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Viewsonic’s 24in Display Doubles As HDTV
The new VX2435wm is certainly one of the biggest desktop monitors out
there and it comes – unusually – with HDMI inputs so that users can easily use
it as a HDTV, by hooking up a PS3, Sky HD box, Blu-ray or HD DVD player or high
definition-enabled Xbox 360. 
Most monitors still only feature the older DVI input for
showing high-def sources. It also sports component, S-video and composite
connections.
The display has a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, a high contrast ratio of 1000:1, a reasonable response time of 8ms and a brightness rating of 500cd/m². It features in-built stereo speakers and can also be wall-mounted to help save on that valuable desktop real-estate.
Out now, it costs around £530 and you can find more details here.
LG Says ‘Touch Me’
Measuring 51.5 x 90 x 10.4mm, it’s a neatly sized and good-looking
player with a brushed aluminium finish and a touch-screen – a feature that is
becoming increasingly popular.
It supports playback of a wide 
variety of file formats, including
MP3,WMA and OGG music files, BMP, JPEG, and GIF photo files and MPEG4, WMV, and
H.264 video files. Videos can be displayed on the 2.4in LCD display with a
resolution of 320×240 pixels. LG’s Mobile XD promises to boost picture quality
by automatically adjusting colour, contrast and brightness. There’s also the
10EQ graphic equaliser with numerous presets.
It connects to the PC via USB 2.0 for file transfers and it has 4GB of
memory, which is average but nothing to write home about. There’s no price or
availability on this yet but you can see all the specs on LG’s site here.
Steinway Moves From Pianos To Hi-Fi
World-famous piano maker Steinway & Sons is to enter the world of high-end audio by launching a limited edition series of audio-video equipment.
The company has teamed up with Lyngdorf Audio to creata
lovely looking series of audio video products under the name, Steinway
Lyngdorf. The joint ventures says it will offer:
“Unsurpassed performance, exceptional
value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning
clientele the world over.”
If £75,000 represents ‘exceptional
value’ then this Model D music system could be the brand for you. It comes with
a full set of speakers and a receiver that uses Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfect
automatic acoustic calibration system, so that set-up is easy in any
environment.
“We have sought for 
some time to expand the Steinway & Sons brand
into the high performance digital sound system market," said Steinway
& Sons executive vice president, Frank Mazurco. “In Peter Lyngdorf, one of
the audio industry's most respected innovators and pioneers, we have found a
kindred spirit in terms of an uncompromising commitment to excellence, incomparable
craftsmanship and quality. Steinway Lyngdorf creates products that are truly
worthy of the Steinway name, offering unsurpassed performance, exceptional
value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning
clientele the world over.”
There are only 100 of these planned
so get saving now.
music speakers steinway home entertainment
Pioneer’s Luxury LX01 Home Cinema
Pioneer has just announced the LX01 Home Cinema System, centered around
its 250GB hard disk drive recorder, with in-built digital TV tuner, HDMI
support and 1080p upscaling for DVDs.
The stylish dodecahedron shaped speakers have been designed to throw
sound around the room for a ‘fuller’ surround sound effect. We’re not sure how
this 'omni-directional audio' approach will work since there are just four
speakers, with the front two combining to replace the dedicated centre speaker
[dialogue] found in most 5.1 
surround sound set-ups.
Pioneer claims that these speakers will allow you to get the full
surround effect anywhere in the room, without the usual careful placement of
speakers. Again, we’ll believe our ears rather than the press release.
Beefing up that sound is the imposing sub-woofer and there’s a stylish
LCD touch-screen remote thrown in too. This glossy black number – which matches
the new HDTVs - will be arriving in October and it’s safe to say it will not be
cheap, so start saving now.
home cinema audio movies pioneer
Lewis Unveils HD DVD Movie Server
Now this is some serious hardware for you movie buffs.
Lewis, makers of classy media PCs and DVD servers, has just unwrapped
the MS4800 and MS9000 HD DVD/DVD servers which are capable of storing – wait
for it – 4.8TB or 9TB of video content.
This is the equivalent of 160 high defintion HD DVD movies, 685 DVDs or 8,000 CDs for the
MS4800, 
and 300 HD DVDs, 1,285 DVDs or 15,000 CDs for the MS9000. The storage
capacity is made up from 12 fault-tolerant hard disk drives - 400GB drives for
the MS4800 and 750GB drives for the MS9000. They employ Raid 6 which means two
drives can fail without impacting your precious collection. They come with dual HDMI inputs.
The servers can also record from two digital sources and can output in all high-def formats - 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
You may want to check your bank balance, and your heart
rate, first though as all of this HD movie luxury will not come cheap. The MS4800 and MS9000 cost a cool £9,000 and £11,500, respectively.
movies music HD DVD home cinema
Pioneer Plasmas Go Back To Black
Pioneer
has unveiled a new range of high-definition TVs (HDTVs) that it claims take plasma
picture technology to a whole new level.
Codenamed
‘Project Kuro’ (Kuro is Japanese for black), its eighth-generation panels
feature a contrast ratio of 16,000:1 – four times that of its existing screens. 
Along
with improved image processing, this results in images with far deeper black
levels, richer colours and more enhanced detail.
A
recent demonstration in Rome showed a clear improvement on current models,
which have already earned a Buy It! award.
With
the rise of Blu-ray and HD DVD, the company has also started to emphasise the
option on its TVs to play back video at 24 frames per second – or, as Pioneer
says, ‘exactly as movie directors intended’.
As
pointed out in Active Home, this feature removes the juddering seen on slow
camera pans and scrolling text, such as credits, when watching HD movie discs.
The
new range starts at 42in with the HD-ready PDP-4280XD and 4280XA, featuring
digital terrestrial and analogue TV tuners respectively. Moving up, the 428XD
incorporates a USB socket and a memory card slot for displaying camera pictures
plus options for professional picture calibration.
Those
looking for larger screens can opt for the 50in PDP-5080, 5080XA and 508XD.
Prices for the new screens have yet to be set but are expected to be set around £500 higher than the current seventh-generation models, starting at around £1,700.
At
the same time, 
Pioneer also announced the BDP-LX70 Blu-ray player and the LX01
– a minimalist home cinema system with a 250GB hard disk DVD recorder with
digital tuner, HDMI with 1080p video scaling and surround sound speaker design
technology unique to Pioneer.
Lord Of The Rings Goes Online
World of Warcraft may be the Sauron of online roleplaying games (RPGs) but
there’s a new band of Hobbits in town hoping to drag a few million players into
a new world.
The most eagerly awaited online RPG, Lord of the Rings: Shadows of
Angmar, launched 
yesterday and hopes are high that millions of fans of
Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s movies will take up the quest.
In development for four years, this is the first online game based on
Tolkien’s world and invites players to enter the world as an elf, dwarf, human or hobbit. The game environment
looks stunning and players will have more than enough chances to fight back the
Orc and goblin hordes, stand toe-to-toe with a cave troll, tackle the Witch
King, meet Gandalf the Grey or stop for a few flagons of ale at the Prancing
Pony.
David Solari, Vice President and General Manager of Codemasters Online
Gaming said: "It’s great that the many, many fans of this incredible game
can begin their heroic adventures through Middle-earth. The response so far has
been nothing short of stunning and we’re hugely excited about launching this
unique game and look forward to it having a profound effect in the
market."
Out now, the standard edition of the game costs £25 online, with
30-days free play, after which a montly fee applies. There’s also numerous special and limited collector editions too.
games lord of the rings PC online
HDTV Sales Set To Soar
Seeing as you can barely find a fat CRT TV on the High St. anymore, it’s
not surprising that high definition TV (HDTVs) sales are set to rocket.
According to Strategy Analytics, sales of HDTVs and high-definition (HD)
video devices will jump 158% in 2007 to reach 28.1m units. By 2012, 70% of
European homes will own at least one HD-capable telly, up from just 8% in 2006.
In addition to that, most HDTV customers will also buy a HD set-top box, movie
player, games console or digital media player too.
“Europe's high definition TV transition is well under way,” says David
Mercer, principal analyst at Strategy Analytics. “European consumers are
beginning to buy HD-capable devices in huge quantities and there is a terrific
opportunity for content providers and distributors to meet the growing desire
for HD programming.”
The report compared adoption forecast models across different emerging
HD device segments. It also claimed that by 2012, 44% of European homes will
own HDTV receivers, like set-top boxes or integrated digital TVs. By that time 27%
will have HD digital media players, 26% HD disc players, and 15% HD portable
devices.
Asda May Sell Cut-Price HD Players
Supermarket chain, Asda, could soon be selling cut-price high-definition
(HD) DVD players if a rumoured deal by its parent company, Wal-Mart comes off.
Wal-Mart has reportedly inked a $100 million deal 
with a Chinese
manufacturer to supply it with 2 million high-def players, which it will sell at
the knock-down price of $199 – or £100. That’s less than a third of what the
cheapest Toshiba player costs. However, since much of this news is coming from
Asian sources, it’s not exactly clear whether or not the players will be HD DVD
or Blu-ray machines.
The players will come from Great Wall Corporation in China, with parts from Taiwan’s Fuh
Yuan and Japan’s TDK. Broadcom will supply the system-on-chip decoder. Asda has been working hard to boost sales of electronics equipment and it's highly likely that some of those players will make their way over here.
If, true, this deal could
radically change the nature of the high-def format war, not least by opening the
door for more, cheap players to arrive on the scene. If the Wal-Mart player is
HD DVD, it would certainly help that camp close the gap with Blu-ray, which
seems to be edging ahead – especially now that the PS3 is here.
LG's Blu-ray/HD DVD Drive For PCs
The snappily titled GGW-H10N drive can record up to
50Gb of data on a dual layer BD-R or BR-RW disc at up to 4x speed – i.e. 25Gb
in 25 minutes according to LG. 
It will also read and write CDs and DVDs.
It remains to be seen if it will allow users to access the interactive
special features on HD DVD discs – something its standalone Blu-ray/HD DVD
player, the Super Multi Blue BH-100, has been rightly panned for. No official price but industry
whispers have clocked it at a wallet-wrenching £600.
Check in later when we'll have something on the UK price for the BH-100, which ‘officially’ launched today.
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