Recent Comments:
Xploder to make your non-HD Playstation 2 games into high-def {Engadget HD}
Aug 1st 2006 8:56AM Isn't this place called "HD Beat"? Come on...what's with the "we don't know how this thing works"? There's only one thing it can be doing--upconverting/de-interlacing. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no magic here, just like there isn't with upconverting DVD players. Despite what Chloe and Jack Bauer show you on TV ("can you zoom in on that?!", "sure, here it is, crystal clear at 180x!"), you can't "add" detail to an image where it doesn't already exist, and thereby make a better picture. If you want to make a 480i image into a 1080i image, you have to add pixels, and you have to guess, or "interpolate", what those pixels should be. It's like using a digital zoom on a digital camera...the circuitry has to estimate what the extra pixels are, and sometimes it does an OK job. More often than not, it looks downright sucky. Same will be the case here. You can't take a non-HD source and make it HD. Sorry. It might look a little better, but likely not enough to warrant the price of admission.
Verizon and Actiontec bring 100Mbps FiOS to homes {Engadget}
Jun 29th 2006 7:43AM This post is deceptive. The only "news" here is about the new router, which is capable of delivering up to 100-mbit speeds...adding this router won't automatically give you higher bandwidth if you're not paying Verizon for a higher-speed package. It's a nice upgrade, though. The router I got with my FIOS installation was just a lame, run-of-the-mill D-Link ethernet router (not even wireless). I've heard that (in Pittsburgh anyway), they're starting to bump up the lower-end 5 Mb FIOS customers to 10 Mb at no charge--maybe 100 Mb for less than $100/mo. isn't so very far away after all.
To all of you who don't have FIOS yet, I sympathize. It's so worth it.
