It's been a busy month at TVSnob in May and it only looks to be busier as we head into June. This month will be featuring a series of hands-on reviews if everything goes according to plan, so stay tuned. While you're waiting though, check out a look back at May 2008 after the jump...
Philips, Axel Springer Partner Up To Personalize Your TV Guide
Tru2way technology may mean the death of the set-top box, but a Philips-developed Personal TV system that'll be deployed by German content provider Axel Springer will make television viewing a whole lot more personal. Expected to be deployed by Axel in the second half of this year, the Personal TV system combines user data and an electronic programming guide from Axel and Philips' Aprico software to a smart service that'll allow viewers to create personalized channel in their TV's electronic programming guide which then will match appropriate content to it from existing channels. Not specific to Axel however, the Personal TV system can be used globally and you may even see it on your computer or cell phone in the future.
DVDPlay Kiosks Offering Blu-ray Rental Next Month, Only $1.49
DVDPlay, one of the big names in the DVD rental kiosk world, is set to start renting Blu-ray discs alongside DVD's in early June making them the first rental kiosk operator to offer Blu-ray rentals. Not only is this great for HD fans looking for convenient rental options, but so is the rental price: Blu-ray rentals will carry the same $1.49 price tag as regular DVD's. Blu-ray has been facing some criticism lately for its failure to really emerge as a valid competitor to standard-def DVD's since the death of HD DVD, and this is an excellent way for the HD optical format to gain some market exposure. A couple of the early titles to keep an eye out for at DVDPlay kiosks are Untraceable, expected to be available as a Blu-ray rental June 10 and Men In Black which could be available as early as its release date of June 17.
Pantel's Launching 20-, 52-, And 65-Inch PAN Series Outdoor LCD TV's, All Featuing Monster Price Tags
If you found those Pantel Outdoor LCD TV's we told you about a couple of months back kinda interesting, but weren't too thrilled with the sole 32- and 42-inch size offerings, maybe this'll pique your interest a little more. Pantel has just launched three more sizes: a 20-inch PAN-200 priced at $2999, a 52-inch PAN-520 priced at $9999, and finally a monster 65-inch PAN-650 that comes with an even-more-monster price tag of $25999 (this one's a special order). The huge price tags are paying for the outdoor, weatherproof convenience of these high-def LCD sets more than anything because the specs aren't anything extraordinary. The PAN-200 features 720p resolution, a 700:1 contrast ratio and a 16:9 aspect ratio, while the larger PAN-520 and PAN-650 can boast 1080p resolution, 2000:1 contrast ratio and 16:9 aspect ratio. Oh, and of course an included waterproof/weatherproof remote. The tech spec that should really be highlighted, but is really a must for outdoor HDTV's is the included 802.11a wireless package which will catch audio and video streams from up to 150 feet away.
Sanyo PLC-XC55, PLC-XC50 Portable Projectors Hitting The US In July, Half The Price Of Companion Japanese Projectors
It's not too often that a company will announce a Japanese electronics product launch and a companion American launch in one week, but that's what Sanyo has done this week with the announcement of their PLC-XC55 (LP-XC55 in Japan) and PLC-XC50 (LP-XC50 in Japan) projectors. This Sunday we told you about their upcoming Japanese launch in mid-July, and it turns out this pair of portables will be coming to the US in July as well. Not only are they bright, putting out 3100 and 2600 lumens respectively, they also feature nearly maintenance-free filters, dubbed Active Maintenance Filters, and some nifty security features to deter thieves. They'll project up to 720p/1080i resolution using either DVI-I or component video inputs, or if you go the standard-def route will use composite and S-video connections instead. The best part about the upcoming US release by far is the price. In Japan the PLC-XC55 will have a US$3537 sticker while the PLC-XC50 will have a US$3029 price tag. American buyers are only looking at paying about half the price: the PLC-XC55 and PLC-XC50 will be priced at $1995 and $1495 respectively.
First quarter video-on-demand viewing skyrocketed in the first quarter of 2008, up 59% from last year's Q1. The 185 million VOD hours viewed in Q1 2008 were definitely partly a result of a 36% increase to more than 70, 000 titles. The data, compiled by Rentrak Corporation from 51 million American set-top boxes, also revealed that viewing of free on-demand TV shows doubled, subscription VOD viewing grew 41% and transactional viewing rose 11%. Cable and satellite providers have been pushing VOD hard in the last year or so as they compete to offer more on-demand programming. Comcast is one name that comes to mind with their Project Infinity which is pushing out on-demand titles like crazy this year, including those in high definition. In fact, HD VOD looks to be huge in the next few years judging by consulting firm Oliver Wyman's forecast that it'll generate somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion in consumer spending by 2010.
Hitachi CP-X450J LCD Projector Launches For Business Use June In Japan
Hitachi's CP-X450J is the company's latest LCD projector, with of course, a Japanese release date of June 10, 2008. The 1024x768 resolution projector uses a 230 Watt UHB lamp to produce 3500 lumens of brightness, comes with a zoom lens that can be adjusted both manually and automatically and features auto-correction for vertical picture distortion. Destined for business use, the CP-X450J has a template function that gives the user the option of surrounding the projected picture with four different borders-black with white borders, white with black borders, a black and white grid, and black with white plotting. Definitely a handy feature for business users displaying graphs and charts as part of a presentation.
Dynamic and cinema projection modes adjust the brightness level depending on the environment and type of content and a quiet mode reduces the projector's noise level to 30 decibels. Other features include a two-tier electrostatic filter that reduces the filter cleaning interval from 400 hours to 2000 hours, 10 Watt mono speaker output, and a Quick Start feature that powers up the projector in only 7 seconds. Connection options are pretty vast with both RGB analog inputs and outputs, component, composite, and S-video jacks, RCA and stereo mini audio outputs, RS-232C control and a USB slot for the mouse. The Hitachi CP-X450J LCD projector has a price set at 399, 000 Yen, about $3785 US.
Sony Shows Off A 0.3 mm OLED Display, 27-Inch OLED TV Hitting Shelves Soon
Sony's CEO Howard Stringer did his best to impress at D6 yesterday, showing off another Sony OLED prototype, this one only 0.3 mm thin! We can't really find anything in the way of specs at the moment, but Engadget HD speculates that this could be the 960x540 pixel display Sony showcased last month which was also 0.3 mm thin. Sony also said that they'll be introducing their 27-inch OLED display to the mass market soon, although only those with the fattest of fat wallets will be able to afford one. We could only imaging given the $2500 price tag of the XEL-1.
Stringer also mentioned a few other interesting nuggets yesterday, saying that while Sony's LCD growth has been great, the technology is bound to fall victim to OLED in the future. While alot of people buy LCD's for their brightness, OLED's are even brighter. Right now OLED is the "perfect television companion", said Stringer.
He also believes that while Blu-ray may eventually fall victim to digital distribution, it'll be around for at least another 10 years before broadband video quality equals up to the HD disc format. And even then the Playstation Network is in place which was he believes was key in destroying the previously competing HD DVD format.
Vudu Goes Version 1.5, Let's You Extend 24-Hour Rental Viewing Limit For A Reduced Price
Vudu is rumored to be updating its video rental set-top box to version 1.5 and will supposedly include a new feature that we're surprised no one else has thought of yet. Pretty well all streaming video rental services set their movies to expire after 24 hours, and should you not quite finish the film in that time then you have to rent it for the full price all over again. Inconvenient to say the least. Vudu's 1.5 update will let you extend expired movies past the 24 hour limit for a reduced price. Reduced by how much? $2 off of HD movies and $1 off regular titles. Not bad and you don't even have to act on this deal right away. It's actually available for one week after the rental expires, and should you choose to extend it, you have 30 days to press play. Of course once you press play you're back to 24-48 hours to finish it. And the offer is only good once, so set time aside to watch the movie in its entirety the second time around.
Westinghouse VK-40F580D 40-Inch LCD TV Tries Integrating A Front-Loading DVD Player
One way to stand out in the highly competitive HDTV market is to integrate a DVD player into a 40-inch display, and that's exactly what Westinghouse does with their latest model. The Westinghouse VK-40F580D is a 40-inch LCD display with a front-loading DVD slot, conveniently eliminating one box from your home theater setup. We've seen TV's integrated with DVD players before, but never in a 40-inch display with the latest LCD technologies. The VK-40F580D also boasts 1080p resolution and a "Spinedesign" which places all the connection ports on one side of the set for easy access. If you're hoping this Westinghouse will upscale standard-def DVD's though, you're out of luck because it won't and for the $1149 price tag, you'll probably pay less for a separate 40-inch LCD set and DVD player of higher quality.
Best Buy Deal: Buy A Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray Player, Get $100 Of Blu-ray Movies Free
Right now at Best Buy a purchase of the Insignia NS-BRDVD Blu-ray player, priced at $350, will net you $100 of coupons that can be redeemed at your local Best Buy store for instant savings on Blu-ray movie titles from Disney, Touchstone, and Miramax. This pretty well brings the Insignia Blu-ray player price down to only $250, relatively reasonably priced for a middle-of-the-pack Blu-ray player.
Visionox Launching First Chinese OLED Mass Production Line In October 2008
Visionox, a Chinese company launched in 2001 out of Tsinghua University, has set up the first OLED panel mass production line in China and will be ready to pump out the next-generation of TV flat panels in October 2008. The plant, set up in Kunshan, Jiangsu, has its equipment installed already and has completed extensive testing. Changhong, another Chinese company, is also working on a OLED mass production line and plans to begin churning out 12 million OLED panels per year starting sometime in the first quarter of 2009. Neither Visionox or Changhong have mentioned what exactly the dimensions are of the OLED panels they'll be producing, but initially expect them to be in smaller sizes.
Sony's Sountina NSA-PF1 Speaker Nothing More Than A Glass Tube
Take a look at the future of home theater speakers. Sony's Sountina speaker is nothing more than a glass tube that will saturate your home theater room with a full 360 degrees of sound eliminating the need for more than one speaker. The Sountina transmits sound the usual way through vibrations but is radically different than traditional speakers which use paper and magnesium. Model number NSA-PF1, the Sony Sountina speaker has a frequency response of 50Hz-20000Hz, features a coaxial connection, 13 cm subwoofer and a 7 cm medium speaker. Measuring in at 325x1845x325mm and weighing 12.5 kg, the Sountina is slated for a June 20 release in Japan priced at 1, 050, 000 Yen, the equivalent of US$10027. Wow, a litte on the pricey side but to be expected as Sony is aiming the Sountina at the hospitality industry, i.e. restaurants and hotels.
Take a look at this, uh, TV mashup from The Cable Show. FOX decided it would be kinda neat to put mattresses on display that doubled as bigscreen TV's thanks to a projector mounted overhead. A bed that doubles as a TV? And we thought it was supposed to be a TV tech show.
You can hack your Apple TV using many step and alot of time browsing the web looking for how-to's or you can take just a few seconds and plug in the aTV Flash Drive from AppleCore LLC. Install the flash drive and it'll do everything else, all without voiding the warranty. According to Gizmodo, the aTV Flash Drive will do a hell of a lot highlighted by:
play DivX, Xvid, AVI, WMV, RMVB and other video formats
play DVD files without any format conversion
sync, organize, and watch non-iTunes video files
use a Safari-based web browser to surf the web
rent and watch HD movies from Jaman.com
stream media from UPnP(v1) media servers
read RSS Feeds
enable SSH access
All of the original Apple TV will continue to function as normal and the best part is the aTV Flash Drive will only cost you $59.95. Think of how many hours you'd spend looking for these hacks on the web and then implementing them, compare that to how much you earn per hour at work and then tell me if this isn't a great purchase.
Sony Goes To Bat For Consumers: Look For A Sony Home Theater Sans Set-Top Box As Sony Adopts Tru2way
Tru2way technology has been a big topic of conversation in TV tech circles this year, hence the primer we gave you a few days back, and not surprisingly today brought an announcement from Sony Electronics we figured would come sooner or later. Together with the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), Sony announced that they would be working on developing a Tru2way-capable TV, able to receive interactive content and HD signal sans set-top box. Sony's decision involved signing a Memorandum Of Understanding that involves 6 major cable networks that serve 82% of the entire US cable-subscribing population-Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House Networks.
The agreement outlines how Tru2way products will be brought to market with "interactive services like video-on-demand, digital video recording and interactive programming guides" and "makes it clear that consumers will be able to enjoy a choice of differentiated two-way products at retail and through cable operators from a variety of consumer electronics and information technology manufacturers".
Sony's decision to sign the MOU likely means other major manufacturers will follow suit, meaning Tru2way products will be on shelves faster giving consumers a host of options beyond what is currently offered by cable companies.
Online Video Viewers To Move Into The Billions By 2013
According to a new research study by ABI Research, Over-The-Top Internet Video Strategies for Carriers, the number of online video viewers will hit the 1 billion mark by 2013. Online video is supplied by a growing number of players including content owners, user-generated video sites, internet portal, broadband video sites, and internet TV providers and distribution methods are constantly changing in order to reduce strain on broadband networks.
ABI says "content distribution networks that cache content closer to the user, peer-to-peer networks which leverage users' PCs, and hybrid networks which combine these two approaches" are becoming the most used online video distribution methods. While this is all and good, the real reason for outlining this data is to help out pay-TV broadcasters to come up with a game plan is they want to continue to compete. ABI says "providers should refrain from knee-jerk responses, or adopting defensive measures aimed at discouraging consumers from using those services...produce resentment from subscribers and likely defections from their services" but instead adopt an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach.
Pay-TV owners already have an existing broadband infrastructure giving them a technical advantage right off the bat, and can use this to supplement their traditional broadcasting methods.
Watch TV While Driving: US Telematics Brings IPTV To The Dashboard, Insurance Premiums To Skyrocket
Wow, this is a scary picture. We have a hard enough time talking on the cell phone and driving never mind watching TV while watching the road. But US Telematics is apparently bringing IPTV to your dashboard very soon. We hope your insurance is all paid up.
Vudu Goes Bricks-And-Mortar, Gets Shelf Space In 24 California Best Buy Outlets
We haven't heard a whole lot from set-top box maker since that $1000 Vudu XL began shipping in March, but this is probably the best thing that has happened to Vudu since their inception. The Vudu set-top box has secured shelf space in 24 California Best Buy's marking the first time the Vudu has been sold in bricks-and-mortar stores since it originally launched last fall. Vudu sought the shelf space after struggling to compete with the Apple TV even though the entry-level Vudu will hold roughly twice the video content of the Apple TV for a price tag $65 more. Since it hit the market, Vudu has added 500 movie titles, bringing the total to 5500, and added 1000 TV shows and 150 HD film titles.
Marantz Kicking Out AV8003 Pre-Amp And MM8003 Power Amp
Marantz is launching a new pre-amp, the AV8003, and power amp, MM8003, employing what Marantz calls its "future design direction". Meant to be teasers for their 2009 lineup, the two new amps look to combine the aesthetics of the Reference Series with the newest home A/V technologies. The AV8003, which can be used as a multizone processor and controller, is networkable, THX Ultra 2-certified, and thanks to its built-in video scaler can scale and upconvert up to 1080p. The pre-amp supports Dolby TrueHD, DTS Master Audio, and Deep Color and is satellite radio-ready with a subscription to either XM or Sirius. Crammed with inputs and outputs include 4 HDMI 1.3a inputs and a couple more outputs, XLR Pre Output terminals, XLR audio inputs for SACD, component video outputs for multi-room, RS-232c, Direct IR inputs, DC triggers and flasher outputs, the Marantz AV8003 pre-amp will be available next month tagged with an MSRP of $3150.
The MM8003 power amp actually has 8 channels, each 150 Watts, combining the "best sonic features" of the PM-11S1 and SR9600 according to Marantz. With XLR input terminals, output channel relay on/off control, custom filter capacitors, and ultra-wide bandwidth current feedback technology, the Marantz MM8003 power amp will hit shelves priced at $1850.
Economic Worries Be Damned, Large-Sized LCD Panel Growth Expected To Be Huge In 2008
An oversupply of large-sized LCD panels that began in November 2007 widely attributed to global economic worries doesn't look to be a concern any longer as research firm iSuppli is forecasting a 17.7% growth in large-size LCD panel unit shipments in 2008. Shipments in the first quarter only decreased 2.8% (WitsView says 9.9%) compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, not much of a drop considering the first quarter after the holiday season is generally slow. And thanks to this summer's Beijing Olympic Games demand is currently pretty high and demand is expected to continue: panel suppliers are throwing $17 billion this year into building next-gen LCD manufacturing lines.
Sony Teams Up With Idemitsu Kosan, Produces Super Efficient Deep Blue OLED Panels
Sony has paired up with Idemitsu Koran to produce fluorescent deep blue OLED devices with a 28.5% internal quantum efficiency (IQE), surpassing the 25% IQE of previous fluorescent devices. That means this partnership has resulted in the highest level of luminous efficiency for fluorescent OLED technology. Idemitsu supplied new carrier transport materials while Sony improved upon their current OLED technology, and not only has this improved luminous efficiency, but with Sony's "Super Top Emission" technology the blue color deepness in the new OLED devices have exceeded the NTSC standard. Perhaps most importantly, the new technology reduces the driving current of the blue OLED's, the most energy-intensive of three primary OLED colors. That means a more energy-efficient panel, something that'll play an increasingly important role in OLED TV's hitting the mainstream.
Microsoft Says Blu-ray Sucks, Xbox Live Marketplace So Much Better
Although rumors that the next incarnation of the Xbox 360 will include a built-in Blu-ray player have started and stoppedoverandover again, Microsoft's Shane Kim seemingly put any chance of another rumor to rest. In fact not only has he said repeatedly that "Blu-ray is not coming to the Xbox 360 in any way shape or form", but now he's saying that "Blu-ray won't take off" at all.
I know Blu-ray provides some visual boost for people who want a physical HD format, but we're not seeing that format taking off, in general," Kim said. "The DVD format is still doing well. Eventually, the price of Blu-ray players will come down to $150 and the value proposition of a $300 or $400 PlayStation 3 as a game console and movie player will be impacted.
The above words from Kim can be interpreted to mean that Microsoft believes Blu-ray sucks so bad, the cost you would have to pay for a Blu-ray Xbox 360 isn't worth the box the game console ships in. Kim also points out the with 10 million people downloading movies from the Xbox Live Marketplace so far, Blu-ray's numbers are peanuts in comparison. Anyone want to start a rumor?
Earth Trek's 90-805R Mini Projector The World's Smallest Non-Embedded Projector
Not quite a picoprojector but small nevertheless, Earth Trek's 90-805R Mini projector measures in at 105x58x25mm and weighs only 160 grams. Small enough to fit in your pocket, the 90-805R Mini can project a 22-inch diagonal image and somehow has enough room to stuff in an SD/T-Flash card slot, a lithium ion battery, a speaker, and an MP4 player.
Sony's DVP-NS708H Upscaling DVD Player Sees European Light Of Day
Sony's DVP-NS708H upscaling DVD player, built of course for Bravia TV's and home projectors, upscales standard-def DVD's to 1080p. A European release, Sony's new upscaling player features PhotoTV HD which can play back JPEG pics from a Sony CyberShot or Alpha digital SLR camera, burned onto a CD or DVD, on your TV's screen for optimized photo viewing. Compatible with Bravia Sync, the DVP-NS708H can be controlled with the push of a remote button and features a bunch of outputs including HDMI, component, and coaxial digital. Other features include a Precision Drive 3 Mechanism for stable playback, Precision Cinema Progressive (PCP), and a 12 bit/108 MHz Noise Shaped Video D/A Converter.
Dai Nippon Printing Build New Plant To Crank Out More LCD TV Color Filters For IPS Alpha Technology
With LCD TV demand only supposed to get stronger, Dai Nippon Printing will be opening a new manufacturing plant in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture in 2010 that will produce color filters for LCD TV's. The filters will be produced for IPS Alpha Technology, an LCD TV-making branch of Matshushita and Hitachi. In fact, the new Dai Nippon plant will be built right next to an under-construction IPS plant in Himeji.
Sony Betting Big On OLED TV, $210 Million Big; Churning Out 30-Inch And Larger OLED TV's In 2009
Sony will be investing US$210 million to make sure it becomes the market leader in medium to large size OLED TV's, according to Yoshito Shiraishi, GM of TV e-products and business development. The investment which will be made in the second half of 2008 will be spent expanding the capacity of the Sony Mobile Display plant which is expected to begin charging out OLED TV's larger than the XEL-1 between April 2009 and March 2010.
Mobile TV: Femtocells, Sideloading Could Threaten 3G And Dedicated Broadcasting Networks
A recent study by Analysys Mason concludes that unless 3G networks and dedicating mobile broadcasting networks embrace femtocell and sideloading delivery methods, the initial two mobile TV technologies could be in jeopardy. 3G networks deliver mobile broadcasts and video-on-demand over individual 3G connections, but is only really cost efficient when the number of users is relatively small. Broadcasting networks such as MediaFLO and DVB-H don't have the capacity problems of 3G networks but as of yet no standard broadcast format has gone global nor has a common bandwidth spectrum been allocated. Plus broadcast networks completely control what mobile TV viewers are able to watch. While developers continue to work on these two technologies, the study pointed out that trials of the DVB-H broadcast standard have revealed that 36%-50% of mobile TV viewers actually watch at home even though their traditional TV is sitting right there. Indoor networks utilizing femtocells or WLAN networks could be a more effective method of streaming mobile video indoors taking the stress off of 3G networks and potentially streaming higher-quality video. Another effective indoor method is known as sideloading which is simply uploading video content that is possibly pre-recorded and not-time-critical onto your mobile phone for viewing at a later time. An example would be downloading a TV show from iTunes and then uploading it onto your iPhone. iTunes video is encoded at 1Mbit/sec whereas 3G video is encoded at 128Kbit/sec resulted in a huge improvement in video quality from sideloading the iTunes content.
Here are some interesting tidbits from the report:
Key findings of the new report include:
Trials of DVB-H services have shown significant indoor usage of mobile TV services, with 36-50% of participants using these services mainly at home. Indoor systems such as femtocells could successfully carry this traffic, potentially with higher quality than is achievable with outdoor 3G and broadcasting networks.
Sideloading can be a highly effective way of delivering content that is not time critical, such as pre-recorded TV programmes (for example soap operas, dramas, situation comedies and documentaries) and movies. Compared to other mobile TV distribution methods, sideloading can provide guaranteed reliability in any location, with very high quality. For example, video content available on iTunes for Apple iPods and iPhones is encoded at a data rate of over 1Mbit/s, compared with 128kbit/s for some 3G services.
MNOs that are unable to deploy broadcasting networks could potentially deliver a compelling proposition without filling up the capacity of their 3G networks. If 75% of mobile TV content was delivered using sideloading and 60% of streamed content was consumed indoors, then 3G networks would need to carry just 10% of total mobile TV traffic.
Sanyo LP-XC55 and LP-XC50 With Active Maintenance Filter Get Japanese July Launch
If you happen to live in Japan, as we know most of our readers don't, come July 11th you'll be able to get your hands on two new projectors from Sanyo. The 3100 lumen LP-XC55 and the 2600 lumen LP-XC50 portable projectors feature Sanyo's Active Maintenance Filter which automatically senses when airflow is obstructed by dust and prompts you to change the filter. Of course the filter system and projector design minimizes dust build-up, so filter changes aren't necessary as frequently as most models. A Security Bar that allows 11 millimeter thick security wires, which Sanyo claims is a theft-deterrent. Both feature built-in 7 Watt speakers and an auto setup function which automatically detects signal sources. The usual connectivity options are available including a DVI-I digital interface and the lamp can be changed through an easy-access panel, even when roof-mounted. Finally, the new Sanyo projectors utilize a Color Board Mode which will project onto red, green, blue, and yellow surfaces.
Seagate's Showcase HDD: A Storage Solution For Motorola DVR's
The Seagate Showcase external HDD was designed to make sure you never lose any of your DVR'ed content again. Compatible with Motorola's eSATA HD DVR's the Showcase will have an intial storage space of 1 TB, enough to store about 200 hours of HD shows and movies or 1000 hours of standard-def content. If offers a simple plug-and-play setup using either a USB 2.0 or an eSATA connection that uses an included cable to connect directly to Motorola DVR's. The Seagate Showcase is expected to be available from Seagate's website sometime this fall.
According to Broadcom Corporation you could be watching high-definition television on your mobile phone as early as 2009. Broadcom, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments all have HD processor ready to go that can encode and decode 1280x720 pixel content at 30 frames per second. Renesas Technology Corporation in Japan is going all out, currently developing a processor that'll support full HD 1920x1080 content on your cell phone. Several problems remain to be solved though. Processing HDTV for a cell phone takes up a huge amount of power sucking the life right out of the phone's battery, plus HD picture quality is likely not even noticeable on a screen size typical of a mobile phone. Manufacturers say the way around this is to allow connectivity between mobile phones and HDTV's, leaving the processing up to the TV set and providing a screen size more suitable for HD content. That means the mobile phone is relegated to nothing more than a streaming device. The challenge here is that the current HDMI 1.3 standard will have to be about half the size to properly connect a mobile phone to an HDTV. Look for a solution to this problem next year, but as cool as mobile phone HDTV sounds we doubt it'll catch on anytime soon.
TVSnob Monthly Roundup For May 2008
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