[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:33 PM. Filed under: General
Archives
Friday, March 30, 2007
While many people aren't aware of the of it, there's good chance that their digital video recorders have the ability to be programmed to record specific TV shows from places other than the living room. This is especially true if the digital video recorder in question happens to be a TiVo. That's because TiVo provides an online service that can allow you to access your TiVo digital video recorder over the Internet and program it to record a TV show or movie for you to watch later. The service comes free as part of your TiVo subscription and is available on TiVo Series1, TiVo Series2, and TiVo Series3 boxes.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The much hyped format war between Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD-DVD high definition digital video disc formats is all about which format can make itself most appealing to consumers. Unfortunately both formats have been a tough sell to consumers because so far it hasn't been clear which one will come out on top on the format war. It's generally agreed that only one format will come out on top, and with memories of the format war between Beta-max and VHS video tapes only about two decades old, many consumers are afraid of getting burned by investing in technology that will soon be obsolete.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:32 PM. Filed under: General
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
There was a time when cable TV reigned supreme as the vehicle of choice for receiving TV programming in homes all over the country. It had the advantages of providing many more channels than could be received over the air and the reception was unaffected by atmospheric disturbances. It wasn't perfect and there were other ways of getting TV into homes- like over the air broadcasting, video cassettes, and satellite TV- but for the vast majority of the TV watching populace, cable TV struck the right balance of cost, practicality, and variety of programming.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:32 PM. Filed under: General
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
High definition television, or HDTV, is finally poised to become mainstream. Prices on high definition television sets are constantly falling. Supporting technology like digital video recorders can handle high definition television programming. More and more video game systems are taking advantage of high definition technology, and best of all, there are more channels that feature HDTV programming now than ever before.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 09:01 AM. Filed under: General
Monday, March 26, 2007
It's now secret that the United States has been slow to warm up to the idea of HDTV in some respects. After all, HDTV has been prevalent in Japan for years, and even Europe is rapidly warming up to it. This lack of response to HDTV from the American public has stemmed from a combination of ignorance about high definition television, and a fear that newer technologies like HDTV haven't been well enough proven to be worth investing in. This shouldn't be surprising to anyone given that HDTV hasn't been particularly well publicized until recently and the industry as well as retailers haven't been very good about educating the public.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 08:22 AM. Filed under: General
Sunday, March 25, 2007
While many people who pay attention to technology would like to believe that the most advanced and well designed technology will be more commercially successful than a poorly designed competitor; economics, advertising, and pure dumb luck often prevail in determining which technologies will be successful. This has definitely been the case in the format war between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray high definition DVD formats.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:29 PM. Filed under: General
Saturday, March 24, 2007
For years computer manufacturers have been trying to get people to integrate computers into their home entertainment centers. Originally the idea was to use media adapters to display computer content on a living room TV. This isn't a new idea, in fact it's been around since well before the Internet existed in any recognizable form. The original idea was that people could save money by not having to buy a computer monitor in addition to the TV screen that they presumably had anyway. In addition to that, a media adapter would allow computer owners to work on their computers and play video games in the comfort of their living rooms. Unfortunately for computer manufacturers and possibly for consumers, this trend didn't catch on. Later, the Internet provided new impetus for the idea that media adapters could marry the TV with the computer because in addition to word processing, spreadsheets, and gaming, people could also surf the web and send email from the Lay-Z-Boy or the couch. Despite the growing popularity of dedicated video gaming systems that tied into TV sets during this era, the idea of a personal computer in the living room still didn't catch on.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:28 PM. Filed under: General
Friday, March 23, 2007
Say you're a mobile phone service provider who has pushed for the past decade to sign up more and more people to mobile phone service, but now the growth of your customer base is slackening. Profits are still good, but the shareholders in your company expect to see growth. What do you do? If you're like a number of mobile phone service providers, you look for ways to provide your existing customers with new and attractive services- like video.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:27 PM. Filed under: General
Thursday, March 22, 2007
In the format ware between Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's High Definition Digital Video disc formats, the two companies are constantly looking for ways to get a leg up on the competition.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 08:06 AM. Filed under: General
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Portable video devices are among the recent advances in compact TV technology. These wonders of modern technology make it possible to watch video just about anywhere because of their portability and large capacity for storing video in digital form. The only problem with making devices for watching video that are extremely compact is that the smaller the portable device, the smaller the screen is that can fit into its casing. Another major disadvantage of these portable video devices is that no matter how big or small the screen is, you have to tilt your head down to see it.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:26 PM. Filed under: General
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
In the format war between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray high definition television digital video disc formats, just about any development could influence which one will come out on top.
Both high def DVD formats use blue laser technology to encode enough data to contain a full length movie, plus its bonus features, in High Definition Television on a normal sized optical disc. The format war comes from the fact that even though both formats are based on similar technologies, they aren't compatible because the player for one type of disc can't play discs in the other format. It's generally agreed that there can be only one winner in the format war and some experts argue that it's possible that neither format will survive the conflict.
Both high def DVD formats use blue laser technology to encode enough data to contain a full length movie, plus its bonus features, in High Definition Television on a normal sized optical disc. The format war comes from the fact that even though both formats are based on similar technologies, they aren't compatible because the player for one type of disc can't play discs in the other format. It's generally agreed that there can be only one winner in the format war and some experts argue that it's possible that neither format will survive the conflict.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:25 PM. Filed under: General
Monday, March 19, 2007
There have been a lot of developments over the years that have greatly improved the ability of TV enthusiasts to take the TV programming that they love with them wherever they go. This ability to make TV portable is a boon to people who love TV, but lead busy lives. This is especially true for people who spend a lot of time traveling because of all of the down time that traveling offers the well equipped TV fan to catch up on his or her favorite shows.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:24 PM. Filed under: General
When you're shopping around for a television service provider, you want one that can give you its all to provide you with all of the great programming and extra features that you deserve. Direct TV has done this for over fifteen and a half million customers and can do it for you to.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 08:12 AM. Filed under: General
Sunday, March 18, 2007
The recent drop in prices of HDTV equipment, and flat screen HDTV sets using a variety of technologies in particular, have proven to be a boon for consumers. Especially around the holiday season. But there is a fair amount of evidence that the manufacturers and retailers of High Definition Television products are suffering because of the several economic factors and that they'll continue to suffer for the months and years to come.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:22 PM. Filed under: General
Saturday, March 17, 2007
The manufacturers and marketers of television technology are in a unique position because in order to be successful they not only have to make sure that they're making high quality and reliable devices, but also that there's programming to be viewed on those devices. Not only that, but the programming has to be captivating enough for the owners of the devices to want to invest in the device to begin with- something that the manufacturers don't have any direct control over. This hasn't been much of a problem overall since TV has been around for over half a century and both manufacturers and producers have a pretty good idea of what they're doing, but now that devices with smaller screens are available the entertainment industry is scrambling to figure out how to take advantage of them.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:22 PM. Filed under: General
Friday, March 16, 2007
Electronic devices keep getting more and more portable. This can be seen in the preponderance of laptop computers and the ever increasing number of features and power that are built into them. It can also be seen in the number and variety of portable media players that are used for entertainment, and palm top computers that are used for productivity.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:21 PM. Filed under: General
When most people think about the movies and the motion picture industry in general, they think of Hollywood. While Hollywood is undeniably a movie making powerhouse that largely drives the entertainment industry all around the world, it's paralleled in many ways by another area that's highly focused on cranking out cinematic entertainment. This other movie making mecca is known as Bollywood and it's based in Mumbai India.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 07:11 AM. Filed under: General
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Over the past few years the growing popularity of high definition television equipment- flat screen HDTV displays in particular- has prompted a lot of retailers who previously hadn't carried electronics, or who had only carried a limited selection of electronics, to sell a much greater variety and quantity of high end electronics. The result of this has been a glut of flat screen high definition TV's on the market and an extreme level of competition among all of the various retailers to gain a decent market share. This competition and the glut of devices on the market has led retailers to lower prices to the point where they have trouble showing a profit. In fact the situation for retailers has gotten so bad that Circuit City recently posted a loss. All of this isn't surprising with companies like Wal-Mart and Home Depot trying to get in on the action and selling TV's themselves.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:20 PM. Filed under: General
One of the major developments that many the mobile phone and TV production industries are both banking on is a surge in interest in watching TV on small screens. This is largely fueled by the mobile phone industry itself which is looking for ways to gain market share and increase profits in an environment where the market for the products and services it currently offers is pretty much saturated. The general idea is that if mobile communications service providers can offer the option of watching video on mobile phones- and maintain a high level of quality with that video- they will attract a whole new group of customers and gain a competitive edge on companies that don't adopt the technology as quickly or effectively.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 07:12 AM. Filed under: General
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
TV technology provides a lot of examples of great gifts to give during the holidays. These gifts include TV sets themselves, portable video players, high def DVD players, and a lot of other gadgets and gizmos that go with these things. One thing that's a real hit- especially around the holidays- is a video gaming system.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:20 PM. Filed under: General
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
There are a lot of different types of television technology that are available for the holidays, and most if not all of them have dropped in price just in time to make great gifts for the ones you love. Of course HDTV (or high definition television) technology is always a winner and there are lots of options available in that realm for the holidays. HDTV sets, high def digital video players, and even video game platforms that can display their video in high definition are all possibilities.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:19 PM. Filed under: General
Many people who love TV are familiar with DVR technology. DVR (which is short for digital video recorder) technology allows its users to record TV shows and movies on an internal hard drive, so that they can then watch the programming multiple times or when it's most convenient for them. Although the technology does many of the same things that older VCR technology does, digital video recorders reflect a lot of the improvements that have taken place in television technology in general. Most of these improvements reflect the growing merger between TV technology and computer technology. For example, the fact that all of the video is recorded digitally on a hard drive means that the playback will have very close to the same quality of the initial broadcast. The fact that digital video recorders are very often used to record TV programs that are delivered in digital TV format means that the playback will have the same high quality that's associated with digital TV. If the same programming was recorded on a VCR, it would be downgraded to the analog TV format that VCR's are limited to. In that sense recording digital TV on a VCR would negate the benefits of having digital TV to begin with.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 07:10 AM. Filed under: General
Monday, March 12, 2007
High definition television, or HDTV, is finally poised to become mainstream. Prices on high definition television sets are constantly falling. Supporting technology like digital video recorders can handle high definition television programming. More and more video game systems are taking advantage of high definition technology, and best of all, there are more channels that feature HDTV programming now than ever before.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:18 PM. Filed under: General
Warner Brothers is taking a step that could end the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray high definition DVD formats. The format war started when both Sony and Toshiba released their own proprietary high definition DVD formats at almost the same time. Both formats are capable of storing enough data to make up a high definition movie plus all of its bonus features on a single optical disc the same size of a standard DVD or compact disc. The format war is the result of the fact that Blu-ray disc players cannot play HD-DVD discs, and HD-DVD players cannot play Blu-ray discs. The format war has also resulted in consumers- who are already somewhat confused by high definition television in general- being slow to adopt either format for fear of being left with useless equipment and or discs down the road.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 07:14 AM. Filed under: General
Technology has an enormous amount of power to make life more convenient, more enjoyable, and all around better. Nobody understands this better than Direct TV, which is why it's gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that it provides plenty of great user friendly technology that enhances the experience of watching its programming.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 07:09 AM. Filed under: General
Sunday, March 11, 2007
This holiday season there are a ton of electronic gifts that take advantage of computer technology to
deliver and enjoy television. This marriage of computer technology and television technology is
something that the general public has resisted for a long time, but if the recent surge in popularity of
devices that combine the two is any indication, the consumer apathy of the past was largely because the technology of the past wasn't well enough developed to be convenient. Now, as people have become more computer literate and computer technology has become more user friendly, the two have finally met in the middle in such a way as to make television technology that uses computers attractive to everyone.
deliver and enjoy television. This marriage of computer technology and television technology is
something that the general public has resisted for a long time, but if the recent surge in popularity of
devices that combine the two is any indication, the consumer apathy of the past was largely because the technology of the past wasn't well enough developed to be convenient. Now, as people have become more computer literate and computer technology has become more user friendly, the two have finally met in the middle in such a way as to make television technology that uses computers attractive to everyone.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:18 PM. Filed under: General
Saturday, March 10, 2007
While television technologies that center around high definition television get a lot of attention these days, there are also other exciting things going on in the world of television technology and entertainment technology in general. Most of these are centered around the merging of computer and television technology. The computer industry has been trying to get into people's living rooms for a while now, but in general they haven't been able to get past the idea that the computer belongs in the home office and all of the television type entertainment components- like the VCR, the video gaming system, and of course the television set itself- still belong in the living room.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:17 PM. Filed under: General
Friday, March 09, 2007
Recently the CEO of the large chain of video stores, Blockbuster Video, stated that downloading movies in high definition format isn't practical enough to hurt Blockbuster's business even if Blockbuster ended up renting out high definition digital video discs rather than getting into the business of downloading videos.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:16 PM. Filed under: General
Thursday, March 08, 2007
It's common knowledge the the prices of high definition television sets have been falling fast, but electronics manufacturer Sony has come to suspect that the prices are falling too fast. There are numerous examples of this. Large Plasma screen TV's are now retailing for under a thousand dollars and it's even possible to get massive rear mount projection TV's for less than seven hundred dollars.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:14 PM. Filed under: General
One of the biggest ways that new technology is changing the way people watch TV is by allowing people to watch TV on their computers using streaming Internet video or by downloading entire video files. Many major TV networks are using this technology to expand the number of people who can watch their most popular TV shows. These TV shows are largely free for download, but the catch comes from the fact that you're required to watch advertisements along with the TV show if you want to watch the TV show itself.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 08:17 AM. Filed under: General
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
With Sony and Toshiba duking it out in the marketplace in an effort to bring their proprietary high definition digital video disc formats out on top, both now face a threat from the outside in the form of a new DVD player that claims to be able to up convert standard definition DVD's all the way up to the high definition resolution of 1080p. Both Sony and Toshiba have released their own proprietary high definition DVD formats with the result of a format war between the two. The winning format promises to make a lot of money for the company that introduced it in the form of royalties and licensing fees. The problem is that consumers have been slow to adopt either format because of fear of being left with technology and media that are only supported by the losing format.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:14 PM. Filed under: General
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Dell Computer recently introduced a lap top computer that is capable of playing Blu-ray high definition digital video discs. This model- the XPSTM M1710- retails for about three thousand seven hundred dollars and can play movies off of Blu-ray discs as well as standard DVD's. When playing Blu-ray discs, the lap top can display video in resolutions of up to 1080p which is pretty impressive for a device that's primarily designed to be a tool rather than a source of entertainment. The XPSTM M1710 can also read media off of compact discs as well.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:13 PM. Filed under: General
When you sign up for satellite TV service from Direct TV, you get a lot more than just a few channels of television. That's because everything Direct TV does is designed to add value for the customer, which ultimately means providing you with the best service possible. There are a number of ways in which this happens, including a huge selection of programming, a variety of programming packages, flexibility in programming packages, and superior technology.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 08:20 AM. Filed under: General
Monday, March 05, 2007
Panasonic has recently announced the release of high definition television camcorders designed for use by the general public. The two are designed primarily to allow people to film their home videos in the high definition format and then play them back on their high definition television sets.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 03:01 PM. Filed under: General
Sunday, March 04, 2007
As part of the ongoing effort by Toshiba and its supporters to give its HD-DVD high definition digital video disk a competitive edge over Sony's Blu-ray format. The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray has been going on since the two were first introduced and is prompted by the fact that players and disk drives designed for one format won't play the other. It's generally agreed that only one format (if either) will survive the format war, and for that reason consumers have been very slow to warm to either out of fear that they'll sink a lot of money into a technology that will be useless in the near future.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 02:58 PM. Filed under: General
Saturday, March 03, 2007
In an effort to win the format war between the Blu-ray high definition digital video disk format and its rival HD-DVD format, Sony has put a Blu-ray drive in its latest video game platform: the Play Station 3. In order further promote the Blu-ray disc format, Sony has included a movie on a Blu-ray disc along with just about every Play Station 3 sold so far. Blu-ray disks- the the rival HD-DVD format- are both the same size as normal compact disks, but pack enough information to display movies and other high definition television programming at resolutions as high as 1080p. The two formats are incompatible and it's generally agreed that only one will emerge as the dominant format at the end of the format war. Including the Blu-ray drive on the Play Station 3 is a tactic to promote the Blu-ray format and turns the Play Station 3 into a high definition DVD player as well as a video game platform.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 02:58 PM. Filed under: General
Friday, March 02, 2007
As the holidays approach, the format war between Sony's Blu-ray high definition digital video disk format and the rival HD-DVD format made by Toshiba, is heating up. Both sides are hoping to take advantage of the twin desires of American shoppers to give the best gifts and to get the best deals during the holidays. To this end, both Toshiba and Sony are each pushing their own pet products which they hope will tip the scales in their favor.
[ Read More... ]
Posted by larry dixon at 02:57 PM. Filed under: General
