Posts Tagged ‘panasonic’

DirecTV 3D broadcasts officially announced, coming in June

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on January 7th, 2010

Buried in Panasonic's flood of CES 2010 announcements is the official confirmation that DirecTV will be first in the U.S. to offer 3D TV. The three dedicated channels (PPV, DirecTV On Demand and a free 3D sample demo) offered at launch will be "presented by Panasonic" for the first year they're on-air and available to all DirecTV HD customers via a software upgrade. Additional content partners include AEG/AEG Digital Media, CBS, Fox Sports/FSN, Golden Boy Promotions, HDNet, MTV, NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting System -- are we the only ones hoping the Mayweather/Pacquiao bout gets pushed back and broadcast in 3D?

DirecTV 3D broadcasts officially announced, coming in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3D TV, 3dTv, breaking news, BreakingNews, broadcast 3d, Broadcast3d, ces, ces 2010, Ces2010, directv, directv 3d, Directv3d, panasonic

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New standard could pave way for higher capacity Blu-ray discs

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on January 2nd, 2010

Already feeling the pinch of a mere 25GB per layer on a Blu-ray disc? Neither are we, but it looks like Sony and Panasonic have been busily working on ways to boost capacity nonetheless, and they've now devised a new method that seems to be on the fast track to becoming a standard. The best news is that it doesn't involve a change in Blu-ray optics, but rather something called the Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation evaluation index (or i-MLSE -- the "i' is just for kicks, it seems), which is a new means of estimating the read error rate of discs on the fly that has apparently be made possible thanks to "recent hardware advancements." According to Sony and Panasonic, that should now allow discs to hold up to 33.4 GB per layer, but it's not exactly clear what that means for existing Blu-ray players (a little firmware assistance seems to at least be a conceivable option, though). There's also no timeline for a rollout just yet, but Sony is reportedly now set to propose widespread adoption of i-MLSE to the Blu-ray Disc Association, of which it just so happens to be the leading member.

New standard could pave way for higher capacity Blu-ray discs originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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blu-ray, blu-ray disc association, Blu-rayDiscAssociation, BluRay, i-mlse, panasonic, Sony

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Panasonic’s Future High Power Lithium Ion Batteries Will Kick 20-30% Harder [Battery]

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 27th, 2009

Great news: Panasonic not only started mass producing laptop type battery with a record setting rating of 3.1 amp hours this December, but in the next few years, will make these cells with up to 4.0 amps in 2013. Yowzer.

Part of the secret is to use nickel instead of carbon for the positive terminal in each cell. The previous record at Panasonic for type cells were 2.9 amp hours, and a quick search shows that most are in the 2.2 amp range.

Battery tech still remains one of the slowest developing sectors in technology, which is why Obama put billions of dollars in grant money towards its research. And why this is great news for all. [Panasonic]

Batteries, Battery, panasonic

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Panasonic Delivering a Lithium Storage Battery That Can Power Your Home For a Week [Batteries]

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 23rd, 2009

After officially taking over Sanyo earlier this week, Panasonic is hitting the ground running with a joint venture aimed at developing a powerful lithium-ion storage battery than could store enough juice to power an average [Japanese] home for a week.

The battery will also include a system that will allow users to monitor their electricity usage through their televisions. Seems like a viable alternative to solar batteries and fuel cells, but I'm curious to know how a week of powering a Japanese home equates to powering a typical American home. Either way, the technology won't be available until sometime in 2011. [Physorg]

Batteries, Household, lithium, lithium ion, panasonic, Power, Sayno

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Panasonic and new best friend Sanyo plan one week storage battery for the home

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 23rd, 2009

One of the big obstacles in alternative energy is that some of its primary gathering mechanisms -- solar, wind, reclaimed heat -- aren't continuously available, so no matter how much of a science lab you have bolted to your roof, you still might run out of TV electricity during a calm night's Curb Your Enthusiasm marathon. Well, Panasonic's recent buy of Sanyo brought with it some choice battery tech, and the newly joined companies think they can be the first to build and ship a storage battery for home use. The plan is to release the lithium-ion cell in 2011, with enough juice in it to power a home for a week (a Japanese home, we presume), and the battery will be paired with a system to allow the user to monitor electricity usage on their TV. Of course, fuel cells have traditionally been looked to as the great home energy storage hope, but we doubt any will be able to compete with the tried-and-true lithium-ion by the time 2011 rolls around.

Panasonic and new best friend Sanyo plan one week storage battery for the home originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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battyer, home battery, home storage battery, HomeBattery, HomeStorageBattery, lithium ion, panasonic, sanyo, storage battery, StorageBattery

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP8 reviewed: as good as ‘a loaf of plain white bread’

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 20th, 2009

It's hard to imagine complaining about a stylish compact camera that packs a stabilized 28-128mm zoom range and does 720p video capture at 30fps, but Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FP8 didn't garner any raves from the crew at PhotographyBLOG either. Image quality was found to be decent in well-lit conditions and no more than ISO 800 -- typical limitations on cameras with such tiny lens and body. Little is said about the video quality but we were adequately pleased with the sample videos linked from YouTube. The only major flaw indicated was the "permanently exposed" lens, but we can't imagine it being a deal breaker for most of you nice folks out there, right?

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP8 reviewed: as good as 'a loaf of plain white bread' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Camera, compact camera, CompactCamera, dmc-fp8, lumix, lumix DMC-FP8, LumixDmc-fp8, panasonic, panasonic DMC-FP8, panasonic lumix, panasonic lumix DMC-FP8, PanasonicDmc-fp8, PanasonicLumix, PanasonicLumixDmc-fp8, review

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Next Week’s Best Buy TV Sales Are Surprisingly Good (Again) [Dealzmodo]

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 20th, 2009

Gary at HD Guru once again snagged next week's Best Buy TV circular early, and just like last time, the deals are surprisingly good. Here's a sample, check out his site for the full list and price comparisons:

• Samsung PN50B550 50″ 1080p plasma $979.99
• Toshiba 46XV645U 46″ 1080p 120 Hz LCD Best Buy $999.98 with Free Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-ray player bundle
• Sony KDL-40XBR9 40″ 1080p 240 Hz LCD Best Buy $1244.97 with Free Sony BDPS360 Blu-ray player and HTSS360 5.1 Home Theater in a Box system
• Sony KDL-46XBR9 46″ 1080p 240 Hz LCD Best Buy $1704.97 with Free Sony BDPS360 Blu-ray player and HTSS360 5.1 Home Theater in a Box system
• Samsung PN42B450 42″ 720p Plasma $624.99 Best Buy

Not too bad. Not too bad at all. [HD Guru]

Best Buy, Dealz, Dealzmodo, HDTV, panasonic, Sony, tv

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Remainders – The Good, Bad and Ugly Things We Didn’t Post (and Why) [Remainders]

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 18th, 2009

Abandon all hope, ye who enter Remainders. Today, we've got: Windows 7 needs less tech support than anyone expected, Acer's Olympic-themed laptop, Sprint's Android phones skipping Android 2.0, and a leaked Panasonic (non-Micro) Four Thirds camera.

Windows 7 Customers Are Just so Savvy

Windows 7's tech support lines have been far less busy than expected—but we can't draw any easy conclusions, like, say, "Windows 7 rulz!," because Windows online tech support has gotten much easier to use and online solutions have become more appropriate. People now know to just Google (or Bing) their problems, which probably filters out a lot of the knucklehead stuff. [CNET]

Acer's Olympic Laptop Is the Lamest Tie-In Ever

Really, Acer? You can't think of anything else to do with an Olympic-themed laptop than to slap the five ring logo on the lid? We expect better, Acer. You've come up with some phenomenal, gaudy, ostentatious and downright silly-looking laptops in the past—what's up with this one? At least slap a GO USA! sticker on the front or something. [Engadget]

Sprint Confirms HTC Hero and Samsung Moment Will Skip 2.0, Head to 2.1

In an official Tweet (ugh), Sprint confirmed that two of its Android handsets, the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment, will actually skip Android 2.0 and move straight to 2.1 when they receive the update sometime in the first half of 2010. That's sort of expected; we knew the update was coming around that time, and given the pace of Android's dessert-themed releases, certainly 2.1 would be the current release. So, not earth-shattering news, but good to see that Sprint (and Google) plan to support those phones into the future. [Slashgear]

Leaked Panasonic Four Thirds Camera Ditches the Micro

A patent from Panasonic shows what appears to be a Four Thirds camera, though not the Micro type after which we so lust. Apparently it can flip between optical and live view viewfinders with a hardware switch, and has manual sensor cleaning and anti-shake feature. Rumors suggest it may be announced at CES in a few weeks, but we'll have to wait and see. [Slashgear]

Acer, android, Cameras, Gizmodo remainders, htc hero, microsoft, olympics, panasonic, Remainders, samsung moment, Sprint, windows 7

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Blu-ray 3D specifications finalized, your PS3 is ready

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 17th, 2009

In case plans by AMD and a slew of other tech vendors planning to showcase 3D Blu-ray compatible products at CES wasn't a tip-off, the updated specifications are done. The key details? First, that the Blu-ray Disc Association has chosen the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec to store 3D, so that even though it is now providing a full 1080p frame for each eye, it will only require about 50% more storage space compared to the 2D version, and all discs will be fully backwards compatible, in 2D, on existing players. Better than backwards compatibility, the PlayStation 3 will be forwards compatible with the new discs -- a new HDTV setup (the spec promises to work with plasmas, LCDs or projectors equally well) with IR emitters and glasses will still be necessary. According to the PR (after the break) we can expect Blu-ray 3D-stickered products in 2010, our only advice is to keep those responsible for the Cowboy Stadium abomination far, far away from it.

Continue reading Blu-ray 3D specifications finalized, your PS3 is ready

Blu-ray 3D specifications finalized, your PS3 is ready originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1080p, 3d, active shutter, ActiveShutter, avc, blu-ray, ces, ces 2010, Ces2010, Full hd 3d, FullHd3d, h.264, mvc, nvidia, panasonic, Sony, specification, standard

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Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide: Digital Cameras

Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 14th, 2009

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today’s bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the holiday season.

Digital cameras are the bread-and-butter of holiday gadget giving — everyone wants one, and everyone wants a better one. But you can’t just dole out any shooter you can find — you need to find the right balance of image quality, features, and usability for your intended recipient, and hold the line on your bank account as well. Sounds daunting, but we’ve pulled up a few of the more interesting models out there to help you out.

Gallery: Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide: Digital Cameras