Gadgets 'N Gear » HD

Belkin FlyWire Delayed Until August

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:33:22 +0000

About 15 months ago, Belkin introduced the FlyWire wireless HD/HDMI at CES 2008. However people are still waiting for it to ship. The FlyWire is supposed to take multiple HDMI inputs and stream them to HDTVs. Thx box runs on AMINMON WHDI. It won’t be arriving until August 2009 according to Belkin PR. The price of the FlyWire is $1,499.

New Line Of Sony Bravias Will Turn Off When No One Is In The Room

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:37:07 +0000

[Sony Bravia V1]

In order to preserve energy, a new line of Sony Bravia televisions will automatically turn off when no one is in the room. The Bravia V5 line of TVs will have a small sensor under the display screen that is able to tell whether there are people in the room. If someone leaves, then the LCD screen will cut off power. When someone returns, the TV will turn back on. This will reduce energy consumption by 50% during the time that display switches off.

Sound and other circuits will remain turned on for roughly thirty minutes. After that, the TV will go into standby mode.

Aside from standby and automatic detection, the Sony V5 Bravia lines will use less power than the V1 sets released last year. The 40 inch V5 will consume 129 watts and the 46 inch V5 models will consume 153 watts. The 40 inch Sony V1 Bravia TV uses 217 watts and the 46 inch V1 uses 263 watts. The V5 models were able to match and exceed the EnergyStar 3.0 specification by this reduction in energy.

These TVs will arrive in the U.S. within the first half of the year. Prices are not yet known for the U.S. market. But the TVs will be available in Japan starting February 20th. The 40 inch will cost ¥210,000 (US$2,323) and the 46 inch will cost ¥280,000 ($3,098).

[via PC World]

Philips Launching World’s First 21:9 LCD TV

Gadgets 'N Gear Staff — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:56:24 +0000

Most standard TVs have a 4:3 ratio and wide-screen TVs have about a 16:9. This leaves black borders left at the top and bottom when watching certain movies. This is something that Philips wants to eliminate by unveiling the world’s first 21:9 LCD TV. The TV looks sleek has measures 56″ diagonally. Movies that are in the 2.39:1 format will take up the entire screen. Most traditional TVs will try to compensate by distorting the picture to fill the screen, but it loses the scope of the original video.

What about TV broadcasts and game consoles? Their regular 16:9 aspect ratio is able to adapt to the fill the 21:9 screen.

“With our unique Cinema 21:9 we have developed a television which takes you as close to the experience that you enjoy at the cinema as you can get without buying a ticket. We believe that to really become absorbed in watching a film at home consumers are looking for a real cinematic viewing experience, so we have launched the world’s first cinema-proportioned TV screen perfectly complemented by our immersive Ambilight technology,” stated Des Power, SVP of Marketing Television for Philip Consumer Lifestyle. “Philips new Cinema 21:9 takes enjoying movies at home to an entirely new level, the advantages over a traditional 16:9 ratio
screen in side by side comparisons are truly striking.”

The Cinema 21:9 LCD TV will be available in the spring of 2009. More product specs will be arriving by the end of February 2009.