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ContourHD helmet cam now shipping for aggro dads everywhere

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 17th 2009 at 7:01AM

ContourHD helmet cam now shipping for aggro dads everywhere
Some dads like grilling, some dads like football, and some dads like tacoing wheels on rocky downhill mountain bike runs. For that latter group (and any other similarly action-oriented folks of either gender), the VholdR ContourHD is now shipping just in time for Father's Day -- and the summer injury season. The 720p wearable cam was announced back in April and we recently received one for in-house testing. We'll provide our full impressions on it soon, but for now enjoy the thrilling red-light footage after the break captured at last week's Brammo Entertia test ride, or go ahead and pick up your own. MSRP is $299.99, but Amazon's selling them for $20 less and throwing in a $50 gift card to boot -- savings that will do little to offset the cost of fixing your broken clavicle if you don't take it easy on the whoopties.

Continue reading ContourHD helmet cam now shipping for aggro dads everywhere

Epix HD 720p movie streaming service eyes-on

by Richard Lawler, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 12:30PM Featured Story


After making sure there was a domain name locked down for Epix, the new premium movie network formed by Studio 3 Networks (Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM) it was all about taking advantage of an early peek at the 720p Flash powered site to see what a new generation of home movie distribution has to offer. The tech end (opening up to invited users this week for beta testing) is powered by Akamai's variable bitrate streaming streaming technology, delivering up to 3mbps HD video with stereo audio all the way down (6 different levels) to 500kbps encodes. Where it surpasses current online offerings from the competition is the ability, thanks to the aforementioned studio backers, to provide many of the recent movies you want to see. Our impressions of the service and a few more pictures of the interface are after the break.

Continue reading Epix HD 720p movie streaming service eyes-on

SmallHD breaks out elegant 720p DP1 field monitor

by Darren Murph, posted May 5th 2009 at 1:27AM


Tired of those totally vanilla field monitors -- particularly those with a resolution half that of the camcorder you're using? Yeah, so was SmallHD. The aforesaid startup has just launched its one-day-only pre-order of the forthcoming DP1, an elegant 720p field monitor that's a drastic departure from the norm. Encased in anodized aluminum, this 8.9-inch LED-backlit panel boasts a native 720p resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio, 300 nits of brightness, full RGB color control, 178-degree viewing angles, an array of mounting points and a slew of inputs (HDMI, composite, component, VGA and S-Video). In the box, you'll find the monitor itself, a 12V power supply, HDMI / component cables and a Neoprene sleeve to keep it safe whilst on the go. It's available for pre-order right now at $749 in black or silver, though you'll lose out on the sleeve if you don't get your order in by midnight ET tonight. Shipments are expected to begin in around a month.

ESPN prepping its first HD NFL draft coverage

by Richard Lawler, posted Apr 23rd 2009 at 4:36PM


Sure, ESPN's been taking advantage of widescreen to cover the NFL Draft, but it's still a bit surprising that the 2009 Draft Weekend is the first one ready for HDTV, getting beaten to the punch by the WNBA. Check out the picture above for a quick comparison of the 2008 screen (bottom) to the new 2009 compression format (top), shot in HD and better able to take advantage of the 16x9 frame. Also new for '09? If you haven't noticed already, Todd McShay's gone all CNN on us with a "perceptive pixel touch screen" to swipe around player stats and draft possibilities, along with 21 remote cameras following potential draftees on both days. Check the gallery for bigger versions, then resume your 5th mock draft of the day, unfortunately for us, it probably won't include the Detroit Lions doing the smart thing and picking an offensive lineman first.

Gallery: ESPN 2009 NFL Draft

  • 2009 NFL Draft Presentation
  • 2008 NFL Draft presentation
  • Todd McShay's

Panasonic's AG-HMC40 does 1080p24 on something of a budget

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 20th 2009 at 9:43AM

Panasonic's AG-HMC40 does 1080p24 on something of a budget
Panasonic's latest camcorders have been well-liked by the masses, but haven't quite had enough features to appease those consumers with higher expectations -- or professionals on limited budgets. To captivate the eyes and ears of that prosumer market the company has announced the AG-HMC40, a 2.2 pound semi-pro cam that will do 1080i or 720p at 60 frames-per-second, but more important for many can manage a cinematic 1080p at 24 frames-per-second, all written to SDHC cards. With 10.6 megapixel stills and a 12x optical zoom on tap it sounds like a very well-rounded offering, and, while $3,195 may not fit into every budget, it should do well for modestly funded aspiring filmmakers when it ships in August -- just in time for capturing some back-to-school teen angst drama.

General Hospital prescribes itself a daily dose of 720p

by Steven Kim, posted Apr 7th 2009 at 9:04PM

General Hospital logoIt's been three years since we wished for General Hospital to deliver us some medical melodrama in HD, and in a couple of weeks it'll be coming. Just in time for the May sweeps that are now only partially screwed up due to the delayed DTV transition, the longest running soap in the biz -- 46 years and 11,500 episodes -- will be getting a 720p makeover on April 23rd. ABC has spent a tidy $3 million to equip the production facilities for HD, including seven HD cameras and five Panasonic professional plasmas that keep our hearts warm. ABC is hoping the jump to HD will help increase the realism of the show, and while we're never ones to underestimate the power of HD picture quality, we suspect the story lines might need a little more than 720p to get us to suspend our disbelief.

Sanyo ships Xacti VPC-FH1, VPC-WH1, VPC-TH1 and VPC-CG10 camcorders

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 2nd 2009 at 9:01PM


Sanyo's line of Dual Cameras -- which are described as camcorders at heart with formidable still capture capabilities -- is now shipping to select retailers in the United States and Mexico. The crew is comprised of the VPC-FH1, which handles 1080p at 60fps along with 8 megapixel stills, and the VPC-TH1, which shoots at 720p and sports a 30x optical zoom. Also included is the waterproof (up to ten feet, anyway) 720p VPC-WH1 and the otherwise vanilla VPC-CG10. As for pricing? Try $499.99, $299.99, $399.99 and $199.99 in order of mention.

Gallery: Sanyo ships Xacti VPC-FH1, VPC-WH1, VPC-TH1 and VPC-CG10 camcorders

Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been

by Richard Lawler, posted Mar 31st 2009 at 7:02PM


Using PCs to do what Nintendon't, YouTube user renebarahona is running Wii games in HD resolutions through the Dolphin emulator. One peek at Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 720p is enough to make any of us wonder what a world where Nintendo didn't hate HD (even yanking 480p capability from the Gamecube, we're still not over that) would be like. These games aren't merely upscaled like DVDs, they're being rendered in a high resolution natively with extra anti-aliasing Xbox 360 BC-style, producing surprisingly crisp visuals. Check out the embedded videos after the break (remember to hit the HD button) for an example, including how to set this up on your own computer.

Continue reading Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been

Forever Plus finally takes a pico projector to 720p

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 26th 2009 at 5:59AM


Well, would you look at that! It's not 3M, Dell, Toshiba or any other mega-corp taking the totally tired pico projector from lackluster to 720p -- oh no, it's, um, Forever Plus. Said beamer has been around the block a time or two, but given the native 1,280 x 768 native resolution, we couldn't help but take notice. Reportedly, the 0.49- x 0.59- x 0.19-inch box outputs via HDMI and packs a lamp life of 30,000 hours, but we definitely have serious doubts about the quality. And the actual availability, for that matter.

Samsung's OmniaHD: world's first phone to capture 720p video?

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 15th 2009 at 3:04PM Breaking News


We've no way to confirm at the moment, but if SamsungCentral is to be believed, Samsung's newly announced OmniaHD will soon become the world's first cellphone to record 720p video. Unlike the HTC Touch HD -- which had precisely zero high-def amenities -- it seems the next breed of Omnia may actually live up to its moniker. Other purported specifications include an 8 megapixel camera and a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, though the resolution of the panel is currently unknown. Have we mentioned we can't wait to get our paws around this? Because we can't.

Orion 720p PC-in-HDTV dreams of greatness, ends up working retail

by Richard Lawler, posted Jan 11th 2009 at 12:27AM


Sadly, this 18.5-inch Orion LCD from Japan will never reach the heights of an Allio or Q42 display, destined for the lowly life of corporate hospitality and POS despite its 720p (1280 x 768) resolution, Intel CPU and Windows XP Embedded OS. Despite having just enough horsepower to drive streaming FLV and WMA, support 1GB flash memory and iEPG it's unlikely any true HD bliss is ever to bless any of these 50,000¥ ($549 U.S.) screens.

1080i / 720p broadcast HD debate revisited

by Richard Lawler, posted Jan 6th 2009 at 8:33AM


Looking back at the 1080i vs. 720p debate, Electronic House breaks down the broadcast formats we're left with for our televised HD. With the major players locked down and millions of dollars of equipment already in place it's basically a check of where the dust has settled (ABC & Fox on 720p, most others on 1080i.) These days our worries usually tend more towards overcompression and other maladies potentially affecting the signal than its native resolution -- at least until 1080p & 3D hit the stage.

Kodak's rugged Zx1 handheld camcorder does 720p in the jungle

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 4th 2009 at 2:13PM


Kodak's 720p Zi6 has only been out for six months, but already we're seeing what's likely its beefed-up successor. The mighty Zx1 is debuting here at CES, and with it comes a 2-inch LCD monitor, easy upload to YouTube, 720p HD video capture at 60fps, an IP43-certified weather-resistant design and an SD / SDHC card slot that can understand media up to 32GB in size. All told, users can capture up to ten hours of high-def video, and the bundled HDMI cable makes showing off recent grabs as easy as pie. The Zx1 will arrive in five colors (pink, blue, yellow, red and black) and will include pre-charged AA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries alongside a charger. We'll bet Creative and Pure Digital have a little something of their own to show off before this one lands in April for $149.95. Full release is (where else?) after the break.

Continue reading Kodak's rugged Zx1 handheld camcorder does 720p in the jungle

Creative's Vado HD 720p pocket camcorder reviewed: toe-to-toe with Mino HD

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 11th 2008 at 12:46PM


First was the netbook craze -- suddenly, everyone was cool with a miniaturized laptop. Now, the same sentiment has apparently bled over to the camcorder realm, with the Mino HD, Zi6 and Vado HD all vying for that precious space in your front left pocket. The latter, Creative's latest, was recently reviewed over at CNET, and while it'd be wonderful to find a clear cut winner, critics simply couldn't say that it was definitively superior in all ways to Flip's formidable rival. In short, the Vado HD's video quality was slightly less awesome than that of the Mino HD, but the feature set on the Creative was found to be far superior. Before pulling the trigger on either, we'd have a peek at the read link to see what aspects are most important to you.

Hands-on shots of Creative's Vado HD 720p pocket camcorder

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 9th 2008 at 10:31AM


Creative's recently unleashed Vado HD 720p pocket camcorder isn't dramatically different (design wise, anyway) than its predecessor, but it's obviously what's tucked inside that counts. Still, we have to admire the subtle but meaningful updates that Creative has applied here, and while beauty will strike everyone differently, we personally like the direction the Vado HD has taken. For a few more looks, saunter on down to the read link.




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