Onkyo’s 2010 receivers to support HDMI 1.4

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment

HDMI 1.4 is the next big thing, namely because it brings with it support for 3D television as well as the Audio Return Channel, and Onkyo seems to be leading the charge with getting it rolled into their products and into the hands of the public. In fact, Onkyo just announced that their 2010 receivers, scheduled to start shipping this spring, will support HDMI 1.4. That’s just in time for some of that 3D TV and Blu-ray content to appear.

“We are very supportive of the new standard,” said Onkyo’s marketing manager Paul Wasek, “because of the added capabilities and the simplification of system connections.”

We are fans of Onkyo, and we are definitely looking forward to getting our hands on the new receiver line.

Read More | Onkyo

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TiVo HD out of stock. TiVo Premiere imminent?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Rumors

Looks like TiVo has run out of TiVo HD units, if their online store is any indication, which has us wondering if the newer TiVo Premiere is about to make it’s debut. We originally mentioned the TiVo Premiere when a customer accidentally received a manual for the device packed in with a TiVo HD purchase. You’d think that if TiVo was already printing instructions on how to use the device, it had to be near-ready to ship, and this was just over a month ago.

In the meantime, if you want a TiVo, go for the TiVo XL instead.

Read More | TiVo Store

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Newegg Deal: Sony 7.1 channel receiver

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals

Newegg has a great and inexpensive way for you to incorpate 7.1 surround sound into your home theater, with a great deal on the Sony STR-DN1000 7.1 channel receiver. It looks great with a piano black finish, and supports codecs like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MAster Audio, and lossless PCM. For visuals, you get 1080p playback with 24p support. The best part is that Newegg’s got it for $299.99. If you want to get in on it, head on over to the Newegg Sony STR-DN1000 page, add it to your cart, and use promo code “RECEIVER222” to take part in the festivities.

As always, you can find all sorts of Newegg promo codes and deals on our forums.

Read More | Sony 7.1 STR-DN1000 Surround Sound Receiver

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WSJ: Apple Tablet to focus on games, TV, music, reading

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, PC / Laptop, Rumors

While we await the coming arrival of the fabled Apple tablet, which we all expect to finally arrive at the January 27th Apple event, it appears that the Wall Street Journal has gotten a bit of inside information that offers a glimpse of what the iPad / iSlate will end up doing for us. Of course, we still suggest taking all of this with a grain of salt, but this isn’t far off from the whispers we’ve been hearing either:

• The Apple tablet will have some sort of virtual keyboard. This only makes sense, because if there’s no physical keyboard, you’d need a virtual one to type on (similar to the iPhone and iPod touch)
• Publishing firms like Conde Nast, The New York Times, and HarperCollins have been in discussions with Apple on how they can get their content onto the tablet, and new ways of displaying the news on a modern (or even futuristic) device
• Apple is definitely pondering a switch as it pertains to the default search engine on their iPhone OS, focusing on replacing Google with Bing for search, as well as Maps.
• They’ve also been in talks with TV networks about the possibility of a multi-show iTunes TV subscription package, where users would get to choose a package of the best 4-6 shows per channel and subscribe for a monthly fee.
• That whole Lala acquisition by Apple will likely lead to a web-based version of iTunes, which would allow for purchasing music outside of the actual iTunes application. It would also allow for publishers to place buttons that would allow readers to purchase iTunes content right on their website. There may even be a service that would allow users to stream all their iTunes music through the service to other computers, iPhones, and the like. This is basically a merge of iTunes and Lala in its current form.
• The tablet may have some sort of smart recognition built-in, giving it the ability to recognize the user by using its camera, and then applying settings for that specific user on the fly

There’s a lot there, we know. Luckily, we are just six days away from hearing the word from the horse’s mouth. What do you think? Anything up there sound a little too far-fetched for your tastes? Also, please be sure to vote in our poll letting us know if you’d pre-order the Apple tablet sight unseen.

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Verizon FiOS launches faster symmetrical 35Mbps Internet speeds, better HD TV bundles

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment

This morning we got word that Verizon was bolstering their FiOS packages, with the big news (from where we sit) being that the company is now offering a new symmetrical 35/35 Mbps Internet package as part of their “Best” bundle, which also brings an expansion of offerings in their FiOS TV HD package. For those who just want the blazing Internet goodness without the HD, they are also offering a 25/25 Mbps service, and they still offer the 50/20 Mbps service as well, which is a bit odd. They seem to have updated all of their Internet packages, and now the highest tier has the slowest upload speed out of them all. Hopefully that’ll change fairly quickly, because things appear to be a bit off-balance there. Nevertheless, FiOS is now in a position where they don’t have any competitor in the US that matches their upload speed, regardless of cost.

It’s not all fun and games, though. There is also a higher early-termination fee that comes alongside the new services. Formerly, it would cost $179 to terminate the two-year contract, but now it’s up to as much as $360. Again, that’s only if you cancel, and we think that once you get a look at the uncompressed HD and feel for the speedy Internet, you’ll decide that you’re in for the long haul.

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Newegg Sale: 46-inch HDTV, Asus 27-inch widescreen LCD Monitor

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals

Newegg has got a couple of great deals that we thought we’d share with you guys right quick - first, they’ve got a 27-inch Asus widescreen LCD monitor, which dual HDMI, selling for $369.99. It’s a 1080p screen, it’s huge, and it’s fairly inexpensive, so we like it. Secondly, if you want a larger screen for your living room or bedroom, they’ve got the 46-inch SCEPTRE 1080p LCD HDTV for $699.99. It has 4 HDMI inputs, a built in ATSC tuner, VGA port, and even includes an HDMI cable. So there you have it, two nice displays from Newegg at a discounted cost.

As always, you can find all sorts of Newegg promo codes and deals on our forums.

Read More | SCEPTRE 46-inch HDTV

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Apple Event on Jan 26 says Fox News and Financial Times

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Rumors

2010 will be the first year that Apple doesn’t take part in MacWorld, but that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have big announcements that need to be made. According to both the Financial Times and Fox News, they’ve been told by a “source inside Apple” that the company will be holding a special event on January 26th that will be focused on the mobility space. What does that mean? The iSlate / iGuide / iPad / Apple Tablet should become a reality.

Now, we aren’t ones to spur unnecessary excitement, but lets look at the facts. The last iPod event was on September 9th, so we know that this won’t be focused on the iPod, although we wouldn’t be that surprised to see an iPod touch with a camera appear here. The MacBook Pro should be getting a spec bump based on new Intel architecture, but that wouldn’t be enough in and of itself to warrant a special Apple Event. The rumors and leaks have gone on long enough, and we think that January 26th will mark the day that Apple shows the world how tablet entertainment devices should be done.

What do you think?

[Photo Credit]

Read More | Fox News

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TiVo set to launch TiVo Premiere DVR?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Rumors

It’s been quite a while since TiVo has given us a new model of DVR, but a shipping error pretty much confirms that the company is set to launch a new device called TiVo Premiere (alongside the TiVo Premiere XL.) Recent TiVo HD purchaser Patrick McCarron had a TiVo Premiere setup guide included in his order, and he decided to throw the whole thing up on Scribed for our perusal. The main details here are the the S-Video port is out, and there is only space for one multistream CableCARD now, as opposed to the two slots found on the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD.

Not much more is known about the TiVo Premiere at the moment, but we are crossing our fingers for a storage bump and beefier internal components that can power a new TiVo high definition interface. CES is just about a week away—we’ll be sure to stop and chat with the TiVo folks.

Read More | Infinite Shamrock

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2009 Holiday Gift Guide: LG 47LH50

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Family, Techies

We wanted to find a nice mid-range HDTV we could recommend this year, and we think the LG 47LH50 is it.This is LG’s 47-inch, widget-powered television, and it brings the heat with a 1080p display, and 5.1 surround sound output. Why would you want to output sound from the display? Well, thanks to the Yahoo! widget support, you get things like Netflix, YouTube, and a bunch of other embedded media playback services, including the Vudu streaming movie service. Just connect the LG 47LH50 to your home network, and the content is right at your fingertips. The part, though, is the price. These typically sell for about $1500, but Amazon is selling it for $1,139.

Read More | LG 47LH50 HDV

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2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Family, Men, Techies, Under $100

The Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player allows you to attach any external hard drive or USB flash drive to the device, which lets you watch videos, listen to music, or even create your own slideshows from your photos, right on your television. The WD TV HD Media Player can accept up to two external drives at once, and supports Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound, making it ideal to play movies stored on those devices in glorious 1080p. They typically sell for $129, but Amazon has them for $99.

Read More | Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player

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