIFF files.

The camera uses proprietary 80GB memory cartridges that can record at 240MB/second and have the capacity to store about 12 minutes of footage, audio and metadata. It also features a Super-16 sized sensor, which allows you to use pre-existing Super-16mm lenses. The frame rate can be adjusted between 1-60 fps and on-set monitoring can be accomplished with either a standard video connection or HDMI. The preliminary pricing for the A-cam dII is around $9,800 which includes a battery, a 9mm lens and one of the 80GB memory cartridges. Not too shabby.

[ Ikonoskop A-cam dII ] VIA [ ProLost ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Aiptek’s new PocketDV AHD 300 is a budget-level camcorder that’s capable of capturing 1080P footage for just $250. Well to be completely accurate, it can only capture footage at 1440×1080 (compared to the 1920×1080 image displayed by your HDTV) but that’s actually not a big deal since even high-def codecs like Sony’s HDCAM only stores 1440×1080. And while it can capture 1080P at 30fps, you can actually get it up to 60fps if you switch to the camcorder’s 720P mode. The 90MB of usable internal storage is pretty much useless, but it does include an SDHC SD card slot that supports card capacities up to 32GB in size. For comparison a 4GB SD card should give you enough room for about an hour’s worth of 1080P footage.

Unfortunately that $250 price tag does come with some limitations, like a crappy digital zoom and a non-HD 2.4″ TFT LCD display. But more importantly it represents another important step in consumer level HD gear becoming more commonplace and affordable.

[ Aiptek PocketDV AHD 300 ] VIA [ TFTS ]