News items and other various tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share with his friends.
For those like myself who are old enough to remember the original Ultraman series from the late 60s/early 70s, here’s a history of the the franchise. While not that popular in the US, it’s still going strong in Japan. I have fond memories of the original series and recently got a chance to see it on DVD—man is it bad!
Link: http://slashdot.org/…
(via Slashdot)
CableCARDs are computer cards that can be put into certain televisions and other related devices (think TiVo series 3). They essentially replace the set-top cable box and allow the television to directly manipulate the cable signal. The CableCARD is provided by the cable TV company and has a standardized interface so that any device with a CableCARD slot can accept any CableCARD.
The reality is a bit different. First, CableCARD acceptance is low: 200,000 users out of the millions of cable TV subscribers. This is due, in part, because only the newest television devices are compatible with them. Thus you have to purchase a new TV or TiVo to use the CableCARD. In addition, the current crop of CableCARDs doesn’t support two-way communication (think Pay-Per-View, interactive programming guides, and video on demand), so some viewers are sticking with the set-top box even though they could use the CableCard. Second, there are incompatibilities between various CableCARDs and the various television devices, meaning you may not be able to use a CableCARD in your brand-new large screen TV.
Can’t decide between DVD, Blu-Ray, or HD-DVD? Researchers have developed technology that can combine all three on one disc.
This really comes as no surprise to me. The DVD-R vs. DVD+R format war was resolved by simply making the players compatible with both formats, and now Ricoh has managed to do the same with HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Expect to see a lot more dual-format players.
If you blinked, you may have missed it, but the first Blu-ray movies were released last week, with the first Blu-ray player released a few days later. Initial impressions of the Samsung player were underwhelming, as was the review of one of the few available movies. Expect players to get better and cheaper, and ditto with the movies. We’re in the midst of a format war between Toshiba’s HD-DVD and Sony’s Blu-ray, but as far as I can tell, the general level of apathy over this subject is pretty high.
On the heels of this post, the linked article has a detailed explanation of the various HDTV formats geared for the tech-savvy-but-HDTV-ignorant audience. After reading it, you should be able to easily explain statements such as this one:
“Although 1080i has 1080 lines of vertical resolution (against 720 lines of 720p) and 1920 pixels (against the 1280 pixels of 720p) per line, the fact that 1080i is interlaced, causes an overall lower resolution (in practice) than 720p.”
The article is not light reading.
This article gives the essentials of what to look for when purchasing a high-definition television.
The title to this post is a bit cryptic, but it’s something you should be aware of before purchasing any type of HD-capable television. The downgraded signal is one-fourth the resolution of the full signal.
After all the salvos in the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD battle, it appears Toshiba (HD-DVD) will launch an actual product this month, while Sony’s (Blu-Ray) initial offering will be in May. The number and variety of available titles are extremely limited, however, and I don’t see this as much of a victory for either camp—although HD-DVD does appear to be ahead on the hardware front.
Chad Cloman
Denver, CO USA
