Apr 10
Police have raided one of Samsung’s offices in Asan, South Korea, after being tipped off about the possible theft of OLED TV technology from rivals LG. More »
Apr 10
It’s no secret that Samsung and LG have been less than enthused with each other in recent months, with Samsung having sought an injunction against the latter company last year. The competitors aren’t calling a truce any time soon, and it seems things might have jumped a notch, with Samsung’s display business’s office in Korea being searched by Seoul police yesterday over possible tech theft.
Reports Bloomberg, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency searched Samsung’s Asan-stationed display headquarters in search of documents that would indicate theft of LG’s OLED display technology. According to the report, the police have an active investigation going on regarding whether LG’s partners leaked the company’s secrets, and, in this particular case, whether Samsung could be on the receiving end.
In response, Samsung’s spokeswoman Jun Eun Sun offered a semi-smug statement: “We have no reason to steal other companies’ technology, as we have the world’s best OLED technology.” While the initial thought is that LG is behind the search, the company’s spokesman said that it didn’t have any involvement in the matter. “The latest investigation is related to large-sized OLED TV panel technology, but the police have made the allegation themselves.”
LG was smacked last year with theft accussations, with six of its workers being charged with stealing Samsung’s OLED technology. LG saw the matter different than the legal system, claiming that the technology its employees were charged with stealing was common industry information and that no trade secrets were involved. As it currently stands, LG has trumped Samsung in the OLED television market.
[via Bloomberg]
Samsung’s offices searched by Seoul police over possible technology theft is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 08
LG, CBS Sports, Turner Sports, and the NCAA all worked together to record the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four championship in 4K Ultra HD resolution. This is the first time that a major U.S. sporting event has ever been recorded in 4K, and it’s a start of more 4K programming to come. James Fishler, Senior VP of marketing for LG Electronics USA, stated, “After being the first to market with Ultra HD TVs, it only seems fitting that we’d be a part of the first major U.S. sporting event produced in 4k.”
The 4K recording was displayed on LG’s 84-inch 4K Ultra HD TVs at various, private locations inside of the Georgia Dome. The premiere of the NCAA Men’s Final Four championship in 4K also coincided with the 75th anniversary celebration of March Madness, making it the perfect time to start broadcasting the sporting event in the next-generation of HDTV. Ken Aagaard, Executive VP of operations, engineering and broadcast services for CBS Sports, states that Ultra HDTV can become the future of sports broadcasting.
LG’s 84-inch 4K Ultra HD TVs sell for $19,999. It brings 4 times the details of a Full HD 1080p display, shelling out a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. It features the LG Resolution Upscaler Plus which boosts lower-resolution content into higher detail. It also comes with an LG Magic Remote which allows you to navigate through LG’s HD TV onscreen interface with gestures and voice search. It has a 2.2 Sound System that brings ultra-quality sound to your ultra-quality television.
LG has some big competition coming from Sony. Just yesterday, Sony released the pricing for its 55-inch and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TVs, both of which will be available on April 21st. The 55-inch will sell for $4,999 and the 65-inch will sell for $6,999, making them both much more affordable than LG’s current offering. Sony will also be bringing a 4K media player in the future, and it will launch a 4K video distribution service as well in order to jet-start the 4K era.
LG and NCAA records the NCAA Final Four in 4K Ultra HD for the first time is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 08
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
Apr 08
Microsoft’s Mediaroom allows operators to deliver television over the internet, but the Redmond-based company is handing off the business division to Ericsson, which will continue to support and improve on Mediaroom for now on. Microsoft says they sold off Mediaroom in order to focus more on their Xbox brand.
Mediaroom powers approximately 22 million set-top boxes in 11 million households around the world, and the purchase by Ericsson will make the company the leading provider of IPTV solutions with a market share of over 25%, according to a statement by Ericsson earlier today. Microsoft calls the acquisition “mutually beneficial and strategically aligned for both parties.”
It was recently rumored late last month that Ericsson was pondering the idea of buying Mediaroom from Microsoft, and it certainly seemed unsurprising at the time. However, the news is official today. Now that Microsoft has Mediaroom out of the way, the company can focus on bringing TV services to Xbox Live, which has already seen some great new content added on as of late.
Indeed, it does seem like Microsoft and Ericsson, as well as Mediaroom will all benefit from the acquisition: Mediaroom won’t be shutting down (but rather growing in the future), Ericsson now has a hold of the business and now dominates the IPTV market share, and Microsoft now has more time to focus its efforts on Xbox Live. It’s a win-win-win situation.
Microsoft sells Mediaroom IPTV business to Ericsson is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 08
We all increasingly rely on non-verbal forms of communication—email, IM, texting—to let people know what’s going on in our lives. That’s great for us, but it’s causing headaches in Hollywood when it comes to creating drama. More »
Apr 07
Sony has just announced the pricing and release date for its 55-inch and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD LED TVs, however, to completely take advantage of the TVs’ beautiful displays, you’re going to need a media player capable of playing 4K media. That’s where the Sony FMP-X1 4K Media Player comes in. The FMP-X1 is set to be released over the summer, and will bring 4K resolution feature films and video shorts to your television for $699.
The FMP-X1 will come bundled with 10 feature films and video shorts. The feature films include: Bad Teacher, Battle:Los Angeles, The Bridge on the River Kawi, The Karate Kid, Salt, Taxi Driver, That’s My Boy, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Other Guys, and Total Recall. A majority of those films are actually very appealing, and should help make the $700 price-tag much less painful to stomach.
When Fall rolls around, Sony will also be launching a video-distribution service that owners of the FMP-X1 will be able to take advantage of. The service will offer a whole library of 4K movies and shows for a fee. Titles will be available from a variety of productions, including, of course, Sony Pictures Entertainment. Whether the fee will be per title, or one-set fee for an unlimited amount of content is still unknown.
Also on April 17th, Sony will be working together with The Tribeca Film Festival to promote its 4K video production among amateur and professional film makers, in hopes of getting many film makers to support its products. However, it may be a while before people can adapt to 4K televisions. With the $4,999/$6,999 price-tag along with the $699 price-tag for the media player, these products aren’t exactly affordable for the average consumer.
[via Sony]
Sony FMP-X1 4K Media Player coming over the summer is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 07
Sony has just released the pricing for its 55-inch and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD LED TVs. The XBR-55X900A (55-inch version) will be available for $4,999 and the XBR-65X900A (65-inch version) will be available for $6,999. They’re much cheaper than the $25,000 84-inch 4K TV Sony was selling last year, but still certainly not affordable for the average consumer. The TVs are expected to be available online and in retail stores on April 21st.
These TVs have a display resolution that’s 4 times that of a FULL HD TV (3840 x 2160) thanks to Sony’s proprietary two-chip 4K X-reailty PRO picture engine. Also thanks to the TVs’ TRILUMINOS Display, color quality is spectacular. All colors, even difficult-to-reproduce hues, will be delivered naturally and accurately. Your TV will display amazing contrast thanks to the TVs’ dynamic edge-lit LED backlighting.
The TVs will have audio that “makes every moment real” thanks to Sony’s Signal-to-Sound architecture. They will also have a S-Force front-facing, magnetic fluid speaker system to provide you with the highest-quality sound possible. The TV is FULL HD 3D capable, and will have WiFi connectivity built right in so that you can download video content from the Sony Entertainment Network.
To compliment the X900A’s beautiful display, Sony will bringing remastered Blu-Ray discs that support the 4K resolution of these TVs. When you purchase your TV, you will also be able to pick up a remastered copy of Spider-Man (the one featuring Tobey Maguire), Ghostbusters, and Angels & Demons for free. Sony will also be launching its FMP-X1 4K Media Player over the summer for $699, bundled with 10 films and video shorts viewable in 4k resolution. Later in the Fall, it will launch a video-distribution service that lets consumers buy various 4K titles for their TVs. These services will allow consumers to fully utilize their TVs’ capabilities.
[via Sony]
Sony releases pricing for 55-inch and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD LED TVs is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 05
The Internet is great and all, but the fake Internet on TV is even better. This mashup from Slacktory takes you on a whirlwind tour of all the best (read: worst) sites that (probably) don’t and shouldn’t exist. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to kickin’ it on WinAtBingoAndRock.com. [Slacktory] More »
Apr 03
The Apple television rumors are heating up again, folks. Only this time, there’s some extra information that’s floating around. In what sounds like a completely ridiculous prediction, analyst Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets says that an Apple television will launch this year, and it will come with an “iRing” of sorts as the motion controller. However, will it ever see the light of day? Not likely.
White claims that Apple’s rumored television set will launch this year in 50- to 60-inch flavors and will come with a motion controller in the form of a ring that you wear on your finger. Furthermore, White claims that Apple will include an optional “mini iTV” with the television set — sort of like an iPad, where users can beam content from the tablet to the television.
Obviously, we can’t even begin to explain how crazy of a rumor this is. While Apple is a company that releases new products that we thought we’d never want, an iRing is probably one of the most ridiculous Apple rumors we’ve heard in a long time, especially since its main function would be to act as a motion controller, rather than just use a motion-detecting camera that’s built into the TV, which seems way more logical.
White also notes that the already heavily-rumored iWatch will play an “important role” in the new Apple television, but he provides little details how that would happen exactly, other than saying that the iWatch will provide more portability around the house. In the end, take this rumor with lots of salt — enough to put your heart into cardiac arrest.
[via BGR]
Apple TV with “iRing” controller added to baseless rumor collection is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.