Când vine vorba de Xiaomi, automat ne gândim la smartphone-uri ieftine şi performante, însă de câţiva ani, compania a intrat pe piaţa chineză şi cu televizoare inteligente. Cea de-a treia generaţie de Mi TV reuşeşte din nou să atragă atenţia, oferind specificaţii tehnice înalte şi câteva capabilităţi pe care le găsim în modele concurente mult mai scumpe.
Modelul Mi Tv 3 este un televizor UHD high-end, cu display de 60” şi panou LG. Acesta oferă o ramă foarte subţire, de doar 11,6 mm. Construcţia televizorului este realizată din aluminiu şi oferă doar un singur port de conexiune, proprietarul MiPort. Acesta se conectează însă la soundbar-ul inclus în pachet, care oferă nu doar redare de sunet, ci integrează întreaga placă de bază a televizorului.
Fiind vorba despre un Smart TV, Xiaomi a integrat hardware-ul „smart” în boxe. Acestea integrează un procesor quad-core 6A928 bazat pe nuclee Cortex-A17 la 1,4 GHz, un GPU Mali-T760 octa-core, 2 GB memorie RAM, 8 GB spaţiu de stocare, WiFi 802.11 ac şi Bluetooth 4.1 LE. Acestea vor putea decoda semnal video 4K la 60 de cadre pe secundă în format H.265 cu profil de culori pe 10 biţi. Sistemul de operare folosit este Android 5.1 cu MIUI, interfaţa putând fi controlată din telecomanda televizorului. La capitolul conectivitate, utilizatorii vor avea la dispoziţie trei porturi HDMI, două porturi USB, o mufă VGA, o mufă ethernet, conexiune coaxială şi mufe dedicate pentru interfaţă AV analogică şi un jack audio pentru conectarea unui subwoofer.
Cea mai interesantă parte a lui Mi TV 3 este că placa de bază poate fi scoasă din boxe şi poate fi upgradată în momentul în care apare una cu hardware mai puternic. De asemenea, sistemul audio poate oferi capabilităţile Mi TV 3 pe orice alte monitoare, proiectoare şi televizoare compatibile.
Preţul televizorului Mi TV 3 (la pachet cu sistemul Smart TV) este de 4999 yuani chinezeşti (aproximativ 700 de euro), în timp ce placa de bază alături de sistemul de sunet se vând şi separat la preţul de 1000 yuani, echivalent cu 140 de euro. Momentan Xiomi a confirmat lansarea acestor produse doar în China.
Xiaomi Mi TV 3 rocks 4K resolution and detachable mainboard
Chinese firm Xiaomi has unveiled some cool new Mi products that couldn’t be any different. One of them is a high-end TV with 4K resolution called the Mi TV 3 and the other is a battery-powered ride on device called the Ninebot mini that is like a tiny Segway scooter, only significantly more affordable. The Ninebot mini looks like a last mile sort of device intended to get you from your car to work without breaking a sweat.
It will go a lot further than a mile on a charge with a riding range of 22km on a single charge. The device has smartphone controls and is made using a magnesium alloy infrastructure making it lighter.
The reason it is rather small is so it can be stored and transported in the trunk of a car. Ninebot mini is self-balancing and is steered with your legs at speeds up to 16km/h and can climb inclines of up to 15-degrees. The bot weighs 12.8kg making it easy to load and unload. Ninebot mini sells for RMB 1999 (315 USD).
The Mi TV 3 is a 60-inch TV set runs on a customised Android 5.1 OS, has an 11.6mm thick frame made from aluminum and what Xiaomi calls a flagship TV processor. It supports 4K resolution and has a high color gamut along with MEMC motion compensation. It is a Smart TV and has an external sound bar promising world-class audio. Mi TV 3 will sell for RMB 4999 (785 USD).
The coolest thing about that flagship TV processor is that it is attached to a MiTV mainboard that is removable and can be connected to any display with its MiPort cable. Another benefit is that as time passes you can replace the mainboard on the Mi TV 3 and upgrade the performance of the TV without the cost of replacing the entire TV. The mainboard is inside the speaker housing and has a Cortex-A17 processor, Mali T760 GPU, and supports 4K 60fps with hardware decoding. It also has 2GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The mainboard carries a price of RMB999 (157 USD) alone.
Kaleidescape, the company that literally invented the movie server category, is looking to remain on top with the launch of a new product line called Encore. This new line-up of movie players and servers will target aggressive price points designed to attract new customers as well as feature cutting-edge, industry leading performance in the new Strato Movie Player; the world’s first 4K Ultra HD, HDR player for the home to cement the company’s position at the top of the luxury home cinema market.At the entry-level, the company is introducing two new Alto players, one with and one without internal storage. The storage-less model will stream DVD and Blu-ray quality movies downloaded from the Kaleidescape Movie Store and will retail for a breakthrough price for Kaleidescape at $2295. The 6TB Alto will be able to store 150 Blu-ray quality and 900 DVD quality movies downloaded from the Store and sell for $3295. Up to four Altos with internal storage can be grouped together to create an aggregated library. Alto players also feature an optical drive local DVD or Blu-ray content. The new flagship, Strato, is designed with unrivaled performance in mind, and will process open standard, full 4K video at up to 60 fps. The player will also be capable of playing high-dynamic range (HDR) content on displays that can process open standard, 10-bit HDMI 2.0a HDR signals. Strato will also feature a new user interface displaying in full 4K at 60 frames per second for gorgeous, fluid animation. Of course, Strato continues to support legacy DVD and Blu-ray content as well, becoming the ultimate entertainment platform for cinephiles and enthusiasts alike. Strato will also be offered in models with or without an internal storage The storage-less model will retail for $3495 while the Strato with internal storage ($4495) will feature a 6 Terabyte drive that can store up to 100 4K Ultra HD titles (150 Blu-ray quality, 900 DVD quality movies). This player can be used standalone or stream content from either of the new Terra servers. Additionally, up to four Stratos with internal storage can be grouped together to create one large aggregated library. A combination of Strato and Alto players – with or without storage – can be grouped to form a housewide video system, with a maximum of four having internal storage. Alto players are unable to stream any 4K content, and only Stratos can store 4K content. To accommodate the massive storage demands of 4K titles, and improve overall streaming performance of all players, Kaleidescape is introducing a new server, the Terra. Terra will be available in two configurations; a $5995 version that can store 200 4K titles, 300 Blu-ray quality or 1800 DVD quality, and a larger, $7995 model that will double that amount to 400, 600, and 3600. Both servers have hardware designed to handle the demands of multiple streams and can support simultaneous streaming to seven 4K zones or 15 Blu-ray zones, and customers with large collections can add additional Terras as needed. Storage-less models in both Alto and Strato series can stream from either Terra server. Company co-founder and CEO, Cheena Srinivasan, stressed how much work the company had poured into the Encore project over the past several years, with the singular goal of delivering the ultimate sound and picture quality while retaining the company’s renowned interface and performance. Srinivasan stressed that Strato is vendor-neutral as a 4K media source, meaning it will work with any 4K display or projector that supports HDMI 2.0 or 2.0a. The Alto players are available now, with Terra available in November and Strato expected to launch in early Q1, 2016 in the US and Canada. More about Kaleidescape’s new third generation, 4K Movie Store can be found here.
Bang & Olufsen Beolab 90 Speakers Promise Perfect Sound
Lofty performance claims and a lofty price combine to create a speaker that would look right at home in a multi-millionaire’s Manhattan loft. Bang and Olufsen’s new Beolab 90 ($80,000/pair) is a bold speaker, covered in drivers and packed with power. How much power? How about 8200 watts of class D amplification—per speaker.
These 302 lb behemoths are packed with cutting-edge technology. The main trick the Beolab 90s perform is to analyze the room and adapt to its acoustics. The speaker’s output can be further tailored to circumstances and individual needs by controlling the “beam width” and “beam direction” of the speaker. That means you can optimize the Beolab 90s with a narrow beam width for audiophile style critical listening—in the seat of your choice. Alternatively, you can widen the beam to cover a wide listening area, or even to provide 360-degree dispersion.
The 18 (total) drivers used by each speaker to perform its active room correction magic consist of seven Scan-Speak Illuminator 30 mm tweeters, seven 3.5″ Scan-Speak Illuminator midrange drivers, three 8″ Scan-Speak Discovery woofers, and one Scan-Speak Revelator 10″ woofer.
With so much power on-tap and so many drivers to turn the electricity into sound, it’s unsurprising that the Beolab 90 can achieve impressively high SPL levels over a very broad frequency range. While the speaker’s specs have yet to be formalized, the white paper discusses output down to 10 Hz.
The speakers are WiSA compatible and also feature a variety of wired analog plus digital inputs. These include RCA and XLR analog inputs, plus USB Audio (24-bit / 192 kHz), S/P-DIF (24-bit / 192 kHz), and Toslink (24-bit / 96 kHz). These inputs are available on the master speaker, which then communicates with its mate—either wirelessly or with a corded connection—to deliver custom-tailored audio.
An extensive white paper—available to download here—delves deep into the Beolab 90’s capabilities. Frankly, it’s quite mind-blowing and speaker geeks should dig right in for a peek at the future of audio fidelity. Perhaps the easiest way to summarize what Bang and Olufsen promises is that the Beolab 90 provides an optimal listening experience in a wide variety of situations, at almost any volume level, by blending DSP processing with multiple high-performance drivers and a surplus of amplification.
Bang and Olufsen’s novel approach to achieving pinnacle fidelity in a loudspeaker puts the Beolab 90 at the absolute top of my must-hear list. I hope a pair pop up at CES 2016, if they live up to their promise, you could be looking at the most expensive bargain in all of high-end audio.
