Televisions

So much of the electronics industry is defined by opposite extremes--the smallest of the small and the biggest of the big. Nowhere is that more evident than in TVs. On one hand, we lust after displays the size of a billboard; on the other, we covet things like this combo LCD TV and DVD player with a 7-inch screen.

There are other TVs and DVD players in this size and smaller, of course, but Hannspree has combined the two into one product that weighs less than 2 pounds. And unlike portable products made primarily for the car, as Popgadget points … Read more

Remember Roxio? You most likely used its Easy CD Creator to burn CDs from your PC before iTunes came out. (Ah, the Napster days.) Well, Roxio makes a lot of other software, too, and now it seems to be getting into the Blu-ray/HD DVD wars.

Roxio released new software on Wednesday that will allow people to organize and burn movies to both DVD and Blu-ray recordable discs. The Roxio DVDit Pro HD is available at Roxio.com for about $500. It does DVD DLT and Blu-ray Disc CMF mastering with the ability to add CSS or AACS protection from … Read more

Eighty percent of the world's DVD players come from China, so what happens when that country decides DVD is a dumb format? We're about to find out.

On Wednesday some 20 Chinese companies unveiled their "EVD" players, which aim to replace DVD with a format they say offers better picture & sound -- though not high def, more capacity and stronger copy protection (that's ironic). The firms behind EVD predict they will cease making DVD players for their home market by 2008 and start exporting EVD players around the world even sooner, in 2007.

If … Read more

In these inflationary times, it's hard to argue against a media player that costs about $50. That's cheap even by Chinese standards.

So even if Yoto's "V200" isn't of premium quality, the price makes up for a lot. The player isn't completely stripped-down either: As Electronista says, "The V200 is capable of playing DivX and H.264 content at a full 30 frames per second and will also read eBooks as well as JPEG photos."

It actually looks pretty good too, with a slim design that maximizes space for a 2.… Read more

Sony says holiday sales have been better than expected this season.

Sony Electronics President and Chief Operating Officer Stan Glasgow said Monday during a media roundtable in New York that this was due to his company's decision to avoid deeply discounting its products on Black Friday, according to a Reuters report.

"We are not a promotional company--Sony is a premium brand and we don't become the loss leaders in the industry," Glasgow said. "We generally don't expect to have a very good Thanksgiving or just-after Thanksgiving. It's been better than we expected and … Read more

Sirius Satellite Radio may start beaming video through its service by end of next year, according to comments made by boss Mel Karmazin at a media summit this week in New York. Don't expert to see Howard Stern and his naked guests; The company will initially focus on video content that keeps the kids quiet in the back seat. That's probably the easiest sell to current users and a fairly affordable type of content for Sirius to license.

Bits is bits, so sending video shouldn't be much harder than audio with the main difference being that the … Read more

It's too bad that Halloween is over, or you could have gone as Star Trek's Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge with these new high-resolution video glasses from RelaxView.

Similar products have long been on the market, of course, but these weigh less than 3 ounces without the bulk of other devices. The glasses have two LCDs with 640-by-480-pixel resolution and can project a 57-inch screen at distances of about 6.5 feet. As is the case with most things tiny, however, you'll need to pay for the privilege of wearing them--to the tune of about $600.

So you've just blown a month's salary on a plasma TV, and you're treating it like your first-born. Do you really want to pull out one of those janitorial-grade plastic bottles to keep it clean? Certainly not in front of company, we hope.

With that much money hanging on the wall, the least you can do is spend a few more bucks for a nicely designed cleaning solution like this one from AM Denmark, which comes in an "integrated spray container" made of acrylic and textile, according to Core77. For all its beautiful lines, however, … Read more

There's a simple reason that large flat-screen TVs have gained in popularity, and it's not just the cool factor. Even before their prices of plasmas and LCDs began to come down, longtime home theater enthusiasts simply got tired of their impractical projectors, which couldn't be used in the daytime without blacking out the room.

The "Supernova Screen," however, might bring be reason enough for some to switch back. Made by Danish company DNP, the screen uses a special filter to absorb light that would otherwise wash it out. At the same time, according to Electronista, … Read more