Hisense Pulse with Google TV priced at $100, now available from Amazon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/20/hisense-pulse-google-tv-available-amazon/

It's been a while since we saw it at IFA, but it looks like the Hisense Pulse with Google TV is finally available for purchase a month after its promised release date. You can finally snag the Google TV set-top box from Amazon for $100 -- it misses that "under $99" mark mentioned in its initial announcement, but it's certainly close enough. The compact entertainment box supports 1080p output and has WiFi, HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports, letting you pump in content through a host of connections. Much like other Google TV products, the remote that ships with the device is double-sided -- there's a QWERTY keyboard on the bottom and more traditional controls (along with a trackpad) up top. We didn't think much of the touchpad's small size at the initial hands-on, so hopefully the manufacturer's solved that in the final product. Hisense is certainly cutting things close with this late-December release, but if you click "add to cart" now, it may just arrive in time to make its way underneath a tree.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Google

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Via: Phandroid

Source: Amazon

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Best Buy's CinemaNow opens home disc-to-digital program, makes cloud copies of DVDs for a fee

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/20/best-buys-cinemanow-kicks-home-disc-to-digital-program-gives-d/

One interesting development of the UltraViolet program has been Walmart / Vudu's in-store disc-to-digital program, and now Best Buy is apparently ready to offer similar functionality, but within the comfort of one's own home. The Best Buy-owned CinemaNow is flashing a Disc to Digital beta page that offers downloads of a player for Windows or Mac PCs that not only allows access to one's UltraViolet library both online or offline, but also insert any DVD (no word on Blu-ray support yet) and convert it to an SD or HD UltraViolet copy. Forum posters report the pricing is equivalent to Walmart's, although the list of supported titles is not exactly identical. Ultraviolet's morass of logins and passwords hasn't gotten any less complicated for digital copies from different studios yet, but in this case linking your account should be relatively simple. Hit the source links to download the apps and check out a list of movies available for conversion, assuming a cloud HDX copy of 2 Fast 2 Furious for $5 is something you find appealing.

[Thanks, @Starkenator]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: CinemaNow, D2D titles (PDF)

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Aptina intros 8MP sensors that bring 60FPS, pro-grade video to phones, action cameras

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/21/aptina-intros-8mp-mobile-sensors-that-bring-60fps-pro-grade-video/

Smartphones and action cameras are no strangers to high-speed video: devices like the HTC One X make it a selling point. They've usually had to crop the frame from a much larger sensor, however, cutting into the final image quality and the field of view. Aptina's new AR0835 and AR0835HS sensors might be the ticket to no-compromise, fast footage. Both 8-megapixel, backside-lit CMOS imagers occupy as much of the sensor as they can when capturing widescreen video at 60 frames per second, oversampling HD video at 6 megapixels; the result is supposedly professional-level video sharpness and viewing angles without the professional-level pricing. Either sensor can also capture 6-megapixel stills mid-video, and they can combine pixels to record 720p video at an even brisker 120FPS. Aptina won't have the action camera-focused AR0835HS in production until first quarter of 2013, but it's already mass-producing the smartphone-oriented AR0835. As such, it shouldn't be long before there's brag-worthy, high-speed home movies sitting in our pockets.

Continue reading Aptina intros 8MP sensors that bring 60FPS, pro-grade video to phones, action cameras

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

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Source: Aptina

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Samsung reveals its first 14nm FinFET test chip, should offer substantial power improvements in future silicon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/21/samsung-first-14nm-finfet-test-chip-/

Samsung shows no signs of slowing down in 2013 and after confirming plans to expand its chip-making plant in Austin, Texas, the company's also taped out its first 14nm FinFET test chip. The new design (which is being compared with Intel's 'Tri-Gate' found on its Ivy Bridge hardware) promises to offer substantial power and performance improvements compared to existing designs, with low-leakage often mentioned in the same breath as the new silicon. Samsung's new test chip also involved ARM and Synopsis, and is a good sign that we'll be seeing its next-gen chips sooner rather than later.

Continue reading Samsung reveals its first 14nm FinFET test chip, should offer substantial power improvements in future silicon

Filed under: Misc, Samsung

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Source: Yonhap news

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Netflix streaming pal eyeIO brings more pixels with 4K, 10-bit StudioRes video

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/21/netflix-streaming-pal-eyeio-brings4k-10-bit-video/

Remember eyeIO? Its software took over the encoding chores for Netflix awhile back, reducing the required bandwidth enough that it no longer needed the "X-High" option for 1080p video. Now, the company has launched its second-generation of that technology with a new StudioRes option that'll stuff 4k, 10-bit, 4:2:2 video onto the latest UltraHD screens like Sony's $25k 84-inch XBR model. eyeIO also claims its software creates StudioRes and existing HDRes H.264 files 45 percent zippier now, while using 26 percent less bandwidth for "super-fast playback and even clearer, crisper images" in both 2D and 3D on TVs, computers and mobile devices. The company also announced the forthcoming eyeOS UNIX OS for enterprise level 4k video coming next Spring, along with support for the upcoming H.265 standard through its eyeIO.265 product. Now, we're just crossing our fingers for a flood of new UltraHD screens at CES 2013 so we can see all those extra pixels in style.

Continue reading Netflix streaming pal eyeIO brings more pixels with 4K, 10-bit StudioRes video

Filed under: Home ! Entertai nment, Internet

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