Along with the new standards for 3D home theater components, there is a new cabling interface standard called HDMI 1.4. Here is what you need to know about it. HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It is the most current cabling standard for HDTVs and home theater components. Although you do not necessarily need to use HDMI cables to connect components, such … [Read more...]

Step into the holodeck, where you can enjoy a simulated reality that goes way beyond simple 3D television. It may be several years away, but holographic TV is already in the works. Holographic television research is being conducted by the University of Arizona, the University or Texas, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan and … [Read more...]

Liquid crystal shutter glasses have been around for a while and are emerging as the dominant technology for viewing 3D with the new 3D home theater technologies. Liquid crystal shutter glasses--also called LC shutter glasses or active shutter glasses--use liquid crystal lenses that turn opaque when a voltage is applied. This process can occur very rapidly, which makes them … [Read more...]

We found some interesting information posted on the Samsung web site that warns of possible health risks related to watching 3D television. This raises the question of whether or not 3D television and home movies can be hazardous to your health. We heard about several PDF documents that are downloadable from the Samsung web site that issue this warning. You can find all … [Read more...]

We found a program offered by Warner Brothers Studios that will upgrade standard Warner Brothers movies on DVD to their Blu-ray versions at a minimal cost. This upgrade program has been around for a while, but has not been publicized very well. It appears to have been originally initiated to allow purchasers of now defunct HD-DVD movies to upgrade to the Blu-ray versions of … [Read more...]

This may come as a surprise to some home theater enthusiasts, but up until HDMI version 1.4 there are only two versions for HDMI cables: standard speed and high speed. Many HDMI versions that have been released over the past several years, but the versions refer to the possible set of features built into the home theater components, such as HDTVs, Blu-ray players and … [Read more...]

The announcements made at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) regarding a range of new 3D home theater products raised a lot of excitement, but also raises quite a few questions. When we visited CES, several reps gave us vague responses to our questions or answers that just raised more questions. One thing is fairly certain: 3D home theater technology is here and … [Read more...]

The Blu-ray Disc Association has approved a specification for 3D movies for home theaters. Agreeing to a standard is a critical step in order to avoid a battle over competing standards like we saw with Blu-ray versus HD DVD. It appears that manufacturers are committing to bring the new technology to the marketplace in 2010. The new specification has been officially named … [Read more...]

The ideal laser television should be capable of delivering bright colors, large format screens and should consume very little power. If perfected and delivered to the market at a low cost, this approach has the ability to replace most existing technologies, including plasma, LCD and standard rear projection. A relatively new California company named HDI (High Definition … [Read more...]