Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

A TV with its own robot?  While the concept might be a bit Blade Runner-esque, Bang & Olufsen says the technology will ensure rich and natural colors throughout the lifespan of their plasma screens.

The audio and video equipment manufacturer recently launched the sleek, 50-inch BeoVision 9 plasma TV.  The device boasts of an Automatic Colour Management technology that adjusts the color temperature of the plasma screen to compensate for the tendency of TVs to feature a yellowish tinge in the picture after hundreds of hours of use.

Here is where the robot comes in.  When a user activates the Automatic Color Management technology, a short robotic arm with a camera swings down from the upper portion of the screen.  The camera films a test picture on the screen, analyzes the light and dark areas, then adjusts the color balance to correct coloring errors caused by aging.  The feature automatically activates every 120 hours of use but can also be manually activated.

Aside from that, the device also automatically adjusts the brightness of its image according to the ambient light of its location.  The product ships with a built-in center channel speaker with acoustic lens and digital surround sound capabilities.  The price, at $19,900, is a bit steep –- if only it restocks its own beer, perhaps couch potatoes won’t mind.

Read [Twice]

I don’t know if any of you at home have both the BBC iPlayer and 4OD (on demand) but for those they don’t, they are essentially ways of watching the last weeks worth of TV on your PC from the respective channels (ITV doesn’t get a look in because theirs simply isn’t that good). Basically the main difference between them is that the BBC iPlayer has no adverts but the 4OD has a catalog of past series, and it is the latter that makes the 4OD that little bit better. It is a shame if you catch the end of a series but can’t watch the rest, or if you are away for over a week.

However TV fans do not fear, because the BBC has plans to incorporate all (that’s right, all) off their catalog onto the BBC iPlayer setup. That means 80 years of classics such as Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Montly Python and even Bargain Hunter will be available at your fingertips. 

MORE »

A study conducted by Australian consumer agency Choice said that video game consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are the biggest energy users which shoot up consumers power bills.

From among the 16 electronic devices that were tested during the course of the study, both the Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 were found to consume the most energy. The study also noted that these game consoles still consume energy even if they are on stand-by mode. Following the Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox are devices such as laptops, stereo systems, DVD players and plasma TV’s.

In addition, the report also suggested that consumers switch off their electronic devices from the source and not from the remote control. As shutting it off using the remote control does not totally turn off the power. In fact, when left in power mode for a certain period of time, the study found out that the Playstation 3’s consumption is five times more than the energy consumption of a refrigerator.

Now that you know, we think it would be better to lower our console gaming time or better yet, to save more, we might as well stop using our game consoles. But of course this will be hard to do, especially if you are a hard core gamer. So, we guess the best thing to do then is to reduce the number of hours you use these electronic gadgets.

Read [Yahoo! News]

We are all slowly becoming aware that as of February 9, 2009 we are going to see a switch from analog broadcasting to digital only, which, as we here already know, that means some people are going to wake up very confused as to why they are not able to watch TV. I am sure lots of you out there are looking after and taking care of those who are less than familiar with this situation, however just in case you are speaking a little to geek for them to truly understand, here comes Florence Henderson, yup, Carol Brady to save the day. I am sure she can speak in a little more down to earth terms, so sit your parents in front of the computer and hit play. While the video itself is slightly entertaining, they could have made it really fun to watch by offering up Carol Brady in the old Brady kitchen. Keep reading to check out the video below.

MORE »

A while back the FCC started to issue fines to retailers that did not display signs on analog TV’s for sale that essentially read “This TV will not work in 2009 without a converter box.” Well, the first of the backlash has begin to come about and Best Buy is fighting back, claiming that the FCC has no power to issue these fines.

“Conduct that is accidental, or not known to the organization, is not willful,” Best Buy says.

Best Buy is refusing their $280,000 fine. They also said that the fines “demonstrate the unreasonableness, if not impossibility, of holding Best Buy to a standard of flawless compliance.” Whether their appeal will work or not has yet to be determined, but if this is even the slightest bit effective, you can better that other fined retailers will follow suit.

Via [ars technica] Read [FCC Filing (PDF Link)] Read [Best Buy’s Appeal (PDF Link)]

We are all familiar with thin flat panel TVs but our perception of thin is about to change. In an industry that continually makes more by giving us less AUO has outdone themselves in the ultra department. I predict that the AUO 42-inch ultra slim LCD TV will draw a lot of attention from both buyers and other industry leaders.

How slim is ultra slim? Imagine the size of an ordinary marble (10mm). How bright is bright? Measured in Nits the 450 is far brighter than the ordinary 250 to 280 Nits found on most LCD TVs. Taking advantage of this increased brightness AUO uses a new technology called “High Dynamic Contrast”. This technology not only provides a contrast ratio of 200,000:1 but it also improves on luminance and uniformity (which simply means that the 16x8 Led blocks do not contrast differently from on the other.)

MORE »

Western Digital has just unleashed their My DVR Expander external hard drive.  This WD drive is certified to work as an external storage device for Dish Network DVRs.

The hard drive line sports 500GB of storage, which in TV terms, is 300 hours of standard definition content and 60 hours of high definition content.  The drive will definitely work with the Dish set top boxes.  However, on top of the device’s $149.99 price, you will have to pay a fee to activate the USB port on your set top box.

Western Digital is hoping to expand the compatibility of such external drivers to other TV providers.

Via [CrunchGear]

Sharp has expanded its Professional LCD Monitors with the launch of the TL Professional LCD Monitor Line. LCD’s in this product line will have a full 1920 x 1080 2-megapixel high-definition resolution display. To kick off the launch the product line, Sharp has released the 52-inch TL-M5200 and the 46-inch TL-M4600.

Both of these LCD’s give out a high image quality, features and performance which are perfect for teleconferencing, CAD/Simulation, digital signage, corporate, educational, training, hospitality, sports arenas, entertainment and house-of worship. In addition these LCD’s are also easy to install with their lightweight cabinet design, and even come equipped with RJ-45 LAN Control for network connectivity. Other features of these two new LCD’s include Advanced Super View panel, 1500:1 (TL-M4600) and 2000:1 (TL-M5200) contrast ratios, advanced signal processing, an HDCP compatible HDMI input, and a built-in web browser.

The Sharp TL-M4600 and TL-M5200 LCD’s retail for $4,995 and $3,995 at all Sharp retail outlets.

Via [Akihabara News]

Sharp and Amimon, an emerging leader in semiconductor technology for wireless high-definition video, have combined their technology to bring wireless HDTV experience to users of Sharp’s LCD display units. Slated for a release in Japan soon, Sharp’s super-thin X-series LCD displays will be equipped with Amimon’s Wireless High Definition Interface (HDMI) 1080p wireless technology. For us users, this simply means that we would no longer have to connect any cables to our TVs since all the necessary wires and cables of the Sharp LCD displays will be tucked in a separate set-top box. 

MORE »

Look who’s playing catch up with Apple’s iTunes?  Microsoft has confirmed the rumors that it will start selling TV shows in its Zune Marketplace, possibly to compete with the recently announced iTunes movie download offerings. For starters, Microsoft has sealed a deal with NBC, which incidentally is coming off the recent break-up with Apple’s iTunes.

Although Microsoft’s move maybe a little bit late, lagging behind Apple’s iTunes which started selling TV shows two years ago, Microsoft is confident that its Zune Marketplace will be able to make some headway over the iTunes especially now that one of iTunes biggest content providers has decided to move over to the Zune Marketplace. NBC and Apple had previously disagreed over pricing which caused NBC to stop offering their content in iTunes. 

MORE »