Podcast #482: The Best HDTV Widgets

An HDTV Widget is an application that runs on an Internet-connected HDTV, sometimes called a “Smart TV” or other home-theater device, like many Blu-ray players, a Roku, the Boxee Box or a Google TV, that offers functionality beyond the traditional TV watching experience. There are a plethora of these widgets, some useful, some not so useful. We’ve assembled our list of the best, or most useful, HDTV Widgets available right now.

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Podcast #481: 720p vs 1080p or More Compression vs Less Compression

Last September Apple released the AppleTV 2 and one of the things people complained about was that it was only 720p. We have talked on this program many times that resolution is not the most important specification of a good display or projector. Especially when you talk screen sizes less than 50 inches. There is study after study that says MOST people need to sit six feet away from a 50 inch TV to see the difference between 720p and 1080p.

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Podcast #480: What is RVU?

DirecTV recently began testing what they’re calling a new “media center” that will allow customers to watch live and DVR recorded programming on any TV in the house without the need for a set-top box in each room. This new media center is built on a technology called RVU. But what exactly is RVU? There’s an RVU Alliance, but what do they do? What does “RVU” even mean?

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Podcast #479: HDMI 1.5 Wish List

When we bought our first devices that supported HDMI way back in 2006 the hot devices could handle the HDMI 1.1 specification. At that time the big deal was an AV receiver that would take next generation audio formats decoded on Blu-ray players and sent to a receiver that could accept PCM audio via HDMI. HDMI is still the only way to get next generation audio into a receiver.

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Podcast #478: Optoma 3D Projector Package

It’s hard to get the full effect of a 3D movie on a standard TV screen. There’s something about being in a movie theater, where the screen takes up the entire wall, that allows the 3D to really come to life. Trying to get that big screen, IMAX feel on a home TV can be challenging. But what if you could watch 3D at home on a giant projection screen? Would that make it worth making the jump into 3D?

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Podcast #477: Panasonic DMP-BDT110 Blu-ray Player

We have been doing this show for the past six years and have had an opportunity to review a lot of Blu-ray players. So when the Panasonic DMP-BDT110 (Buy Now $135) showed up on our doorstep we were pretty sure we knew what to expect from a sub $150 Blu-ray player. We were wrong! Panasonic has raised the bar for every player out there regardless of price.

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