News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
Regular Chad’s New readers already know about the upcoming broadcast television switch from analog to digital. The linked article has a handy flowchart that you can send to friends or family members, telling them what they need to do. Note: if you need to purchase a converter box then you should probably order the discount coupons now, or you may not get them in time for the switch.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Much like the DVD of The Matrix which I believe was the first major release to fully exploit the new medium, the Blu-ray version of The Dark Knight has a bunch of bells and whistles. Note that you’ll need a Profile 2.0 player to use BD-Live.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
With the expected price drop in HDTVs this holiday season, the linked article has some basic tips on what to look for when purchasing one.
Link: http://gizmodo.com/…
(via digg)
Been waiting for the right time to switch from that clunky old analog television to a sleek, new flat-panel HDTV? According to the linked article, the upcoming holiday season may be the time to take the plunge. (Especially with the upcoming analog-to-digital switch.)
Link: http://apnews.myway.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
Regular Chad’s News readers are now familiar with the various HDTV modes (e.g., 720p, 1080i, etc.). And I’ve always associated larger picture sizes with higher quality. I was surprised, therefore, to read the linked article which contends that this is not necessarily the case—that the quality of the signal has little to do with the number of pixels. It turns out that broadcasters compress the digital signal to conserve bandwidth, and the compression algorithm is lossy. The compression reduces the quality of the picture regardless of the number of pixels, and if used “overzealously,” it will make a visible difference.
Link: http://www.popularmechanics.com/…
(via digg)
Thinking about purchasing one of those monster-sized LCD/plasma TVs for thousands of dollars? Well you may want to hold off for a couple years and get an OLED TV instead.
Link: http://news.smh.com.au/…
(via Kim Komando)
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.
