Shootout

BlackBerry Z10 camera versus iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3

BlackBerrys haven't always had the top cameras in the industry, but with the BlackBerry Z10's 8-megapixel camera, things are turning around.

In my tests so far, the Z10's shooter largely succeeds. Over the course of my testing period, I got some really nice outdoor shots, plus some crisp indoor photos of everything from food labels to receipts. Of course, not every indoor picture or portrait turned out great, but I found the images usable overall (check out my Z10 review for even more photos).

So let's see how it compares with two other high-quality smartphone cameras, … Read more

Panasonic VT50 wins Value Electronics 2012 TV picture quality shootout

Electronics retailer Value Electronics held its first 2012 flat-panel TV picture quality shootouts last weekend. The event was won by the Panasonic TC-P65VT50.

Panasonic's best plasma TV for 2012 beat out five other contenders. In descending order of average score (see the scorecard below), they were the Samsung PN64E8000 plasma, the Sharp Elite PRO-60X5FD LCD, the Samsung UNES8000 LCD, the LG 60PM9700 plasma and the Panasonic TC-L47WT50 LCD. Despite a lower average score, the voters gave the Elite second place overall however, ahead of the Samsung PNE8000.

The Panasonic VT50 outscored the others in color accuracy and general content … Read more

Sharp Elite wins Value Electronics' HDTV shootout

The winner of the 2011 HDTV shootout put on by Value Electronics last weekend was the Sharp Elite, an LED-based LCD TV with a full-array local dimming backlight that sells for around $5500.

According to the event scorecard (PDF, shown below), the Elite handily won two of the four picture quality categories: contrast ratio and black level. It fared the worst of the six contenders in color accuracy and was second-best in a category called "moving resolution (sharpness)."

The annual shootout--which I did not attend and which is not affiliated with CNET in any way--is the brainchild of Value Electronics proprietor Robert Zohn, whose high-end Scarsdale, N.Y., home theater retail store hosts the event.

Scores were derived based on votes from members of the shootout audience, which consisted of executives and senior engineers from CBS, ABC, and THX, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the National Association of TV Broadcasters (NAB), and manufacturers including Sharp LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony, as well as "serious a/vphiles and leading members of their respected user forums," according to Value Electronics. The shootout and voting took place over a period of two days, and attendees with obvious vested interests (like TV makers) were not allowed to vote.

All six of the participating TVs were calibrated by well-regarded HDTV experts, namely Ed Johnson, Dewayne Davis (known on AVS Forum and HighDefJunkies as D-Nice), and Kevin Miller, former TV reviewer for CNET and founder of TweakTV.… Read more

Study finds passive 3D TVs superior to active

A new study comparing the two current types of 3D TVs available for sale, active and passive, finds that passive 3D TVs had superior image quality to their active counterparts. I was personally surprised by the finding, since I've found the opposite in my reviews comparing the two types of 3D TVs.

The author of the study, Raymond Soneira, is the man behind the DisplayMate evaluation and calibration software. I've found his past work generally on target and well-researched, with plenty of supporting labs-based observations. This study, encapsulated in an article called 3D TV Display Technology Shoot-Out, is … Read more

Panasonic VT25 plasma wins HDTV shootout

New York independent home theater retailer Value Electronics has published the results of its annual 2010 flat-panel TV shootout, which pitted six high-end HDTVs against one another in a side-by-side comparison. The unanimous winner, as voted by the attendees of the event, was the Panasonic TC-P58VT25 plasma TV.

Five other high-end 3D TVs were included, with the following overall results:

1. Panasonic TC-P58VT25 (plasma) 2. Samsung PN58C8000 (plasma) 3. LG 55LX9500 (full-array local dimming LED-based LCD) 4. Sony KDL-55NX810 (edge-lit local dimming LED-based LCD) 5. Samsung UN55C8000 (edge-lit local dimming LED-based LCD) 6. Sharp LC-60LE925UN (edge-lit LED-based LCD)

As may be expected when evaluating many picture quality parameters, this ranking isn't exactly strict. According to the Value Electronics Web site: "When the audiences voted on the best picture quality Panasonic was the unanimous winner. Voting on LCDs split the votes between Sony and LG. Sony has a better picture straight on, but quality goes down rapidly when you move off-angle; some judges rated it #2, but the audiences voted in this order." The site also stresses that numbers 2, 3, and 4 are "almost tied for 2nd," and 5 and 6 are "almost tied for 3rd, and in a few ways had superior attributes."

The voting audience wasn't exactly a bunch of noobs. It was composed of executives and senior engineers from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), National Association of TV Broadcasters (NAB), and manufacturers including LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony, as well as "serious a/vphiles and leading members of their respected user forums."

The TVs were all professionally calibrated by well-regarded HDTV experts, namely Ed Johnson, Dewayne Davis (known on AVS Forum as D-Nice), and Kevin Miller, former TV reviewer for CNET and founder of TweakTV. Kevin breaks down many of the testing details in his blog post, which also includes links to benchmark test results for each TV. Robert Zohn, the founder and president of Value Electronics from the video after the break, stressed the unbiased nature of the shootout, and Zohn says he doesn't even sell the Sony NX810 entered into the competition.

… Read more

The game is on the line...

Goaaal! is a soccer shootout arcade game, in which you try to rack up the best score possible by taking successive shots on goal.

The interface is simultaneously simple and tricky: you have a fixed view, facing the goal (and the goalie), and you just flick your finger to kick the ball. The trickiness comes from mastering accuracy (requiring much trial and error), learning how to fire on the ground versus in the air, and figuring out how to put spin on the ball by flicking from one side or the other. You can also reposition the ball by holding … Read more

McMurray wins Daytona 500

The 2010 Nascar season got off to a wild start this month when the Budweiser Shootout practice at Daytona International Speedway was marred by some nasty multicar collisions. That hoopla only stirred the pot that much more for the build-up to the Daytona 500 that took place Sunday. If you're a betting man, the safe money on "who ya got" to win would probably have been Dale Earnhardt Jr., or last year's competition-killer and reigning Nascar champion Jimmie Johnson. But as the Daytona 500 unfolded, we learned that an upset was in the works as Jamie … Read more

Multicar crash at Daytona

I'm sure all of you auto racing fans are looking forward to this weekend, as on Sunday, Nascar presents one of the most famous events in modern racing history: the Daytona 500. The action at Daytona International Speedway is already underway with the Budweiser Shootout practice that took place last week, and if you think it was an uneventful precursor to the big race at Daytona this Sunday, then you were wrong. Why? Because Nascar got a start to its 2010 season not with a bang, but with a crunch as multiple cars became entangled in a nasty bang-up … Read more

This Week: A Salute to Bad Ass American Rides

This coming weekend, our country will be celebrating the annual Fourth of July holiday. And what better way to celebrate the rich history of the USA than with a week long tribute to some of the most bad ass American automobiles ever made? I sure can't think of a better way, so here we go with the Super Muscle Car Shootout!

This web video is actually a trailer for the Muscle Car Shootout that aired on the Speed Channel in 2006, but the cars showcased here are simply timeless. Some of the most powerful American performance car classics are … Read more