Maximum PC high definition RSS Feed

Youtube Goes 1080p

Ryan Whitwam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:43:53 -0600

In recent years, 1080p camcorders have found their way into more consumers’ hands. Now YouTube will allow people to take advantage of all those pixels. Starting next week, the HD options on the popular video sharing site will include both 720p and 1080p, provided the original source allows it.

There is a test video already up here. Performance seems to be good, but it doesn’t look tremendously different from current YouTube HD offerings. If you have an HD camera, YouTube would like you upload some 1080p video. They will be highlighting some of the best footage on the front page soon. If you shoot HD video, will you take the extra time to upload your videos in 1080p?

Have an Extra 30 Grand to Blow? Buy an 85-Inch Plasma!

Paul Lilly — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:45:26 -0500

Excuse us while we clean up our morning coffee off of our keyboard and desk - Panasonic wants how much for its 85-inch plasma display? The answer is $30,000, but hey, if you wait long enough, maybe you can catch one on sale for 'only' 20 Gs.

According to Panasonic, the exorbitantly priced TH-85PF12U is the industry's first 85-inch full HD, 1080p plasma display and equivalent to four 42-inch plasmas. The company also claims its Neo plasma display panel technology has made it possible to keep the 85-incher "significantly thinner and lighter than past plasmas," measuring 3.9 inches deep and checking in at 260 pounds.

Sounds groovy and all, but how do you convince your significant other that a $30,000 TV set would really complete your living room? Answer that question and you're halfway there.

Image Credit: Panasonic via Cnet

Microsoft Announces 720p LifeCam Cinema HD Webcam

Paul Lilly — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:39:32 -0500

Let's face it, most webcams leave a lot to be desired, including some of the higher end models boasting fancy lenses and advanced features not found on entry-level models. But the picture still ends up being grainy, which almost makes that live striptease performance not worth watching. Almost.

Enter the LifeCam Cinema, a high definition webcam Microsoft hopes will shake things up. The LifeCam is the first consumer webcam to support 720p video at 30fps, boasting 1,280x720 compared to most 2MP webcams topping out at 960x720.

But high resolution isn't the only thing the LifeCam has going for it. Other goodies include a glass lens, auto focus, 4x digital zoom, and a digital noise canceling microphone. It sports Windows 7 compatibility out of the box, though only those with a comparatively hefty system need apply - nothing less than a dual-core 1.6GHz, and Microsoft recommends a 3GHz dual-core chip and 2GB of RAM.

Look for the LifeCam to show up in retail on September 9 with an MSRP of $80.

Image Credit: Microsoft via pocket-lint.com

Blu-ray Losing the High Definition War (in Japan)

Paul Lilly — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:30:05 -0500

It appears CBHD (China Blue High-Definition), formerly known as CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD), has a shot at doing something HD-DVD never could: Beat Blu-ray. Or at least that's the case in Japan.

Apparently a Japanese news station ran the numbers and confirmed that the CBHD format holds a 3 percent market share lead over Blu-ray, FormatWarCentral.com reports. The revelation was presented as part of a documentary, which you can view here, though you're on your own in translating the dialogue.

Under its former designation, the CBHD format was first announced in September 2007 as a joint venture between OMNERC and the DVD Forum, the latter of which was responsible for the failed HD-DVD format. CBHD supporters hope the format will succeed where HD-DVD didn't by offering better copy protection features. However, Warner Brothers is so far the only Hollywood studio to support CBHD.

Image Credit: gizmag.com

More People Watching HD-DVD Over Blu-ray

Andy Salisbury — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:53:15 -0500

According to a recent poll very few Americans are onboard with high definition media players, given that only 11 percent own an HD-DVD player, while 7 percent own a Blu-ray player.

While these numbers may not seem that high, they are up notably from 2008, where only 6 percent had HD-DVD players, and 4 percent had Blu-ray players. And, while there are a good amount of people with these players, many are still buying standard definition discs to watch on them, with only one high definition disc being bought per six standard definition discs.

Interesting results, especially given that Blu-ray was declared the winner of the format war sometime last year.

If you’d like to see the whole poll, be sure to check it out here (clicking the link will download a PDF).

Image Credit: Harris Poll, 2009-6-18

BenQ E2400HD

Tom Edwards — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:30:33 -0500

BenQ promises that its E2400HD LCD monitor will provide “a brand-new standard for personal digital audiovisual entertainment….” And while we’ve grown weary of marketing hyperbole, at first glance, this 24-inch panel has the specs to back up this statement. The E2400HD sports a 1080p HDMI interface and utilizes a 16:9 aspect ratio (rather than the more common ratio of 16:10 for widescreen panels), two features that should improve the movie-watching experience. OK, perhaps “brand-new standard” is a bit overboard, but as we unboxed it, we did think that a 1080p 24-inch monitor for less than $400 was certainly intriguing—even if it sports a 6-bit panel.

A 16:9 aspect ratio should, theoretically, provide a better image when viewing high-def widescreen movies because a 16:10 monitor has to either stretch an image by 10 percent or add black bars to the top and bottom of the image to compensate for the additional space. In our tests with multiple DVD movies, however, those ubiquitous horizontal black bars appear during playback. While TV shows and many movies (typically romantic comedies) are filmed in a native 16:9 aspect ratio, many films are matted using a wide 2.35:1 aspect ratio where you’ll still see black bars. Therefore, while the BenQ is capable of displaying a movie in its original widescreen glory, many DVDs will still not be able to utilize all of the screen’s space.

Regardless, this is still a solid panel for watching high-def movies—when the monitor’s Movie mode is used. In standard mode, V for Vendetta suffered from a washed-out palette. The panel couldn’t differentiate the movie’s many dark hues and the bright white seemed to take on a gray cast; however, Movie mode upped the contrast significantly, showing off both ends of the color spectrum. Gaming was also solid; the colors in Far Cry were vivid and we didn’t observe any stuttering or ghosting during gameplay.

Our DisplayMate tests (www.displaymate.com) backed up what we observed in our real-world tests. We were able to differentiate colors at both ends of the spectrum in the grayscale tests, and the E2400HD showed no color-tracking or banding issues when we ran DisplayMate’s scripts.

However, the same Senseye technology that improved our movie-watching experience was much less successful when we viewed high-def photos. With the Photo mode on, pictures took on a cold, blue hue. Standard mode seemed to present a truer presentation of the images colors, but lacked a certain vividness.

Whether the 16:9 aspect ratio will make any noticeable difference really depends on what type of content you’ll be watching; still, with a street price hovering around $350, the E2400HD is a good value. But even at this midrange price, we expect more from the stand, which allows only minor tilt adjustments; if we were to use this monitor as our primary movie-watching or gaming panel, we’d prefer to also have height adjustment and swivel included as well.

Via Claims VX855 Chipset Capable of 1080p

Andy Salisbury — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:01:53 -0500

Recently Via announced their VX855 Media System Processor that allows their Nano, C7 and Eden processors to support 1080p video. This entertains the possibility that Via will provide a more attractive option an Intel and Nvidia when it comes to platforms to base a netbook off of.

The VX855 is designed for mobile PCs and comes with an HD video processor that gives smooth, hardware accelerated playback of high definition videos encoded in H.264, MPEG2/4, DivX and WMV9.

“For the first time, system developers have an ultra low power media system processor that delivers high bit-rate HD video to small form factor and mobile devices,” said Via’s VP of Marketing, Richard Brown. “The VIA VX855 opens up exciting opportunities for several PC segments, particularly the mini-notebook category that will now be able to offer true 1080p HD video playback.”

No solid information as to when we can expect to see this powerful little chip make its way into netbooks and nettops alike, but if its as good as they say, we should see it making a splash relatively soon.

Image Credit: Via

Is Warner Brothers Trying to Rekindle the HD Format Wars?

Paul Lilly — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:16:04 -0600

Everyone assumed the high definition format war was over after movie studios abruptly bailed on the HD-DVD format seemingly over night, but could it be just beginning? China certainly hopes so, whose China Blue HD (CBHD) just received a shot in the arm from Warner Brother's announcement that it plans to support the format with several films in the first half of 2009.

Like HD-DVD, CBHD players and media are comparatively inexpensive next to Blu-ray. According to the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC), who jointly produced the CBHD format with the DVD Forum, converting an existing DVD production line to CBHD costs just $800,000, significantly lower than the $3 million it takes to switch to Blu-ray. Add low licensing fees to the mix and you have a format that's easier on the wallet for Chinese customers than Blu-ray.

Studios appeared uninterested in backing the CBHD format when the group tried to promot itself in the fall of 2008. With Warner Brothers jumping on board, it will be interesting to see if other studios follow suit, especially since a pricing advantage wasn't enough to keep HD-DVD afloat. And with the announcement of a new Blu-ray licensing firm, which is expected to result in lower priced players and media by mid-year, CBHD's window of opportunity might be closing fast.

Image Credit: NVWorld