David Attenborough’s Galapagos 3D begins airing New Year’s Day in the UK on Sky 3D

David Attenborough's Galapagos 3D begins airing New Year's Day in the UK on Sky 3D

The long nights, relentless Christmas adverts and brisk chill in the air are all signs the year is coming to an end, and what better way to see in the next than with British documentary legend Sir David Attenborough? The first episode of his new three-part natural history series Galapagos 3D, written and presented by the man himself, will be airing New Year's Day on Sky 3D in the UK. Like most of his projects, it's sure to be a stunning visual treat that'll make you forget about even the worst of New Year hangovers. So, don't forget to stoke the fire, switch on your 3D TV, and enjoy an educational tour of the Galapagos Islands to start off your 2013.

Filed under: ,

Comments

Source: BSkyB

LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional

LG 84LM9600 84-inch 4K TV

Sony might have beaten LG to the punch in the 84-inch 4K TV wars with its XBR-84X900 pre-orders, but you've got to be on the field to win -- and the first to show up for battle is LG's 84LM9600, which is officially on sale and in stores as of today. Anyone who can find a retailer carrying the Ultra High-Definition LCD can drop $19,999 to get what will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of the room, even if there's hardly any content to fully exploit those six million extra pixels. LG does have a $5,000 price advantage over the Sony 4K set shipping next month, although we won't kid ourselves here. Anyone who can see themselves spending five digits on bleeding-edge TV technology is either wealthy enough not to mind or busy explaining to the family why home refinancing is totally worth it.

Continue reading LG's 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional

Filed under: , ,

LG's 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLG  | Email this | Comments

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series

Sharp may look like it's in trouble, but that's not stopping it bringing new displays to the market, including today's announcement of the AQUOS Quattron 3D XL TV line. Behind the mouthful of acronyms, these LED-backlit LCD panels are the first to feature Sharp's Moth-Eye technology, designed to reduce glare and pump out bright colors, as well as a deep black. The company's 'four primary color' tech is partly responsible for the rich output, which squeezes a yellow sub-pixel in with the standard R, G and B. All the panels run at 1,920 x 1,080, as you'd expect, sport a 10 million to 1 contrast ratio and use five speakers to deliver audio. Prices aren't fixed, but the 46-, 52- and 80-inch models will be released in Japan on December 15th, while the 60- and 70-inch variants will come slightly earlier, on November 30th. You're going to have to be quick on launch day, though -- only 10,000 units are expected to be available in the first month.

Filed under: ,

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 04:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AV Watch  |  sourceSharp (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

LG records a ‘solid’ $138.57 million net profit for Q3, keeps the positive trend going

LG Electronics has reported its earnings for Q3 2012, notching its third straight quarter of positive income with a net profit of 157 billion won ($138.57 million) and "solid" performances from its home theater and mobile businesses. Revenue is down from the same period last year, but seeing as it's actually making money this time around it's probably still reason to celebrate. On the mobile side of the aisle it reports an operating profit of $19.42 million with slightly higher sales than Q2, mostly thanks to those LTE smartphones it's been rolling out. Its home entertainment biz noted a rise in LCD sales, with 3D TVs and LED-lit models growing from last quarter in most markets. Looking towards the future it's obviously going all-in on the Optimus G (although our interests run towards the Nexus G that should debut next week), and also looks for its Ultra HD television to raise its standing as a premium brand. Check the press release after the break and PDF linked below for more numbers if that's your thing.

Continue reading LG records a 'solid' $138.57 million net profit for Q3, keeps the positive trend going

Filed under: , , , ,

LG records a 'solid' $138.57 million net profit for Q3, keeps the positive trend going originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLG, Q3 2012 Results (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Lytro camera getting parallax effect and 3D display support, lands in Hong Kong (video)

Lytro light field camera on pool cue

Lytro isn't done extending the usefulness of its light field camera just because we have manual controls. Another update due by the end of the year will take advantage of that focus-independent sensor to allow a parallax-based 3D effect in photos: invoke a 'full' focus in reviewing shots and you can start poking around the scene in a limited way without having ever touched a dual-sensor camera. Appropriately, we're also getting support for examining photos on 3D monitors and TVs that emphasize the added depth. The promised features come hand-in-hand with Lytro's immediate availability in Hong Kong, where 8GB blue and gray cameras are selling for $3,888 HKD ($502 US) and the 16GB red model goes for $4,688 HKD ($605). Check out our Chinese crew's eyes-on look at the parallax effect in a video after the break.

Continue reading Lytro camera getting parallax effect and 3D display support, lands in Hong Kong (video)

Filed under:

Lytro camera getting parallax effect and 3D display support, lands in Hong Kong (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLytro, Engadget Chinese  | Email this | Comments

Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content

Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce

If you've spent all of this effort launching an All-3D channel, it's probably wise to ensure you've got enough content to keep your schedules full. That's why 3net founders Sony, Discovery and IMAX are teaming up to launch 3net Studios, with facilities opening in California and Maryland. The new business will be used to bring together the best and brightest minds in stereoscopic media to produce footage for the channel. It'll begin announcing the first projects in the next few weeks, but unless there's space for a 3D version of Dan Harmon's Community, we won't be listening.

Continue reading Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content

Filed under: ,

Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video)

Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from 2,999 handson video

Eager to get your hands on a top-of-the-line set without shelling out five figures for a super-slick 55-inch OLED? Sony's Bravia HX950 may have caught your eye, with its Intelligent Peak LED Backlight that's said to deliver "the best contrast Sony has to offer." According to representatives at IFA (who don't always tend to offer the most consistent specifications), the full-array system includes 196 individual zones, letting the television adjust backlighting on a more granular level, resulting in brighter whites and deeper blacks. We caught up with both the 55- and 65-inch flavors of Sony's HX950 at the company's booth, where several demo stations were arranged to highlight the backlighting, along with features called 3D Super-Resolution, Internet Video Super Resolution and HD Super Resolution. All of the side-by-side demonstrations provided noticeable improvements, though all three Super Resolution settings may be a tad too sharp for some viewers.

The set itself is as gorgeous as you'd expect for a flagship model, with a black glossy bezel and a narrow design that's sufficiently svelte without stepping into ultra-thin territory. The specially designed glass panel does indeed help to reduce glare, as we experienced in the visually congested IFA booth. Perhaps most interesting is the price -- €2,999 (about $3,800) for the 55-inch model, and €4,999 (about $6,300) for the 65 incher -- a steep drop from the 650,000 yen (about $8,270) the HDTV is commanding in Japan. We weren't able to confirm US availability or pricing, which will likely come in below the European tag, but reps did quote a November 1st ship date, which seems to be in line with the November 10th date we heard for Japan earlier this week. You'll have but two months to wait before adding this monster to your collection, but you can snag a look today in our gallery below and hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video)

Filed under: , ,

Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

LG’s 84-inch UD 3D TV makes its formal IFA debut, we go hands-on (video)

Handson with LG's 84inch UD 3D TV

Here's yet another 84-inch 4K TV, this time from LG. The company's 84LM9600 was announced last week and has already started shipping in Korea, but it's here at IFA and poised to hit the market worldwide. Priced at about $22,105, this display is big in every way. You get a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 -- four times the resolution of existing full HD panels -- and what LG calls "3D sound" thanks to 2.2 integrated channel speakers. 3D is courtesy of the company's passive glasses technology. So how does that all look?

We spotted the set during LG's booth tour today. At first it seemed like "just another" 84-inch 4K TV (the form-factor seems to have exploded within the last week), but this flavor is rigged for three-dimensional viewing as well. You'll need to view 2D content in order to take advantage of the full resolution, and the picture in this mode seemed to be on par with the competition, based on our quick peek at IFA. And how about 3D? The passive picture was consistent with the company's other sets, just, well, much much larger. Will you be making room for this massive set in your living room? You might want to take a closer look in our hands-on photos below before pulling out that credit card.

Follow all of our IFA 2012 coverage by heading to our event hub!

Continue reading LG's 84-inch UD 3D TV makes its formal IFA debut, we go hands-on (video)

Filed under: ,

LG's 84-inch UD 3D TV makes its formal IFA debut, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Panasonic’s 103-inch glasses-less 3D plasma panel arrives at IFA (eyes-on)

While it might not be as huge as the Super Hi Vision panel lingering in the same darkened theater, Panasonic's new 103-inch demonstration display has the ability to offer up a 3D view to five different viewers -- as long as they're in the right visual sweet spot. The effect is subtle, natural, although colors felt little bit muted compared to the 145-inch prototype, with the demo videos drawing us in to its demo reel, rather than pushing out an image. The plasma display panel prototype is also glasses-free, with the 4K2K screen able to push out enough pixels to offer these multiple viewing angles. But again, there's no substitute for being there yourself.

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.

Follow all of our IFA 2012 coverage by heading to our event hub!

Filed under: ,

Panasonic's 103-inch glasses-less 3D plasma panel arrives at IFA (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Sony unveils latest HX950 flagship HDTV in Japan with ‘Intelligent Peak LED’ backlighting

Sony unveils latest HX950 flagship HDTV in Japan with 'Intelligent Peak LED' backlighting

While Sony's current lineup of HDTVs has so far topped out with the HX929/920 series that's been kicking around since 2011, in Japan it has just unveiled a new top of the line model: the HX950. Often rumored in the last few months, it's available in 65- or 55-inch varieties and features Sony's now-trademark monolithic style as well as "Intelligent Peak LED" backlighting. Although Sony's brand name for the tech doesn't exactly reveal how it works, information leaks have suggested it is full array LED backlighting and not edge based, although we don't know how many zones (individually controlled light sources) are in play. What we do know, however is that it claims to outperform the LED backlighting in the old 929 quite handily, although we'll let our eyes be the judge of that.

It also includes MotionFlow XR960 (800 in the US) motion processing tech that can create 240fps from 60 frames and a glass panel mounted to the LCD itself with a special type of resin designed specifically to reduce glare. Finally, there's also the usual add-ins like 3D and Sony Entertainment Network streaming video. We haven't seen any European or US information for this model yet, although with IFA 2012 under way and CEDIA coming up that may change quickly. Currently pricing in Japan for the 65-inch is expected to be around 650,000 yen or $8,269 when it ships November 10th, but we should mention actual US prices are typically much lower than a direct conversion. Unofficially, one retailer is already listing the 55- and 65-inch models for sale in the US for $3,499 and $5,499, respectively, although we'd take that with a grain of salt until we know for sure.

Filed under: , ,

Sony unveils latest HX950 flagship HDTV in Japan with 'Intelligent Peak LED' backlighting originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AV Watch  |  sourceSony Japan  | Email this | Comments