Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

There's some new HD goodness from Acer in their new PH730, PD525PW and PD527D projectors. All three include HDMI, DVI, VGA, Component, Composite and S-Video inputs, and the PH730 (pictured) manages a 1280 x 768 resolution. The other two rock the XGA, but all three can work with 720p/1080i at a 16:9 aspect ratio. For contrast ratio, the PH730 does 2500:1, compared to the 2000:1 of the other two, but the PH730 only does 1,200 lumens while the PD525PW and PD527D go for 2,700 and 3,000 respectively. All three have a lamp life of 4000 hours, but we're not sure exactly when these will be for sale, or for how much.

[Via Crowdedbrain]

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Filed under: Media PCs

 

We wonder what the meeting was like over at Intel HQ when they decided to produce this programmable remote that's designed for controlling your Viiv devices and is shaped like the steering wheel from a BMW F1 car. We wrote a short play describing how we think it went.

Executive 1: It seems like people are seeing Viiv as kind of a novelty. What should we do?
Executive 2: Hmm, maybe we should develop a remote that'll give users access to all of their media without having to switch remotes, thus making Viiv actually useful for accessing content. It can have an array of custom programmable buttons, two of which look like bright blue marker caps, and everything.
Executive 1: Yeah, and it can be shaped like the steering wheel from a race car!
Executive 2: That is a totally sweet idea. When does it come out and how much?
Executive 1: Well we're developing it now, so no word on release date. But judging by how much other companies charge for race car stuff, it's safe to say that it won't be cheap.
Executive 2: Awesome. AMD Live! has no idea what's coming.

Fin.

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Filed under: Media PCs

 

We wonder what the meeting was like over at Intel HQ when they decided to produce this programmable remote that's designed for controlling your Viiv devices and is shaped like the steering wheel from a BMW F1 car. We wrote a short play describing how we think it went.

Executive 1: It seems like people are seeing Viiv as kind of a novelty. What should we do?
Executive 2: Hmm, maybe we should develop a remote that'll give users access to all of their media without having to switch remotes, thus making Viiv actually useful for accessing content. It can have an array of custom programmable buttons, two of which look like bright blue marker caps, and everything.
Executive 1: Yeah, and it can be shaped like the steering wheel from a race car!
Executive 2: That is a totally sweet idea. When does it come out and how much?
Executive 1: Well we're developing it now, so no word on release date. But judging by how much other companies charge for race car stuff, it's safe to say that it won't be cheap.
Executive 2: Awesome. AMD Live! has no idea what's coming.

Fin.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

We've heard the word that hands-free setups don't make cellphone driving any safer, but this new study comparing phone use to driving under the influence seems like it's taking things a bit far. Apparently some new research, using a driving simulation device as to not expose any real drivers to the dangers of those who talk, is showing cellphone users to be as bad or worse than the average drunk driver. Forty volunteers used the simulator, taking turns trying it undistracted, with a handheld phone, with a handsfree device and while blowing a 0.08 blood-alcohol level -- the average level of impairment in the US. Three participants ended up rear-ending the car in front of them, and all three were talking on the phone, not drunk. The study noticed little difference between hands-free and handheld phone talkers, and found they were 9 percent slower to hit the breaks, and varied their speed more than normal drivers. Drunk drivers would drive slower, yet more aggressively, and all three groups were under the impression that they weren't impaired. We'd still rather have a talker behind the wheel than a drunk, especially when the blood-alcohol level shoots past 0.08 -- as it tends to do -- but we're guessing legislators will see otherwise and jump at the chance to clamp down on conversationalists.

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Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

She ain't the prettiest girl on the block but she sure is fast! JVC just announced their intent to bring their previously Japanese-only, 120Hz Clear Motion Drive LCD TVs to these United States. That's 120 frames per second, son -- the original frame plus a new, interpolated frame -- which is about double the rate of your typical, god-fearin' LCD panel. The result? Less blurring, flicker, and a brighter picture with fewer ghost images to boot. The $2,700, 37-inch LT-37X987 and $2,000, 32-inch LT-32X987 bring ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuning, a 1366 x 768 native resolution, JVC's fifth-gen D.I.S.T upscaling tech, 6-millisecond response time, and plenty of the ol' in-and-outs including 2 x HDMI inputs, 2 x component inputs, 2 x S-Video inputs, a 15 pin D-Sub PC input, optical digital audio out and audio output. Expect the 37-incher to drop in August with the 32-incher set to roll in October.

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Filed under: Displays, Portable Video

Just about everybody's getting on the portable projector bandwagon; you've got Sony, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Epson, Viewsonic, all with sub-laptop-sized devices being prepared to throw up dimly-LED-lit images onto boardroom walls the business world over. But Explay's about to say balls to that with their new pocketable digital projector, which they claim should hit the market in the first half of 2007. It's not exactly a groundbreaking concept or anything, but ultraportable projectors are definitely about to become the hot new turf for those companies, like PVPro and Digismart, of itching to get theirs to market first.

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Filed under: Displays

Speak of the devil. We were just chatting up the incoming wave of 22-inch LCDs, and here's Westinghouse with their very own display of the Vista-friendly variety. The LCM-22w2 runs at 1680 x 1050, has a 5ms response time, 300 nits of brightness and a 700:1 contrast ratio. It's a 16:10 widescreen display, but we're not sure about the inputs -- we're guessing DVI and VGA. The 22w2 should be available now for $500.

Update: As noted in comments (thanks Mike), and confirmed by Westinghouse, there's DVI, VGA and plenty more.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

It's nothing new these days to have a full-fledged Pocket PC squeezed into seemingly impossible form factors -- HTC's Star Trek comes quickly to mind -- but we're pretty sure Compulab is breaking some new ground with their CM-X270L mini PC. A mere two-thirds the size of a credit card, the 1.7 by 2.6-inch device holds an XScale processor, 512MB of flash memory, 128MB of RAM, a sound card and 802.11b WiFi. The device also manages extra snazz such as a PCI bus and 4 USB host ports, putting this thing beyond the realm of the average PDA. Obviously, those hugemongeous antennas put a little bit of a damper on this thing's portability, but we're guessing this thing needs a few extra components to get moving anyways, so we'll let 'em fly for now. The best news is that the device not only runs Windows CE and Linux, but goes for $47 a piece if you buy 'em 10,000 at a time. We're sure that smartphone and PDA manufacturers will be more than happy to pass the size and cost savings on to us consumers.

[Via The Inquirer]

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Filed under: Desktops, Displays

We were just getting used to that whole wave of 21-inch LCDs, when it looks like 22-inchers are going to be the hip new thing in the coming months. A new report is out claiming that Microsoft is working with Samsung to produce a special 22-inch widescreen LCD to work with Windows Vista and be branded with the Microsoft logo. Sounds like they're trying to promote widescreen monitor usage with their new OS, and we're guessing Microsoft wouldn't mind making a few bucks while they're at it. The word from Chi Mei Optoelectronics makes us think that Microsoft and Samsung aren't the only ones to get the 22-inch bug. Dell has reportedly just made a large order for 22-inch widescreen panels from CMO, and LG.Philips and AU are jumping on board as well. There's no telling how heavily Microsoft is going to be recommending 22-inch displays to the users of Aero, but it doesn't look like anybody wants to be left out.

[Thanks, Mr. Kaiser and Will P.]

Read - Microsoft and Samsung team for 22-inch LCD
Read - Dell orders from CMO

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Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Although the SonyStyle site still lists it under pre-order, the Vaio UX180P non-UMPC is apparently already en route to ecstatic US customers, as at least two of our readers have received shipping confirmations from Sony via email. The Core Solo-powered machines are scheduled to arrive on the sixth of next month, which jibes with Sony's promise of a July release, but we're still a bit surprised that they're getting them out this early -- as you know, we've been burned by Sony a few times before.

[Thanks, Lee and Leland B]

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