Behind the Scenes at Revision3
Monday, October 15, 2012 at 4:02PM 
A picture of the control room at the Rev3 studios.
And, I'm posting this using the Squarespace Android app.
Equiso Smart TV
Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 1:12PM Add Android to any HDTV
Arriving in my mailbox yesterday was this Kickstarter-funded gem: The Equiso Smart TV
The project's website is its Facebook page, and I was excited to finally get my hands on a first of what will likely be a flood of similar devices that adds Google's Linux-based operating system, aka Android, to any HDTV. This should encourage at least a few brave HDTV manufacturers to stop this fragmented and mostly crappy app madness and offer Android (and the related app marketplaces) on capable televisions.
Initial impressions of the Equiso Smart TV:
- A little buggy, but an update is promised soon:
"During the last month while the products were shipping we have been working on a firmware update. The update will include a number of improvements including support for the Google TV remote, DLNA support, better autodetect of TV resolution and speed improvements."
- HDMI's ~5V (max 50mA) was not enough juice for the Equiso as it required the use of an included USB power adapter.
- This may be a necessary for ensuring ample power for Equiso's USB port that is currently driving the wireless keyboard transmitter. I'll retest without a keyboard and report what happens.
- The rechargable remote would, albeit occasionally, use the same USB power adapter unless the owner had a spare (increasinly likely).
- The RF remote's cursor control proved very usable - a Wii Remote-like experience with decent precision.
- The Equiso's USB port enabled me to connect a full-sized keyboard for help during the intial setup - specifically, the one-time entry of some crazy-long passwords.
- A dedicated website for the project/product would be convenient, and IMHO, more professional.
Bottom line: I like it, but I want to see the software/firmware mature a bit more - the update is coming...an auto-update I hope ;)
See Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear!
Favorite Apps: Ceton Companion
Monday, October 8, 2012 at 8:31AM 
UPDATE September 15th, 2014: this app has since been renamed My Media Center and is available via the Amazon Appstore, Google Play, and App Store on iTunes.
The home theater personal computer (HTPC) that is the heart of my home's entertainment center is also my cable and over-the-air digital video recorder (DVR). I recently added a terrific Logitech Harmony universal remote control that truly simplified the use of my rather eclectic collection of home theater gear, and I wholeheartedly recommend those sanity-saving devices to every home theater owner.
Windows Media Center (WMC) makes it easy to transform nearly any combination of over-the-air digital television (OTA DTV) and CableCARD tuners into a multi-tuner/multi-terabyte DVR capable of accessing hundreds of channels and recording hundreds of hours of TV shows.
With the aim of taming that near-infinite source of content with an elegant yet powerful interface, the CableCARD tuning masters at Ceton Corp have released the Ceton Companion family of mobile apps.
The $5 Companion app is available on Windows Phone, iOS, and Android mobile platforms, and Amazon has added it to its Appstore for Android. On the Media Center PC side of things, the setup is really simple: just install the free Ceton Companion Services program - the default settings are fine for most people. With a HTPC and mobile device connected to the same local network, the Companion app automagically locates the HTPC and provides a snappy access to a host of useful tools including:
- TV and movie gallery
- universal search function
- manage/schedule DVR recordings
- play to any TV
- Windows Media Center remote control
It all just worked! Running the Companion app on iOS and Android-based handsets, I found myself using the Companion app to provide a quick glance at what my DVR recently recorded and what was scheduled to record later that day. Search proved an ideal way of quickly finding recorded content on the 2TB of storage I have dedicated to the DVR.
Ceton Companion is for turning your mobile device into the ultimate HTPC remote control, but one thing Companion doesn't do is stream content to your mobile device - it's just a control app, and a very good one at that. If you desire to stream, schedule, and browse your HTPC's recorded content on your smartphone, Remote Potato is my go-to app.
Read Heron Fidelity's Cord Cutting Guide!
See Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear!
Cord Cutting, DVR, HTPC, Reviews The Best HDTVs of 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 9:58AM Among the very best HDTVs that I've had the pleasure of working on this year are these two plasma televisions.
Pictured are the 65-inch Panasonic VIERA TC-P65VT50 and the 60-inch Samsung PN60E8000 plasma 3D 1080p televisions. The E8000 is the wall-mounted HDTV in the gallery pictures.
The wall mount is the Sanus VLF320-B1 that provides full-motion including swivel, tilt, and extension - a terrific mount that can be operated with fingertip pressure.
The Panasonic VT50's luscious-looking imagery is assisted by professional calibration controls that proved effective at achieving accurate, faithful video reproduction. I also appreciated Panasonic's clean menu interface and updated selection of apps that includes Amazon Instant Video. However, Panasonic continues to bury its overscan picture control in the TV's setup menu - this should really be a button on the remote control.
The Samsung E8000 plasma is the company's flagship model and it features a seamlessly integrated camera and microphones centered along the TV's upper bezel. Pair this with Samsung's ever-expanding selection of apps, built-in Bluetooth and WiFi, and it wont be long before premium HDTVs also double as very usable family room computers. Compared to older Samsung plasmas like my beloved C8000, the E8000's 96Hz mode (24p frames repeated 4x) doesn't sacrifice black level (picture contrast) when enabled.
Both HDTVs include a premium compact touch pad remote that's useful with menu navigation and app usage. Samsung's touch-enabled remote also integrates a microphone for voice control capabilities - handy if you are not close enough to the TV's integrated mics. Samsung also pushes the functionality envelope by adding a Soft AP feature to the E8000 that can turn its WiFi into an access point that nearby devices can utilize.
Terrific picture quality and compelling integrated features are making this a great year for HDTVs and we still have a few months go to before the 2013 CES in Las Vegas arrives with previews of what's to come next year.
Read Heron Fidelity's Cord Cutting Guide!
See Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear!
Beyond 1080p
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 1:01PM 
I recently wrote a short column for Popular Science where I speculated about when we can expect to see HDTVs and content that deliver more than the 2,073,600 pixels of the 1080p format.
For future consumer display designs, the need to go 'beyond 1080p' is being driven primarily by passive-glasses 3D technology that enables the use of inexpensive glasses that are similar to the ones used in commercial 3D cinemas. LG Electronics and other HDTV manufacturers that use LG's LCD panels have begun shipping their 2011 models that feature passive-glasses 3D viewing, and the primary trade-off of this 3D technology compared to competitors' 3D systems that utilize active shutter glasses is that passive 3D HDTVs sacrifices half of the picture resolution of 3D Blu-ray video. For broadcast 3D formats, the resulting video detail with current passive 3D technology is, at best, 1/4 the picture resolution of the 1080p format - that's approaching the pixel detail of a standard definition viewing experience.
3D displays that utilize passive glasses need more pixels to regain this lost detail, and that's why I expect to see consumer displays with double 1080p resolution coming to market as early as 2012 and going to 4x 1080p resolution soon thereafter.
Video content that goes beyond 1080p resolution is here now in the form of some streaming YouTube clips, PC content, and commercial digital cinemas where the video is delivered in form of a box of encrypted hard drives. The HDMI 1.4 specification added support for 4K resolution (4,096 by 2,160 pixels), but don't expect 4K Blu-ray movies anytime soon. Among Blu-ray's more interesting limitations is that its maximum resolution tops out at 1080p, and it does not support expanded color gamuts (x.v.Color aka xvYCC) that some HDTVs support, nor does Blu-ray video support greater than 8-bit channels for RGB color information (DeepColor supports up to 16-bit channels). However, an increasingly popular video format known as AVCHD that is utilized in many consumer HD camcorders supports x.v.Color capture although we're still waiting for a camcorder that supports DeepColor.
Increasing the resolution of a display beyond 1080p can improve the viewing experience with today's regular 2D HD content as well. If screen resolution remains static, increasing screen sizes will result in larger, more noticeable, pixel structures. Owners of Apple's iPhone 4 can attest to the visual benefits of increasing pixel density, and for large format displays including front projection setups, more pixels filling the screen produces a more seamless image that can be appreciated at closer distances. Of course, the benefits of increased screen resolution aren't fully realized until we can provide it with content that was captured, edited, and delivered to the display at full quality - ideally in a 1:1 ratio of screen pixels and video information.
