Hasta La Gadget!

At CEDIA 2012 JVC showed off its 2012 line of home theater projectors, most which feature its e-Shift2 technology, a new version of the “4K precision” upconversion it introduced last year. While they are not capable of accepting a 4K source (not that you have any 4K Blu-ray discs lying around anyway), they work by creating two 1080p frames from the HD source, shifting one down and to the right. e-Shift2 promises higher native contrast and improved processing over its predecessor thanks to a new polarizing wire grid engine and updated algorithms. All of the new projectors are 3D capable with RF-connected active shutter glasses, and there’s a new smartphone app available for controlling settings without interrupting viewing. Of course, a 130,000:1 native contrast ratio doesn’t come cheap and the top of the line DLA-X95R/DLA-RS66 models sporting the spec have a pricetag of $11,999. Of course, if you’re looking for the 4K upscaling for a (relative) bargain, the DLA-X55R/DLA-RS48 can be had for just a hair under $5,000.

That’s not all JVC had to display however, as it also brought along one “early pre-production model” of an 84-inch UHDTV it plans to release in the first quarter of 2013. Like its projectors, it will come in both home theater and professional trim branded the RS-840UD and PS-840UD. It may be a price beater as well since JVC is targeting a sub-$20k price tag for both models, which would be well shy of the $25k set Sony just announced. Unlike some of the other 4K screens we’ve seen it does not include any 3D support, which may be a part of the lower cost. We got a quick peek at the display and the picture looked as sharp and punchy as we’ve come to expect, and even had less glare than other displays we’ve seen. Check out all of the prices and specs after the break, and bring your wallet.

Continue reading JVC reveals e-Shift2 4K scaling projectors, promises true 4K LCDs for under $20k

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

JVC reveals e-Shift2 4K scaling projectors, promises true 4K LCDs for under $20k originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This week the folks at Amazon introduced a set of new Kindle tablets including a refresh of the Kindle Fire, two new Kindle Fire HD tablets, and a reader called Paperwhite. This last entry in the list of new items might be the most overlooked to the biggest news seekers, but it’s set to overtake a still massive ereader market with technology that’s set to dash standard E-Ink’s brains out – and it’s relatively inexpensive, too! The original Kindle Fire was refreshed with a lower price, and both the Kindle Fire HD 7 and 8.9 were introduced with pre-orders starting today.

Start your journey with a look at how the original Kindle Fire has been updated with a select number of features right alongside a price drop to $159 – that’s madness! The new set of Kindle Fire devices come in both 7 and 8.9-inch display sizes, the latter also having a 4G LTE iteration coming with a new data plan that will run you just $50 USD a year – that’s 250MB of 4G LTE data a month for a total of $50 USD a year! Don’t get too pumped up though, there’s a catch: you still gotta pay overage costs.

There’s also a catch for those of you that aren’t fans of advertisements in your devices – the device you payed for and supposedly own. Amazon’s entire Kindle Fire lineup now also has Special Offers showing up on their lock-screens – with no option (other than hacking, of course) to get rid of them. Per Amazon’s press release:

“Special Offers

The new Kindle Fire family comes with special offers that appear on the lock screen. Examples of special money-saving offers that customers will enjoy include a $5 credit in the Amazon MP3 Store and a $5 credit for select titles in the Amazon Instant Video Store. Customers will also receive special offers and screensavers from brands like AT&T, Discover and Intel, such as a special offer of a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card when a customer uses their Discover card to purchase a digital product on Amazon.”

You’ll be glad to know, however, that we’ve got no reason to believe that this line of tablets is immune to hacking – as it was with the original Kindle Fire. Also, it does appear (according to several sources, but not yet confirmed by Amazon directly) that the Kindle Fire HD lineup is coming with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich behind their own customized user interface. That’s good news for you future-looking developers out there with diamond software modification in your eyes.

Kindle Fire HD 7 hands on:

The Kindle Fire HD lineup comes with a collection of software innovations like X-Ray and Whispersync. Have a peek at the timeline here to see our hands-on with the Kindle Fire HD duo as well as notes on the software features at hand:

Prices for the Kindle Fire HD lineup are as follows (followed by the refreshed Kindle Fire and the Paperwhite as well):
Kindle Fire (Refresh): US $159 / UK £ 129
Kindle Fire HD 7: US $199 for 16GB and $249 for 32GB / UK £159 for 16GB and £199 for 32GB
Kindle Fire HD 8.9: US $299 for 16GB and $369 for 32GB / UK N/A thus far
Kindle Fire HD 8.9 4G LTE: US $499 for 32GB and $599 for 64GB
Kindle Paperwhite: $119
Kindle Paperwhite 3G: $179
Kindle (Refresh): $69

Most if not all of these devices are now up for pre-order on Amazon with ship dates either in mid-September, early October, or November – it’s a spread!

Have a peek at the information we’ve got on the Paperwhite – including its 3G iteration with free – yes free – 3G. The smallest and lightest Kindle has also been updated with a few new software updates like improved fonts and 15% faster page turns as well. We’ve got hands-on with the three biggest beasts here, and of course more details than you can shake a stick at from throughout the day today. Stick around our Amazon tag portal for more information as it pops up between here and release time!

UPDATE: The full event video is now up via Amazon – enjoy!

Amazon Kindle Fire full event video and wrap-up is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

What good is a Gmail account if you love crispy fried chicken and can also have a customized @CrownFriedChicken address? Because if you consider yourself a member of the Crown Fried Chicken Family (and even if you don’t think you are, you totally definitely are), you can soon have your own email address proclaiming that you belong to House Crown. Seriously. Seriously. More »

NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on the surface of Mars for a month now, and it recently collected a sample of the air around it for the first time since landing on the surface of the Red Planet. Among its various other duties, one of Curiosity’s goals is to study the air composition on Mars, and it does so by collecting air samples with its Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (Sam). Of course, NASA scientists already know what to expect when the sample results come back – carbon dioxide, and lots of it.

Instead of confirming what we already know, the goal of this research is to see if there is evidence of methane in the air. We’ve seen hints of methane on the planet before, observing it through satellites and telescopes here on Earth, but the problem with methane is that it doesn’t hang around in the air too long. If Curiosity finds methane in the air with these tests, then that would suggest that there’s a replenishing source somewhere on the planet.

We could know the results of the initial test next week, the Curiosity team’s Joy Crisp told BBC, but she also said that it may be some time before we fully understand the results of all the data. “When Sam is at its best it can measure various parts per trillion of methane,” she said, “and the expected amounts based on measurements taken from orbit around Mars and from Earth telescopes should be in the 10 to a few 10s of parts per billion. But it’s so early in the use of Sam, which is a complicated instrument, and we have to sort through the data.”

Curiosity is currently on the way to Glenelg, the first significant scientific stop on its longer trip that will end at the base of Mount Sharp. At Glenelg, Curiosity will use its drill for the first time, but before it reaches its first destination, Curiosity has stopped to test out some of the other instruments it comes equipped with. It’s going to be an exciting few weeks for the Curiosity rover, so keep it here at SlashGear for more information!

[Image via NASA JPL]

Mars Curiosity rover breathes in the air around it is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The ASUS ROG TYTAN CG8890 gaming desktop includes a liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-3960X 6-core processor with a maximum speed of 4.2 GHz. This powerful processor is combined with a 16GB 2133MHz of DDR3 RAM, dual 128GB SATA 3 SSDs in RAID 0, nVidia GeForce GTX 690 graphics card and ASUS Xonar DX sound card. The ASUS ROG TYTAN CG8890 also has a 10-way cross-airflow to keep this gaming machine cool. Sadly, there is no info on pricing or availability so far. [PCLaunches]