Recent Comments:
Rogers Communications in Canada is not sold on tru2way {Engadget HD}
Oct 29th 2009 9:54AM JUST the excuse for other cable cos to pull a "cablecard." As in feet dragging to force consumers to continue to rent their totally crappy DVR product
Not to mention apparent feet dragging already from TiVO, who seems to find patent suits more financially promising than advancing DVR hardware.
Comcast should be tru2way ready by the end of the year {Engadget HD}
Oct 28th 2009 2:02PM Where can we find data on specific MSOs in specific markets that do or do not support (personally, I only care about TWC in NYC, but others need such info)?
Seems to me it's DVR users who may get a lot more benefit from this standard, yet do we know ANYTHING even vaguely concrete about TiVo and a DVR?
Samsung's 40-inch LCD is world's thinnest at 3.9-mm, attracts magic pencils {Engadget HD}
Oct 26th 2009 11:49AM BOGUS...
Does NOTHING at all for the viewing experience. Put a frakking matte screen on it... I can NOT have one of these glossy/mirrored display models in my viewing area, WAY too distracting.
Comcast has issues with Verizon's FiOS VOD claims {Engadget HD}
Oct 24th 2009 12:02PM I have Crime Warner and since day one, VOD runs about 50% of the time actually working. About a month ago, I gave it s shot... watched a movie. Couldn't get through all of it, but it took a good week of trying before I was able to actually watch the second half.
Not to mention the pickings are really VERY slim. Not to mention 30% of what I scroll through is 3 minutes and under.
SamyGo project aims to add new features to Samsung HDTVs {Engadget HD}
Oct 21st 2009 1:10PM Who cares, my years of Samsung HDTV ownership is just about over and whatever I upgrade to will have a matte screen, so bye-bye Samsung.
Starz launching 5 new HD channels next year {Engadget HD}
Oct 21st 2009 1:08PM I'm stuck with TWC, so will probably get these in 2021. Hell, TWC doesn't even carry Starz OD SD.
Ask Engadget HD: 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio for beginners? {Engadget HD}
Sep 19th 2009 2:18PM I think the ONLY 5.1 systems any more probably are the 89.95 super market brands... everything I see is 7.1. And get ready, already at the high end are 9.1 systems.
Some of the 7.1 DO allow you to take an extra channel and "add" it to on the fronts. So you end up with 5, but the two at the front have more power available.
Even so, I find that for many films, they simply do not really take advantage beyond the front 3. AND I am NOT talking about wiz-bang sound effects. For JUST music, having the side/rear channels CAN be used for ambiance. There sure as hell are a small number of movies that with just music playing, you feel like you're really in a live hall. For others, it's all coming from the front.
Not to mention there is technology that has been around for a while that artificially creates than ambiance. I've been using Bob Carver's "Sonic Holography" for over a decade and for everyone who has heard it in my place, they are blown away. They DO NOT hear more speakers (they don't exist) but when I shut it off, the universal remark is that sonically everything collapsed. Uh, this is with very standard 2 channel "stereo."
Sound design is an art, and I find there simply aren't that many who really do it right.
7.1 and now 9.1 are exactly like the megapixel race in cameras. Only for VERY limited use, more pixels brings little if any actual improvement. This is all about marketing.
I would far prefer to have rms power go up per channel. To me a 200w/channel 5.1 is far preferable to a 100w/channel 7.1 system. And NOT for louder (people refuse to bother to educate themselves so invariably someone will crab about not needing to be able to make it louder), 200w/channel provides for a lot more headroom, so it's not louder, but CLEANER. Keep in mind Dolby Digital is all about dynamic range. Not having distortion creep into crescendos is another example of QUALITY over quantity of channels.
Oh, one more thought. One of the best examples of really excellent design is the movie U-571. THIS shows exactly how to really use multi-channel audio. POne a properly balanced 5.1 system, you'd swear you were in the boat, there are creakings and groanings coming from all around you in spots... yet how many movies that have storms in them where it sounds like the entire storm is in front of you?
RealD figures designer glasses might help the acceptance of 3D {Engadget HD}
Sep 19th 2009 1:47PM Excuse me, but several major TV manufacturers seems ready to be releasing 3D TVs that do NOT use polarized lenses for the 3D effect! While I understand the need for a glasses system before the non-glasses stuff works really well, the problem is there seems to be zero consensus about exactly what KIND of glasses.
Not to mention that we already have content using the red/blue anaglyph system...
DirecTV adds "dual live buffers" to its HD DVR {Engadget HD}
Aug 26th 2009 12:03PM This also means that 3 hours of what, 18 or so has to be devoted to this function. I love how there's TONS of HD channels now, but the MSO/satellite guys are all stuck on drive size from the SD days while triple the capacity drives are about the same price as these way older drives.
Yes, TiVO does have a large drive option, but you end up paying something like 300 bucks to get a drive that only costs a hundred AT RETAIL.
After bigger, thinner and brighter, Samsung planning even faster LCDs for IFA {Engadget HD}
Aug 25th 2009 1:47PM Have always been a big Samsung fan, but they won't get a nickel of my money until they drop this notion that LCDs should have highly reflective, glossy screens.
