By Evan Ackerman

1080p? Yawn. It’s been done. If high def is the new normal def, what’s the new high def? It’s UHD (Ultra High Definition), which takes 1920 x 1080 full HD and quadruples the resolution to 3840 x 2160. This particular TV is an 84″ LCD from LG… Good luck spotting any pixels, even if I zoom waaaaayyyy in:

It’s kinda cool that you can actually get closer to the TV and examine things in greater detail, kinda like you can in real life. Not that this is necessarily a good thing, since it encourages unhealthy viewing distances. At least Sony is way ahead of us on that one.

It’s gonna be a little while before you’ll be able to buy a TV like this, if for no other reason than you’ll have a hard time finding any content that utilizes its full potential. And by the time stuff like this is available, we’ll be looking forward to the next high def standard… 8k (7680 x 4320, or 33 megapixels) should be arriving sometime around 2020.

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’ve got a device capable of pushing a 4K signal, might I suggest picking up one of Panasonic’s lovely 152-inch, 4092×2160 Viera plasma displays? I’ve no idea what one of these would set you back, but I’m going to file it away in my ‘you probably can’t afford it and probably never will’ drawer. Unless I can find a booth giving away 152-inch tote bags that would let me discreetly slip this out of Panasonic’s booth.

By Evan Ackerman

It’s a 19″, 720p, $299 polar bear TV that you can buy in March from Hannspree. It’s designed to “raise awareness” about polar bears, and is just the first in a series of other (unspecified) threatened animal TVs, but it does not in fact help the polar bears in any way if you buy one. Except with karma, maybe, but karma isn’t an unmeltable iceberg or a tasty seal.

[ Hannspree ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Looking for a compact way to connect an HDMI cable to your DisplayPort-equipped laptop? Well this DP-HDMI2 dongle from Kuroutoshikou is probably as small as they’re ever going to get. According to Akihabara News it also supports HDCP (hooray?) and allows for audio pass-through. The only downside? While the dongle’s compact, you’ll still have to bring an HDMI cable with you at all times for it to be of any use.

[ DP-HDMI2 DisplayPort To HDMI Dongle ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Black Friday is only a week away, which means people will be lining up outside stores to get their hands on the cheapest gifts for the holiday season. HDTV’s, laptops and digital cameras will all be flying off the shelves only a few short minutes after the doors open. However, if a new TV is on your list, you might not need to fight the crowds for a good deal.

I usually don’t make it a habit of writing about a sale that some particular store is having, but this is too good to pass up. Best Buy has announced that they will be offering 32-inch 720p Dynex LCD TV’s for $299.99 and 40-inch 1080p Dynex LCD TV’s for $499.99. Those prices might sound like good doorbuster sales, but they aren’t. Rather, these are the new everyday prices and are effective right now.

Sure, Dynex isn’t the top brand out there, but the prices are almost too good to pass up. The best part is that you’re not going to have to stand outside in the freezing cold to get in on this. I’ll be interested to see how other manufacturers respond to this.

[ Best Buy ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Very few words can make me shudder as much as the term ‘upscaling’ but that’s exactly what the LKV8000 Converter from Lenkeng promises to do for your PSP. Not only does it convert the PSP’s component video and L/R audio out to HDMI, which admittedly is convenient, but it also upscales its 480P signal to 720P using “Motion Compensated 3D Wavelet Video Coding Technology” which supposedly results in jitterless video without trailing. There’s no pricing info at this time, but since Lenkeng doesn’t sell directly to end-users you won’t be able to buy one anyways until someone decides to distribute it.

[ Lenkeng LKV8000 PSP to HDMI Converter ] VIA [ I4U News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This morning Flip announced a new version of their Mino camcorder with the MinoHD that features a slimmer aluminum body (or your own custom graphics) an upgrade to 8GB of storage and the ability to capture HD video at 1280×720. Other improvements include a larger 2-inch transflective TFT display (960×240 pixels) making it easier to see in bright daylight and software updates allowing you to do basic editing and trimming of clips right on the device. $229.99 available now from the Flip online store.

[ Flip MinoHD ] VIA [ Wired Gadget Lab ]

By Chris Scott Barr

You have to give a lot of credit to Netflix. These guys have really re-invented the way we rent movies. First with their idea to let you order movies online and have them mailed to your door. Then they decided to let you stream rentals to your computer. Now they’re offering the same streaming service to other devices like your Xbox 360 and TiVo. Today they announced the latest devices they will be invading, Sony Bravia HDTVs.

Starting this Fall, all of their new internet-enabled sets will be able to stream movies via Netflix. Older models will be able to do the same using the BRAVIA internet link module around the same time. Give it a couple of years and you won’t be able to find a new TV that doesn’t work with Netflix.

VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

YouTube and other video sharing sites have made finding and watching clips of men getting hit in the groin by footballs extremely easy for everyone from kids to grandparents. But it was a company called Pure Digital that made capturing hilarious clips like that just as easy for anyone capable of pushing a button. Their Flip line of digital camcorders are known for being as easy to use as it gets, and with the addition of the MinoHD and the UltraHD pictured above, creating HD content is just as simple.

I spent a few weeks playing around with the Flip UltraHD and while I was initially worried that I would be frustrated by such a simple device, I actually walked away appreciating its simplicity. So if you’ve been looking for a way to shoot HD video that’s as easy, if not easier, than a point & shoot still camera, you’ll want to check out my full review of the Flip UltraHD after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »