Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

CES is just around the corner so it is a busy time in the gadget world with a lot of big announcements due.

Alongside Adobe, Intel has announced plans to bring its new Media Processor CE 3100 to market along with a new optimized version of Adobe Flash. These efforts, according to Intel, will “provide consumers with richer and more seamless Web-based and video viewing experiences through advanced Intel-based cable set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, digital TVs and retail connected AV devices.” Coincidentally, we want more seamless Web-based and video viewing experiences, so this new allegiance should work out perfectly. 2009 is looking to be the year of the multi-source set top box which is plenty interesting to say the least. Set top technology has hardly gone mainstream but manufacturers of all shapes and sizes are incredibly eager to make it happen.

With the rife competition in the HDTV market it is good to see companies like LG trying to come up with innovative ideas to help improve market share.

Shortly after announcing a blu-ray player with the ability to play YouTube videos and receive on demand content they have announced a new TV that will have access to the Internet.

Specifically this will be used to access to services such as NetFlix, but could include any other number of on-demand sites and hopefully, YouTube and free access to browse and stream as you see fit.

There's no release date confirmed for the new screens, dubbed 'Broadband HDTVs', but they are expected to command a premium of around £200 over conventional models.

Freesat has been around for a few months now, and while it may of arrived to a  slightly lukewarm reception it does appear to be gaining momentum. One of the major downfalls of it was that it lacked the recording functions of Sky+ or DVB solutions such as the Humax and Topfield.

I am glad to see Humax has fitted the device with a heft 320GB hard disk so there is plenty of room to record all your favourite shows.

I was personally a bit anti Freesat when it released, however I have just ditched Sky in favour of a Humax PVR9150T (DVB recorder) as I just don't watch any of the exclusive sky channels. One of the reasons I didn’t try out Freesat was the lack of recording so I think I could be swayed to trying out one of these new boxes in the near future.

Full specification continued.

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Price fixing seems to be quite common in big business and the latest 2 companies to be caught out are LG, Sharp Chunghwa Picture Tubes.

The three companies will face a total fine of $585m. LG has the largest fine of $400m for conspiring to fix prices from September 2001 to June 2006. Sharp have a fine of $120m for inflating prices of panels sold to Dell, Motorola and Apple between 2001-2006.

Sharp have responded by imposing a 10 to 30 percent pay cut for 3 months to reassure shareholders.

Personally 10 to 30 percent seems a bit lenient considering it probably netted the company hundreds of millions in extra revenue.

Sanyo have developed a new more powerful blue laser diode that can burn through Blu-Ray Disks far enough to accurately write four 25GB layers allowing for 100GB of storage.

Currently Blu-Ray disks are limited to 50GB of data.

The new laser is reported to be very fast as well, it can burn disks at 12x which means it could fill an entire 100GB disk in 10 minutes!

Via: Tech-On

Music broadcaster (although it's been a long time since MTV's core channels could be classed as music programming) MTV has confirmed today that it plans to launch a HD TV service in the UK by the end of 2008.

MTVNHD will be a 24-hour service originating in Poland, with a mix of bought-in and original programming, including extreme sports, music charts packages and live concerts.

MTVNHD will also broadcast a block of programming from sister network Nickelodeon, including Spongebob.

Availability of the channel is unconfirmed at the moment, but Sky HD is almost certain to be included. Virgin Media and Freesat HD customers will have to wait and see.

The BRAVIA Theatre BDV-IT1000 is an all-in-one home cinema system with an integrated Blu-ray Disc drive. It features super-slim speakers with full-range drive units just 16mm wide, wireless rear speakers, as well as DVD upscaling to 1080p.

BDV-IT1000 at a glance

• Super-slim speakers made possible by finger-sized full-range drive units
• All-in-one home cinema system with integrated Blu-ray Disc drive
• Full HD 1080/24p picture quality with Deep Color and x.v.Colour
• Wireless rear speakers for great surround effects without cables
• BD-Live Ready: upgradable to Profile 2.0 for extra content and downloads via Ethernet port
• DVD upscaling to 1080p
• Two HDMI input terminals for connection of games consoles, HD TV decoder boxes or other sources, and one HDMI output
• Optical digital and analogue stereo inputs. Also composite/component video in
• Upconversion to HDMI for analogue sources
• Fast, perfect 'one-touch' set-up with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration
• BRAVIA Sync for integrated operation with other Sony components
• XrossMediaBar onscreen display for simple, logical operation of all functions
• Connectivity with Network WALKMAN® and iPod® players, Bluetooth devices and home Wi-Fi networks via DIGITAL MEDIA PORT, plus Portable Audio Enhancer
• 700W total power: 5x100W plus 2x100W for subwoofer, using efficient, high-quality 32-bit S-Master digital amplification

Telefónica plans to start testing a 3D IPTV service in São Paulo this year, according to local reports, using a TV supplied by Philips which does not require special glasses to view the 3D image.

Telefónica will offer the service to residents of the region of Jardins in São Paulo, as these clients are connected to a fibre optical network which has the transmission capacity to deliver 3D IPTV. The biggest challenge for the service is that it is currently only possible with the specially developed Philips television the WOWvx-powered 1080p 52-inch Philips 3D HDTV, which currently costs around €18,000. However Philips believes that the television will be much cheaper in the near future: "Today the technology is aimed more at corporate applications," said Renato Secco, Director of the company's Brazilian subsidiary. "Inside three or four years it will be much more accessible to the consumer."