HDTV

Taiwan’s Proton will roll out a series of HD LCDs at CES
next week, in sizes ranging from 37 to 55 inches. The displays will support both 1080p and 1080i, and will come
equipped with both digital and analog tuners. Sure, 55 inches may not be all that big anymore (though most of the
affordable sets in that size tend to be either rear-projection or DLP), but we’re banking on continued competition from
companies like Proton to keep driving prices down, to the point where we can actually put one of these on the wall of
every room in the Engadget mansion. We’ll try to grill these guys for some pricing info (the 37-incher has an MSRP of
$2,799, but we don’t really care about that) when we’re at CES.

[Via TG Daily]

Mac users in search of an
HDTV solution might find some help from Miglia Technology and their TVMini HD, a USB 2.0 device to watch, pause, and
record HDTV. The device requires a 500MHz G4 or greater to handle the bandwidth, and is powered by Elgato’s EyeTV DVR software, which can also export iPod and PSP formats. You
can run 1080i video, catch OTA ATSC broadcasts, and flip around with the included remote. The device goes for $289 and
should be available now.

[Via Tech
Digest]

We’re starting to think that CES might be a waste of our
time, as we’re getting the lowdown on all sorts of good swag before the Big Game even begins. If you happen to be there
anyway, and strolling by booth 26,824 (helpful hint: it’s between booths 26,823 and 26,825), be sure to check out
MatrixStream’s 1020HD IPTV set top box that claims to be the worlds first H.264 AVC, 1080P VOD and IPTV STB (we
apologize for all the acronyms). The 1020HD can stream content DVD- or HD-quality content over any broadband connection
(including powerline), with 300 free channels and 150 free clips to be available from content partner Movie99 upon
release at the end of Q1 2006. Also included is dynamic advertising management, which delivers targeted advertising
(good) but not if it involves monitoring our viewing habits (bad). MatrixStream claims the backend allows for easy
integration of third-party IPTV provider content (complete with billing, channel, and of course digital rights
management), and also claims the 1020HD will be sold, surprise, surprise, at an "affordable" price.

ED Digital are some new kids on the LCD TV block,
but they’re bringing the goods. They have been working with Microsoft on integrating Windows Media Connect into their forthcoming
Digitrex HD LCD TVs and will be showing their wares at CES. Making a network hookup into the next video connector via
your PC seems like a natural extension of the technology, and we sure wouldn’t mind putzing around with a bit of PlaysForSure media directly on our TV, but somehow the
Microsoftyness seems a bit more restrictive when you’re not hooking up a whole Media PC to your display, so you let’s
hope some more vendors get in on this party.

[Via HD Beat]

Sony’s coming a little late to the game with their entrant into the exclusive 82-inch LCD club, following
Samsung’s debut of their similarly-sized
beast (pictured above) at CeBIT last March. Fittingly, the Sony model uses proprietary Samsung tech in order to
achieve wider viewing angles, and features a 1200:1 contrast ratio and a response time under 8ms. Sony will show off
this bad boy in a few days at CES, where we’ll hopefully have some live pics for you and an estimated price that is
slightly more accurate than our usual guesstimate MSRP of one million dollars.

Syntax-Brillian is giving
CES some LCD TV love with their Olevia and Olevia Signature lines that range from 20 to 47-inchers. They all seem to be
rather well equipped, especially the 1080p 42 and 47-inch "Signature" models, what with their two ATSC/NTSC
tuners, two HDMI and three component ins, two S-Video, two composite, and one VGA input. It’s a full-on connectivity
party there, though DVI would be nice.

It’s probably just
a little too late to ask for one of these for the holidays, but you can still plan for next year (hey, Valentine’s Day
is coming, right?) by checking out Sound and Vision’s review of 70-inch HD-ILA Liquid Crystal on Silicon
(LCoS) set. The D-ILA isn’t the first XXL LCoS set, but at about $6,000 it’s significantly cheaper than its main
rival, Sony’s rear-projection SXRD model. Sound and Vision found the HD-ILA — which boasts full true hi def 1080p
1920×1280 resolution — to be a stellar performer, with sharp pictures and blacks that ranked as "the best
[they]’ve seen from a rear-projection HDTV this past year." And although the review pointed out some user
interface glitches and other minor issues, the overall impression was that this is a "giant HDTV manages to
combine the high resolution of 1080p with most of the other characteristics that make a great-looking image." (Of
course, you can forget about hanging this on your wall plasma-style, but we dare you to find a 70-inch, 1080p plasma
for this price.)

[Via HD
Beat]

Read

We hit you up yesterday
with news of the Coaxsys tech, known as TVnet 2X, that
allows for 200Mbps networking over standard coax cables. Well apparently they’re not the only game in town with some
CES magic to flaunt, since the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA for short), complete with membership of Linksys,
Motorola, and Panasonic, is announcing their own standard that bumps it up to 270Mbps, fool. They’ve apparently tested
the tech with 3 HD video signals, 8 SD video signals, and two network gaming connections, all simultaneously, pumping a
nice 94Mbps over 8 nodes. Sounds like we’re in for a sweet CES showdown.

Okay, here’s a fun contest (with the only
prize being the admiration of your peers and the Engadget editors, street value=nothing) where you try to list every
single-function device that could be replaced by Video Without Boundaries’ upcoming Swiss Army box of a media
device, the MediaREADY 6000. From the manufacturer: "The electronic TV set-top product, which combines DVD/MP3/CD
recording and playback with an Internet browser, email, media jukebox and more, now includes onboard CableCARD™
digital cable tuning and dual ATSC/NTSC/PAL tuners for watch-record, AAC/iPod support, HD MPEG 2-4
(H.264)/DivX/WMV/VC-1 codecs, and VoIP/video conferencing support (camera and microphone), among other new
features." The 6000 runs on Linux and includes a 200GB hard drive, which will need a companion pretty quickly if
you plan on recording a lot of HD content. Just don’t start clearing off your shelves quite yet, though: this model
won’t be available until Q2 of next year, and it’ll set you back $1,250 cash money.

[Via LinuxDevices]

With
the kind of speed that makes our current cable connection look like a dial-up modem in comparison, the 200Mbps
networking technology that Coaxsys will be demoing at CES may soon bring to fruition the HD Engadget vodcasts that so
many of you have been clamoring for. TVnet 2X, as it’s known, uses standard coax cable to achieve its blazing
transfer rates, which makes it easy to integrate into most current wiring systems, and is being touted as a perfect
solution for HD IPTV and whole-home networking, allowing multiple data-rich streams to be delivered at once.
We’ll be at the Coaxsys booth at CES with stopwatch in hand, ready to report our real-world findings, as well as
any deets we can dig up concerning when these fat pipes will be available to the public.

[Via HD Beat]