News items and other various tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share with his friends.
The linked article describes various ways to safely clean LCD monitor screens. It was written in response to a situation where grandkids used permanent markers to draw on a monitor.
Link: http://www.komando.com/…
HDTV color, brightness, and contrast levels are set by the manufacturer to look great in brightly-lit retail stores, and once you get it home, the picture quality isn’t nearly as good. Thus the need to calibrate your HDTV. You can do it yourself, or pay a professional.
Update: Getting a professional to make the changes may not be such a good idea.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/…
(via Lifehacker)
No official numbers are available yet, but the Nikkei business daily estimates that Toshiba will book a $986 million loss in its high-definition business. This is due to Toshiba’s HD-DVD format losing out to Sony’s Blu-ray.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/…
(via Engadget)
Update: Toshiba has released official numbers estimating its loss to be about $666 million.
The high-definition format war is officially over. Toshiba has thrown in the towel on its HD-DVD format, and the remaining holdout studios have announced their decision to switch to Blu-ray.
For the early adopters, here’s how to convert HD-DVD discs to Blu-ray,
Link: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/…
(via Engadget)
Over the past few weeks, HD-DVD has been losing more and more ground in the high-definition format war with Blu-ray. Several major retailers have announced their decision to discontinue stocking HD-DVD titles, and there are rumors that Toshiba is thinking about conceding defeat. Looks like Blu-ray is going to emerge as the winner.
In celebration of last night’s big game, here are three of my favorite Superbowl ads:
And here’s my top pick for this year, the Budweiser “Rocky” spot.
In an update to this post about the analog television coupons, there are some further details that could cause problems. Chief among them is that the coupons have a 90-day expiration, even though most converter boxes are not yet widely available. So the wise move would be to wait, but don’t wait too long, because the total number of available coupons is limited.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Apparently it’s not a wise idea to be an early adopter with regards to the Blu-ray high-definition movie format. Due to competition from the HD-DVD format, the Blu-ray specification was released about a year early. Smart shoppers will wait until players are available that support “Profile 2.0″ of the spec. There’s also an intermediate step called Profile 1.1 (current players, with the exception of the PS3, support Profile 1.0).
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Update: Ars Technica has an article that explains more about the various specifications and the players that support them.
Last Friday, Warner Bros. announced that it would drop the HD-DVD format for movie releases after May 2008, and will exclusively use the Blu-ray format. This is a significant strike for HD-DVD, as only two of the eight major US studios are using it. In the days following the announcement, the internet has been full of speculation that HD-DVD has lost the format war.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
“At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting.”
What does this mean for you, the informed Chad’s News reader? First, this won’t affect you if you have cable or satellite TV. The digital TV transition only applies to over-the-air broadcasts (think rabbit ears). Second, most newer televisions can handle digital, so it will only apply to older, analog-only TVs. In order to continue using an older TV after the transition, it will be necessary to have a converter box.
When passing this bill, the US Congress realized there is a specific demographic that has older televisions without cable or satellite: poor people. Not wanting to anger this group, Congress wisely created a coupon program, whereby the US government will pay up to $40 towards the purchase of a converter box. Apparently demand is quite high, as over 1 million households requested coupons in the first 4 days or so.
Should you have questions about the transition or if you want to sign up for the coupons, check out the link below.
Link: https://www.dtv2009.gov/
(via ars technica)
Regular Chad’s News readers know that we’ve been covering the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. LG Electronics has decided to make the point moot, by releasing a player that can handle both formats.
Link #1: http://us.lge.com/…
Link #2: http://us.lge.com/…
Toshiba has fired a salvo in the HD format war with an HD-DVD player that’s selling for $99, while Sony’s Blu-ray devices are going for hundreds more. Sony, however, is still getting a boost from the Blu-ray players embedded in its PS3 game consoles. Who’s going to win? Stay tuned for more updates.
Link: http://www.videobusiness.com/…
(via Engadget)
Chad Cloman
Denver, CO USA
