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Fred Manteghian Blog
A Famous Reviewer
Fred Manteghian  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments

This is a reviewer that is famous in Japan. And that's Home Theater's own Geoffrey Morrison standing next to her.

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Fred Manteghian Blog
No Really, Just Put On the Stupid Glasses!
Fred Manteghian  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments

While the other JVC products are practically here, their demo of 3D technology, based on some funky glasses and a pair of their 4K projectors (4096 x 2160 pixels), was, what's the term, oh yeah, universe shattering!

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Fred Manteghian Blog
They Call Me "New"
Fred Manteghian  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments

I missed a live demo of JVCs new 3-chip 1080p D-ILA (variant of LCOS) projector in CEDIA a few weeks ago by mere minutes. This time they were showing it in comparison with to their older 720p DLA-HX1 projector. No doubt that 1080p is sharper, but that was only the beginning. The new projector is also several factors better, subjectively, in areas of color saturation and blackness. More impressively, the light output on a 115" (diagonal) screen was exhilerating! You can really get a big screen with one of these.

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Fred Manteghian Blog
Making Stuff Up
Fred Manteghian  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments

JVC showed a split screen demo on an LCD. Special processing was performed on the left side to eliminate blurring artifacts, while on the right side it was business as usual. And business as usual for an LCD is typically take every opportunity for turning something with motion into an ugly mess. What JVC did, with the 60Hz video material was to double the frames by creating an interperlated frame between each "real."

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Fred Manteghian Blog
In the Future, Everyone Will Be A Director!
Fred Manteghian  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments

In the first half of 2007, JVC will bring out a true HD camcorder. The camcorder will have a hard drive built in so you can forget about tapes forever. The size of the drive, unknown, but I wouldn't be surprised if would hold at least a "vacation's" worth of video at its 1920 x 1080 resolution. The camera has 10X optical zoom and they had one setup filming a rotating flower display while they showed it on a 1080 plasma. With the "source material" there for direct comparison, the cam looked better than anything I've seen in a consumer format. No price yet.

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Fred Manteghian Blog
Come for the Sushi, Stay for the Show
Fred Manteghian  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments

When JVC graciously invited me to Japan to the CEATEC show as their guest, I only hesitated for an instant before saying yes. I've gone to a lot of shows this year, but the opportunity (and desire) to see Japan was too strong. The twenty-eight hour trip from my home in Connecticut to our hotel in Tokyo was taxing and the three hours sleep I managed before I awoke at 3:00 AM local time with a sudden desire to check my mail have put me a little on edge on my first full day here, but I've seen plenty to write about already, so let me fill you in.

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Ears On
Analysts Tear into iPod
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  0 comments
Ever wondered what's inside an iPod's inscrutably screwless design? There actually are people who pry these things open and look at every part, and some of them work for iSuppli's Teardown Analysis. Apple has reduced the "bill of materials" cost for the second-generation 4GB iPod nano from $89.97 to $72.24, according to iSuppli. Considering that the price has dropped from $249 to $199, that's only fair. Among the changes, the "system on chip" has been changed from a "semi custom" PortalPlayer PP5021 to a Samsung chip. And the latter includes a flash disk controller previously implemented in a separate part. The analysis leaves only one question unanswered: What would happen to the new nano if you put it through a washing machine? Details tomorrow.
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Geoffrey Morrison Blog
CEATEC 2006 - SED Lives! Sort of…
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  2 comments
As rumored, Toshiba/Canon showed off three 55-inch SED displays, proving without a doubt that they can make at least three SED panels. They looked as impressive as the oft-seen 37-inch, with a mix of pre-recorded (and motion filled) colorful images, and even a live action scene (with a camera on a person and puppet that was in sight of the audience). Here’s the bad news: They’re now saying the end of 2007, but with no definite pricing or quantity.
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Geoffrey Morrison Blog
CEATEC 2006 - Pioneer’s Next-Gen Plasma
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  32 comments
The most surprising demo at the show was a demo of a next generation Pioneer plasma that stole quite a bit of SED’s thunder. It had legitimate blacks (seemingly as good as SED). They’re claiming a 20,000:1 contrast ratio, and from the demo it sure looked like it could be close to that. I’d love to tell you more, but the entire presentation was in Japanese. I’ll put up some photos later of the Powerpoint, and you can try to translate them. At the earliest, it may be a model for next year. I’m sure we’ll hear more at CES.
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Geoffrey Morrison Blog
CEATEC 2006 - JVC HD-ILA Front Projector
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Oct 03, 2006  |  1 comments
Like I mentioned in my CEDIA report, JVC has a new front projector. It will be around $7000. In demo here at the show, they showed it beside their old $30,000 projector. No contest. It wasn’t even close. The $7k projector blew the old model away. Better blacks, better contrast ratio, better color, better detail. That’s twice I’ve seen this projector look good, and I can’t wait to get a hold of one (they’re saying early next year).

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