glmtblog

Admittedly I’m trying to stir it up a little.  Our last post was in October so I’m looking for a fight.

5.  The Wii.  Seriously?  The only good game for the Wii is Wii Sports which comes with the system.  All of the other games I have tried to get into require way to much motivation when the only time to be playing vids is during relaxation time.  Admittedly, I’ve heard anectdotal evidence of major weight loss from Wii Fit, but as far as an entertainment system, it is incredibly overhyped.  I prefer my active immersive experiences to be real, like outside on a real bike.

4.  Ipods.  I have yet to hear good quality MP3 or lossless formats that can be put on external speakers and not sound like junk.  I realize that if you have it blaring in your ear via headphones you can’t tell, but I have conducted experiments with the best encoded MP3 quality over speakers at my house, with the most amateur listners.  Better yet, the new iPod Nano I bought takes video…  Sort of.  I finally spent $60 on a cord that can connect it to my tv at the highest quality possible and the people looked alien and blurry.  Ipods serve a purpose but my guess is that American spending has overhyped this product.

3.  LCD-  Seriously?  What is the rub?  What happened to plasma?  The blacks and refresh rate are like 5 times better  with plasma and no one seems to care that plasmas are going by the wayside for inferior, more expensive LCD screens.  I demand answers!

2.  3D-  Dear Cable and Dish Companies…  Are you seriously considering making us wear goggles to watch football?  I can think of a million other things that would make watching sports better… Like higher bit rates, currently over dish you are running 4-5 megabits per second and claiming it is “HD”.  DVD is 8 mbs, Blu-ray is up to 50 mbs.  You haven’t even mastered HD yet, and now your spending all of this money on a technology that will force us to buy a new TV?  You can’t even deliver the goods to my TV now!  C’mon Man!

1.  Streaming Movies via Netflix.  In theory this would be awesome.  I could get Netflix Blu-rays and then while I’m waiting I can download movies in my queue to my PS3.  So I signed up.  Hook, line, and sinker.  Number 1- the “hd” is like YouTube quality on a 58″ TV.  Number 2- I’m pretty sure the only moves they have available for Streaming are available on TNT and AMC- skip it and set your DVRs folks.  Weak selection.  Somehow, I thought that I would have access to the entire Netflix catalog.  Fail. 

Keep in mind, I think some of this stuff has value…   but I believe it is over valued by the consumer.  Stay tuned for the Top 5 Most Underhyped Consumer Tech of Today.

Just when you thought it was safe to buy a new HDTV: Sony and Panasonic have just announced plans to release three-dimensional TV sets in 2010. ESPN is testing 3-D production, promising to “have football players appear to jump out of the screen”. Of course, special glasses would be required when viewing.

The new 3-D sets won’t come cheap, and some critics argue that there is not enough bandwidth available to broadcast 3D programming. No surprise there, considering that there still isn’t enough bandwidth available to broadcast true 1080p HD content.

These new televisions would be able to play shows in 2-D or 3-D, and 3-D video games.

Blu-ray has also said to be working on a product that would play three-dimensional movies at home.

3D: 1980’s Deja Vu or Video Display of the Future?

The thought of a new high definition version of 3-D is enticing. Prior to the Super Bowl, I picked up a pair of “3-D Glasses” to watch the half-time Sobe Commercial. I naturally assumed that with the advent of HD, 3-D would be greatly enhanced. I was disappointed.

I went on to read that the version of 3-D used fro the halftime show was not actually new technology. It was the same old school, eye-fatiguing, red and blue-lens technology used as a gimmick in the late eighties.

However, this attempt to raise 3-D awareness was merely a marketing ploy and not a display of the power of the technology. Apparently, new movies like Coraline that utilize “RealD” technology are incredibly impressive. I will be viewing one of these movies in the next week and I will write about my observations.