Fred Manteghian
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CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 07, 2007 0 comments

If it were just another iPod dock, Meridian could be forgiven. But the iRIS ($390) actually takes video off your iPod – yeah, the sub-standard definition 240x320 pixel package you paid $1.99 for so you could catch up on an episode of Heroes during your staff meeting today – and upconverts it to 1080p. There was some mention that the iRIS will also have an s-video input so you could, according to Bob Stuart of Meridian, pass your laserdisc player's s-video output into the iRIS to take advantage of the Marvell's Qdeo video processing, which might be an interesting option.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 07, 2007 0 comments

For $2,995, Sanyo's PLV-Z2000 has a lot of great features. This 1080p LCD projector offers a claimed 15,000:1 contrast ratio (with their twin auto iris system), HDMI 1.3 capability and 1,200 Lumens output from a 165 UHP-like bulb. With a wide 50% horizontal and insane 100% vertical lens shift, placement is no problem and you won't have to resort to electronic keystone corrections which inherently limit real resolution. The unit is a quiet 19 db and when you turn it off, a little door slides over the lens keeping dust and curious fingers away. It ships in October.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 07, 2007 0 comments

Digeo makes the Moxi family of media centers, including the Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR. CableCARD ready, there are over 400,000 Moxi products out there. Both the Moxi DVR and non-DVR unit use Moxi's graphically attractive and, from what I saw, seemingly intuitive interface. The menu is now in available in high definition (either 720p or 1080i) and looks spectacular, taking advantage of every square inch of your screen.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 07, 2007 2 comments

Oh Marantz, why do you put so much goodness in your receivers? 125 watt discrete amplifiers – seven of 'em, 4 HDMI inputs and 2 HDMI outputs (take that "ed"), 3 coaxial and 3 optical digital inputs, Dolby Digital True HD and Dolby Digital Plus decoding, DTS Master Audio decoding, AM/FM/HD radio, XM HD radio. Featuring HDMI 1.3 inputs and outputs, the receiver will repeat out 1080p source signals to the display with no signal loss, as well upconvert composite, s-video and component video to HDMI. Also, the receiver has a case of the massive Toroidal Transformers, which will only hurt your neighbors when you crank things up. I guess with all this goodness, they forgot the phono stage.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 05, 2007 0 comments

Sharp announced a new AQUOS D64U series at Cedia. The 1080p LCD panels are available in four sizes from 42" to 65" in diameter. The 65" LC-65D64U will be available before the month is out and goes for $8,999.99. The 52" LC-52D64U ($3,799.99), 46" LC-46D64U ($2,699.99) and 42" LC-42D64U ($1,999.99) are available now. Sharp has reduced the size of the bezel and thinned out the panel depth by 25% from existing lines.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 05, 2007 1 comments

Jodi Sally warns us not to write anything negative about Toshiba, or else!

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 06, 2007 0 comments

At the Sony press event, surprise guest Barry Sonnenfeld, too famous for words (but suffice to say, he was the cinematographer for one of my favorite movies, the Coen Brothers' first, Blood Simple), regaled us with stories of his home theaters, past and present, like the one in Telluride, Colorado which features a Sony VPL VW100 projector. His close ties with Sony's Marc Finer have made him somewhat of a test bed for Sony projectors, going all the way back to the 9" CRT based Sony G90 which some consider the finest CRT projector ever made (along with the Vidikron Visions). I bet he can't wait to get the new VW200 in his home!

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 06, 2007 0 comments

Shane didn't mention it so I will: JVC's new DLA-RS2 / DLA-HD100 projectors have a claimed 30,000:1 native contrast ratio without the use of an auto iris-stopping technology. Contrast that, pun intended, to the new Sony VW200 which they said had a 35,000:1 contrast ratio, but Sony uses auto-iris correction to achieve these ratios. Both are outstanding figures and, in this stratosphere, pretty close numerically speaking, but it will be interesting to see if our golden eyes can detect a difference or develop a preference.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 06, 2007 0 comments

JVC was first out of the gate last year with Clear Motion which interpolates an extra frame for each frame its given, clearing up motion blur significantly. I saw it in Japan last year and it was clearly working. I guess Toshiba saw it too, because their ClearFrame technology potentially does the same thing. Of course, JVC is on their second generation and they gave away some information at their press conference that was interesting. Each interpolated frame is created by examing 4,000 pixels in the frames before and after the frame being created. That's a lot of hard math. Toshiba didn't specify exactly how there's works (or if it did as well in the Math section on the SATs), but no doubt, the combination of quicker refresh times and 120 Hz technology has brought LCD panel technology a long, long way in very short amount of time.

CEDIA 2007
Fred Manteghian Sep 06, 2007 0 comments

Optoma's HD-80, a single chip 1080P DLP one-piece projector ($2,699) has been shipping since June, so it's not necessarily news, but the $500 more HD-8000, a step-up unit based on the same frame, certainly is.

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