Recent Comments:
HDI concocts 100-inch laser-based 3D HDTV, calls rivaling technology child's play {Engadget HD}
Sep 17th 2009 9:15AM Ummm . . . that was WOZ kickin' it with HDI crowd. Well he is a insane fan of lasers.
OPPO's long-awaited BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player now shipping {Engadget HD}
Jul 7th 2009 11:30AM I passed up the chance to buy one early a few months ago.
The price is just not competitive enough. I feel like there is a $150 early adopter tax in the price tag on this one.
:-/
If you saw Star Trek or The Dark Knight on IMAX Digital, did you get your money's worth? {Engadget HD}
May 19th 2009 11:42AM I caught Trek in fauxMAX at the Hoffman AMC 22 in Alexandria, VA. It was OK. Two shots were blurry...yes down-right blurry. (When Pike has a heart-to-heart with Kirk in the bar and when Spock Prime had a heart-to-heart with young Spock). How can you have blurry shots with DLP?!?! Please tell me that was an artist choice or something.
I used to live in Las Vegas and would catch one or two IMAX films at the Luxor. At the time, the Luxor theater was the "largest IMAX screen in the world" (or at least they claimed that). Anyway,it was once one of IMAX's flagship locations so when I went to the AMC Hoffman my expectations were pretty low to begin with.
Other than the blurry shots and non-super-sized screen, I liked it well enough. I did think the vibrant color representation on the DLP system was a big improvement over regular film. With a color-rich film such as Trek, it really improved the experience.
At the end of the day, the quality of the story-telling trumps the technology, so for me, Trek was a win here.
Genius G-Shot HD520 camcorder does 720p for $149 {Engadget HD}
Apr 29th 2009 8:59AM I have an iFlip Mino HD (~$200) and I love it.
It replaced a much larger miniDV camcorder that decided to die on me.
The PQ is pretty good at 720p. The record time is just fine (1 hr) It fits in pocket so its perfect for family vacations. My wife likes using it too.
I don't need to shoot an amateur film with it so I need to pay for all those features.
=]
Dan
Could you live on online TV / Netflix alone? One gal found out. {Engadget HD}
Dec 24th 2008 9:19AM We ditched Comcast for OTA about the time Netflix streaming over 360 became available (so guess about a month or so) and I also added a mac to my hometheater (for Front Row and Hulu/Boxee). My wife and I love it. Instead of surfing 150 channels and getting disappointed we only have to surf 20 channels to get that same disappointment feeling.
I do watch much less HD (a very sad thing), but a new Blu-Ray player should shore that up. My main problem was that most of the basic cable channels have abandoned their original programming (History Channel is about truckers and loggers, Bravo is about reality shows, A&E is about crime, etc, etc). You just don't get the product you see on the packaging (like a the picture of a Big Mac on the menu is nothing like what McDonalds actually serves you). The individual shows themselves are such poor quality pay-tv is no longer a strong value proposition for us. All of the really good shows will be put on disc anyway, right?
My only gripe is that I miss 24-hr cable news (I'm a junky) and I will need to sort out an HD solution for the last 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Caprica (which I will buy on disc anyway).
I may go back to pay-tv when Fios is ready on my street, but probably not.
Ask Engadget HD: DTV converter, or a new TV? {Engadget HD}
Dec 17th 2008 3:33PM This year I bought a 19" Vizio HDTV for the kitchen and a digital tuner for my bedroom CTR. I love my digital converter box. I bought the Sansonic for its microchip-based tuner. It has a better ATSC tuner that my 2005 Mitsubishi DLP so I actually hooked to my HDTV to get the better reception. It will down-res 16x9 HD content to 480i anamorphic that looks equal or better than DVD quality. Yes, its not HD, but I wasn't even getting those channels before with my built-in tuner and I only spent $8 for shipping for the device. The Vizio is nice too but that was $300.
Should 'The Hobbit' Include Saruman? {Cinematical}
Jun 4th 2008 1:35PM In the Hobbit, Gandalf leaves the adventurers to go fight the "Necromancer" (who was secretly Sauron). He teams up with other wizards who are presumably Radagast the Brown and ***Saruman the White***. This is a very logistal reason to explore events that Gandalf describes in the text verbally but happen "off camera". There is plenty of room in the cannon to explore this story in the new movie. It may help the film explain why Gandalf spends most of the book AWOL and help improve the connection between the Hobbit and LOTR for casual viewers.
If Saruman is in the film for this reason, it won't be the worst sin Peter Jackson committed against the Middle Earth cannon.
Engadget HD Podcast 069 - 01.23.2008 {Engadget HD}
Jan 24th 2008 12:08PM I almost forget to mention the ITC thing.
As your resident "chicken-little" I was just pointing out that the entire design purpose of the ICT was to plug the "analog hole". If this new device opens up that hole at a cheap price, I wouldn't put it past the SOB studios to be a bunch of jerks and try to plug that hole with the ICT.
Studios have not been known for their generosity as of late.
This is more of a comment what behaviors to expect from them that it is on the viability of using the new /Hap-hawg/ doohickie to rip blu-ray discs.
=]
Dan
Engadget HD Podcast 069 - 01.23.2008 {Engadget HD}
Jan 23rd 2008 1:55PM Thanks for another great podcast guys. I make sure I catch every one of these episodes.
For the record...
On the week Paramount announced they were HD-DVD exclusive I predicted the format's demise in the comments on the Engadget HD Podcast 046 on 08.22.2007:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/08/22/engadget-hd-podcast-046-08-22-2007/#comments
They defined their success scenario as "increased studio support = format progress". Which means they placed their fate in the idea that they would be able to keep all of the cats in the moving wheel barrel and Warner Bros jumped out first.
For the record... you guys poo-pooed this conclusion in episode 49. =] =P =]
=]
Keep up the good work! We will keep listening! =]
Hauppauge intros USB PVR with component input {Engadget HD}
Jan 11th 2008 5:40PM So when the first guy plugs this into Blu-Ray player, the studios will activate the ICT.
