So was perusing the local Sam’s club the other day and just happened around the HDTV’s.

To my chagrin almost all the sets there were 1366×768 resolution. WHY????

Now being a computer geek forever and remembering that there is a resolution like this in computers (1024×768) I did some digging. Come to find out that to save a buck or two on the premium asked for real HD chips (1280×720 and 1920×1080) companies just added a few more columns to the 1024×768 chips and viola, we have the 1366×768.

Now here is the kicker. No source material is presented at this resolution so everything must be scaled up or down. Do you think you are getting a $1000 scaler in that $800 set? Not gonna happen so you get a potentially crap scaler in a TV that has a resolution no PC, DVD, Satellite or cable company supports natively.

So the next time you are looking for a set, stick with at least one of the 16:9 HD resolutions (1280×720 and 1920×1080) or a resolution that is divisible by this.

From Gizmodo:

Netgear’s new Digital Entertainer HD device has been caught in the wild. It is said to be able to support 1080p video, which it can do since it also sports draft 802.11n wireless networking. Features include DVR capabilities (though additional requirements are substantial), a possible content deal with BitTorrent, as well as the ability to scale all video to your HDTV’s native resolution (including the aforementioned 1080p). This looks to be a really interesting device, especially at the reported $349 price point. Streaming devices were all the rage at CES this year, so in order to stand out, the devices must pack some serious functionality. This box from Netgear seems to fit this description. I am looking forward to seeing what the production model can do.

Device information

Video of the Netgear in the wild

If you didn’t get to go to CES 2007 to see what all the hoopla was about, you’re in luck. IGN and HDTVExpert have both given us some summaries of the event.

Check it out for TI’s response to the flat panel, and more.

HDTVexpert — What You Really Need To Know About CES 2006
IGN: CES 2007: Post Show Wrap-Up: HDTV

I don’t think that I reported on this when the news broke, so you might not know that Westinghouse actually announced a 2160p television. That’s right. Twice the vertical, and also twice the horizontal, resolution of the highest HD standard - 3840 x 2160 pixels. It’s a 52″ LCD display and Westinghouse calls it their Quad HD display.

Never mind that there are currently no mass-market sources that are 3840 x 2160. Nor will there be for the forseeable future. But if that doesn’t bother you, Westinghouse announced a price for their Quad HD - $50k. At least according to Cybertheater.

That’s a lotta dollars for a lotta pixels.

Westinghouse Quad HDTV with 2160p

SED seems to be the holy grail that people are waiting for. It has the picture quality of a CRT with the thin form factor of an LCD or plasma. But it’s had a bumpy ride so far, and some people are thinking that Canon and Toshiba can’t make them cost effectively. But they’re working on it.

Canon said that it will purchase all the outstanding shares of SED Inc, and Toshiba will share all its shares in SED Inc to Canon as well. This is to avoid a patent dispute, but SED business will be transferred to Canon. But Canon still plans to sell SED displays, for now.

Canon to Make SED Joint Company with Toshiba into Wholly Owned Subsidiary

There are a couple things about a video display that makes it look good. One of those things is the contrast ratio. Historically, CRT has had the best contrast ratio. Ever since, display manufacturers have been trying to match or exceed CRT’s historic contrast ratios. Many manufacturers are doing this with a dynamic iris on projectors. But a flat panel display doesn’t use an iris, so they have to find other ways to do it.

Sharp at CES 2007 showed off a 37″ “Mega-Contrast” premium LCD panel with a supposed 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. (How they would measure that is beyond me.) The Engadget folks said that this set’s black levels looked better than SED televisions (based on the same principles as CRT) they’ve seen.

Ah, we live in interesting times!

Sharp’s 1,000,000:1 Mega-Contrast Premium LCD vs regular LCD

One of the cool things about this business is seeing all the cool new stuff they come out with. Like the XV-Z20000 DLP projector from Sharp. Ultimate AV are the lucky folks, and get a chance to look at all these gadgets. They recently reviewed this projector, and they liked what they saw.

The Sharp projector costs $12k. It’s a 1080p DLP projector with two HDMI inputs, plus a DVI input. The display will accept 1080p/60, but it will not accept 1080p/24.

How did the Ultimate AV folks like the projector? They liked it a lot. Of course, the law of diminishing returns applies, and $12k doesn’t get you twice the performance of a $6k projector. But they still see the value - the projector has an especially detailed image.

Sharp XV-Z20000 1080p DLP projector

CES 2007, from the reports I’ve seen, was basically a Blu-ray love-fest. It showed very well, and nobody defected from the BD camp over to the HD DVD camp (there are currently more BD supports). Onkyo and Meridian have announced HD DVD players, but Thompson/RCA has said that they won’t be selling their re-badged Toshiba HD DVD player anymore.

But Toshiba’s not going to take this lying down. Toshiba will be releasing new HD DVD players this year. Plus, it plans to ship an additional 1.8 million HD DVD players to the North American market this year.

But will that be enough? Sony will sell at least triple that many (a conservative estimate) PS3’s alone. Add to that their BD player. And Panasonic’s, Pioneer’s, Samsung’s, Philips’, and Sharp’s.

We’ll see…

Toshiba Readies Millions of HD DVD Players

Pioneer is boasting that its new plasma technology gives a better contrast ratio than the upcoming SED displays from Toshiba and Canon. Remember that SED gives CRT-like image quality because the technology is so similar.

The new [plasma] technology premieres a completely re-engineered display infrastructure, including a new panel, filter and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

IGN got a chance to look at one such Pioneer plasma at the CES show, and they liked what they saw. “In comparison to what is generally though of as best-of-breed image quality, Pioneer’s new plasma display was astounding. The demo began with both screens in idle-black. That is, the new plasma display looked black; Pioneer’s current plasma looked shockingly gray and over-lit.”

I hope that this kind of technology trickles down to their whole plasma line. I’ve never been a big fan of flat panels because of the cost and burn-in (for plasma), and this new tech won’t help matters. But it’s good for companies like Pioneer to push the envelope and force other manufacturers to do one better. Great stuff.

CES 2007: Impressions of Pioneer’s “SED Killing” Plasma
Pioneer Launches Breakthrough Display Technology

The HDTVExpert, Peter Putman, took a look at the Sharp Aquos LC-52D62U LCD HDTV.

Physically it’s a really nice looking set, with a piano-black finish. It also has two HDMI connectors, and other inputs, but no VGA or DVI inputs. But that’s not what counts, is it. How about the picture? The picture has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

And how do those pixels look? Well, the set had big problems upscaling SD signals. Even deinterlacing a 1080i signal didn’t work so good.

This 52 inch television is only $4k MSRP (available on the street for much less), but the scaling is so bad you’d need to use an external scaler. So your mileage may vary.

Review: Sharp Aquos LC-52D62U LCD HDTV

One of the advantages the BD camp always had over the HD DVD camp is that it had a lot more consumer electronics manufacturers making players than the HD DVD camp did. Hmm. I said “had” and “did” like that was about to change, which it’s not. But the HD DVD camp did get another manufacturer onboard - Onkyo.

At CES 2007 Onkyo announced that they’ll be selling an HD DVD player in the North American market first, and in 2007. Other details are a little more sketchy.

I’ve never owned an Onkyo product, but the company has long held my interest. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with.

Onkyo to Launch HD DVD Player in 2007

OK so maybe not a full disappointment, but for me I was looking for only one thing at CES. A pioneer line of receivers that could do DTS-HD, DD +, and lossless audio with HDMI 1.3.

Simple request. No?

Denon may be vague about ship dates or prices for their receivers, but at least they say they are going to do it.

Maybe my money will be going to Denon this year.

Pioneer Announces Four Low to High-End A/V Receivers - Gizmodo

Lots of things are happening at CES this year, and I can’t keep up with it all. The news is coming fast and furious, and here is some HD camcorder news from Sony and Panasonic.

Panasonic announced that their HDC-SD1 camcorder ($1,499) will record HD on SDHC Memory Cards. Their HDC-DX1 camcorder ($1,399) will record HD material on DVD discs. Both camcorders will use the AVCHD format to record in 1080i. A 4GB memory card will hold about an hour of HD, while a dual-layer DVD will store about 40 minutes on a dual-layer DVD-R, which sounds a bit backwards to me.

Sony also announced four HD camcorders to be released in February and March. Two will store in AVCHD on DVD-R discs, and two will store on mini-HDV tapes. Prices will range from $1000 to $1400.

Panasonic’s New HD Camcorder Line
Sony’s HD Camcorders

There is lots of Blu-ray stuff happening at CES. Here’s a quick rundown.

Sony’s moving away from MPEG2 for their BD releases, and towards AVC. Casino Royale will be an AVC release.

Some more interesting facts:

• Blu-ray has 96% of the HD player market in Japan. “In terms of Japan the game is already over there.”
• Out of 10,000 registered PS3 owners surveyed, 90% have tried and will buy Blu-Ray discs. 75% plan to use their PS3 primarily as a Blu-Ray player.
• On December 20th, Blu-Ray sales finally surpassed HD-DVD sales (note: no word on if this is players or software)

Fox plans to release 7-10 BD titles per month, most being 50GB titles. Buena Vista is big on BD as well. They will release Cards on BD this summer, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies sometime this year.

CES 2007: Blu-Ray Fights Back!

Edit:

Casino Royale will street on March 13th.
The Pirates movies will debut in May.