Philips a lansat în România a doua generaţie de televizoare cu Android

   Reprezentată de seriile 5500 şi 7000, a doua generaţie de televizoare Philips utilizează sistemul de operare Android 5.0 (Lollipop) şi sunt disponibile în magazine începând cu săptămâna aceasta.

zoom inPhilips a lansat în România a doua generaţie de televizoare cu Android

   Aduse în România de TP Vision, noile modele Philips oferă o platformă TV completă pentru utilizarea aplicaţiilor mobile pe televizor, cât şi compatibilitate cu funcţia VOD (video on demand), prin intermediul căreia utilizatorii pot urmări programele preferate la orice oră din zi sau din noapte.

   În afară de posturile de radio preferate, care pot fi urmărite prin intermediul serviciului de Internet radio, aplicaţia video YouTube este de asemenea disponibilă utilizatorilor. Pentru practicanţii de yoga, pilates, fitness, cross fit, utilizatorii dispun de o plajă consistentă de aplicaţii care prezintă programe de pregătire şi întreţinere a condiţiei fizice (Workout TV). Noile televizoare oferă şi o listă de aplicaţii destinate special copiilor. Părinţii pot opta pentru desene animate, programe educative, pot seta aplicaţiile în funcţie de vârsta celor mici sau în anumite cazuri chiar şi limba, dacă doresc să-şi familiarizeze copiii cu o anumită limbă straină.

   Utilizatorii pot descărca jocuri de pe platforma Google Play Store, ori pot experimenta unele dintre numeroasele titluri de la cei mai mari producători de jocuri din lume, fără a utiliza o consolă special creată.

   De asemenea, noile televizoarele inteligente Philips joacă rolul unui centru de comandă al casei datorită conectivităţii foarte uşoare la alte dispozitive inteligente din locuinţă. Sistemele de securitate şi cele de control ale aplicaţiilor domestice (precum aerul condiţionat sau sistemul de monitorizare a copiilor)  pot fi de asemenea conectate şi controlate prin intermediul noilor televizoare Philips. Întreaga experienţă de conectare este completată de posibilitatea de a ataşa, prin portul USB, diferite dispozitive externe precum gamepad-uri sau tastaturi cu ajutorul cărora poţi controla confortabil conţinutul de pe televizor.

   Televizoarele Philips din seria 5500 dispun de procesor dual-core, în timp ce modelele din seria 7000 folosesc un procesor quad-core. Ambele serii includ tehnologie Micro Dimming, cu rolul de a îmbunătăţi contastul televizorului diminuând selectiv intensitatea sursei de lumină led, în funcţie de imaginea redată pe ecran. Cu ajutorul funcţiei Pixel Plus HD, imaginea este optimizată pentru claritate crescută şi evidenţierea detaliilor fine. Televizoarele din seria 7000 dispun de tehnologia Philips Ambilight care face ca experienţa de vizionare să fie mai captivantă prin proiectarea unui halo de lumină din spatele ecranului pe peretele care-l înconjoară.

   Utilizatorii au la dispoziţie o memorie internă cu capacitate de până la 16 GB, utilă pentru stocarea aplicaţiilor, a jocurilor descărcate din Play Store şi alte fişiere. Cei care doresc mai mult spaţiu de stocare pot conecta un hard disk extern la portul USB. 

sursa: go4it.ro

Top 10 Things to Think About When Planning Your Home Theater

   

   Are you lost in a maze of decisions about how to set up your home theater? Here are 10 things to think about as you begin your journey.

   Creating your own home theater can be overwhelming, even with a resource as rich as AVS Forum, where many members are more than willing to help newbies engage in the hobby we all love. There is so much to think about—where do you start? 

   How about right here—a list of the top 10 things to think about when setting up your home theater, be it a TV and small speakers in a family room or a dedicated, custom-built home cinema. Each of these items is linked to a list of the top 10 things you need to know about them to make the best decisions for your particular circumstances. In each case, many AVS members have chimed in to add their perspective and share their experiences, which makes these lists all the more valuable.

Let the journey begin!

Flat Panel or Projector?

   This is one of the first questions to ask yourself as you contemplate creating your new home theater.

HD or UHD?

   Is it better to be an early UHD adopter or stick with HD until the dust settles?

Aspect Ratio, Screen Size, and Seating Distance

   What shape should the screen be? How big should it be? How far should you sit from it?

Acoustics

   The room itself is a critical component of the sound system that greatly affects what you hear.

Viewing Environment

   Just as acoustics affect what you hear, the viewing environment affects what you see. 

Speaker Configuration and Placement

   Can you ever have too many speakers? And where should you put them all?

Cabling

   Plan ahead for best results. Do you need to spring for expensive cables? 

Setup and Calibration

   Optimizing the audio and video components for best performance.

System Control

   Remote controls seem to breed like rabbits, but there are several ways to combat this scourge of many home theaters.

Internet Streaming and Downloading

   Online streaming and downloading is fast becoming a must-have source of AV content.


sursa: avsforum.com

10 Reasons Plasma Died

Many videophiles lament the discontinuation of plasma-TV production by the major manufacturers. What factors contributed to its demise?

While this is far from the first list of factors that led to the extinction of plasma, I wanted to visit the topic one last time. The catalyst for this list are my recent experiences with FALD (full-array, local dimming) LCD UHDTVs and various OLED UHDTVs. I still own a 64" Samsung F8500 plasma; it serves as a reminder of how technology doesn't always progress in a straight line. Sometimes, there are setbacks when it comes to peak performance.

Just when it seemed plasma TVs had caught up to the performance benchmark set by the Pioneer Kuro—the Panasonic ZT60 and Samsung F8500 were notably great TVs—the major manufacturers pulled the plug on plasma production. Here are 10 reasons you can't buy one anymore.

1. Bright showroom conditions put plasmas at a distinct disadvantage versus LED-lit LCDs that can output much more light, allowing them to stand out in bright environments.

2. Aesthetics may have played a role in hastening plasma's demise. There are limits to how thin you can make a plasma, and edgelit LCDs (and OLEDs) are thinner than that. Unfortunately, high-end LCDs didn't just outshine plasmas in the showroom—they also looked sexier.

3. UHD/4K caught on quickly, and it's difficult—if not impossible—to build UHD/4K plasma TVs in popular screen sizes. Panasonic developed a few giant UHD plasmas, but they were not consumer products. 

4. Screen-size limitations also played a part in plasmas plight. The vast majority of 1080p plasmas came in sizes ranging from 42 to 64 Inches, while 1080p LCDs were—and continue to be—available in a much wider variety of screen sizes.

5. You can't bend a plasma. I hate to think that being flat contributed to the death of the technology, but the last two companies to produce plasma TVs were LG and Samsung. Both companies are committed to selling UHD/4K curved-screen TVs. 

6. Plasmas were harder to deal with than LCDs. They are heavier and yet more fragile than many LCDs. Shipping a plasma requires a large box that must remain upright. Plus, plasmas developed a reputation for being susceptible to image retention and screen burn-in, which was much more of a real problem in the early days of plasma, but the reputation stuck. 

7. While OLED is still in the early stages of development, there's no question it offers greater potential than plasma. OLED is the future of emissive display technology. It should not come as a surprise that LG and Samsung stopped building plasmas—which are also emissive—shortly after OLED debuted.

8. Energy efficiency may have played a part in putting plasma out to pasture. Both LED-lit LCD and OLED are more energy-efficient display technologies than plasma. 

9. Plasma was the original flat-panel technology, and that worked against it. It did not matter that it was a mature technology capable of offering superior performance. People just thought of it as old technology.

10. Projectors improved in quality and prices dropped. With LED-lit LCDs being well suited to bright rooms, the existence of decent 1080p projectors for under $2000 may have affected sales of flagship plasmas.

sursa: avsforum.com