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Audio Video News
A Blu-ray Computer Pioneer
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Dec 31, 2005
Pioneer says they'll begin shipping one of the industry's first Blu-ray disc computer drives during the first quarter of 2006. The new Pioneer BDR-101A will be able to store up to 25 GB of data on a single-layer Blu-ray disc.
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Audio Video News
Industry News
 |  Dec 29, 2005

<B>LG Electronics Introduces Two Big LCoS RPTVs For 2006</B>
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LG Electronics' 2006 lineup of RPTVs will feature two large screen microdisplays powered by LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) imaging panels from SpatiaLight that feature full 1920x1080 resolution. Counting pixel for pixel, a 1920x1080 display contains over two million pixels- twice as many pixels as the 900,000 and change a 720p display puts up on screen.

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Ears On
Diablog: HTiB in Paradise
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 29, 2005
Venice: La Serenissima, and serene it is. Gondolas ply the blue-green waters of the canals while thundering water-buses hop round the exterior of the islands in a blue-grey lagoon kissed by Adriatic sea air. Tourists cheerfully lose themselves in a maze of quiet pollution-free streets. Unleashed dogs walk themselves, tails wagging. Workers patiently replace wooden piles under sinking buildings while old folks haul lightweight shopping carts over pedestrian bridges. People are gentle and tolerant in this 1250-year-old former nation-state, and that's a good thing—because there you are, in a supermarket, aiming your digital camera at home theater gear. I could have killed you.
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Fred Manteghian Blog
Jolene, Will I Love You and the Italian Bug
Fred Manteghian  |  Dec 28, 2005

Christmas is a special time when madness invades the homestead and the urge to give and give and give and, well, you get the picture. But what are these gifts with which we hold these truths to be self evident? One year, a very long time ago, it was a special little baby I found in a cabbage patch. At least, that’s what is said on the label. When the blue light went on – and yes, there really <i>was</i> a blue light - I, along with all the other shoppers in that alphabet-mart, went careening through the aisles like so many pinballs driven in reverse until we converged at the same single spot. A towering monument of pastel packaged Cabbage Patch dolls had just been unwrapped. We, one man and host of hostile woman, were the chosen ones. We each grabbed. I got one. Studying her, my little rainbow coalition brown Jolene, asleep with her eyes open, waiting for the moment when her child would hold her and bring her to life.

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Other Source Component Reviews
NeuNeo HVD2085 1080p Upconverting DVD Player
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Dec 28, 2005
Well that sure is 1080p.

I must admit I, and I assume you, had never heard of this company before this review. The boss (Maureen Jenson) had been talking with them and had a review sample sent to our studio. I didn't find that part out until later. As far as I knew, this product quietly and unceremoniously just showed up. Its plain, unlabeled brown box was so nondescript that it lay unnoticed for several days. Had we not been clearing space to make room for the six RPTVs from the Face Off we had just finished (see our February 2005 issue), who knows how long it may have sat there. I opened the box to check out what it was, and my eye caught what your eye surely caught when you read the headline above: 1080p. As I investigated further, this DVD player only got cooler.

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Geoffrey Morrison Blog
1080p Plasma
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Dec 28, 2005
LCD manufactures have been hyping up their 1080p product for months now. Where is plasma in all this? Will plasma lovers (and/or LCD haters) be “stuck” at 720p? Not for much longer.
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Audio Video News
Ice Cold TV
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Dec 28, 2005
Taking the term "multi-function" to new extremes, LG Electronics has given its TV Refrigerator a fresh-not-frozen digitally converged makeover. The new side-by-side unit, the LSC26990TT, includes a built-in, cable-ready, 15-inch standard-definition LCD TV on the right-side door. There are also inputs for an external DVD player (sorry, you'll have to provide your own) and a built-in FM tuner. LG says the combination will provide "hours of cooking and kitchen entertainment."
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Other Source Component Reviews
Toshiba SD-6980SU Universal Disc Player
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 28, 2005
Oh, mama, can this really be the end?

This universal disc player may mark the end of an era. Bear in mind that I did say may.

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Accessory Reviews
5Binc. RX2 5.1 Media Chair
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 28, 2005
Have my buns finally met their match?

Back in the days when I was a Quentin Tarantino wannabe, when I manned the counter at my local video store, I made frequent use of a rickety old metal stool as I pounded the computer keys. This prompted my boss to observe, "You like to sit more than anyone I know." Whether he ran with an especially prone crowd—or perhaps the rigors of retail work simply made my knees weak—I did set a precedent, and I appreciate finer seating to this very day. But, now that my fondness for home theater consumes my every waking moment—and some of my dreams—I welcomed the chance to test-drive something different, something bold: 5Binc.'s RX2 5.1 Media Chair.

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Media Server Reviews
Akimbo Systems Video On Demand Player
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 28, 2005
Programming delivered fresh from the Internet to your set-top box.

Not to date myself, but I'm old enough to remember when video on demand was one of those coming technologies that made the hip groovesters at the malt shop say, "Neat-O!" even if they had no idea how it would actually work. But video on demand has been a fact of life for some time now, and everyone I know who actually uses it simply adores the power and convenience.

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