CES is mostly useless, sure, and most of the trillion dinky things trotted out like chrome and plastic show chihuahuas will wind up in landfills. But CES is worth it just to give 4K, Ultra HD TV its big debut. And if you’re not amazed by it, I’m afraid you’re an idiot. More »
As you may have guessed by scanning our CES 2013 coverage, HDTV — particularly of the Ultra HD variety — was kind of a big deal at this year’s show. In fact, UHDTV’s omnipresence fanned so much reader interest this year that we penned a feature article to put the whole phenomenon into perspective. While that makes for a lively discussion, none of the 4K sets announced at the show are shipping yet, and the few from last year that are available might cost as much as a new car — or two. To that end, let’s head after the break to see all the new TVs, set-top devices, Blu-ray players and the like presented at CES — including a few you may actually be able to afford.
Continue reading CES 2013: HDTV and connected devices roundup
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung, Sony, Google, LG
CES 2013 was all about Ultra HD, and we ended up seeing a lot of concepts that will either be launched in a few years, or are out right now at a crazy-expensive price. However, that isn’t stopping one European television channel from broadcasting in the new definition. Eutelsat Communications launched the first dedicated demonstration Ultra HD channel in Europe last week.
The signal is delivered via satellite with a 4K resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 at 50 frames per second. The stream is encoded in MPEG-4 and transmitted at 40 Mbps, which is over twice the bandwidth used by most 1080i broadcasts. However, it’s not necessarily an indication of what future Ultra HD broadcasts will look like, since they’ll still use the more-efficient HEVC codec.
With only three Ultra HD TVs on the market right now, there aren’t many who can take advantage of the new 4K channel from Eutelsat, but hopefully if you are one of the lucky few who can afford one of these bad boys, there’s at least one channel you can take advantage of.
It’s not stated exactly what kind of content is being broadcasted at the moment, but the timing is certainly no coincidence — Eutelsat timed its launch to correspond with the flood of news around Ultra HD at CES last week. And while there’s not a lot of 4K content to be passed around just yet, it’s nice to see at least one TV channel taking advantage of the situation.
First Ultra HD channel launches in Europe is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Eutelsat Communications launched the first dedicated demonstration Ultra HD channel in Europe on January 8th. Delivered via satellite with the resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 (4K) at 50 frames per second — the European equivalent to 60p — the stream is encoded in MPEG-4 with help from video compression solution provider, ATEME, and transmitted at 40 Mbps. This is over twice the bandwidth used by most 1080i broadcasts, but not necessarily an indication of future Ultra HD broadcasts utilization, as they’re expected to use the more efficient HEVC codec — depending on color space and other factors, Ultra HD broadcasts might use less throughput than 1080i does now. With only three very expensive Ultra HD TVs on the market, there aren’t many who can take advantage of this. Hopefully if you are one of the lucky few, you’re in a position to take advantage of this native content on your latest prized possession.
Continue reading First Ultra HD channel goes live in Europe
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
At CES last week Samsung set a new benchmark in size with its 85-inch S9 that edged past the Ultra HD competition by one inch, and now it’s setting a new high mark for price as well, at least in Korea. While we still don’t have any US pricing or release details, the first 77 models encased in that “Timeless Gallery” frame are going up for pre-order, priced at 40,000,000 won ($37,877 US). Other than the obligatory 214cm of 4K goodness, it has built-in 2.2 channels speakers, quad-core CPU and Precision Black Pro LCD panel. We’ve heard that sales of Sony and LG’s models have been surprisingly brisk despite their high prices so you may want to run, not walk to your local Korean high-end electronics retailer to get one first. Of course, if you wait, you can always snag the 95- or 110-inch model that are promised to ship later this year, albeit at similar prices. While you’re deciding, check out our hands-on pictures and video to get an idea of what awaits.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung
Source: Samsung Tomorrow (Flickr), Korean Newswire
Even before this year’s CES kicked off, we knew Ultra High-Definition was going to dominate the show. Then from the first press conference to the last, 3,840 × 2,160 resolution displays were a center piece of almost every major manufacturer’s announcements. Leading up to the show, the CEA’s board decided against using “4K” to market these 8-megapixel (1080p is two megapixels) displays, instead choosing Ultra High-Definition or Ultra HD. Of course not everyone followed along, in fact Sony was first to market in the US, late last year, with its “4K Ultra HD TV.” The display is only one piece of the puzzle and plenty of questions remain, however. Like, “Where’s the content?” and “Will I have to replace all my other home theater gear?” Questions aside, Ultra HD TVs are here and more are coming, so click through for these answers and to discover the slate of new Ultra HD TVs for 2013.
Continue reading Ultra HD TVs stole the show at CES 2013, but they’re just part of the puzzle
Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD
Haier had a pretty formidable booth here at CES, so naturally, we had to swing by and cast our eyeballs over anything and everything there. A wall of TVs greeted us, which turned out to be the company’s 2013 Roku-ready HDTVs and Android-packing smart models. Screens were everywhere, but there was also a table with some finger-friendly equipment like 9.7-, 7- and 5.3-inch HaiPads, as well as a Windows 8 laptop, touchscreen all-in-one and tab / laptop slider. The slider looked pretty nice, but all the aforementioned hardware was set up in Chinese, so we lost interest pretty quickly. A central hall booth wouldn’t be the same without a 4K TV, but not to worry, Haier had a couple on display — unfortunately, glare from all the other screens dotted around kind of dampened their impact.
What we were most interested in was all the prototype technologies on show, but all the Haier reps were from the US sales department, so not a soul could talk about the demonstrations. The eye-controlled TV we saw at IFA last year was getting quite a lot of attention, while the mind-controlled set we’ve also seen before was almost certainly playing a looping video to give the illusion something was happening. There were also several gesture-controlled models, but one wasn’t working and the other was hosting a very basic Kinect-type game. A ping-pong game played with a “Sensory Remote” was also up on one TV, but looked unresponsive and therefore, unfun. A multi-view demo using dual 3D specs did what it was supposed to, and a glasses-free 3D TV prototype showed nice depth as long as you were 12+ ft away (the camera can’t really replicate the effect, but there’s a quick video of it below anyway).
The booth also had a household section which we thought was safe to ignore, until a “wireless blender” caught the eye. “It’s just a blender with a battery in it, surely?” this editor asked. “No, there’s an inductive coil built into to the underside of the counter,” was the reply. Thus was our Haier experience at CES, and to revisit it through our eyes lens, check out the gallery below.
Kevin Wong contributed to this report.
Gallery: Haier’s booth at CES 2013
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Displays, Household, Laptops, Tablets, HD
CES 2013: The year Ultra HD turned into the pipe dream of the future to the present reality you can’t afford. Now that UHD TVs are about to hit the market, manufacturers are, of course, showing off 4K concepts like this glasses-free 3D 4K panel from Stream TV Networks, which you will be able to drool and dream about but never ever ever ever buy. More »
Remember the first time when you laid your eyes on the iPad with Retina Display? Surely the difference was obvious when you laid it side by side with the first generation iPad and the vanilla version of the iPad 2, but when it comes to resolution count and pixel density on tablets, Panasonic has got everyone beat this CES. Granted, toting around Panasonic’s 20” tablet is not going to be the most enjoyable of tasks for road warriors, but when you consider how it weighs as much as a standard notebook (not an Ultrabook, mind you) at just 2.4kg, you would sing a different tune and say that the 20” is a sheer marvel in engineering.
Just in case you were wondering what kind of resolution the 20-inch IPS Alpha LCD panel packs, we are talking about 4K (Ultra HD) resolution. If you were to whip your calculator out and perform some mathematical equations, your mind would be blown away – 4K resolution is more than four times the resolution of Full High Definition, and when you accompany that with a high precision digital pen, you have more or less got yourself a new winner here, hands down.
Just in case you were wondering what kind of resolution the 20-inch IPS Alpha LCD panel packs, we are talking about 4K (Ultra HD) resolution. If you were to whip your calculator out and perform some mathematical equations, your mind would be blown away – 4K resolution is more than four times the resolution of Full High Definition, and when you accompany that with a high precision digital pen, you have more or less got yourself a new winner here, hands down.
With a pixel density of 230 pixels per inch and a unique aspect ratio of 15:10, it is capable of displaying an A3-size paper in almost full size, and thanks to the unique pen peripheral that it comes with, it enables natural handwriting on the tablet. Surely one needs to fork out a handsome sum to bring this 20-inch 4k IPS Alpha LCD Panel home?
Press Release
[ Panasonic 20-inch Tablet with 20-inch 4k IPS Alpha LCD Panel copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Sharp is showing off its Igzo 4K monitor at CES, but so what—everyone’s showing off a 4K something or other. Except Sharp’s actually getting ready to sell these things. More »
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