Recent Comments:
Ready or not, the latest 3D technology is coming home {Engadget HD}
Oct 26th 2009 4:42PM A new AV technology is sorta like a new version of Windows:
(1) You can be sure there will be hype in abundance
(2) When it is first delivered, it will have rough edges
(3) It'll takes some time to smooth out the rough edges. Years, in fact.
(4) And even after all that, it still may end up being a dud (HD-DVD, Vista)
This applies to folks who got Blu-ray and HD-DVD players as soon as they came out, and first-generation plasma displays, and so on, and so on.
While 3D TV sounds very exciting, conceptually, I hope nobody gets offended if I just sit out this dance until the units are actually in stores, proven, reliable, we have 3D content readily available, and we've addressed the first wave of "gotchas" nicely.
Samsung's 40-inch LCD is world's thinnest at 3.9-mm, attracts magic pencils {Engadget HD}
Oct 26th 2009 10:09AM Thin is cool, and that's what is attracting customers. My strong preference is for an outstanding picture, in all ways. And I will sacrifice "Thin Cool" to get it.
Poll: What is the best Blu-ray player? {Engadget HD}
Oct 26th 2009 9:27AM Sign me up for a Denon DBP-4010UDCI reference Blu-ray / DVD (superb upscaling) / DVD-A / SACD / CD player. The adjustable gamma lets me get really good calibration to a nice monitor. My DBP-4010UDCI is scheduled to arrive in 2 weeks.
Poll: What part of your home theater is getting upgraded this holiday season? {Engadget HD}
Oct 12th 2009 12:03PM After years of being anti-plasma (burn-in, dimming, etc), I am taking the chance with a Panasonic TCP65V10 plasma display. The image quality, when new, is videophile quality with notable detail in dark areas. It was simply stunning, in all ways.
As much as I like LCD displays for never having concerns for burn-in, image retention, and dimming, my displays have not met my expectations for videophile-grade viewing (many folks will still love them, none the less). My favorite display was a Toshiba 72" DLP, with the only curse being rainbow effect when viewed in a dark room, and the 22 inch depth, which I can no longer accommodate in my new space.
I look forward to calibrating the new set, and hopefully, avoiding the traditional plasma issues that are alledged to be a "thing of the past."
I also have a Denon DBP-4010UDCI reference Blu-ray/DVD/CD/SACD player on order, which sould make a perfect companion for the Panasonic plasma.
Surprisingly, cheaper Blu-ray movies make everyone happy {Engadget HD}
Aug 31st 2009 9:49PM You want Blu-ray to replace DVDs? Start by selling Blu-ray discs for the SAME price as DVDs. That'll motivate owners of Blu players to buy Blu instead of DVD. Then, make Blu players that sell at the SAME price points as DVD players. Entry-level bare-bones players at $99. At this point, when people are replacing a DVD player, or buying a new DVD player, why would they not get a Blu payer for the same price, that also plays DVDs? With players and media at parity between Blu and DVD, why not get Blu?
The biggest hold-backs at this point, will be folks who do not have HD TVs, who would never have bought Blu in the first place, and still don't have a reason to. For some folks, $800 for a new TV is a lot of money, even though it has a crisper picture than their old Zenith CRT. There are a lot of folks who just don't care about HD.
FWIW, I'm on the other end of the sprectrum, and I have a setup that plays Blu-ray, HD-DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio, streaming, media server, etc. I have some neat toys, but by Denon reference DVD player does a stellar job at upscaling DVDs. Better than my Sony Blu-ray player. So I still buy DVDs more often than Blu-ray, because of the substantial price difference.
There is an old saying: "Give me something better for the same money, or the same thing for cheaper." It appears most of the DVD-playing world is saying this, but Sony insists on "We have something better, but it'll cost 'cha."
Goldmund enters universal Blu-ray player space in typically gaudy fashion {Engadget HD}
Aug 31st 2009 11:35AM This looks like the perfect pairing for a set of $8,000 per ten-foot pair speaker wires.
Don't let retailer's lights distract you from buying the right HDTV {Engadget HD}
Aug 10th 2009 7:39PM I just bought a 1080p Toshiba Regza LCD (latest generation). It looks awesome, even in dim lighting (with dynamic contrast turned off, of course!). It does not resemble in the LEAST bit the washed-out A/B "LCD is horrible" sample picture shown as part of your article. This applies to a variety of home lighting conditions, ranging from tootally dark room to too uch sunlight. I'm calling "smoke and mirrors", folks.
I chose "anything but plasma", yet again, to avoid the burn-in and dimming issues that are inherent in the technology, and which are not recognized as "manufacturer's defects", and therefore, are not covered under warranty.
Yes, yes, I know! The Plasma Fanboyz on this list will scream about how burn-is and dimming is a myth, and if it *were* true , it only happens when "abusing" the set. My experience is different, with permanent burn-in being visible in less than a year of normal use, just due to watching a mix of 4:3, 16:9, and anamorphic content in its proper aspect ratio, not zoomed.
Buy what you want. There are still lots of consumers who want plasma. That's why they're still selling. I'm really happy with my Regza LCD.
Plasma prices falling as they cede sizes to LCD {Engadget HD}
Jul 19th 2009 5:16PM replying to "Andy Anonymous": Apparently, mixing 4:3, 16:9 and anamorphic content, in their correct aspect ratios, for a couple of years, qualifies as "gross negligence" in some minds. Of 6 months of 14 hours per day (did you ever see Futureshop swapping out current display units with a new, identical model, because they don't look "fresh" any more?)
If manufacturers believe that burn-in and dimming do not occur under "normal use", then they can easily define what constitutes "normal use", and warranty against damage incurred under such use. They don't. And lots of consumers knows this.
Talk to pro AV shops, who do installs averaging $250K. They'll tell you the sell plasma because some customers demand it (market demand), and not because it's a recommended solution.
It all works out in the end: As long as there are enough people who want plasma (i.e., big enough market), then some manufacturers will make products for those people. Plasma is far from dead at this moment.
Plasma prices falling as they cede sizes to LCD {Engadget HD}
Jul 19th 2009 3:09PM There is no doubt that plasmas look great out of the box, and there is abundant anecdotal evidence that burn-in and dimming don't exist, yet there isn't a single plasma manufacturer who is willing to step up and state that IF burn-in or dimming occurs, then it is a manufacturer's defect, and is thereby covered by warranty. Not one!!!! And the lack of that statement, especially condsidering plasma's history of burn-in and dimming, *is* a big statement. So we end up in a scenario where the masses are still concerned about these issues. Meanwhile, the boys in marketing make claims of a 30,000 hour "life span", which some consumers interpret to mean "no burn-in or dimming for 30,000 hours", while the term "life" remains undefined :-/
And so, we have fans of plasma who say there is no problem. We have manufacturer's who don't warranty these alleged issues, should they appear, and we have consumer masses who pay more to avoid these alleged issues.
Still, they look great "out of the box"!
LG 15-inch OLED TV on sale in December {Engadget HD}
Jun 17th 2009 10:44AM Gotta agree with dpacino's comment. What is the value proposition for the stellar price-tag? I know you have a bigger TV, with higher resolution, but I paid a lot of money for OLED? This is a solution without a problem. A product that is not commercially viable.
