Decide what to buy: the Reevoo.com blog

If you’re desperately wondering how to get a massive TV in your living room without upsetting the interior designer, or are just looking for a top-of-the-line new LCD or plasma, it might be worth holding your breath until the release of LG’s new flagship series, the LG6000 (LCD: 32", 37", 42", 47") and the PG6000 (plasma: 42" and 50"), which are being shown off at London Fashion Week.

These will all be 1080p, full HD sets, will the usual bells and whistles, including 4 (!) HDMI sockets.

The TVs will also feature ‘ClearVoice’ technology: the volume will automatically adjust to the level of background noise so that the fire engine doesn’t disturb your nightly dose of EastEnders.

For the fashionistas that skimmed over the last two paragraphs the biggest attraction will probably be the hidden speakers, which are actually located along the perimeter of the bezel. These do give the set pictured a pretty classy look, but unless you are willing to shell out for a home cinema system as well it might be a good idea to check out what they sound like before you hand over your Platinum card.

There is also a bright red one, which will no doubt make someone very happy.

On Friday they said they might; yesterday they said they wouldn’t; this morning, I wake up to find that they have. Toshiba have officially given up on HD-DVD. They’re going to stop making players, recorders, and drives by the end of next month. Toshiba claim to have no plans to switch to Blu-Ray production, but I suspect it’s inevitable.

I’m just glad it’s over at last!

It’s hard to know what to make of the Tokyo Declaration signed in, er, Tokyo last week. Sony, Nokia, Hewlett Packard and others have announced their commitment to the issue of climate change, specifically stating that

• greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by more than half by 2050, and
• these emissions must start to decline within the next decade and a half.

This appears to be many of the same companies that are already part of the WWF’s Climate Savers programme: Sony, for example, announced in 2006 its intention to cut its CO2 emissions by seven percent by 2010, although that was relative to its 2000 emissions, not its 2006 levels. Still, that’s a good thing, right?

Unfortunately, the declaration itself (PDF) is a bit thin on actual detail. The opening paragraph makes it clear that it’s not so much a new commitment as a restatement of existing ones:

We, the undersigned companies, reiterate our belief that all necessary action should
be taken to limit the global average temperature increase to a maximum of 2 degrees
Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

The commitments in the document are similarly vague: trying to extend emission reduction activities; educating customers; being ambassadors for the Climate Savers programme. But I don’t want to come across as completely negative: it’s a good thing that the issue is being kept in the public eye, and that companies are actually recognising the impact of what they do.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament voted earlier this month to adopt the Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, which has as its headline goal a reduction in energy use of twenty percent by 2020. (Was that figure chosen based on science, or because of the nice symmetry of all the twenties, I wonder …)

The Action Plan says that efficiency of appliances and equipment ’should become a key element in the consumers’ [buying] decisions’. It calls for updated labelling so that buyers know how well the products they purchase will perform, and minimum energy efficiency standards so that the really lousy performers don’t get sold in the first place. It also mentions devoting ’special attention’ to ’standby loss reduction’ — getting rid of the infamous vampires that suck energy all day long in our houses.

So what does all this mean to us as the people who are buying this stuff? First, we know that some companies are actively trying to make a difference at the production side; this will hopefully encourage other manufacturers to follow suit. We’ll also be better able to decide which products are going to use the least energy when we get them home. Not only will this reduce the impact on the planet, it should even help to save us money as energy prices rise.

Free-to-air HDTV will soon be coming to the UK. In the spring, the BBC and ITV will launch a new service called freesat, which will provide HD programming from the two networks’ channels via digital satellite, with no subscription charge.

The initial costs are still uncertain but have been estimated to be around £180. Panasonic are planning to release TVs with integrated freesat receivers, leaving the satellite dish (and installing it!) as the only extra purchase.

Freesat is claiming to be launching with over 80 channels, which sounds great, but it’s not all pie in the sky.

For a start, freesat seems likely to launch without content from Channel 4 or five, both of whom are tied into contracts with Sky for the time being.

The head of the competing service Top-up TV thinks freesat will struggle to make an impact against Sky and Freeview, a market where Sky has ‘earned its monopoly’. I think he’s right that people will take some persuading to switch from Freeview to freesat, but freesat will probably provide a decent alternative to Sky or Virgin for people who would like to start receiving high def programming.

To my mind, the most interesting problem for freesat will be Sky’s own free-to-air service, confusingly named ‘freesat from Sky‘. This service is currently competes with Freeview, offering more channels and better coverage in exchange for a £150 set-up fee. Freesat from Sky doesn’t offer HD channels at the moment, but if the other freesat starts gaining some traction and impacting Sky subscriptions it would presumably be pretty straightforward for Sky to flick the switch and allow freesat from Sky viewers to receive the same HD signals as freesat viewers will be getting.

With Sky marketing weight behind the service and fatigue from a number of ‘free’ services beginning with F starting to build, it would be easy to imagine Sky becoming as successful in free-to-air TV as it has been in subscription TV over the past decade.

As we noted on Friday, it seems that the end is getting very close for HD-DVD. Shares in Toshiba, the main backers of the format, jumped 6% after Toshiba confirmed rumours in the Japanese media (in Japanese!) that they are considering abandoning HD-DVD.

The markets clearly think it’s good that Toshiba is getting shot of the millstone that HD-DVD has become. And a clear winner in the HD disc format war is good news for shoppers too, except for the minority of people unlucky enough to have ‘invested’ in an HD-DVD player. As a public service to disgruntled HD-DVD owners, here are some ideas of what to do with your now-superseded HD-DVDs.

Reports in US publication Home Media Magazine are suggesting that Toshiba may be about to give up on it’s HD-DVD format and fall in line behind Blu-ray as the industry standard for high definition discs.

Top Toshiba executives are publicly sticking to their guns, but according to HMM, ‘reliable industry sources’ believe that Toshiba feels that the format war is all but lost after Hollywood producers and more recently retailers expressed their support for the Sony-led Blu-ray format by voting with their feet.

In the UK, Woolworths have dropped HD-DVD completely, claiming that Blu-ray discs outsold their rivals by 10:1, and in the US Best Buy and Netflix have both expressed clear preferences for Blu-ray over the HD-DVD standard. Why they would give up 10-20% of HD disc sales is beyond me, but this is obviously very bad news for HD-DVD.

Would anyone buy a HD-DVD only player at this point?

(Via: Reg hardware)
 

Simple ideas are so often the best, and nothing could be simpler than USBCELL’s rechargable battery that you plug into your computer’s USB port.

Green campaigners have been praising rechargable batteries for years because they don’t waste precious metal resources needed to make new batteries - now they are available without having to carry around a charger or any cables.

There’s a couple of impartial reviews for the USBCELL here. Initial reaction seems to be that they’re a bit pricey and the charge doesn’t last as long as regular rechargables - but we’ll report back when we have some more customer reviews to share.

Getting lost. We don’t have time for it anymore. Satellite navigation has solved the problem when driving but in the age of healthy living and global warming, what about the humble walker?

Nokia have come to the rescue. Their new Maps 2.0 series will still guide your car around but no longer will you be bound to it as the new ‘walk’ feature enables you to navigate even the most complex of cities on foot.

Just think of the possibilities for tourism. No more struggling with the map that refuses to be re-folded and no more arguments about directions.

This stroke of genius will be available for Series 60 handsets immediately with Series 40 support to follow.

According to Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo “it will become as desired on the mobile phone as voice capability”.

With Nokia expecting to sell 35 million mobile phones equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) in 2008, we suggest you use your paper maps for the last time to locate your nearest supplier before they all run out!

For more info about the software and downloads, take a look at the Symbian Freaks’ guide.

GSMA has announced the Sony Ericsson W910 as the Best Mobile Handset or Device at the Mobile World Congress 2008. The phone has been remarkably well received considering the first batch was recalled but reading real customer reviews on Reevoo reveals just some of the reasons people love it.

Of the Havana Gold version, Vc from London says:

“If you want bling this phone will turn heads and catch attention from others,”

Customers also love the Shake Control feature, which allows you to move to the next music track without fiddling for buttons.

Fiona from Harrogate loves her W910 and recommends using it with a Bluetooth headset for the best music experience:

“I have always been a Nokia fan but not any more. I’m now a true convert to Sony. This phone has such a lovely and very instinctive feel to it. I would recommend it to any one. I bought this phone for the walkman features and although the sound quality isn’t the best when played through the speakers, the quality through my blue tooth headphones is amazing.”

Another of this year’s winners is Windows Mobile 6.0 for Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service but be warned that it takes some learning.

See the full list of winners.

Bang & Olufsen’s plan to reverse declining profits?

Well this might not be their full 5 year plan, but leading the way is a television that features a camera on the end of a robotic arm. The camera pulls out of the back of the TV to check picture quality by taking a test picture.

Here’s some footage from YouTube:

The cheapest model is a 50”, full HD plasma, for a cool £12,000. If you’re in the market for a screen of that size it’s worth considering our top full HD 50" set, the Panasonic TH50PZ70B, retailing for around a tenth of the price.

If you do get a B&O you’ll probably want a stand to match. Check it:

(HT: HDTVUK)