December 17, 2007

Samsung PS50C96 - 50" Widescreen HD Ready Plasma TV - With Freeview

Having agonised over which TV to buy I finally opted for this giant from Samsung. First decision was LCD or Plasma. I got very close to a 1080p LCD (Samsung again) but the skin tones let it down and also it didn’t perform so well on standard definition (SD) material. Decided to look at Panasonic and Samsung Plasmas and very little to choose between them except you got bigger screen for your money with Samsung.
Having got it home I was very impressed with picture on Freeview (built in) and on DVD via the SCART (RGB) connection. Havn’t got any HDMI kit yet so cannot comment on its performance with upscaling although that is next on the list!


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December 16, 2007

Samsung PS50Q97HDX - 50” Widescreen HD Ready Plasma TV - With Freeview

Ultra FilterBright In bright environments the display quality of conventional plasma TVs can be compromised by external light. Samsungs premium plasma TVs boast a combination of FilterBright, Super Black Panel and Optimal Light Filter to bring you sharp contrast, unbelievable detail and pure clarity in any lighting conditions. Natural True Colour Samsung?s advanced technology offers you truly natural onscreen colour representation. By keeping the colours balanced, even during fast moving or action scenes, your viewing enjoyment is never compromised. With Natural True Colour you can always enjoy vivid, realistic colours as nature intended.Real Detail A combination of enhanced features means that you will never have to compromise on Real Detail again. Silhouette Editor refines the face tone and shape of an image. Smart Frame Plus eliminates flickering and Movie Mode provides smoother motion during the fast moving scenes. Real Motion Studio Real Motion Studio combines three patented features including Movie Mode and Silhouette Editor so that you can make the most out of your TV. This advanced technology means that you can enjoy fast moving, action scenes without the worry of motion blur, juddering or image distortion. Why compromise when you don?t have to?

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December 12, 2007

Venturer SHD7001 High Definition DVD player

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The new SHD7001 standalone High Definition DVD player from Venturer offers 1080video output via a direct HDMI connection to your HD ready TV. It also comes with Dolby TrueHD (5.1channel) sound completes the SHD7001 HD experience.
The new SHD7001 is not only a High Definition DVD player, but it is also backward compatible with the older DVD format and boasts the ability to upscale. The manufacturer claims that the player gives old DVD films “bright and vivid detail” that “looks crisp and forceful and boosts performance to near HD sharpness giving standard DVDs a complete make over to make them look better than ever.”


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December 6, 2007

How to avoid being a casualty of the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD war

With the advent of a new generation of high density discs to replace DVDs, it is easy for consumers to be confused about which format to upgrade to. The two competing formats, Blu-Ray and HD DVD, both offer a significant upgrade in video and audio quality; but as standalone players for both formats can retail for several hundreds of pounds, it is understandable that consumers do not want to end up buying the new Betamax.
In terms of technical performance both formats are similar, and show little discernible difference to the average consumer. A dual-layer Blu-Ray disc offers 50GB of storage space, compared to 30GB on a dual-layer HD DVD disc, but as of yet, only 40% of Blu-Ray releases are dual-layer, with the remaining 60% being single-layer discs utilising 25GB of storage space. Still, even when comparing a 50GB Blu-Ray disc with a 30GB HD DVD, the difference to consumers will be minimal. Both formats support the MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264 formats for video compression, and Dolby Digital, PCM, and DTS for audio compression. As a result, this battle of formats is going to be waged mainly via the titles available and the price and quality of players.


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November 30, 2007

Polaroid DVD Recorder with DRA-01601A 160GB Hard Drive and ATSC Tuner

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Hot on the block is the new Polaroid DVD Recorder, DRA-01601A with 160GB Hard Drive and ATSC Tuner, this looks like a beast of a gadget, check the specs out below, OMG !!


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T-Amp Gen 2 Amplifier

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To put it short and sweet… The T-Amp line of amplifiers from Sonic Impact are revered by audiophiles everywhere for their amazing sound and incredible price. These amps have better sound than others that cost 10 times as much.

The key to the T-Amp is - amazingly enough - Class T amplification. Class T amplifiers offer both the audio fidelity of Class AB (which you’d likely find in your home stereo reciever) and the power efficiency of Class D amplifiers (often used to provide the punch for subwoofer amps).

Trust us when we say that you will be fully satisfied with the sound from the T-Amp. Don’t believe us? See what others are saying:


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November 27, 2007

IBM to Force Ads on DVD Movies

That’s the scenario envisioned in a patent application filed by IBM (and dug up by Zatz Not Funny!). When DVDs are inserted for playback, the disc would check to see if the viewer had purchased the ad-free version or the (presumably) lower-priced version with unskippable commercials. If it’s the latter, the disc player would phone home to an online service to download commercials or play ads embedded on the discs themselves.

From the standpoint of motion picture studios, the patent looks like pure genius. It would give them another source of cash in an era where DVD sales are down and traditional sources of revenue are under pressure. It could also become a way to get back-catalog, niche movies onto DVD, as embedded, unskippable commercials could shore up the business case for cracking open the vault.


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November 24, 2007

Free UK Satellite on your PC

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Why Pay Sky TV when you can watch it free ?

Satellite TV for PC 2007 Elite Edition now allows PC owners from all over the world to enjoy over 3000 satellite channels from over 30 countries and the best thing is you don’t even need any added hardware.

So if you are after free tv without the satellite read on.

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November 10, 2007

Where did I put the telly ?

Check this out for the ultimate in cool toys, not sure if you can buy these anywhere or if it was a custom project but my god its cool.

November 9, 2007

Microsoft Surface Computer on Tour

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Although it won’t be available until spring at the earliest, Microsoft is continuing to take prototypes of its touch-screen Surface computer on a worldwide promotional tour. Some of the key cities already visited have included New York, Toronto, Paris, and Zurich. Graffiti artist James de la Vega shared the Surface with a couple of kids at New York’s Sheraton Hotel this summer. Next stop is Boston’s Sheraton Hotel on Saturday.

Microsoft had hoped to put its tabletop computer on the market this month but now is hoping to have a final version ready by spring.

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