Sitting at a fairly low price point, iRiver’s latest entry-level portable media player, the Lplayer, is a solid product. Looking similar to iRiver’s line of Clix players, the Lplayer supports a wide variety of formats and has an impressive little LCD display, making it a strong competitor to the iPod nano. The only let-downs are a few interface and design issues that can make navigation frustrating. Read the rest of this entry »

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HP calls the 24in DreamColor LP2480zx ‘uniquely affordable’. At over $4000, most of us probably don’t think that at all. However, professional users who make their living using colour-critical applications might well see the merit in that statement. That’s because it’s not a typical monitor at all: it’s a high-end model that’s capable of producing more colours than your eyes will probably ever see. Read the rest of this entry »

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The moment Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Link (also known as the BIVL or DMX-NV1) was announced last year, we knew the product would face an uphill battle. What could Sony’s proprietary video streamer offer that you can’t already get from Apple TV, Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Vudu, or the Netflix Player from Roku? Well, Sony’s main answer is free content. While most network media streamers focus on movie rentals or subscription services, the BIVL’s backbone is bringing content freely available on the Web–from places such as YouTube, Blip.TV, CBS, and Sports illustrated–and putting it on your HDTV. Recently Sony announced the addition of Amazon’s Video On Demand service, giving you the option of renting in addition to the free content. Read the rest of this entry »

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With the introduction of Windows Vista, Microsoft hopes to get consumers one step closer to having a dedicated “family room” PC. Included in nearly all versions of Vista is Windows Media Center, a sort of multimedia portal that can access and play all kinds of digital media stored on a computer. Perhaps what’s most attractive about the software is the built-in network streaming capabilities that allow you to stream that media to compatible Media Center Extenders (MCE) as Microsoft likes to call them. That includes photos, audio, and video–as well as live and recorded TV (if you’ve got a TV tuner card in the source PC.) Read the rest of this entry »

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Introduction
When discussing front-projection video, many of us focus solely on the projection aspect of the equation and with good reason. If your projector is sub-par, the surface you point it at doesn’t much matter. This said, with a few exceptions, the projector market seems to have hit a plateau, with nearly every manufacturer offering a 1080p-capable device at increasingly lower prices to consumers. This year’s CEDIA show in Denver proved this more forcefully than ever in recent memory, with top-flight manufacturers claiming 1080p to be the final frontier. 2k and 4k resolutions are coming, but for those looking to the next level of performance from your video system, I suggest we take a look at video screens. Read the rest of this entry »

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Introduction
Given the iPod’s huge impact on nearly every segment of the home entertainment space, it’s surprising that TV manufacturers have not embraced direct iPod integration en masse. Sure, many have embraced the integration of digital media in general, through USB ports, memory-card readers, and streaming media. But few have taken an iPod-specific approach. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Olympus E-30 single-lens reflex digital camera is aimed at what are often referred to as “prosumer” users, who lie somewhere in between the casual consumer and the professional photographer. Prosumer photographers typically seek a little more control over the artistic process than is afforded by an entry level camera, but don’t necessarily have the need for bullet-proof ruggedness and top-of-the-line performance that would demand an expensive professional camera. This is the first time that Olympus has offered a digital SLR in this category, with the Olympus E-30 positioned between the company’s existing E-520 and E-3 DSLRs. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Panasonic Lumix FZ28 has a sensor resolution of 10.1-megapixels from a 1/2.33-inch RGB CCD image sensor, and Panasonic has coupled this to an image-stabilized, Leica DC Vario-Elmarit-branded 18x optical zoom lens with a useful range all the way from a 27mm wide angle to a 486mm telephoto. As you’d expect for a long-zoom camera, there’s a choice of both an electronic viewfinder and an LCD display. The Panasonic FZ28’s EVF is a 0.20-inch LCD type with 201,600 dots of resolution, and yields a 100% field of view. Read the rest of this entry »

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Canon’s PowerShot SD880 IS digital camera replaces the company’s previous PowerShot SD870 IS model, and updates the chassis with an edgier style. The Canon SD880 also reduces the body height and thickness ever so slightly. Under that pretty skin, the Canon SD880 uses a slightly larger 1/2.3-inch CCD image sensor, and simultaneously boosts resolution from eight to 10 megapixels, along with upgrading the previous model’s DIGIC III processor to a DIGIC 4 type that allows for servo AF tracking. Read the rest of this entry »

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One of the biggest digicam breakthroughs in 2008 was the announcement of the Micro Four Thirds System. What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of it – unlike the Wall Street crash of ’08 or Obama’s landslide? Perhaps not, but it was big news for camera enthusiasts. In a nutshell, the system lets manufacturers build compact digicams that accept a wide variety of lenses, just like D-SLRs. Unlike popular digital single lens reflex cameras, there is no mirror mechanism, or optical viewfinder, so the new cameras are much smaller than typical D-SLRs. Read the rest of this entry »

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