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Planar announces Viper DLP HD projector

by Darren Murph posted Aug 21st 2008 at 10:28AM


Planar has remained mostly quiet since CES, but given that CEDIA is within spittin' distance, it's no shock to see it making waves once more. Today, the outfit has revealed its first 3-chip HD projector, the DLP-based Viper. Other specs include a native 1,280 x 720 resolution, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 2,000 lumens and 10-bit independent dual image / motion adaptive processing. You'll also find an RS-232 port, twin HDMI 1.3 sockets and a jaw-dropping $15,495 price tag. It's shipping immediately for those with the requisite coin. Full release after the break.

Continue reading Planar announces Viper DLP HD projector

Canton refreshes its Karat speaker lineup

by Steven Kim posted May 11th 2008 at 3:14PM

Canoton Karat 795 DC and 770 DC
In the spirit of "out with the old, in with the new" that we love around here, Canton has done a little spring cleaning on its Karat speaker lineup. There are seven models, so rest assured the company has your encirclement needs covered. All models make use of the same 1-inch tweeter, and we're happy to see the 'DC' models making use of deep, narrow cabinets that give the side-mount woofer a little extra oomph and push the tweeters up high on a narrow baffle. If floor-standing speakers are your thing, the 795 DC, 790 DC and 770 DC models are for you. But for smaller rooms, less visual impact, or surround duty, the 730 DC and 720 models are bookshelf-sized. Put a 755 center channel right below your display (if you've got a CRT, don't worry, it's shielded) and round out the package with the 12-inch AS 750 SC subwoofer. Available in glossy white or black; prices run a gamut from $2400 for a 795 DC to $600 for a 720 (those are per speaker prices, so multiply accordingly).

Ask HDBeat: err, we are stumped with this one

by Matt Burns posted Aug 17th 2006 at 1:39PM

Whenever someone sends a question over to us, we research it in depth and then post our best answer. Some of these questions are tough, but we can usually come up with it though, but this is the first time we have been stumped -- we are hoping our readers can help us out on this one. SJ sent over this question that we just cannot come up with a solid answer for.

I am planning to get an Xbox 360 soon, and an HDTV to go along with it. I decided to look for CRT HDTV's first since they provide the best picture and are cheaper, but I noticed that there are no CRT HDTV's with a native resolution of 720p (which is the 360's native resolution). All the CRTs have a res of 1080i...why is that? Is it some kind of industry standard or are there some technical issues related to it?

Does anyone know for sure (read: give sources) why there isn't any 720p CRT HDTVS?

Hitachi 32HLT79 and 37HLT79 1080p LCDs...aren't

by Richard Lawler posted Jun 7th 2006 at 7:29PM

Remember those too good to be true priced to move 32- and 37-inch Hitachi 1080p LCDs we told you about? Turns out they were just that, while the image processor inside the panels is 1080p, the screens themselves are 1366x768 (720p) native. The guys at TG Daily spoke with Hitachi and confirmed this, looking at the original press release it is easy to see how the mistake was made. It doesn't mention the actual resolution of the screens anywhere, despite highlighting the aforementioned processing, refresh rate model #s and price. The Hitachi rep is quick to tell us that for typical viewing distances for that screen size 720p will be just fine which may be true for most, but we'd prefer less processing instead of more, even if it is 1080p. Worse, such terminology makes the 1080p debate just that much more confused.

However if you really need a sub-$3,000 1080p TV LCD the Westinghouse 37-inch LVM-37w3 is available for much less than $2k and supports 1080p input, while the just announced LVM-47w1 47-inch model will also retail for less than $3,000. As an additional bonus, they have a very clear list of specifications on their website. We'll be watching to see if that Hitachi Ultravision 32HLT79 and 37HLT79 hit our local electronics store with big 1080p stickers on them.




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