The Gadget Blog » HDTV

Would You Pay $25 for a 15-foot HDMI Cable?

Rico Mossesgeld — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:30:12 +0000

A recent email from Optimized Cable Company founder David French boasts about the company’s prices and customer service. But when it comes to HDMI cables, customer service isn’t really applicable for a relatively knowledgeable guy like me, except for order follow-ups and defective item returns. So the real question is about OCC’s prices: would you pay $25 for a 15-foot HDMI cable?

Courtesy Optimized Cable Company

To be sure, 15 feet should be enough for any home theater/computer setup. That length allows enough slack to twist, tuck and fasten for maximum neatness. Go to NewEgg however and you’ll find 6-foot cables that go for around $5. The cost of shipping may actually be more expensive than the product itself. Searching for 25 foot HDMI cables returns listings going for as low as $20.

These pricing realities leave me unconvinced about OCC’s usefulness. Perhaps the company’s special gold-plated cables do last longer and cause less signal interference. Unfortunately though, most customers just want to connect their PS3s to their HDTVs—at the lowest price possible.

Maybe OCC should make a compelling case that spending a bit more (or in some cases, a lot more) will bring long-lasting quality? Detailed longevity evidence on the company website would pique my interest, because I’d rather pay more for a reliable HDMI cable that lasts for years.

OCC’s wide array of home entertainment cables and adapters looks appealing, because the latter covers practically any port x to port y scenario. Those DisplayPort options are probably interesting for Mac users. In the meantime though, I’d rather pay $20 for a 25-foot HDMI cable. What about you?

Optimized Cable Company website: optimization-world.com

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Mitsubishi Sets LaserVue TV Prices

Rico Mossesgeld — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:00:15 +0000

At CEDIA 2008, Mitsubishi finally revealed the prices of its drool-worthy LaserVue TVs. The problem now is where to come up with all that cash, since the “lower-end” 65-incher will set you back by $7,000.

At least that’s low for the course, especially when you realize that similar HDTVs can cost as much as $10,000. No word yet on the 73″ version, though you can bet that it’ll be more expensive.

What’s so great about LaserVue? Well, Mitsubishi wants you to know that, instead of LCDs or Plasma, LaserVue TVs use red, green, and blue lasers to display a picture on the screen. This supposedly brings reliability and power consumption benefits, but as soundandvisionmag.com says: “I’ll have to see some test results myself before I can believe it.”

And oh yeah, you can always consider Second Act if you really want an HDTV but don’t have the money.

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Sharp Aquos LC-52D82U 52 inch LCD for $882.71

Rico Mossesgeld — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:30:10 +0000

The Sears at Tracy, CA (get directions) is (or was) offering the Sharp Aquos LC-52D82U 52 inch LCD for a lot less than $900. As the story goes:

I don’t know if this is a great deal but I got the Sharp Aquos LC-52D82U 52 inch LCD for $882.71 OTD on clearance at Sears. It was marked down to $899.99 and the sales guy gave me another 10% off because they needed to get rid of all of last years model. I have a copy of the receipt if anyone needs it.

Scan of receipt is below
http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sharpbetterlh4.jpg

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Logitech Launches Mac-Only Hi-Def Webcam

Sean R. — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:18:18 +0000

It initially seems odd that Logitech would launch a Mac-only webcam: All Macs but the Mini and Pro have a built in iSight camera.

Reading the specs gives the answer — the QuickCam Vision Pro is a significant step up in performance from the built-in option.

The two megapixel Quickcam can supply 720p video via an autofocus Carl Zeiss lens, and has a built in microphone.

The camera will cost $130.00 USD and – floating eerily as it does in the product shot – the Quickcam reminds me of nothing other than the Empire’s Imperial Probe Droid, or Probot.

Source: Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro Product Page.

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Panasonic PZ850 VIERA plasma HDTVs launch

colbert low — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:42:00 +0000

Fancy a TV that lets you surf the web, load online services like YouTube, Google’s Picasa web album, and Bloomberg ? An internet surfer’s dream crome true indeed. Panasonic’s new VIERA PZ850 series Plasma HDTV’s with VIERA CAST will enable consumers, using the new and elegant Panasonic VIERA CAST interface, to easily browse, find and watch free videos from YouTube and view photos from their Picasa Web Albums in the comfort of their living room or even office. I guess this would have sounded far fetched 10 years ago. Things have changed indeed.

We first saw this TV sets over at the CES 2008 in Jan 2008 and its now been rolled out in the USA stores. Pricing ranges from $3000 to $8000.

You can watch crazy YouTube content on three screen sizes mainly 58, 50, and 46 inches. The TV range even has a SD card slot, a Pro Setting menu for fine tuning of the TV, native contrast ratio of 30,000:1, dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, 24p and Game Modes, Digital Cinema Colour Re-Mastering, a Studio Reference Mode, and four HDMI inputs. Oh and I thought plasma was old.

via techdigest

pic source

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Trade in Toshiba HD DVD boxes for Blu-ray players

colbert low — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:53:27 +0000

Holy DVD. Looks like the HD-DVD camp could be throwing in their towels soon as the renowned Japanese electronics retailer Edion is allowing buyers to swap their Toshiba HD DVD boxes for brand new Blu-ray players (Sony, Panasonic). The swap begins in March 2008 and consumers only have to sum up the price difference. Looks like the press release below from Toshiba was translated from a Japan one…hmmmm

Toshiba’s HD-DVD-related business end of the Company’s response As of February 20, 1920, Toshiba Corporation from the end of business on HD-DVD announcement regarding the Company As a response to this matter, following our decision. Recollections Our “buy peace of mind, much satisfied” under Philosophy, even after your purchase for optimum support to implementAims. This time, under these plans, the Company is Toshiba Corporation’s HD-DVD-related business end Your response to the study results, we will, at the time of purchase was expected to be fully allowed unavailable There is a capacity to the Company as follows, we

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CES 2008 – Alienware showcased 0.2 ms Curved display

colbert low — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:13:36 +0000

Alienware showed off a Projection display at CES 2008 that goes at a blazing fast 0.2 ms refresh rate. Veronica Belmont was there to take a video on behalf of Engadget. Now this screen is not LCD or plasma or Laser TV nor a OLED screen but one of those old style rear projection that’s curved. Now I’d sell my car to get one of this and hook up my eyes with some 3D glasses for some Nintendo Wii gameplay (dreaming yes).

Update: According to the Wiki here, some viewers experience eye strain, headaches, and migraines when viewing DLP screens. So beware before you go out and get one later.

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CES 2008 – JVC LT-42SL89 and LT-46SL89 are Worlds Slimmest LCD TVs

colbert low — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:17:21 +0000

JVC has unveiled the World’s Slimmest LCD TVs at 1.5 inch deep with built-in tuners at CES 2008. Comparing this to the ultra thin LCD TVs from Hitachi which are 1.5 inch deep and sports external tuners, its a remarkable feat. Coupled with the fact that this LCD TVs measure just 1.5 inches (39mm) deep, they also weigh less and consume less power (only 145W) than conventional LCD TVs (go green ,yeah). The new super-slim 42-inch LT-42SL89 and the 46-inch LT-46SL89 will be out 2Q 2008 and prices will be announced at that time.

via

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JVC P-Series LCD TV with iPod docks

colbert low — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:02:45 +0000

If your old LCD TV is longing to hook up to an iPod without messy cables, then throw it out the window and get a JVC P-Series LCD. This CES 2008 released LCD model features a built-in iPod dock called aptly The iPod TeleDock that sticks at the bottom of the set for playing your fav songs. It can also charge your iPod even when the set is turned off. Amazing but let’s hope if features an overcharging feature lest the whole set goes nuclear.

And why on earth would I wanna stick an iPod on that does not have HDTV output on a HDTV enabled TV? Weird. Go figure….

Engadget states that Video and audio playback is controlled with the clickwheel-esque TV remote and on-screen menus which is pretty standard.

The P-Series features 720p on the 32-inch LT-32P679, while the 42-inch LT-42P789, 47-inch LT-47P789, and 52-inch LT-52P789 sets bump the resolution up to 1080p, with availability starting in March 2008.

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Samsung’s DB-UP5000 HD DVD and Blu-ray player

colbert low — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:23:23 +0000

Samsung’s new dual HD DVD and Blu-ray player – DB-UP5000 will be shipping mid to late December 2007 this month. This dual format player will go for $799 USD which is a bargain considering the expensive option of getting a $399 PS3 and sub-$200 HD DVD player from the market. May take a year or so, but if the format war continues, the hardware makers will catch the bus.

Samsung’s DB-UP5000 Tech Specs

* Blu-ray and HD DVD playback at content native HD resolution of 1080p/1080i/720p
* HQV video upconversion processing (720p/1080i/1080p)
* 1080p 24fps playback on Blu-ray and HD DVD
* Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD Master Audio support
* HDMI version 1.3, Component Video, S-Video and Composite video outputs

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