Televisions

HEVC, a new weapon in codec wars, to appear in September

A trade show in September will be the coming-out party for video technology called HEVC or H.265, a new arrival in a hotly contested market for the best approach to compression.

HEVC, short for High Efficiency Video Coding, is for encoding and decoding video streams so they can be stored or transmitted more economically than today's dominant H.264, aka AVC or Advanced Video Coding. Specifically, HEVC allies say it can deliver the same quality video as H.264 with half the network bandwidth.

The codec has been in the making for years, but it's now almost … Read more

Get a 19-inch LED HDTV for $59.98

Looking for a wee TV for the den, bedroom, kitchen, screened-in porch, or master bathroom? (Oh, like you've never thought about it.)

While supplies last (and they won't last long), Target has the Westinghouse EW19S4JW 19-inch LCD HDTV for $59.98, plus sales tax in most states and $9.99 for shipping.

Update: Aaaaaand...sold out, just as I expected. It's worth checking again throughout the day, as Target might free up more inventory, but seeing as this was a clearance item to begin with, it might just be gone. Bummer!

You might be able to avoid … Read more

OLED: What we know

Rumors are still flying about the next great TV technology: organic light-emitting diode.

It's difficult to pry info out of the companies involved, but I figured it was worth putting down what we know, what we think we know, and what we know we don't know, ya know?

OK, go.… Read more

Are letterboxed movies really 1080p?

CNET Reader Doug Hagemeister asks:

Hello! I was watching a movie on Blu-ray the other day filmed in the 21:9 aspect ratio and I realized that it technically wasn't "1080p" since about 1/4 of the screen was taken up by the horizontal black bars (called "letter boxing," correct?). Anyway, I was just wondering how many pixels were being used on the TV. Thank you!

Ah, letterboxing, how I love you.

To understand letterboxing, we have to talk about aspect ratio. HDTVs are 16x9, or 1.78:1. Slightly wider than they are tall, they're pleasantly rectangular. Old-fashioned tube TVs were 4x3, or 1.33:1, so closer to square. … Read more

Why 4K TVs are stupid (still)

Editors' Note: An updated article entitled Why Ultra HD 4K TVs are still stupid was published on January 28, 2013.

A few months ago, hot on the multitude of 4K TV announcements at CES, I wrote an article called "Why 4K TVs are stupid."

I was shocked, shocked to find so many angry, contrary opinions on the subject. I mean, this is the Internet. Surely everyone is cordial and like-minded.

The comment section was the usual bog of ad hominem, straw man, and plain nonsense arguments. But buried deep within the chaff were a few good questions worthy of rebuttal. So if you'll indulge...… Read more

Singapore scientists unveil multiscreen, social TV viewing experience

Scientists from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's School of Computer Engineering have unveiled "Social Cloud TV," which is essentially a multiscreen mobile TV experience.

Developed by a research team headed by assistant professor Wen Yonggang, "Social Cloud TV" lets users chat -- using video, voice, or text -- with their friends on the platform, as well as share their content on social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

They can access content that's stored locally, in the cloud, delivered via over-the-top (OTT) services (click here for more information on the technology) or shared using a Web browser on a smart TV or mobile device. Wen and his team developed the back-end processes -- such as a compression algorithm and media transcoding -- so that content is optimized for each device and screen size. … Read more

Six top TV values: Best screens for the buck

In 2012, we made some changes to the way we rate televisions, with the biggest one being the new Value score. CNET now apportions 40 percent of the total TV score to value. Whether it's worth $300 or $3,000, you want to know that the TV you're buying represents the best you can get for the price, and that's where Value comes in.

The following models scored superbly on Value, garnering either a 9 or a 10 on the scale. We've spoken at length about how good the Panasonic ST50 is for the money, and so it's only natural that it gets a 10. But it's not the only awesome value out there. Below you'll find five others, too, starting at a mere $250 and arranged in order of Value and overall CNET score.… Read more

iTunes vs. Amazon: What's the best video service on the iPad?

The future of TV, movies, and home entertainment feels like it's changing by the day, thanks to the impact of the digital revolution. Netflix is the top dog thanks to its $8 subscription streaming service, but your viewing choices are severely limited. For a la carte, pay-as-you-go services, Apple's iTunes has been the default choice for many when it comes to buying, renting, and viewing videos. Splitting the difference was Amazon's Instant Video: it offers a diverse library of pay-per-view TV shows and movies, plus a subset of "free" content for subscribers to the company'… Read more

BBC screens Olympics in 8K clarity

The U.K. public probably had its first encounter with 8K display technology thanks to recent screenings of the London Olympics at BBC's Broadcasting House. Engadget described the overall positive experience as akin to "looking through a window directly onto the Olympic Stadium."

The article added that even the tiniest figures in the larger-than-life projection appeared totally vivid and sharp, while the 60-frame-per-second footage was both artifact- and flicker-free. … Read more