Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

I rarely watch videos or movies on the go, but it’s mostly because I can’t be bothered reformatting or converting them into a format that’ll play on any of my devices. The Aigo Patriot MV5920 however appears to play all formats including VOBs, Divx, MPEG etc. at a resolution of up to 1280 x 720. Unfortunately the display is just 480 x 272, but being able to play back a file that large without you having to downconvert it first is pretty convenient.

All of your media is stored on the MV5920’s 160GB hard drive, and it can also serve as a mobile DVR capturing over-the-air D1 video streams. You can even use the device to stream audio and video since it includes Wifi, but I doubt it has a web browser given the lack of keyboard and touch screen. Other features include a 2-megapixel camera, support for most digital audio formats (no FLAC), a 2300 mAH rechargeable lithium battery and as always, an e-book reader that only supports the TXT format. If you can find one, it will set you back about $429.

[ Aigo Patriot MV5920 ] VIA [ PMP Today ]

By Andrew Liszewski

As February 17, 2009 creeps closer and closer, many people are rushing out to upgrade their old analog TV sets with brand new digital HD models. Of course I have no problem with that, but did you realize that fancy new LCD monitor you bought for your PC can also serve as a high-def display? It probably won’t be able to tune in an over-the-air HD signal right out of the box, but that’s where the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick comes into play.

It’s a small USB dongle that connects to your PC or laptop and allows you to watch standard or high-def TV broadcasts alongside your spreadsheets and email. You can even use your PC as a PVR with the included software, which will take care of all that free hard drive space you have lying around. And if you find that clicking a mouse button takes away from your TV watching experience, it even includes a remote control for turning your workstation into a pseudo home theater. You can read my full review of the PCTV HD Pro Stick after the jump.

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By Andrew Liszewski

Until HDTV manufacturers start including a lot more than just 2 or 3 HDMI ports on the back of their sets, there will unfortunately be the need for external HDMI hubs and switchers. Thankfully though it looks like both the size and design of these devices has vastly improved. Akihabara News has dug up some info on a new compact HMDI hub code named ‘Medusa’ that not only looks pretty slick, but will also be reasonably priced. The specs include:

-HDMI Spec 1.3
-Compliant HDCP Rev 1.2 Spec
-Wide Frequency Range : 25MHz – 225MHz
-Supports 12-bit deep color up to 1080p
-CEC support
-HDMI 3 out port

Unfortunately that’s pretty much all the info available on the Medusa right now, but apparently GeekStuff4U will begin carrying the device within a month.

[ Akihabara News - Medusa HDMI Hub, When Small is Beautiful ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While the moon seems like something mankind already conquered decades ago, when you actually think about it only 12 human beings have ever set foot on its surface. And while I’m sure most of us would jump at the chance to visit the moon, it will still be a few more decades before something like that becomes feasible. So in the meantime I’m kind of excited to see that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (or JAXA) currently has a lunar explorer equipped with a high definition TV camera circling our nearest celestial neighbor. So far the camera has only shot two small sections of the moon’s surface from its orbit of about 100 km above, but I can only assume its work is far from done.

The image taking was performed twice on October 31. Both were eight-fold speed intermittent shooting (eight minutes is converged to one minute.) The first shooting covered from the northern area of the “Oceanus Procellarum” toward the center of the North Pole, then the second one was from the south to the north on the western side of the “Oceanus Procellarum.” The moving image data acquired by the KAGUYA was received at the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Center, and processed by NHK.

It’s kind of fitting that the first HD footage taken of the moon was processed by the NHK, since they were basically the ones who invented high definition TV in the first place. And if you’re curious, one of the clips is actually available to watch on the JAXA website, though it’s unfortunately not provided in HD. Hopefully it won’t be long until I can watch the footage in full resolution from the comfort of my own mission control (aka my couch.)

[ JAXA: World’s First Image Taking of the Moon by HDTV ]