Hasta La Gadget!

The Oculus Rift VR headset has had a wild ride so far after hitting its Kickstarter goal in a single day, raising a whopping $2,437,429 and gaining accolades along the way to the release of a development kit last month. iFixit (or one of its very trusting friends) was apparently one of those ponying up the $300 for the developer version, and naturally the first thing they did was put a screw-gun to it. The teardown reveals as tidy-ooking a design on the inside as the exterior, and iFixit said that it couldn’t have been easier to do. The only minor hitch was cables held together by tape which would likely need to be replaced in the event of any surgery on the Rift. It’s hard to say whether that ease of access will remain with the final production model, but the way that Oculus has gone about its business so far, we wouldn’t be surprised. Check the step-by-step process for yourself at the source.

Filed under: Displays, Wearables

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Source: iFixit

The 30- and 56-inch 4K OLED monitor prototypes that Sony introduced yesterday are sitting prominently in the company’s booth here at NAB, and they’re really quite something. These sets offer wider viewing angles and reduced color shift compared to previous-gen monitors, and Sony is emphasizing the technology’s color accuracy. We got a taste of the 56-inch, 3,840 x 2,160 model back at CES, but it looks like we can extinguish all hopes of this monitor making it to the consumer market anytime soon. Instead, it will be available to professionals working with 4K content. Even though the prototype won’t make it to our living room, we couldn’t help but marvel at the image quality: to say that the footage of Carnivale popped off the screen would be an understatement — colors were just that vibrant and details were incredibly lifelike.

Meanwhile, the 30-inch, 4,096 x 2,160 model is destined to hit the market sometime in 2014, and it’s plenty striking itself. Like its larger sibling, the relatively petite model looked fantastic, with very sharp details and bright, vibrant colors. Sony wouldn’t share pricing information — heck, booth attendants wouldn’t even let us get close enough to get a good shot of the monitor itself — but we did manage to snag a clip of both panels in action. Granted, it’s impossible to judge the quality from our compressed eyes-on video, but if you can’t make it out to NAB, you’ll just have to take us on our word that these really are quite stunning.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, Sony

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The 56-inch OLED TV Sony trotted out at CES may not be headed to the consumer market, but it is becoming a reality, at least in the professional sector. The company showcased a pair of 4K OLED prototypes at NAB 2013, outing a 4,096 x 2,160 30-inch model as well as a 3,840 x 2160 56-inch display. Both panels boast of wide viewing angles and low color shift, promising accurate signal reproduction for industry professionals working with 4K content. No word yet on pricing, but professionals can look forward to upgrading sometime in next year. Sony also announced a refresh for its existing line of professional OLED displays. The A series will replace seven older skus, again promising better viewing angles and color shift than the previous generation. Hit the break for the official press release, item skus, and a quick break down of what products the A series will be replacing.

Update: The 30-inch 4K OLED prototype is looking at a 2014 release date, while the A series monitors will be available in May.

Filed under: Displays, HD, Sony

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This week, the Seattle Mariners showed off a new 3,840 x 1,080, surface-mount LED display at Safeco Field — one the team’s PR department touts as the “largest in Major League Baseball and among the largest in all of sports.” At 201.5 feet wide by 56.7 feet tall, its surface area of 11,425 square feet places it behind massive screens at Charlotte Motor Speedway (16,000 square feet) and Cowboys Stadium (11,520 square feet). That’s good enough, the team said, to rank as the third-largest sports-venue display in North America and surpasses Kauffman Stadium’s HD scoreboard as the largest in baseball. Roughly 1,200 individual panels make up the screen, offering a total of 4,147,200 pixels — more pixels than the 2.6-megapixel Cowboys Stadium display, the team pointed out.

To feed their new HD beast, the team revamped its video control room and upgraded to high-def cameras throughout the stadium. A 64-bit operating system called VisionSOFT allows the team to mix in multiple video sources, from in-house animations and HD video feeds to out-of-town footage from broadcast partners. All told, the HD upgrade required about 3,000 each feet of power, video coax and Cat5 cables. Along with showing ads, stats and replays, the team will take advantage of the HD resolution to display social media updates from fans during games via Twitter, Google+ and other sources.

You can check out more shots of the new screen in action after the break.

Filed under: Displays, HD

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These days, multiple monitors are becoming the norm instead of the exception. And with most interfaces designed to capture your attention—everywhere and at all costs—the constant barrage of blinking windows, beeping notifications, and bouncing icons can be distracting if not entirely overwhelming. New Windows software, Diff Displays, wants to fix this by making sure you’re focused on the information you need and nothing else. More »