Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

You probably remember sitting in a movie theater, wearing those crazy blue and red glasses, the big monster seeming to come off the screen right at you.  Well, 3D has come even further, and is even more amazingly lifelike.  And one of the latest steps forward is actually a step into the past to Ancient Egypt.

Dolby Laboratories just announced yesterday that their 3D Digital Cinema was chosen to present the Giant Screen Films’ “Egypt 3D: Secrets of the Mummies.“  This is a companion movie to “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age,“ the National Geographic exhibition that tours all over. 

Read more to find out about what tech Dolby is using with 3D movies.

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Philips showcased their new home theatre device recently at IFA 2008.  Granted, it kind of looks like a cross between a pet’s feeding dish, a humidifier, and a soccer ball…and one might think “what can this really do?“...but it’s getting some decent feedback.

The CinemaOne is one of the smallest home theatre devices out there.  It contains a DVD player, a CD player, an iPod dock, a five channel amplifier, four speakers (featuring the same soundbar technology found in their Ambisound line) and a subwoofer which is built into the base.  It can output in just about any kind of format, including DivX and WMV, and you can control the iPod with the included remote. There is also a USB 2.0 port. The DVD player comes with 1080p scaling and Dolby Digital and DTS support as well. Not bad.

No confirmed release dates seem to be out at this point. I’ve seen rumors of September through January. Keep an eye out for updates of confirmation and pricing.

via [techradar]

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Cambridge Audio just announced today in Denver that they too will be joining the ever popular Blu-ray club by coming out with their version of Blu-ray technology, the 640BD, in Spring 2009.  The player is meant to complement the Azur range of AV receivers, and from the spec sheet/release, it looks like it isn’t too shabbily put together.

The 640BD will have a full set of analog video outputs, full HDMI 1.3 output (which will include bitstream output of all the latest Dolby/DTS tracks), S/PDIF, Ethernet, Toslink and a set of separate, dedicated 7.1/stereo analog outputs. And no…they haven’t put a price tag on this baby yet.

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Asus joins the multimedia notebook race with its new M50. Touting the M50 as a personal entertainment center, Asus has included Altec Lansing Speakers and Dolby Home Theater software in the M50’s elegantly designed body. Asus even went further with the M50’s overall look and covered the body with super glossy finish to serve as a tough coat and hopefully offer additional protection from abrasion.

But aside from the external design, what could probably make the M50 click among notebook consumers is its HD Blu-ray capabilities that support HDMI transfer. Making the Asus M50 even more appealing is its innovative interface that is said to be both easy and convenient to control. The M50’s touch pad doubles up as a control deck to control video and music entertainment. With a mere tap of the finger the user can access the controls to play, stop, pause, mute and skip audio and video files.

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ASUS is by-far the number one producer of motherboards in the world. Last year, they provided the motherboards for one out of three desktop PCs, which was over 50,000,000 boards.  When you produce this many of anything, the customer will listen.

A new motherboard which is Dolby-certified, and from ASUS, will make consumers listen.  According to ASUS:

“The micro-ATX is a Dolby-certified motherboard that provides the ability to enjoy a growing universe of digital content in the comfort of your living room.“

This device uses less power, runs cooler, operates quieter and has excellent performance.  When useing a device in your living room, it needs to has all of these features, and this one seems to fit the bill.

Press Release

Read [RegHardware]

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