Archive for the 'Video' Category
Tekkeon unveils the first dock with on-TV navigation to support the iPod nano 3G and iPod classic. NavDock™ Home Media Center with On-TV Navigation for iPod navigates the iPod through on-TV menus to play videos, photos and music on a connected television. NavDock includes a 16-button wide angle infrared remote that is housed in the dock. The remote provides a five-way navigation pad and quick keys that jump directly to the Videos, Photos, Music or Settings menus. Buttons for volume control, mute, shuffle, repeat or skip songs, and fast forward or rewind through music or videos are also included on the remote.
With NavDock, users have complete control over the content that appears on the TV screen. The language for the menu items (English, Spanish and Japanese), menu color scheme, screensaver, and navigation speed can be customized to suit a user’s tastes. Direct access is provided to the iPod equalizer settings, and lyrics and full-size album art can be displayed at the touch of a button. The iPod docks into NavDock via a universal dock adapter, three of which are included with the product. While docked, the iPod is charged whether or not NavDock is turned on.
“With NavDock, we wanted users to have virtually complete on-TV control of their iPods,” says Jerry Yang, president of Tekkeon, Inc. “Rather than just provide minimal access to some of the iPod menus, NavDock enables users to take advantage of commonly used features, like lyrics and equalizer, all with
the NavDock remote.”
With an MSRP of $129.95, NavDock comes with an infrared remote, standard AV output cable (6 feet), universal dock adapters (3), power adapter (100-240 VAC) and user guide. Tekkeon products are available through retail and major on-line stores, and from the Tekkeon store at www.tekkeon.com. NavDock comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Now you could probably guess my excitement last week during the Keynote when Steve Jobs announced movie rentals…in High Definition (HD). Two great things that I had been longing for and here they were, right before me. Yes! But I also noticed that Apple’s CEO mentioned this during the Apple TV update and made no stipulation to if the HD would be on both AppleTV and iTunes. I guess raising my hand for a clarification would go unnoticed, so off to the Apple booth I went to find someone who could answer that. After bouncing off a few Apple employees, I finally found one who could answer my question. The answer, “No iTunes support.” Well, would it ever come to iTunes I begged? “I don’t know. Maybe.” Joy.
Here’s the deal with HD and AppleTV. The upgrade supports Dolby 5.1, common to HD set-ups but not exclusive in addition to the menus and other additions. Apple must feel that that coupled with the fact most watch movies from their couch in the living room (or their bed in the bedroom), support for us Mac users isn’t needed. But the thing is, a vast majority of DVD players and HD players (Blu-ray or HD-DVD) aren’t hooked up to audio systems taking advantage of the bliss of digital sound coming from the discs or to even attached to HDTVs (initial install base is at single digits.) Expect similar results out of Apple TV 2.0. Further added frustration to this thought is that Apple’s own web page states, “Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is not available with all HD rentals.”
Another interesting hitch to all of this is the fact that current Apple TV owners will be able to upgrade their firmware and receive HD content without the ability to hear that 5.1 sound. (Kinda kills the audio argument for Apple at this point, I guess.) Erg.
Looking to the visual aspect, what makes a plasma or LCD TV more special than my 30 inch Cinema HD display? Let me repeat my monitors name, Cinema HD. Um, don’t you think, Steve, that my Cinema HD device is just a wee-bit perfect for HD movies? In fact, I’d say it’s freakin’ over kill it’s so good!
So where’s the HD in iTunes, then? I don’t have to have 5.1 audio support, but it’d be nice to have it and with many after-market sound card options, Dolby’s theater performance isn’t an issue. Dying to push my Cinema HD screen to its limits, I’m tired of SD (Standard Definition) content on my lovely screen that I nearly had to hock my first born for to afford it. Give me something, Steve. What gives?
My only hope is my thinking that Apple TV 2.0 gets HD first to push more of Steve’s “hobby” off the shelf. Once the sales are serious enough for Steve to be pleased with them, I think we will see HD on iTunes and finally on my Cinema HD display.
DXG USA, one of the fastest growing digital camera manufacturers, announced today the new DXG-565V 5 Megapixel combo digital camcorder/camera/MP3 player/voice recorder/webcam — all in one, with a large 2.4” TFT LCD screen and 32MB of built-in storage. The DXG-565V has a new sleek camcorder-shaped design and comes in 5 new trendy colors: Metallic Pink, Ruby Red, Deep-Sea Blue, Gun Metal, and Midnight Black to fit everyone’s style. In addition to its fashionable good looks, the DXG-565V also records DVD-quality MPEG-4 video at 720 x 480 D1 resolution with sound and captures still images of up to 12 Megapixels.
Based on the colorful, extremely popular DXG-506V (featured as last summer’s “Must Have” camera in In Style Magazine, as well as in Life & Style Weekly, Girl’s Life, and PopStar!, among others), the new DXG-565V’s sleeker design, larger LCD screen, lower-price, and new eye-popping colors are aimed at the tastes of teens, college students, young adults and women who like capturing and sharing life’s spontaneous moments with a bring-everywhere compact designer camera that everyone will envy.
Priced at only $99, the DXG-565V has minimal buttons for increased ease-of-use, while at the same time boasting features normally found in more expensive 5 Megapixel camcorders/cameras, such as a built-in flash in 3 modes, Macro Mode, White Balance, and EV Compensation features.
The DXG-565V is perfect to take on the road for recording high-quality video with sound or for snapping photos to send to friends or to post on your website or favorite social sites, such as MySpace®, Facebook®, and YouTube™. You can also entertain your friends at parties by connecting the DXG-565V to your TV to view your own holiday slideshows on a large screen.
One of the biggest gripes with most for all the other iTunes wannabe types is the lack of Mac software. Universal yanked its content from Apple’s popular video downloading service for its own little venture with the likes of Fox called hulu. As you may have guessed, hulu is Windows only and at this point, is a private beta. Sources have indicated to SvenOnTech that only a few episodes are available for viewing of each show and it is using Adobe’s Flash technology. Your stuck to your PC screen.
SyncTV wants to change all that. It wants to share the video love with Windows, Mac, and Linux users. Giving each of them a client, now everyone can enjoy their favorite shows, now or later. Unlike hulu, all shows will be downloadable and will eventually even support portable media devices. What ever you choose to download, you can go a la carte or get every episode of every year. No restrictions. While this all sounds like iTunes, sans the Linux version, Apple won’t give you any of its content in HD. SyncTV does. To prove how good it looks, SyncTV is showing off its service on a 1080p HDTV at CES this week.
As for content, this seems to be the limited aspect of SyncTV. Only recognizing one show, Dexter, SyncTV has a long way to go before it can take on Apple or even hulu. Fortunately though, the Internet has removed the boundaries of “popular” and with “networks” such as Revision3 and ZiffDavis, featuring DL.TV, the old school TV networks may find itself lost in the shuffle just a few short years from now.
What you see you here in this screen grab is some (poor?) little girl in her (favorite?) show, Dora the Explorer. Yes, she’s in the actual DVD and she’ll be able to show (hide?) it to (from) all her friends. If Dora isn’t your cup of tea, then there are other “greats” to chose from such as Spiderman, Barney, Arthur, and the CareBears to name a few.
Truth is, it is kind of cool to get your kids picture in a DVD. For about $35, you send a picture of your child to Lucidiom and it will take care of all the details and then send your DVD to a specified store for pick up. In about a week, you can have a very special Christmas present for your very special kid!
Toshiba UK is giving away five free high definition (HD) DVDs to anyone who buys one of its new range of laptops that come with built-in HD DVD players. Anyone buying a new Toshiba HD laptop will now be able to kick-off a high definition movie collection with a choice of titles including Children of Men, Full Metal Jacket, Chronicles of Riddick, Hulk and The Prestige.
Toshiba’s HD DVD laptops give you the freedom to experience the next generation in movie viewing whether you’re on the move or at home in the room of your choice. All of Toshiba’s HD laptops come with high definition widescreen displays of up to 17 inches, but can also be used like a standalone HD DVD player and output high definition video to watch on an HD TV.
HD DVD delivers dynamic images that are incredibly real, accurate and vibrant, with up to six times the image resolution of standard DVD, as well as truly immersive audio for a multi-dimensional sonic experience. With a wide range of laptops
Qosmio G40
Satellite X200
Satellite P200
Satellite Pro P200
Satellite A200
Satellite Pro A200
The Toshiba five free HD DVDs offer closes on the 31st January 2008.
Looks like all of us early adopters got the shaft. For all that had to have their iPhone first, well your camping out and waiting in line for hours basically cost you more than time, it cost you money, too. About $200. For those that waited, you’ll be pleased to know that you can pick up the 8 GB iPhone for $399 right now. No waiting needed.
Wanting to fuel its blitz-paced sales for the iPhone that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated that there was, “No chance the iPhone is going to get any significant market share,” Apple showed its desires to punch over the 1 million mark by the end of the month with the $200 discounted price. That gives Apple just as many months since the iPhones release to double the sales amount by Christmas with a much lower cost to the buyer. “We want to put iPhones in a lot of stockings this holiday season,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a crowd of reporters at Moscone Center this morning in San Francisco.
Jobs also announced a slew of other incredible news. A new iPod that basically is the iPhone minus the phone, called the iPod Touch. With all the iPod features of the iPhone, the iPod Touch comes in both 4 and 8 GB versions. Equipped with Wi-Fi like it’s bigger brother the iPhone, you will be able to make a purchase and download it immediately to your iPod Touch when logging into the iTunes Wi-Fi Store, available tonight. Wi-Fi purchased songs will find their way onto your computer upon you next syncing. Jobs disclosed that the iPhone will have the same functionality in a few weeks with the next firmware update.
It’s pretty well known that Jobs enjoys Starbucks, so it wasn’t a surprise when he announced a partnership between Apple and Starbucks. With it, you’ll be able to use the iTunes Wi-Fi Store to purchase something you’re looking for or even the song that is currently playing. How? Your iPhone or iPod Touch will display it on the screen for you! “You will know what songs they’re playing in Starbucks, and you can buy it with one tap of your finger. And if you just missed it, you can look at the last 10 songs they’ve played.”
Other goodies include an iPod that finally will hold all my (compressed) music! The iPod video (5.5 G) has been renamed the iPod Classic (remember the Macintosh Classic?) and comes in 80 and 160 GB versions. Finally! 160 GB. Man, my mouth is watering! The Classic gets a new shell as well. Full Metal jacket, in fact. Still just black and white for colors.
Speaking of colors, the shuffle welcomes red into its line. No other changes for the tiniest of iPods, though.
The nano on the other hand, no surprise from the weeks leaks, has been squished and given a 2.5 inch screen that matches the 5.5 G screen resolutions. You’ll be able to watch videos on the third generation nano with amazing clarity for such a small screen.
Oh yes, did I forget ringtones? The iPhone will be able to get custom ringtones that you can edit in the pending updated version of iTunes. Start and stop the song where you want and for whom you want. Steve Jobs made a jab at NBC by playing John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” telling the crowd that it was for when NBC calls him. Apple’s CEO tried to break pricing easy to the audience by reminding them that some ringtones cost as much as $2.49, but truth is, 99 cents for a ringtone is still too much especially when you already own the stinking song! Not all songs in the iTunes store will be available as a ringtone and there was no mention of being able to use current non-iTunes material for ringtones. For the price of 16 iTunes ringtones, iToner is a better alternative.
Verizon Wireless and CBS Mobile today announced full-length episodes of LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN and THE LATE LATE SHOW with CRAIG FERGUSON will be available tomorrow on V CAST Video. CBS becomes the first broadcast network to offer V CAST video subscribers access to full-length on-demand programming. Both late night programs will be commercial-free on V CAST video.
“While we continue to provide short clips of our shows, we’re seeing a growing demand for the availability of full length, network quality shows on video on demand mobile video,” said Cyriac Roeding, executive vice president, CBS Mobile, CBS Interactive. “The ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ and the ‘Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson’ have become some of the most demanded shows in mobile and on the internet so it only makes sense that we fulfill the consumer request and help grow the popularity of these franchises. We are committed to innovation and are happy to help launch Verizon Wireless’ first full-length video on demand programming on its V CAST service.”
Starting Tuesday, each night’s full program of LATE SHOW and LATE LATE SHOW will be presented in a series of video shorts so that customers can catch their favorite late night hosts – even if they are on-the-go with just a few minutes to spare. Broadcasts are available to V CAST subscribers following their nightly CBS broadcasts and will remain accessible until the following night’s broadcasts replace them.
“CBS continues to be a great, innovative partner and we’re looking forward to the success of these full-length programs on V CAST,” said Ryan Hughes, vice president of digital media programming for Verizon. “By offering hit programs in their entirety through a series of shorter segments, we’re meeting our customers’ expectations about staying entertained and informed while on-the-go.”
Customers will be able to find the full-length programs from LATE SHOW and LATE LATE SHOW in the CBS Mobile channel in the entertainment section on V CAST phones. In addition to the full-length broadcasts, LATE SHOW and LATE LATE SHOW content will continue to be available in the highlight short video format.
To get V CAST, customers can sign up for the $15.00 V CAST VPak monthly subscription, which also includes access to ESPN MVP and Mobile Web 2.0SM; V CAST VPak subscribers do not incur airtime charges when using V CAST Video or Music, Mobile Web 2.0 or Get It Now® applications. Alternatively, customers with select V CAST-enabled phones can check out V CAST whenever they want for just $3.00 for 24-hour use. With either subscription, customers get unlimited basic video – including full-length programming from CBS – but application download fees apply for 3D games and premium video. There are no airtime charges to download, stream or watch V CAST content.
DXG USA, one of the fastest growing digital camera manufacturers, announced today the new DXG-572V digital camcorder that records full motion MPEG-4 video in near DVD-quality and captures 5 Megapixel photos with full clarity and color. The DXG-572V camcorder features a compact and portable camcorder design with a 5 Megapixel CMOS sensor, 4X digital zoom, 2-inch flip-out LCD screen, built-in digital voice recorder, and mass storage capability. With a suggested retail price of $149.99, the DXG-572V gives you more bang for your buck.
Movies at the Speed of Life – Never Miss a Special Moment
Made for movies at the speed of life, the DXG-572V is targeted towards a more budget-conscious consumer that is looking for a digital camcorder that offers advanced features at a price they can afford. The DXG-572V records high-quality digital video with sound so you never have to worry about missing those special moments. Compact, lightweight and easy to carry along, the DXG-572V is perfect for vacations, road trips and just about any occasion that you want to capture.
True 5 Megapixel Camera - Not Interpolated
The DXG-572V is also a true 5 Megapixel digital camera (not interpolated). That means you get clear, vibrant photos that are detail rich. The camera has a built-in flash and self timer, as well as a white balance adjustment to control color/lighting for any weather or lighting situation, even if it’s cloudy or sunny. The A/V-out allows you to show pictures or videos on you television to instantly share with friends and family. With the USB port and the included USB cable, you can upload your photos/video into your computer, where you can store them, make a copy onto a CD, or email them to friends and family.
DXG-572V Digital Camcorder Features: Read the rest of this entry »
Would you like to watch NBC’s “The Office” at your office? Or do you just need a TV escape on your lunch break? Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network, today announced Axcess TV on Demand, an application that provides more than 200 on-demand video clips for customers to view whenever they want and wherever they are.
Customers who subscribe to the basic package, for $3.99 per month, will receive content from NBC News, NBC Entertainment, FOXSports.com, Discovery Mobile, and MTV Networks’ MTV, VH1, and COMEDY CENTRAL. Axcess TV on Demand programs include clips from “The Tonight Show,” “The Office,” “Last Comic Standing,” “My Super Sweet 16,” “Best Week Ever,” “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “FOX Wire,” “FOX Rewind, ” “Dirty Jobs” and much more.
In addition to the basic package, Alltel Wireless offers a premium version of Axcess TV on Demand for an added $5.99 per month. Premium customers will receive extra content clips from the channels available in the basic package plus programming from NBC Sports, “Access Hollywood,” IGN Entertainment, BravoToGo, USA Mobile, SCI FI Channel, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, MTV Networks’ CMT, Spike, Nickelodeon and more. Axcess TV on Demand is available on select video-capable handsets.
“Axcess TV on Demand provides our customers with an easy way to watch videos at a great value,” said Wade McGill, senior vice president of wireless product management for Alltel. “Wherever our customers may be, they will be able to tune into their favorite shows at a price that everyone can afford.”
Alltel Wireless offers exclusive features including “My Circle,” allowing customers to choose who they call for free – any 10 numbers, any network; Anytime Plan Changes, giving customers the flexibility to change their rate plan any time, without extending their contract; and Celltop, a patent-pending technology offering customers an easier way to access, manage and organize a wide range of information already available on their phones.