A good home theater system can be costly when you factor in the TV and stereo system including speakers and an amplifier.
H1 is a portable, 3D full HD smart projector that features Harman Kardon 45mm dual unit stereo sound. The projector uses Texas Instruments DLP technology and its brightness is rated at 900 ANSI lumens for daytime or bright-light viewing. H1 is the latest LED projector from Chinese manufacturer XGIMI, and transforms any surface into a 300-inch screen.
The typical portable LED projector offers consumers a pretty good way to display video and other content on any flat surface wherever they are. But most aren’t designed to offer a complete entertainment experience including good-quality sound.
Z4 Aurora, however, is a smart, portable LED projector that features integrated Android functionality and stereo sound from audio company Harmon/Kardon. The projector can turn any surface into a 300-inch screen. Apps and games can be wirelessly streamed onto the projector, which also supports active-shutter, stereoscopic 3D video, as well as MP4, 4K and Blu-ray video. It uses an energy-conserving bulb and has a projected lifetime of 30,000 hours, more than the average expected lifetime of several rival projectors.
MP3 players and smartphones ushered in a whole new era of convenience for music lovers wanting to take their tunes with them wherever they go. But sound quality has been traded in for portable convenience because of the compression that’s done to the music.
Seiun Players are sleek high-resolution audio and, in the case of two models, 4K video players that its makers say offer much superior audio quality to rival devices on the market. Three models are being fielded: Seiun (pronounced Say-yune), Seiun Pro and Seiun Pro X. All three can play uncompressed hi-res PCM audio up to at least 192 KHz/24-bit and can upscale music that’s not hi-res to that same rate, according to the Indiegogo campaign.
While the entry-level model features only a 1.04-inch display and isn’t designed for video playback, the Pro and Pro X each have a 5.5-inch touch display and are built on the Android OS, adding access to hi-fi streaming services including Tidal and Deezer via the Google Play Store. The Pro and Pro X can play uncompressed hi-res PCM audio up to 384 KHz/32-bit. While Seiun Pro features a 720p-resolution screen and 32 GB of onboard storage, the Pro X offers 1080p resolution and 64 GB storage. The Pro and Pro X also each offer video output of up to 4K resolution, according to the campaign.
The recent explosion of interest in virtual reality poses a problem that’s long been associated with new media: a dearth of content.The original Sphericam 360-degree video camera sought to answer that call a few years ag. It received more than three times its Kickstarter funding goal in 2012, raising more than $34,000.
Sphericam 2 is an enhanced, 4K version of the spherical video camera that also taps into growing interest in the VR device market. Its six image sensors and lenses can shoot video of anything surrounding the user. That video gets automatically stitched together and can be viewed on VR headsets including the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard, as well as tablets or smartphones.
Sphericam 2 can also take still photos with resolution of about 4100 x 2150. It will ship with a protective carrying case at $1,499 in December. Its maker set a more ambitious Kickstarter goal of raising $150,000 by July 30 this time around.
The Sperhicam 2 is clearly a tool for pros or amateurs with generous budgets, but the potential market for it will probably get much larger as more VR headsets reach the consumer market. Some customers may also be reluctant to buy a device, for now, whose image quality is hard to fully appreciate from an online campaign video.
Most would agree the Wi-Fi filled, smartphone-rich, urban living experience is draining. Being surrounded by drab apartment buildings, the idle humming of traffic, and the roar of subways wouldn’t be as bad if the apartments and home people came back to were more more relaxing. Unfortunately, window views of next door apartment buildings are all too common.
The Atmoph digital window gives owners the opportunity to have a piece of the world right in their own living space. The 27″ frame houses a crisp 1920 x 1080, fully HD display capable of showcasing 4K videos shot the company itself, live streams of locales around the world, or a user’s own videos. The result is a night reading by the fireside, an afternoon preparing dinner in the lush jungles of Costa Rica, or a chat in bustling side streets of East London.
Like the original transition from black and white to color TVs, and then SD to HD, the time has come for people to start the upgrade to 4K TVs. With Sony pioneering the technology, getting an alternative product may be difficult at first.
The Vega S82 4K set top box is incredibly similar to Sony’s 4K set top in terms of functionality, features, and even design. The key difference between the two is that the Vega S82 runs an Android OS on a Quad-Core processor and has customizable user interfaces and more. The campaign is looking for just $5,000, though the purpose for those funds is not stated. Supporters can get a Vega S82 for $200 in December.
Having more options for 4K media is a welcome addition to the market, but there just aren’t enough details about this product to instill consumer confidence. With a few technical specs, a very unimpressive pitch video, and not much else, it’s difficult to make a determination if this is a worthy competitor to Sony or just a product that’s more concept than reality.
With high definition and video cameras in the pockets of the majority of people around the world, it’s a wonder that the way video is recorded and how people interact with it has gone largely unchanged.
Kogeto, developers of the successful Dot lens for the iPhone 4 that allowed full 360-degree panoramic video, are now presenting the Joey, a stand-alone video camera that captures the same kind of video in a much crisper resolution. With no color distortion or seams like other full-panoramic cameras, the Joey takes shockingly crisp video that viewers can rotate or spin to their heart’s content, making no two views alike and offering a much more immersive viewing experience. Kogeto needs $40,000 to begin the manufacturing of Joey. Joey will start changing video capture in December for backers who pledge $850.
Joey offers an exciting development for both movie makers and viewers, turning film-making into a more interactive and user-defined experience. As if that wasn’t enough, the video Joey takes looks as sharp as technology will allow right now, with 4K resolution. Filmmakers both amateur and professional should be putting this device on their Christmas list.