• LG – We’re thrilled to welcome global consumer electronics leader LG to the Google TV family. LG will showcase a new line of TVs powered by Google TV running on their own L9 chipset at CES.
• Marvell – Also new to the Google TV family this year is Marvell, an innovative worldwide leader in chipsets. Marvell will be showcasing a new generation of Google TV solutions which will help bring more products across more price points to consumers.
• MediaTek – We’re also excited to partner with MediaTek, the leading Taiwanese chipset designer. MediaTek chipsets will power yet another wave of Google TV devices.
• Samsung – We’re excited to work closely with Samsung to bring Google-TV powered Samsung devices to market in 2012.
• Sony – We’re happy to build on our partnership with Sony. At CES, Sony will unveil new devices for the US and plans to offer Google TV powered products in several countries around the world in 2012.
• Vizio – Last year we announced our partnership with Vizio at CES. This year we’re excited to join Vizio as they hold private demos at CES showcasing their new line of Google TV-powered products.

The shift to ARM based processors has been widely anticipated, though the specific partnerships with Marvell and MediaTek is new info. It is a little surprising as you might expect well known chip vendors from the mobile industry, such as NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Samsung, to be involved but perhaps Google feels the requirements for Google TV are different enough from mobile Android systems that alternate chip designs are better.

Sony is the only vendor who brought first generation products to market to return to this list. Samsung and Vizio both talked about Google TV at the last CES, but held off on shipping products. Which was probably for the best, given the multitude of issues with Google TV 1.0. Now that Google TV 2.0 is out, and is vastly improved over its predecessor, it is much more viable as a connected TV platform. With the addition of LG, if all four vendors really execute on Google TV in their new models, we may well see Google make good on their bold claims of Google TV being in the majority of new TVs this year.

Via the Google TV Blog.

Edit: I see in my YouTube feeds that they’ve also posted a video preview of what’s to come:

First up, Special Holiday Deals on Select LG Home Entertainment Products. Save on 25 different HDTVs, three different Blu-ray Disc players, and three different Home Audio Systems.

Or maybe you’d prefer a Free Family Pack of 3D Glasses with Select LG Cinema 3D LED HDTVs with Smart TV. Five LG 3D HDTV models to choose from.

Or a free LG AN-MR200 Magic Motion Remote when you buy an LG Infinia 42LV5400 42″ 1080p HDTV with Smart TV.

Next up, Save Big on Select Sony HDTVs. Seventeen different models to choose from.

Of perhaps Great Savings on Select Panasonic HDTVs. Sixteen models to choose from!

Next, Save up to 45% on Select HDTVs. HDTVs from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony – 102 different models to choose from!

Maybe Big-Screen HDTVs for $999 or Less. LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, TCL, Toshiba, VIZIO and Westinghouse, 42 models all together.

And to feed those HDTVs content, Blu-ray Disc Players and Digital-Media Devices Under $100. The Apple TV and TiVo Premiere are in there along with the Roku 2 family and Roku LT. Blu-ray Disc players from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, VIZIO, and Toshiba, and streaming devices from Iomega, Western Digital, Patriot, Netgear, and the aforementioned Apple, TiVo, and Roku boxes.

And for those Blu-ray Players, save on thousands of TV shows and movies on Blu-ray and DVD.

Now, if you want to create your own content, there is this special: Instant Savings on Select Sony Camcorders. Eighteen different models to choose from – from the $89.99 Bloggie to the $399.99 HDR-XR160.

If still photography is more your thing, get a Free DSLR Backpack, Memory Card, and Tiffen Filter with Select Canon Rebel DSLR Cameras. Thirteen different camera models to choose from.

Or perhaps you prefer to Save Big When You Bundle Select Canon DSLRs with Qualifying Canon Lenses and/or Printers. With seven different cameras to choose from.

Amazon certainly has your entertainment electronics needs covered.

There are new specials each day, so be sure to check back in.

In addition to the current sale, they’ve also published a preview of what they’ll be offering on Black Friday – in stores and online.

In stores only you’ll be able to grab a Sharp LC-42SV49U 42″ Class LCD 1080p HDTV for $199.99, a Toshiba BDX2150 Smart Blu-ray Player for $39.99, a 15.6″ Samsung Laptop with an Intel Pentium CPU, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB HDD for $299.99, and the one I think is the most tempting, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Android tablet for only $249.99.

Also available in stores, the HTC ThunderBolt 4G LTE on Verizon for free with a 2-year activation and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Blu-ray just $9.99. These will also be made available online – the Thunderbolt on Thursday and the Blu-ray on Friday.

They’ve listed specials that will be available online starting Thursday, 11/24, without revealing the prices. There will be deals on the Dynex 32″ Class LED 720p HDTV, a 15.6″ Gateway Laptop with Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB HDD, the Dell Streak 7″ Android Tablet, a Dell desktop PC with Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and an 18.5″ widescreen LCD monitor, the FujiFilm FinePix AX350 16MP Camera, a Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, the Tritton AX120 Headset, and the Nintendo Wii Console with New Super Mario Bros. Wii Game and Music CD. Check back Thursday for the pricing.

There are yet more deals, way too many to list here, so check out their webpage for the full listing. More HDTVs, laptops, PCs, phones, tablets, cameras, hard drives, flash drives, washers & dryers, PlayStation 3, games, etc.

Looking at a graph of market share by smartphone vendor, the precipitous decline of Nokia is painfully obvious, and it looks like RIM isn’t doing so well either. On the other hand, you can see the rapid rise of Samsung. Samsung has claimed 26% of the global smartphone market, becoming the largest vendor. Apple slipped from 19% to close to 14%, but that could be due to anticipation of the iPhone 4S (the figures are from before the launch). Nokia has toppled from the top of the heap to under 14% in roughly a year. HTC overtook RIM with 11% to 9% as the former continues to gain market share and the latter loses it. Sony has approximately 6%, LG 5%, and Motorola 4%.

Unsurprisingly the units shipped by vendor closely aligns with the market share of each vendor. The sheer number of devices being shipped is really impressive.

Via Droid Life.

You can use it as a digital photo frame capable of so much more than the typical models. Or as a high-end alarm clock that you can roll over and check the morning news, weather, and traffic on. Or go to sleep while streaming Netflix. It has a 7″ 800×480 LCD touch screen display and 802.11b/g WiFi for connectivity. It is no iPad or Android tablet, but it also costs a fraction of what those do. It is inexpensive enough to leave as a dedicated Internet terminal around the house. Or give one to a less tech savvy relation for access to specific services made even simpler than a tablet, without a major investment.

This is 60% off the MSRP of $199.99, and Amazon sells these new for $92.95. And these are new, not refurbished.

• Sony BDP-S380 Blu-ray Disc Player for $92.88
• Sony BDP-S480 Blu-ray Disc Player for $99.96
• Sony BDP-S580 Blu-ray Disc Player for $130.04
• Sony NSZ-GT1 WiFi-Enabled 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player Featuring Google TV for $235.04

And, for some reason, Amazon is including the Sony SMP-N100 Streaming Player with Wi-Fi for $78.00, despite the fact that it isn’t a Blu-ray player.

First up, save on select Sony HDTVs. Sixteen 1080p models to choose from, 32″ up to 60″. Three LCD models, the rest LED – ten of those 3D.

Next up, instant savings on Panasonic HDTVs. Thirty one models to choose from, all 1080p, with sizes ranging from a small 19″ set up to large 60″ models. There’s a mix of plasma, LCD, and LED models, some 3D enabled.

And finally, save on select LG HDTVs. Thirty two models, 22″ to 60″ – six LCD (5 1080p, 1 720p), fourteen LED (4 1080p 3D, 7 1080p, 3 720p), and twelve plasma (6 1080p 3D, 2 1080p, 2 720p 3D, 2 720p).

They also have 40GB TiVo Series2 units for $299.99, with upgrades to 80GB, 500GB, or 1TB for $19, $99, or $149, respectively. All of these units are refurbished. Shipping is free on all units, and they come with a six month warranty. Note that product lifetime service alone is $499.99 for new subscribers, and $399.99 for subscribers adding an additional unit to an existing account. So this is a cheap way to get lifetime if these units meet your needs.

Via WeaKnees Blog.

Next up, through September 10, save on four Panasonic Blu-ray players. You save on the DMP-BD75, DMP-BDT110, DMP-BDT210, and DMP-BDT310. The 75 is a fast booting 2D player and the 110 is a 3D, WiFi-ready player, while the 210 & 310 are both 3D players with integrated WiFi.

We wrap up with three promotions on gear from LG Electronics. The first deal is on select 2011 LG HDTVs. There are 31 models to choose from, with screens from 22″ up to 60″, and plasma, LED, and LCD display types. This promotion runs through September 10, 2011.

Second, also running through September 10, sale on select LD audio and video devices. Save on the LG BD630, BD640, and BD670 Blu-ray players, the LG LHB326, LHB336, LHB536, and LHB976 Blu-ray Home Theater Systems, and the LG LSB316 sound bar.

Finally, through October 1, 2011, get a free family pack of 3D Glasses with Select LG Cinema 3D LED HDTVs with Smart TV. There are two 47″ and two 55″ 1080p 3D sets to choose from, the key different being 120Hz or 240Hz refresh.

That’s all for now.

First up is a deal on select LG 2011 Home Entertainment Products. There are 32 products to choose from, 28 HDTVs, two 720p front projectors, and a Blu-ray player and Blu-ray home theater. Note that the overview page doesn’t show all 28 HDTVs, so be sure to check out the subpage for the full selection.

Next up, get two free pairs of 3D glasses and a Blu-ray player with the purchase of a select Samsung HDTV. You get two pair of Samsung SSG-3100GB 3D Active Glasses (MSRP $169.99) and a Samsung BD-D5500 3D Blu-ray Disc Player (MSRP $159.99) when you purchase one of six LED 1080P 3D HDTVs in 46″, 55″, and 60″.

Lastly we have two promotions running on Sony products. The first is on Sony HDTVs, with twelve to choose from. They’re all 1080p and all but one are LED (the one is LCD), eight are 3D, and screen sizes range from 32″ to 60″.

And lastly, a deal on Sony Blu-ray players and home audio systems. You can choose from the Sony BDP-S380, BDP-S480, or BDP-S580 Blu-ray players – and they erroneously SMP-N100 Streaming Player under the Blu-ray category as well. There are also eleven (twelve counting the streaming player) home audio products to select from. Sound bars, home theater systems, A/V receivers, speakers, and a universal remote – a decent set of options.

This is good for everyone – industry and consumer – but my earlier diatribe stands. I think Full HD Passive systems will be better in the long run than active shutter systems, standard glasses or not.

Via TWICE.

First up, I’m not sure I’m sold on Sharp’s Quattron technology or not. I haven’t seen a set in person in conditions where I can really judge it. Basically they added a yellow pixel to the standard red, green, and blue pixels and claim in provides sharper colors. But in any case, you can get the Sharp LC40LE830U Quattron 40-inch 1080p 120 Hz LED-LCD HDTV for $649.98. That’s 41% off of the $1099.99 MSRP, a $450.01 savings.

Now, on to less specific deals. Through August 27th, Amazon is offering deals on select LG consumer electronics products. The selection includes two 720p front projectors, five network connected Blu-ray players, and thirty one HDTVs. The Blu-ray players are the BD630, BD640, BD650, BD670, and BD690. The two lower end models are connected, with the BD640 having WiFi. The BD650 and BD670 are similarly a wired/wireless pair, with the addition of 3D and Smart TV. And the BD690 has WiFi, Smart TV, and a 250GB drive for storing media including Vudu downloads. The HDTVs are a mix of ten plasma, sixteen LED, and five LCD, some with 3D support.

Sticking with LG, Amazon has another promotion running through October 1st. This one is offering a free family pack (six pair) of 3D glasses with the purchase of one of five select LED 3D sets. The sets are available in 47″, 55″, and 65″ sizes and each includes four pairs of glasses.

Switching to Sony, through August 27th save on select Sony BRAVIA HDTVs. Thirteen sets to choose from, LED & LCD, nine with 3D. Sizes from 32″ to 55″.

From Sony over to Samsung, where through September 3rd you can get a free Blu-ray Disc player and two free pairs of 3D glasses with the purchase of a select HDTV. The player is the Samsung BD-D5500 3D Blu-ray player, which carries a $159.99 MSRP (and currently stickers for $114.28). The glasses are the Samsung SSG-3100GB 3D Active Glasses which carry an MSRP of $169.99 (and a $43.79 sticker) – and that’s per pair. There are six LED 3D sets to select from, in 46″, 55″, and 60″ sizes.

And finally, for a complete change of pace, save up to 50% off select HP printers. Twelve Photosmart, Officejet, and Officejet Pro printer models to choose from.

Enjoy.

More into staying home that road tripping? Well, you can enjoy the stay more with a new HDTV and Blu-ray deck, right?

Save on select Sony HDTVs. There are thirteen 1080p LCD & LED models to choose from, ranging from 32-inch to 55-inch, nine of them 3D.

Save on select Panasonic HDTVs and Blu-ray players. There are two 32″ 720p LCD sets, a 32″ & 37″ 1080p LCD, a 32″ & 37″ 1080p LED, and a 42″ 1080p plasma set, and three Blu-ray players to choose from.

Save on select LG HDTVs. This promotion has the most choice, with 34 LCD, LED, and plasma models to choose from. There are 720p and 1080p sets ranging from 22 to 60 inch, twelve of them 3D. There is also a promotion for free additional 3D glasses with five LG HDTV models.

All three promotions run through August 20th, 2011.

The prices now are ¥24,980 160GB and ¥29,980 32GB in Japan, €249 160GB and €299 320GB in Europe, and $249.99 160GB and $299.99 320GB in the US. The Japanese prices include tax.

I bought my 60GB original model when they dropped the price to $500. No regrets, it’s been an excellent Blu-ray deck – and I even play games once in a while. The PS3 is still one of the best Blu-ray players out there, and they still keep enhancing Blu-ray support in the software updates.

10% of HDTVs in the US are now Connected TVs, like the Insignia TiVo models launched last week. The FMA study also indicates 6% receive OTT content via TiVo or other DVRs (I’m guessing mostly TiVo, since few other DVRs offer OTT content). Apple TV and Google TV account for 4% each, Roku nabs 3% while Slingbox and Boxee each grab 1%. I’m not sure what Slingbox is going in there, since a Slingbox is a sending device, not a receiving device. And the SlingCatcher surely doesn’t register.

I think the most surprising number out of all of these is that Google TV is 4%. It is only in a handful of devices, I find it hard to believe it would have more penetration than Roku. It just seems strange. The price on the Logitech Revue was slashed just last week. (Mine arrived yesterday, BTW. I haven’t had time to set it up yet.)

Also somewhat surprising, the study says only 7% of US households have a connected Blu-ray player. With network connectivity seemingly standard in so many players today, I’d've thought that number would be higher. But I suppose it hasn’t been that long since the trend started.

The end result of all this? 10% of adults watch at least one video a week on their TV via one of these devices.

Via MediaPost.

The first one is kind of funny given my post earlier today (or yesterday now I suppose, but I’m still up) about 3D HDTVs and glasses, but through August 20th, Amazon is offering 14 pairs of glasses with select LG Electronics Cinema 3D HDTV with Smart TV models. These are passive 3D 1080p LED sets, and there are five models to choose from. Three 120Hz models in 47, 55, and 65 inch sizes, and two 240Hz models in 47 & 55 inch sizes. The TVs come with four pair of glasses, and you get the other ten by adding five two-packs of glasses, which are currently $14.03 each. So you save $70.15. Not a lot, but it is a savings, and I couldn’t not list this given the coincidence with my earlier post.

Offering slightly more in the way of savings are two deals on HDTVs. First up, through August 20th, save on select Sony HDTVs. There are twelve 1080p LCD & LED models to choose from, ranging from 40-inch to 55-inch, eight of them 3D.

The second deal is similar, through August 13th, save on select Panasonic HDTVs. There are thirteen 1080p plasma models to select from, from 42 up to 65 inches, ten of them 3D. There is also one lone 1080p 42″ LCD model on offer.

Speaking of Panasonic, one of the deals from last week is still running as well. Also through August 13th, save $90 on a Panasonic DMP-BDT110 Wi-Fi ready 3D/2D Blu-ray Disc player with the purchase of a select Panasonic HDTV. The BD deck is currently $121.04, so you’d get it for $31.04. There are eleven HDTVs to choose from, all 1080p 3D plasma models.

It looks like the same models of plasma are involved in both promotions, and I spot checked a couple and they have the same price either way, so you may as well get the Blu-ray deck cheap if you buy one of the qualifying sets.

They’re also still offering free one-day shipping on select Sony camcorders through August 31st, if you just need one in a big hurry.

EDIT: Looks like I missed one. There is another, perhaps better, promotion on LG HDTVs. Through August 13th, save on select LG HDTVs. This promotion has the most choice, with 32 LCD, LED, and plasma models to choose from. There are 720p and 1080p sets ranging from 22 to 60 inch, twelve of them 3D. It looks like there is some overlap with the free glasses offer too.

So you might expect me to have been one of the first to have jumped on the 3D HDTV bandwagon, but you’d be wrong. Oh, I fully intend to buy a 3D HDTV, but I’m waiting for the industry to shake out a bit. I’ll let them work out the kinks, mature the technology, and get prices down a bit more, then I’ll upgrade.

One of those ‘kinks’ that I’ve been waiting for them to work out is the idiocy of having multiple, incompatible systems for the glasses. Most vendors today use active shutter glasses, but the glasses from one vendor won’t work with a TV from another vendor, which means your friends with a Sony TV can’t bring their glasses over for movie night on your Samsung. OK, let me step back and give a quick overview of where we stand. Oversimplified, but it’ll suffice.

We see the world in 3D because each eye sees objects from a slightly different angle. The brain uses this parallax to calculate the distances and provide depth to what we see. But projected images, like conventional TV, all come from the same plane – they’re 2D. There is no parallax, and thus no depth. So the obvious solution is to provide a different image to each eye, each simulating a different angle, creating the illusion of parallax to provide depth. But that’s simpler to explain than to do.

Older 3D systems tended to be anaglyph, using different color filters for each eye – often red & blue, but there are a number of systems. The two images would be projected with matching color filters, and the filters in the glasses meant each eye only perceived the corresponding color projected. This system works well enough for B&W, but the nature of the system – colored filters – often wrecks havoc with the colors in a color image. And it isn’t that sharp, you get bleed through from the opposite eye’s image if the filters don’t block 100%, etc. Anaglyph is still used for printed materials, and sometimes for video, but it is really used mainly as a novelty these days.

Modern theatrical systems are almost all based on polarized light. The glasses are similar to quality polarized sunglasses, only allowing light waves moving in one direction to pass through. A simple way to imagine it is that you can give light a left hand twist or a right hand twist as you project it. So the 3D system does both – using left hand for the left eye and right hand for the right eye. Corresponding filters in the glasses allow only the matching twist through, so that eye sees only the image projected for it. These systems work fairly well, the only real drawback is that the glasses block some of the light, and so make things dimmer – but that’s easily compensated for by increasing the brightness of the image. Since the glasses are simple lenses and all of the work is done in the projector – or the TV – these systems are called ‘passive’. The advantage is that the glasses are simple, cheap, and light. They aren’t quite universally compatible, as there are different ways to do the polarization (mainly circular polarization vs. linear polarization), but most theaters, and passive 3D HDTVs, use the same system so de facto they tend to be.

On the other hand, most 3D HDTVs today use active shutter glasses instead. As the name implies, in this system the glasses are an active part of the system. Instead of each eye receiving a constant stream of light, filtered for that eye, active shutter systems alternate images to each eye. The glasses contain liquid crystal lenses (similar to the LCDs in a digital watch) which alternate between transparent and opaque – exactly out of phase. So the left eye receives the image while the right eye is blocked, and vice versa. This is sync’d with the image on the screen, so a left eye image is shown while the left lens is transparent, etc. The downside to this is that the glasses are complex, relatively heavy, expensive, and need to be recharged regularly. Oh, and each vendor has used a different synchronization system, making them incompatible, as above, but I’ll get back to that.

So, why do only a few vendors (like LG & Vizio) use passive 3D while the rest use active 3D with the expensive glasses? Well, active 3D is a higher quality solution for the home right now. See, with active 3D each eye sees the full image. So if you have a 1920x1080p ‘Full HD’ display, then each eye gets Full HD – just half the time. But with the displays refreshing at 120Hz or 240Hz, you still get the effect of full HD since the brain can’t tell the difference. It is still equivalent to 60Hz or 120Hz per eye. (Remember classic film is 24 frames per second and, in the US, classic TV was only 30fps (OK, 29.97).) On the other hand, passive 3D systems today use fixed polarizing filters on top of the screen which divide the image in half, line by line. So every even line is for one eye and every odd line is for the other. The end result is that each eye is only getting half resolution, so your 1080p set is only 540p in 3D mode. This is another one of those kinks I mentioned, and it will be resolved, which I’ll get to – but first, back to active shutters.

So, active shutter glasses are more expensive and complex, but provide a better image. That’s fine. But they’re expensive, with prices ranging from $50 to $200, while passive glasses start at a couple of bucks. The cost of active glasses wouldn’t be so bad, except for the compatibility problem and the stinginess of vendors. When you buy your shiny new 3D HDTV it may not even come with a pair of glasses. And when they do, it is generally just one or two pair. If you have a family with more people, or ever want to have friends over for a movie night, you need more glasses. Maybe your friends have their own 3D HDTV – great, they can bring their glasses. What, they have a different brand of TV? Oh, that’s too bad.

Different vendors have used different systems to keep the glasses in sync. There are IR- and RF-based systems, using different protocols. So while Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic, for example, all have used IR – they’ve used different IR protocols. Some vendors, like XPAND, have seen this as an opportunity and have been producing ‘universal’ glasses which implement multiple standards to work with multiple TVs, but it still means buying more if your TV came with vendor-specific glasses. Finally the main vendors supporting active shutter, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and XPAND, have formed the ‘Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative‘ to produce universally compatible glasses across all members.

The new glasses will support RF and IR protocols. Of course, they’re not expected to be available until 2012, but they will be backwards compatible with 2011 model 3D HDTVs. Basically they’re going to cram all of the protocols into one set of glasses for backwards compatibility, though it sounds like going forward the vendors will be using Bluetooth as a standard RF system on their sets. So one day we may have one protocol across all of the sets, which would allow for simpler ‘universal’ glasses.

So that’s one kink worked out, or at least on the path there. So, time for me to start shopping for that 3D TV.

Actually, no. See, I don’t like active 3D. Sure, the image is great and all, but I don’t like the heavy, or at least heavier, glasses and the costs involved. I have a hard enough time remembering to plug in my PS3 controllers to keep them charged, I don’t want to deal with having to keep my 3D glasses charged. Or worry about them falling into the couch or getting sat on, etc. I think the RealD glasses at the theater are pretty comfortable, and you can even buy custom, designer, even prescription, passive 3D glasses if you want. I’m a big fan of passive 3D, in other words. But I’m not willing to sacrifice quality either, the kink I mentioned earlier.

Fortunately, that’s on its way to being resolved too. While current passive 3D systems use a passive, fixed polarizing screen on a conventional HD display, that’s not the only way to do it. One obvious solution – up the native resolution of the display. If you’re halving the resolution for each eye, the higher the native resolution of the display, the higher the resolution for each eye. A 4k native display would provide better than Full HD for each eye. But making such high resolution displays in large panel sizes is a very expensive option today.

There’s another approach though, as pursued by RealD in their RDZ system, add an active polarizer to the screen. This is kind of a hybrid between active shutter and passive 3D systems. The glasses are passive, but an active layer is added to the screen. Instead of an on/off shutter, it is a polarizer, that alternatively polarizes the full image left or right. While the glasses are passive, since each lens only allows the matching image through, one eye sees nothing while the other sees the image, just like with active 3D. But all of the complexity and cost is in the TV. The glasses are literally the same as used in the theater – if you need more just bring them home next time you go, instead of tossing them in the recycling bin.

Sets using RDZ are expected to hit the market in 2012 from Samsung, and there will probably be similar, competing systems. Personally I think this solution is the best of both worlds. You get the Full HD image quality with cheap, lightweight glasses. Cheap enough that you can have plenty on hand for friends, and not worry about breaking or losing a pair. And if you need prescription lenses (as my fiancée wears) you can have prescription 3D glasses made that you can use at home and in the theater. No more having to sacrifice clarity for 3D, or trying to wear two pairs of glasses. It is hard to justify the cost of a prescription pair just for the theater, even for a die-hard movie goer, but if you can use the same glasses at home all the time, it is easier to justify.

Oh, yeah, I left out ‘glasses free’ 3D systems. That wasn’t an accident; I’m extremely unimpressed with them. They work OK on small displays – cell phones, handhelds, etc. – though even there they have major limitations. But they have too many drawbacks. Glasses free systems work via two major systems – lenticular screens or filter slats. Lenticular screens are familiar to most people – you know those images that seem to move when you tip them back and forth? Those have a lenticular screen on top. Basically rows of linear lenses that create ‘slices’ of an image. so when you view at a given angle you seen only specific slices, as directed by the lens. If you ever see one of the images without the lens in place it looks like several images all sliced up into ribbons, interlaced with each other. And that’s exactly what the display is doing – it is actually displaying columns of left & right images interlaced, and using the lens to direct each one to one eye. The slat system works in a similar manner, but even simpler. There are vertical slats positioned in front of the display designed to simply block every other column of pixels from each eye. But in such a way that it blocks the odd columns for one eye, and the even columns for the other.

So, in these systems you have the same drawback as today’s passive 3D – it halves the resolution. But, worse, there are very specific fixed points (or point in some cases) for viewing. While active and passive glasses systems work pretty much from any viewing angle the display supports, with glasses free systems you have to be in one of the ‘sweet spots’ where the effect works. Anywhere else and you may see nothing, or garbage, or 2D, it depends. Again, you know those cheap lenticular pictures? Know how as you tip them, as one image dissolves into the next there is a point where it is neither image and just a mess? The displays are like that, if you sit in the wrong place.

I’ll never say never, but to date I haven’t seen anything out or announced that truly resolves these issues with glasses free 3D. I’ve seen systems that will increase the number of viable points for viewing, but that’s just polishing a turd. You still have finite points and you still lose quality. Until someone comes up with a real breakthrough I think passive Full HD 3D will be the best option. I’m just waiting for it to arrive – and be priced reasonably, of course. I picked up my current set, a 61″ Samsung 1080p DLP, in late 2006, so it has plenty of life left in it. I can wait.

Press release spotted via Engadget.

First up, if you need a new camcorder in a hurry, through August 31st Amazon is offering free one-day shipping on select Sony camcorders. There are 28 models to choose from; from the Bloggie & Bloggie Duo for $148.00 to the HDR-AX2000 for $3,498.00. Yow.

Next up, only through August 6th, are instant rebates on select LG home entertainment products. There are three Blu-ray players to choose from and 31 different HDTVs. I did notice a quirk in the listings. The default page shows the BD decks and 17 HDTVs – 20 items total – and no links to additional pages. But if you click on the ‘HDTV’ link to limit the search you get 31 results on two pages. So if you’re interested be sure to check the full selection.

Next, also only through August 6th, is a similar deal – instant rebates on select Sony HDTVs. Twelve models to choose from, two LCD and ten LED. All 1080p and nine of the LED sets are 3D.

Last, but not least, through August 13th save $90 on a Panasonic DMP-BDT110 Wi-Fi ready 3D/2D Blu-ray Disc player with the purchase of a select Panasonic HDTV. The BD deck is currently $119.06, so you’d get it for $29.06. There are eleven HDTVs to choose from, all 1080p 3D plasma models.

You save, I get affiliate referral fees – win-win.

First up, you can save $30 on a Sony HomeShare Speaker and Blu-ray Player Bundle. You simply add one of the qualifying speakers and BD decks to your cart to receive the discount. The promotion includes the BDP-S480 and BDP-S580 BD decks (which are good units, especially the 580), and the SNP-N100 Streaming Player and SANS300 & SANS400 HomeShare WiFi Network Speakers.

Second is a deal on select 2011 LG Electronics products. There are thirty one products involved in the promotion, nearly all (27) of them HDTVs (several 3D), three Blu-ray home theater systems, and one standalone Blu-ray player. Of the HDTVs eight are plasma (six of those 3D) with screens 50-60″, thirteen are LED (three of those 3D) with screens 22-65″, and six are LCD (none 3D) with screens 32-55″. Two of the home theater systems also support 3D.

Both deals run through 23:59 PST on July 23, 2011.

This would allow consumer electronics vendors, such as Sony or TiVo, to build devices that would be able to plug into any programming source – cable, satellite, or fiber – and to access the full range of content. Not just linear channels, but also SDV, PayPerView, and OnDemand content. You may be aware that TiVo has deals in place with a handful of cable MSOs to access OnDemand content. RCN & Suddenlink already provide TiVo hardware to their customers which can access OnDemand, and Charter will begin doing so this year. And Cox & Comcast have agreements with TiVo to allow access to OnDemand via retail TiVo units in the coming months.

But this is piecemeal. TiVo has to pursue individual deals with each MSO, and then customize their software to work that that MSO’s OnDemand head end. There isn’t a standardized interface, and TiVo remains locked out of other MSOs. Not to mention they’re still locked out of satellite and IPTV fiber services like U-Verse because CableCARD is only mandated for cable MSOs. (FiOS uses cable standards for linear content, but IPTV for OnDemand.) And that’s just TiVo, if Sony wanted to provide the same kind of access on their products they’d have to make the same kind of individual deals with the MSOs. And then Samsung. Etc. It just isn’t the same as having open, defined standards that every vendor can implement.

AllVid is the vision for that new standard, and it would supplant CableCARD, hopefully eliminating the many shortcomings that have restricted its popularity with consumers. (Like the lack of access to OnDemand content.)

Of course, the industry, primarily in the form of the NCTA, is resisting any effort to mandate the AllVid vision. They want to be left alone, claiming that industry innovation makes AllVid unnecessary. They point to things like the TiVo-MSO deals, and a growing number of new services like Comcast’s Xfinity mobile apps. But that’s apples & oranges, saying you can stream content on your iPad isn’t the same as being able to access it on your TV with a set top box you purchased because it has the features you want. And the AllVid Alliance argues just that, in a new filing with the FCC. Just a sample:

Section 629 of the Communications Act is not satisfied by consumers being able to download an MVPD’s app on a particular brand of television set or “cable systems…developing new ways to use the Internet.” While MVPDs point to the latest
“shiny thing over there,” they ignore the Section 629 mandate of the Communications Act. The Commission must not lose sight of the fact that Congress directed the Commission to foster a competitive retail market for navigation devices used by consumers to access the full range of services offered by MVPDs, and to access that programming and those services through manufacturers, retailers and other vendors not affiliated with any MVPD

And:

An AllVid gateway would empower a consumer to use any consumer electronics (“CE”) product to receive any programming offered by an MVPD on a subscriber basis, and would allow any CE product to work securely with respect to multichannel content. Consumers would no longer need to be concerned about how to port content to or store content on TV, computer, game, tablet, or mobile platforms, and whether programs would be lost if the consumer switches to a different MVPD or even to a different device. Consumers would have the option of choosing multichannel programming interactively without worrying about a potential cap on their use of Internet bandwidth. Multiple CE manufacturers–not just those that have negotiated deals with MVPDs–would be able to respond to consumers with innovations that directly address their needs and desires.

They go on to cite the historic Carterfone decision of 1968, which allowed consumers to stop renting their phones from AT&T and to connect non-AT&T telephones, and other telephony devices, to the phone system. Significantly ‘other telephony devices’ includes computer modems. Without Carterfone the early growth of online services may have been stifled. At least acoustic couplers would’ve had a longer run I suppose. I was born in 1970, and I’m just old enough to remember a lot of remaining ‘AT&T’ industrial looking phones and the first wave of all the new, then-radical designs which broke the mold from the standard, archetypal ‘telephone’. The AllVid Alliance is looking to open up television services in the same way.

Ironically, the cable industry themselves have shown that the AllVid vision isn’t so hard to fulfill, despite their claims that it would bring hardship and exorbitant costs. A recent demonstration at a CableLabs interop event showed cable STBs running tru2way middleware were able to stream content over an IP interface to DLNA enabled media devices, using DTCP-IP content protection. This is based on a home networking spec from CableLabs themselves, and could serve as the core for an AllVid implementation. So why the objections to the FCC mandating some baseline standard to ensure a level playing field to start?

Personally, I hope the FCC does mandate AllVid, and that it has some teeth. I think they were too soft with CableCARD, especially in allowing tru2way, which was so unloved it seems everyone, cable and CE industry alike, are mostly trying to forget about it.

Via Multichannel News.

According to the terms an individual can receive up to 20 free remotes. I’m tempted to buy a couple of these games, and there are movies I was thinking of getting anyway, and using the remotes as giveaways. I’ve been hearing lots of good things about LittleBigPlanet. And maybe Resistance 2 or SOCOM – the free headset would be useful too.

Picked up from the Blu-ray Stats News Log.

First up is a Buy Two, Get One Free deal running through December 31st. It appears to be on Warner titles, with 112 of them to choose from.

And then there is a deep discount sale on Sony titles. While it is labeled as ‘up to 45% off’, 13 of the 17 titles in the sale are actually 54% off, three 45%, and one 44%.

Picked up from Format War Central and Blu-ray Stats News Log, respectively.