Hack It Up: SamyGo project aims to add more features to Samsung TVs?

Once upon a time, there was no “Windows”, there was only DOS, in all of its command line beauty. It appears there’s now a “command line” project in the works to allow people to modify their HDTV (Samsung anyway) to do different things called SamyGo, and its an interesting project, if not really for newbies.

The immediate goal of the project is the ability to use other WiFi dongles besides Samsung’s dongle that would run you $80, but it can also potentially used for other things, such as more programming and feature improvements and additions.

It goes without saying: only do this sort of stuff if you have some clue about computers and what you’re doing, as we (or they) aren’t responsible if anything goes wrong.

First Look: The Samsung 55″ 240Hz 3D HDTV

Engadget HD has a preview of the upcoming Samsung 3D HDTV, and it’s supposed to be pretty breathtaking indeed, if first rumors are true.

More from the post:

Look, we know this 3D thing is as likely to sink as it is to swim right now, but we have to hand it to Samsung — it’s pursuing the idea with some pretty hefty ambition. A 55-inch 1080p panel with a true 240Hz refresh rate is a decent base on which to build your paradigm-shifting new offering. Using a set of “shutter” glasses, which rapidly alternate between blocking out the left and right eye, the set is capable of delivering the full 240Hz quality, debatable as its benefits may be. Of course, the value or otherwise of a TV like this is going to be found only by experiencing its output in person, so if you’re somewhere near Seoul this week, head on down to the IMID 2009 conference to get an eyeful of an early model.

We’re not sure about the long-term benefits of a 3D technology that might not ever come to roost, but 240Hz and 55″ inches of the latest LCD HDTV Samsung technology sound good to us.

Blu-Ray outpacing DVD in growth, but won’t reach its numbers in penetration

A recent study from a tech research firm is that Blu-Ray adoption is far outpacing DVD adoption in its 4th year, comparatively speaking, but for many reasons, total market penetration won’t reach DVD levels, because of various factors like media streaming and online availability.

The study predicts that Blu-ray will keep the adoption lead long-term –especially in light of recent price drops, which are both welcome and smart business wise.

We love the news as HD lovers ourselves, and figure Blu-Ray is here to stay, at least for the next 3-5 years, and will continue to grow and be adopted by legions of HDTV fans out there.

Blu-Ray Technology: TDK to create recordable 10 layer, 320GB disc

We’ve heard about 100GB and 200GB Blu-ray discs as real-life products, but TDK is reportedly looking even beyond that, ready to display 320GB ten-layer platters at the electronic trade show CEATEC 2009 that can even be used with current blue laser technology. It could change the way we record HD content using Blu-Ray discs forever.

Now, there isn’t any concrete timeframe on any of this being released, but we figure with BR recorders coming to the states in greater numbers very soon, its only a matter of time before stuff like this starts to trickle into the marketplace, and make HD recording in larger, portable disc sizes a reality.

We can’t wait.

GoPro goes big with new footage from the 1080p Hero Wide Helmet Cam

GoPro announced the release of its cool new 1080p HD Hero Wide helmet cam a few months ago, back when going fast and jumping off too tall places was the in thing to do, it seemed.

Now the company has released some pretty neat clips to show what the camera can do, and it’s pretty awesome to watch. This new camera could change the way action/sports is shot in 1080p, to say the least.

Here’s the full skinny on the cam: its 30fps at the big-time 1080p setting or 60fps mode at 720p, which is pretty amazing given its size and design. 720p film can be recorded at a very wide 170 degrees, while 1080p footage is 127 degrees.

The company says even the microphone will work at this speed, making it something networks and such will definitely have an interest in. More footage here.

Good News (for Awhile Anyway): JVC botches first Blu-Ray recorders in US

Boy, were we jazzed. CEDIA brought the announcement that JVC was releasing the first Blu-Ray recorders being launched into US stores. Our buzz ended as the announcement continued…

These models cannot record HDTV over the air/cable/satellite content. Take your time and read that again. It’s ridiculous, and reduce interest in these units by quite a long ways.

Each recorder comes equipped with a 250GB or 500GB hard drive and can record either standard or hi-def content from SD Cards and digital camcorders via USB or Firewire interface. We assume the target audience are video editors and related professionals, but its sad that they missed a grand opportunity to move BR into the mass marketplace with this awful omission.

And the worse part: These aren’t cheap, even for the lack of its most useful potential feature. The SR-HD1250 is priced at $1,995 and the SR-HD1500 will go for $2,550.

Explosion: LED HDTV makers growing in numbers

It seems LED HDTV technology is starting to catch on with TV makers; four companies have now announced plans to release their own models in the next 3 months or so.

The companies: Sharp, LG, Sony and JVC, all strong market players in one area or another, and all vieing for a piece of a (relatively) small pie at the moment. Prices are pretty high right now (mostly 2-3K range) for mainstream consumption, but its only a matter of time, like any other technology.

More about the models themselves in this article from ZDNET, including the 32″ Sharp LED model coming for only $1,099.

Big Screens For Big Horses: Nakayama Racecourse gets massive Mitusubishi HDTV screens

Dallas isn’t the only place with humungous LED HDTV screens, it seems. Mitsubishi has announced its install of Turf Vision 1 & 2 at Nakayama Racecourse. And its a whopper, folks.

At about 4,000 square feet of screen, the Turf Vision 1 isn’t quite as impressive as the pair of gigantic screens hung at Cowboy Stadium or as long as the one at Tokyo Racecourse, but these HD screens seem tailor-made for the type of venue its placed at, as you can see from the pic.

These screens go online on September 12, so that’ll be the day these bad boys get to display all their HD goodness to racing fans everywhere. We’ll make sure to save a few betting slips for you.

OLED News: LG preparing to release a 15″ model to Korea soon

LG decided to release the results of its OLED labor with new photos of its sharp 15-inch screen, and Reuters is now reporting this release will happen very soon into the marketplace, seen to herald the release of even bigger OLED screens in the near future.

The company will be displaying the new creation at the IFA trade show middle next week, and expects to begin offering the TV in Korea in mid-November this year. We’re plenty excited, even if we know this is just the beginning of the OLED journey.

Price is unknown at this point, with Sony’s 11-inch XEL-1 still going for $2,500 or so in the US, expect prices to be pretty high right now, probably in the $3,000+ range.

LG expects to ready a 40-inch OLED very soon, but don’t expect to see that in your neighborhood electronics store anytime soon.

Last Chance: Deadline approaching for $40 DTV Converter Box coupons

Are there people you know still in the dark about the digital TV transition still without a converter box? If so, their opportunity to get a coupon for a free box is coming up. It’s amazing to think there might still be people out there unaware or that don’t have things set up already, but who knows, there probably is.

An L.A. Times article has said that July 31 is the cutoff for issuing $40 free box coupons, so now’s the time to send in those requests if needed. So give those cave dwellers a call. If they even have a phone, that is. (Ok, now we’re done with the jokes, honest.)

Here’s the article.

Award-Winning: 98″ wonder HDTV adorns this child’s bedroom

I remember my childhood room and its multimedia setup: a 15-inch TV and an Atari 2600. Those were high times, you might think…well, until you get a look at this setup, which is enough to make my old room look like a primitive cave.

Patti Deni apparently wants the ultimate room for her son: she installed a 98″ HD screen installed flush in the ceiling of her son’s bedroom. Now that’s the way to grow up watching TV.

Front and center is the NEC projector paired up with some Draper projection mirrors, which fills that mammoth StarGlas60 display with some HD images than can be viewed from just about any angle you would ever desire. It’s enough to make our mouth water.

The install process was pretty rough, involving reframing and reinforcing the ceiling, according to sources. It’s even attracted attention and a nomination for the Electronic House’s Home of the Year awards, and rightly so. Lucky kid, indeed.

Widget Wackiness: Research company predicting 20+ million net connected TVs shipping in 2011

Analysts projections are sometimes interesting, sometimes badly misinformed. This particular article is about a company’s projection that widget connected HDTVs will experience an explosion in a few years. We aren’t convinced, but we’ve been wrong – on occasion.

The latest data from ABI Research indicates that in the next few years net-connected TVs will be huge – to the tune of 20 million widget TVs shipping in 2011. Obviously they’ll be using Wi-Fi, but the current generation of widget-connected units are kind of slow, and not something people would pay a premium for, in our humble opinion. Perhaps the tech will improve in the near future, and in that case, all bets are off.

Here’s the whole press release regarding this analysis.

Opinion: ChromeOS and HDTV – future pairing?

Widgets and big-time experiences are starting to be built into our TV’s, if this years CES is any indication. But this opinion article is about building in an actual OS, such as the newly announced ChromeOS from Google? Would you bother with such a TV? Would you buy it?

If someone’s designing a lightweight, net-connected OS, why not add that to a flat panel and let us do what we want to do with it?

The Google operating system news was sent into the wind this week, and people began to wonder: is this what TVs need and could use? A freeform web-centric OS that could help grab us lots of content for our sets, whether it be video, information, or whatever.

First of all, our opinion is: let us see the actual OS before it gets built into anything. Who (and it isn’t clear really) what kind of OS this will really turn out to be, and with a debut date of mid-2010 or so, it could evolve quite a bit before it sees the light of day.

Planning the Future: Vizio readying internet-connected line of HDTVs

VIZIO recently showed off new updates in its high end XVT series, but it’s already planning out the next generation of their now famous LCDs with VIZIO Internet Apps included on the next series. Widgets, here they come.

These units will feature 802.11n wireless networking and slider Bluetooth remote, the SV422XVT, SV472XVT and VF552XVT HDTVs are coming home in November, October and December, respectively. And they look to be really set the bar for widget-connected HDTVs both in features and price. Vizio has really come up in the world.

Partners lined up already are enough to make anyone excited: Vudu, Revision3, Facebook, Twitter, Rhapsody, Blockbuster OnDemand, Showtime, Flickr and more as yet unannounced.

The biggest shock? Very little to no price increase with these new models, with the 55-inch selling for the same $2,199 price as the previous model, the only jump being the 47-inch, which will move up $200 over the previous model to $1,699, while adding the LED backlit technology previously only on the 55-inch for good measure.

The 42-inch will be the first model released and checks in at a pretty frugal $1,199 — how that sells may determine the future of net-connected HDTVs (at least as far as the mass market potential goes).

Texas First: Mavericks and Stars teams to get first 1080p displays

No one should be shocked that Mark Cuban (complete with Jerry Jones envy) will be the very first NHL & NBA arenas with 1080-line scoreboards in pro sports. He’s known for spending lavishly on his sports teams over the years.

While 1080p has been well established with scoreboards for some venues, like the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees stadiums, it looks like the NBA and winter pastimes haven’t joined the 1080 parade, but Cuban plans to change that fact. Diagrams to upgrade American Airlines Center for the 2009-10 seasons are already started up, with four 18- by 30-foot scoreboards being installed into the center display and two 24- by 72-foot walls at the north and south ends.

The sound is also getting a big upgrade, with huge six speaker systems being set up for truly booming performance.

Opinion: 1080p online streaming vs. Blu-Ray – which is better?

A fairly simple question for our users: which works best for you and which do you think will be more successful in the long term?

Video streaming has been threatening to destroy DVDs and discs for years now, and now that 1080p HD streaming is starting to emerge as a viable format for a few sites now, that threat may be more alive than ever now. This summer several sites will launch 1080p live streaming with surround sound, so the question really comes into focus.

Do you favor live video streaming, or Blu-Ray discs as the format for the future? Let us know in the comments section.

We Like Obama: There will be no more DTV delays

We know a few of you out there were just wondering if there are going to be any more last minute DTV date switcheroos or surprises. Well, President Obama released a statement saying there will be no more delays in this switchover, and to let everyone who knows about DTV and all the info make sure to tell those who might not.

With all the ads and such bombing the airwaves, can there really be people who don’t know? How about you, our readers? Anyone out there still in the dark about the switchover? We can’t possibly imagine this, but we suppose there are a few who might not be fully aware of the implications of the switch. No excuses or delays; it’s going to happen.

Now a week to go, and ticking. We can’t wait.

Forever Lasting: DuPont creates high-longevity OLED materials

DuPont has been dipping their toe into OLED waters for awhile now, and their hard-working engineers have come up with a fascinating development (and one that could echo with importance down the road for OLED and HDTV fans).

For the OLED TV scene, getting this sets to last for a while has been one of the biggest drawbacks, and concerns. If this newest advance pans out, it won’t be an issue any longer.

DuPont has created a green light-emitting material that can operate for over a hundred years… without shutting it off at all. Yes, that’s very cool, indeed. And those same scientists have engineered a new blue light with a glow half-life of 38,000 hours along with a red-light material with a life of 62,000 hours. In other words, it’ll pretty much generate a TV that will last for many years before any repair attention needs to be paid to it.

The only bad side: This tech probably won’t be very affordable for awhile, so put away the party hats, HD fans…for now. In the long run though, this is huge for the future of HD, as it will make TVs more practical for everyone.

Tech News: NEC comes up with new upconverting 1080p chip for TVs

Technology is always moving forward, and that includes the HDTV arena. Improvements on older tech are happening all the time. Take NEC: they’ve developed the µPD9280GM chip designed which can expand and upconvert older pics to 1920×1080 resolution with significantly less blurring, which may impact how upconverting is handled down the road.

Beating the old uPD9245GJ chipset by running at 150Mhz clock speed instead of the previous 108Mhz speed (so it processes images much more quickly, improving action scene processing) and expanding color quality from simple 24-bit to 30-bitcolor (almost at the edge of human color range), it also promises to do its super-res sorcery based on just one frame of picture data instead of needing multiple frames and more addon memory, which will make it faster, more efficient and cheaper to produce.

The chip will start being made in July, and should open the door for more devices with lower-cost, higher quality image upconversion.

Opinion: Have any interest in a “widget-connected” HDTV?

Yes, we wrote about how underwhelming the latest Samsung Yahoo-Widget connected HDTV was a few days ago, and from reading other opinions on various forums and blogs, it appears not many are interested in this feature right at the moment, which isn’t shocking given its lagginess overall right now.

It appears to be a technology that’s cooler on paper than it is in real world execution, at least right now in its current state. But then again, this was true of many technologies we take for granted now.

But we’re interested in your opinion, readers…anyone here interested in these widget TV’s, or buying one in the next few months or so? Feel free to leave comments.

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