Business News Holding

Tag: 1080p

  • XStreamHD Strengthens Pre-Launch Executive Team


    XStreamHD has boosted its executive team ahead of a national launch with the appointment of Jude Panetta as vice president of operations and Jack Wrigley as vice president of business development.

    The direct-to-home Full HD transport network company is to launch later this year, offering 1080p images and 7.1 surround sound through a USD $400 box.

    George Gonzalez, XStreamHD founder and CEO, said the new appointments will play important roles in its launch.

    He said their past experiences in the satellite communications and the HD music industries would be invaluable.

    "Jude will lead our efforts to commercialize products that consistently exceed customer expectation," he said. "Jack will be instrumental in building strategic business alliances for XStreamHD."

    George Gonzalez, XStreamHD founder and CEO

    Prior to joining XStreamHD, Panetta held senior executive roles at business units with communications systems manufacturer Andrew Corporation.

    Before joining XStreamHD, Wrigley served as VP of sales at HDGiants.

    MusicGiants, a unit of HDGiants, was the first digital download service to offer high definition music direct-to-consumers from all of the major music labels including Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, EMI, Concord Music Group and Naxos.

    Wrigley drove substantial sales volume increases, while successfully introducing new product offerings.

  • NEC Upconverting Chip Promises Sharper Full HD Image


    NEC Electronics has announced a new chip that reduces blurring when SD images and video are expanded and displayed in 1920 x 1080 resolution HDTVs.

    The µPD9280GM is also capable of supporting one billion colors (30-bits color depths – or "Deep Color"), which enhances color vividness and accuracy of display, according to the company.

    Another feature of the super-resolution ASSP is an increased operating frequency of 150 megahertz (MHz), compared to the previous 108 MHz.

    This enables the advanced processing of image data and boosts images with higher resolution even on full HD television broadcasts.

    The µPD9280GM’s super-resolution technology also enables high-resolution processing with just one frame of image data.

    This reduced processing load eliminates the need for expensive, external high-capacity memory.

    Conventional image-resolution technologies use a multiframe technique to process image data, which require large-capacity external memory – making it expensive and difficult to create hardware capable of real-time processing.

    NEC said the new chip will help to better archive valuable images, data and memories previously recorded with only low-resolution technology in various applications, from security camera and automotive backup camera to medical endoscope.

    Mass production is scheduled to begin in July 2009, starting from 100,000 units per month, and expected to reach approximately 1,000,000 units by 2010.

  • LG Offers First DivX HD 1080p Certified Blu-ray player


    LG has launched the first DivX HD 1080p certified Blu-ray player.

    The BD390 – originally displayed at CES in January – has an 802.11n WiFi module and support for DivX streaming from a DLNA server.

    It includes BD-Live support, 7.1-channel audio output, 1GB of inbuilt memory and a USB 2.0 socket.

    The BD390 also features support for Netflix, CinemaNow, NetCast, and YouTube streaming, and comes bundled with Nero MediaHome Essentials to connect the player to household PCs and media servers.

    In April, LG announced that its new range of HDTVs will be capable of playing full DivX HD 1080p videos.

    While DivX support may not be on everyone’s wish-list it will certainly appeal to the more tech-minded consumer.

    With DivX 7, a full two-hour HD film can be compressed to around 8 GB – so capable of being stored on a double-layer DVD.

    It also sets LG’s latest high-def player apart from the competition – certainly not a bad thing in today’s busy marketplace.

    Simon Kang, CEO and President of LG Home Entertainment, said incorporating support for DivX HD 1080p video is a key product differentiator.

    The player is available now for USD $399.95.

  • LG and DivX Announce First HDTVs With DivX HD 1080p Playback


    LG Electronics’ new range of HDTVs will be capable of playing full DivX HD 1080p videos.

    The company says the upcoming models will be the first device series capable of doing this – enabling consumers to play DivX HD videos from a PC or the Internet through a USB slot.

    With the DivX 7 software package, users can compress a full HD movie onto a USB stick or SD card, or several on a standard DVD.

    While HD video requires a plenty considerable of storage space, LG says the DivX technology allows approximately two hours of high-quality DivX HD video on an 8GB media card.

    Simon Kang, chief executive officer and president of LG Home Entertainment TVs Company, said that as people expand their DivX HD video collections they are looking for more convenient ways to watch them on their TVs.

    "We’ve given them the ultimate convenience by building support for DivX HD playback into our digital TVs," he said.

    More than 200 models of LG digital TVs have been DivX Certified, including the LH50, LH70, LH85, PS70 and PS80 series.

    In addition, a wider variety of innovative LG TVs are now DivX Certified for playback of full DivX HD.

    LG says its new line of TVs will be available in late May in the United States, and within the next eight days in Europe.

  • Belkin Flywire Delayed, Price Rises


    The launch of Belkin’s FlyWire has once again been delayed – this time until August.

    First announced at CES 2008, the initially promising-sounding wireless device streams 1080p HD content from multiple HDMI inputs to HDTV televisions using the 5GHz band.

    So the Flywire hub can be used to wirelessly connect devices such as Blu-ray players, receivers, video-game consoles, and set-top boxes to HDTVs and projectors.

    The company claims its device offers whole-home range that penetrates walls or windows. An IR backchannel allows users to control AV devices hidden behind cabinet doors or in other rooms.

    Automatic frequency hopping is designed to reduce conflicts with Wi-Fi or other signals.

    Originally due for release in the US in January, this has now shifted back to the end of the summer.

    Along with the release changes, Belkin has raised the price of the FlyWire from USD $1,000 to $1,500.

  • Canon Offers First Entry-Level DSLR With HD Video


    Canon today launched its Rebel T1i DSLR – its first-ever entry-level DSLR with 1080p HD video recording.

    The 15.1-megapixel camera uses the DIGIC 4 imaging processor to record either full 1080p video at 20 frames per second or 30 frames per second at 720p.

    Other notable specs include a 3.0-inch Live View screen, a Digic IV processor, ISO 12.8k sensitivity, and the same 18-55 IS EF-S kit lens as the XSi.

    Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon USA, described the latest addition to Canon’s Rebel lineup as "an entry-level juggernaut".

    "We are witnessing the emergence of a new phase in digital imaging history, as high-resolution still images and HD video can now both be produced in a hand-held device, for under USD $1,000," he said.

    The EOS Rebel T1i DSLR is scheduled for delivery by early May at an estimated retail price of USD $799.99.

  • 1080p Processing Added to Elgato H.264 Dongle


    Elgato has launched a successor to its Turbo.264 USB video conversion dongle with the addition of 1080p compatibility.

    Called the Elgato Turbo.264 HD, the upgraded – and much faster – device converts videos into the H.264 format from camcorders and digital cameras.

    The converted video is compatible with iPods, iPhones, Apple TV and Sony’s PSP and similar devices.

    Users simply plug the dongle into a Mac and the software allows video to be previewed and trimmed before converting – without the need to import into iMovie.

    The device also adds support for HD camcorder formats such as AVCHD as well as MPEG-2- and MPEG-4-encoded HD content.

    Elgao says that while it normally takes an hour to make a fifteen minute movie from video taken on an AVCHD camcorder, the Turbo.264 HD takes less than 20 minutes.

    The Turbo.264 HD is priced at USD $150/ €149.

  • 1080p Video Possible With Intel's New Atom Chipset


    Poor video acceleration – stuttering and frame rate drops – is something of a blight for netbooks when it comes to playing HD video.

    Now Intel has confirmed that the GN40 chipset for Atom chips, when paired with the Atom N280 processor, is capable of playing 1080p video.

    That doesn’t, however, stretch to Blu-ray HD footage.

    An Intel product manager has told Fudzilla that the GN40 is "designed to do 1080p HD playback for typical broadband internet content".

    The semiconductor firm says the more advanced graphics acceleration in GN40 can decode most common bitrates of the full HD resolution without the problems of poor video acceleration encountered with the 945 chipsets used with most Atom-based netbooks.

    It is likely that Microsoft’s own compressed HD format, 1080p WMV, will be playable through the GN40.

    The same may not be true for H.264 and VC1 decoding.

    This will be encouraging for NVIDIA, which has its Ion platform – capable of bringing Full HD-capabilities to the netbook.

    However, Intel says the chipset wasn’t engineered to enable full Blu-ray capability "where the bitrates and demands of multi-layer content are significantly higher than that of internet HD content" – as high as 24Mbps for the video as well as extra layers like picture-in-picture commentary.

    So when are we likely to see a successor to GN40 that is capable of Blu-ray video?

  • Hi-Den Launches First HDMI 1080p Photo Viewer







    It seems peculiar that with the drive towards making HDTVs all-singing, all-dancing Internet-connected marvels, little had been done to improve something as simple as enjoying your photos on the big screen.

    Now Hong-Kong-based Hi-Den Vision has popped up with what it claims is the world’s first HDMI 1080p digital photo viewer.

    The HD-0310 is a compact, slim and easy-to-use device that allows photos, video clips and music to be displayed directly from memory cards onto HDTVs.

    Hi-Den are – sensibly, I suppose – making the comparison between a digital photo frame and their device, both in terms of the price and the screen size.

    "Digital photo frames are one solution to viewing photos," said a spokesman. "But for a quality digital photo frame, it will cost around USD $150-250.00.

    "We are offering consumers the ability to view photos on a large HDTV but at a cheaper price."

    The HD-0310 features 16 transition effects, slide interval time, random or sequential playback for photo viewing.

    Its remote control also allows play/pause, next/previous, rotate, zoom in/out, select between photo/video and music.

    The suggested retail price is USD $59.90.

  • BitGravity Offers 1080p HD Live Video Streaming







    BitGravity announced today that it is launching a live digital video service that will allow users to stream Flash-based HD video over the Internet.

    The BG Live HD service can stream live events in 1080p or 720p resolution and doesn’t require a viewing client to be downloaded.

    The content delivery network (CDN) provider, making the announcement at DEMO 2009, said the new service was the first affordable, true HD, online streaming service for live events in 1080p or 720p resolution.

    Perry Wu, co-founder and CEO of BitGravity, said the notion of HD live broadcasting over the Internet is not earth shattering.
    However, he said doing it in a way that enables wide adoption is.

    Perry Wu, CEO BitGravity

    "Technology is not meaningful if we only deliver four out of five requirements that customers demand," he said.

    "TV-quality 720p and 1080p HD with only a few seconds delay off live, no client download, simple set-up, scalability, and affordability are the table stakes for being a player in this space."

    Last October, BitGravity announced the release of an application programming interface (API), capable of supporting cutting-edge interactive video applications.

    Based in Burlingame, California, the company launched a standard-definition version of the live online streaming service at last year’s DEMO event.

    Since then it has live streamed events such as the Democratic and Republican national conventions and President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

    Wu said BG Live HD, provides TV-quality video with just a few seconds of delay.

    He said the service has low hardware start-up costs.

    The HD H.264 live streaming software will initially be offered at no price premium over SD H.264 delivery.

    To stream live with an HD camera and Internet connection, BitGravity requires only an Apple Mac Pro loaded with BitGravity transcoding software, a PCI expansion card, and an HDMI or HDSDI source connected to BitGravity’s network.

    The new service streams data at a rate of 1.5- 2 megabits per second, which most cable modems and DSL lines can handle.
    BG Live HD will be generally available in April.