The ASUS O!Play TV Pro upgrades living room TV viewing to a completely digital HD and live experience, enabling easy content consumption and distribution. Features open up playback and recording of digital programs, as well as almost any multimedia file currently available with over 50 formats supported, including 3D. Exclusive O!Easy technology adds specific one-click functions that cover file streaming, sharing, and replay, while an always-on design affords direct access to many major online entertainment and content services, all from a single user-friendly device.

Playback and recording of digital TV
The O!Play TV Pro comes with a built in DVB-T digital tuner for immediate access to free-to-air high quality digital TV programming. Consumers can readily plan ahead with the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which offers location-sensitive scheduling for up to a week in advance. Plus, content can be recorded onto an internal 3.5” hard drive* using the included Personal Video Recorder (PVR). ASUS has integrated TimeShift into the device, which can pause and resume digital broadcasts in real time should consumers need to get away from the screen, but wish to avoid missing out on their favorite shows.

Support for over 50 formats – including 3D media
Compatibility remains critical for media players, and so the O!Play TV Pro offers seamless use of over 50 major multimedia standards for a worry-free user experience. These include ISO, MKV, RM/RMBV, MVA, AVI, MPEG1/2/4, and MP4. Adding 3D support, the set top box uses H.264 MV (TS, M2TS, and BD-ISO), extending compatibility to cover the most current 3D formatting on the market.

Exclusive ASUS O!Easy technology renders more enjoyable HD multimedia
Playing, streaming, and sharing HD content have been made much easier thanks to the inclusion of O!Easy technology, which connects the O!Play TV Pro to other devices and home networks intuitively. The suite includes multiple one-click functions:

- O!Capture: media and TV program sharing on Facebook
- O!Replay: replay a program’s most recent seven seconds
- O!Direct: streaming content from desktop or notebook PC to TV
- O!MediaShare: wireless streaming of content from mobile devices to TV
- AutoPlay: plug and play videos stored on USB drives or SD/MMC/MS/xD cards without additional setup or installation

Access diverse online entertainment
The O!Play TV Pro offers consumers a totally live product, with constant connectivity over Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi to a wealth of online-based content and services. The device maximizes bandwidth availability to reduce lag and latency for faster downloads and buffer-free streaming. Acetrax, Facebook, YouTube Leanback, DailyMotion, Flickr, and Picasa all come pre-configured for instant access. ASUS offers regular device and service updates, so consumers can expect the range of online content to continue to grow.

*3.5” hard drive sold separately.

Price and Availability: TBA

Press Release: 

LG Electronics (LG) announced the launch of the new 72-inch Cinema 3D Smart TV, the first of its kind. At 59 inches wide and 40 inches tall, the 72-inch Cinema 3D Smart TV will let viewers see life-sized 3D action on a beautifully crisp picture with all the benefits of having a Smart TV.

“As time passes, customers are becoming more enthralled with the concept of owning a Cinema 3D Smart TV,” said Mr. D.Y. Kim, President of LG Electronics Gulf FZE. “What we have introduced here is a significantly advanced entertainment unit in the form of the 72-inch Cinema 3D Smart TV which will provide a fantastic 3D cinema experience at home. This is an innovative TV meant to push the limits of entertainment to new heights.”

But the 72-inch Cinema 3D Smart TV isn’t just about a clear, big screen. This state-of-the-art TV is also fitted with LG’s latest smart technologies. It uses eLife, Etisalat’s flagship range of fiber-based services and will have “OnWeb” services directly available for customers. As compared to the traditional consumption of content on TV, cus-tomers will be thrilled with the experience and ease of finding and watching unique web-based video services on their TV along with smart apps from LG Apps store which will enable users to engage with Social Media and other premium content.

The 72-inch Cinema 3D Smart TV is enabled with UGC (User Generated Contents), SNS (Social Networking Service), Photo Sharing Service, Weather forecasts and other useful applications from LG or Etisalat. Customers subscribed to Etisalat’s eLife services can also access its new ‘Video on Demand’ service that is available on request. In addition to the free-of-charge OnWeb service package, customers will enjoy the option of purchasing exclusive content that will be offered on demand.

LG’s Smart TV function provides customers with simple control to their home entertainment experience. The unique platform provides access to thousands of movies, customizable apps, videos and the ability to browse the Web through an easy navigating user interface and mouse-like point and click remote system, giving the user an expe-rience that is easy, fun and unlimited premium content.

Additional Features:
• Comfortable Cinema 3D Glasses
• Magic Motion remote control
• Flexible Positions for greater comfort
• Film Patterned Retarder

The product has been certified by TÜV and Intertek, two world-renowned technology testing agencies from Europe.

The LG Cinema 3D Smart TV’s special Smart Share function allows users to wirelessly access the content stored in their digital devices including digital camera’s mobile phones, tablets and PC’s and bring them to your TV with a simple click. This coupled with full web browsing is a perfect mix for convenient entertainment.

The LG Cinema 3D Smart TV also features a highly intuitive user environment featuring the LG Home Dashboard which allows users to navigate several functions from a single main menu.The unique combination of Smart functionality and the massive 72-inch screen makes the 72-inch Cinema 3D Smart TV a remarkable home entertainment unit.

Press Release:

LG Electronics (LG) will introduce its highly anticipated Google TV at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas tomorrow. LG Smart TV with Google TV combines the familiarity of Google’s Android OS with the convenience and comfort of LG’s 3D and Smart TV technologies, offering consumers a new and attractive home entertainment option.

“LG has constantly strived to provide consumers with wider choices in home entertainment that bring the highest level of sophistication and convenience,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company. “Through Google TV, LG has merged Google’s established Android operating system with LG’s proven 3D and Smart TV technologies, offering consumers a new and enthralling TV experience.”

LG’s Google TV’s most attractive feature is its ease of use, thanks to the combination of its Android-based user interface and the Magic Remote Qwerty designed by LG. LG’s Google TV’s user interface and main screen have been designed for convenient browsing and content selection. Multi-tasking is also possible, as the search, social networking and TV functions can be run simultaneously. The user interface can be accessed using the Magic Remote Qwerty which combines the user-friendly benefits of LG’s Magic Remote with a QWERTY keyboard.

Equipped with LG’s own CINEMA 3D technology, Google TV provides a home entertainment experience that is immersive, comfortable and convenient. Based on LG’s own Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) technology, CINEMA 3D glasses are battery-free, comfortable and lightweight. The glasses are also very affordable, making LG’s Google TV ideal for viewing by a large group of family and friends when used in 3D mode. And with a single click of the remote, any 2D program or movie can be viewed in 3D, thanks to the built-in 2D to 3D conversion engine.

Alongside Google TV, LG will continue to advance its own Smart TV platform based on NetCast, which will be available in more than 60 percent of LG’s flat panel TVs scheduled for introduction over the year. With a growing collection of content and services, LG’s Smart TV platform will continue to provide consumers with a unique user experience.

Summers are usually very long in the UAE and thus, everyone tries to be as creative as they can to make the most of outdoors during the few “winter” months. I too, came up with an idea when I moved into my villa last year which has some garden space- to set up an outdoor theatre. While this idea is more for folks that have a bit of a backyard, I see no reason for it not working with people with rather large balconies that some of the older buildings in the UAE sport. So grab some popcorn while I detail the components I selected, why I selected them, and what you can expect as an end result.

In order to build a list of components, I had to take into consideration the extremely humid weather conditions in the UAE that last pretty much all year long. What this means is that you cannot leave most electronic devices outdoors- unless they are specifically certified for outdoor usage. Thus, portability became a part of the planning process. In total, I chose four components, three of which are required while the fourth one is up to you to decide upon.

The first thing you need is a projector and considering that you’ll be using it outdoors, you would want one that has a high Lumens rating so the brightly lit sky during a full moon doesn’t take too much away from your experience. To project, you also need a good screen, however, you can easily use your boundary wall to project upon, so the screen isn’t necessarily required. With the picture all set, you need a sound system- something that is quick and easy to setup and sounds decent. Finally, you need a media streamer to connect to your projector and sound system to feed movies or TV shows to.

After the original join venture between Sony and Samsung began in 2004, Japan’s biggest consumer electronics exporter has decided to throw in the towel, with the past 8 years of the TV division resulting in continuous losses.

As part of the dissolution of Sony’s share in the S-LCD Corp. venture, Samsung will pay Sony $935 million in cash. From January onwards, Sony will instead have a steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung at market prices; without the need to heavily invest in the manufacture of the panels themselves.

“It’s a step forward for Sony,” said Shiro Mikoshiba, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Tokyo to Business Week. “Canceling out the venture enables Sony to become more flexible in procuring panels. Still, Sony continues to face falling prices and heavy fixed costs.”

Sony may have been the third largest TV panel retailer in 2010, but with only a 12% global market share, trailing behind Samsung as the largest, and LG as the second largest TV manufacturer.

For their fourth quarter earnings, Sony has predicted their fourth consecutive year of loss. However, CEO Howard Stringer did say that the $8.4 billion of acquisitions this year will help improve their position in the smartphones and tablets market.

Apple may not have officially revealed anything about their TV, with only hints dropped as of yet, but that hasn’t stopped media companies to start worrying over it. As Wall Street Journal reported today, many media company executives wanted to meet with Apple in order to determine whether investing into that product will be beneficial for them in the future, or at least, get some information on it.

Looking at the Apple TV streaming box, one thing was obvious, the new TV from Apple will have streaming capabilities from mobile devices directly to the TV. But it extends to more than just that, with the media being compatible between all Apple devices, steaming videos will be synced up, so you can resume a TV show or movie on your iPhone right where you left it off on your TV at home.

Controlling the Apple TV will, of course, not be limited to just a remote control, with the TV being operable through almost all iOS devices. Not only that, but audio can be played to any AirPlay compatible device as well. This is also where voice control comes into play, with Microsoft’s Kinect like ability to search content and control channels by just speaking to the TV. And what better program than Siri?

Lastly, iCloud may be used to store your rented or purchased content, which can then be accessed and synced across all your Apple products so you don’t have to download the content multiple times.

All of these are obviously hints at the full functionality of the final product Apple will release. More concrete details will be confirmed later on, but the mass media will most likely not hear about it until some Apple event, if Apple’s secretive history is anything to go by.

There is no denying that the picture quality on Sony’s higher-end displays is amongst the best in the industry. If you go to a store like Carrefour or Plug-ins where you see a video wall, the Sony TV generally stands out. So what is that makes these displays better than many others? To answer that, Sony held an event yesterday and invited some tech journalists to talk about their new HX925 Series of LCD TVs featuring their latest technologies.

The HX925 is powered by Sony’s X-Reality and the new X-Reality PRO engines that Sony calls “Super resolution technology.” This technology basically looks at each pixel on the screen and performs an analysis on what was lost in terms of quality in each frame while it was created, and then, try and restore the brilliance that was lost due to the sub par recording device.

To put it in easier terms, it looks at the crappy video footage from a video camera that appears as its from yester-years and then try and make it look like it was taken from the latest 1080p video camera. To do this, the X-Reality PRO compares the image to it’s built-in database of thousands of images and reworks the picture so that it looks incredibly good by applying pixel mapping. This “Reality Creation Database” has actual images of landscapes and objects such as flowers, trees and, as one of the Sony reps kept repeating an example of, bananas.

The new X-Reality Pro engine works with the older non-PRO version so before the picture is sent to PRO, X-Reality Engine analyzes things like the source of the image (standard definition, high-definition etc.) and applies one of the three a Noise reduction filter. The following flow chart shows you how this process works.

So, as you can see, plenty of work is required to make your videos stand out. The X-Reality PRO Engine is the seventh generation of Sony’s proprietary Digital Reality Creation technology and with the latest version, system can now process HD videos as well as lower-resolution and quality videos such as the ones found on YouTube.

Sadly, no amount of digital processing can make these lower quality videos look as sharp as high-definition videos, especially when you are projecting it on a 65” screen. So do expect pixelation in low quality videos, but hopefully, the X-Reality PRO Engine can make then a bit more watchable.

HX925 displays from Sony will be available in 46″, 55″ and 65″ sizes within a week and the largest one is priced at a cool AED 30,000 (about US$ 8,000.)

From the original iPod to the iPhone to the iPad, Steve Jobs has disrupted, and ultimately revolutionized these industries one innovative product at a time. And while everybody was eagerly awaiting the iPhone 5, which is what rumors suggest he was working on closely instead of the the iPhone 4S, Steve Jobs was apparently working on another mysterious project: the Apple TV.

Right now the television industry is a huge mess, with Plasma, LCD and LED TVs with and without 3D and with “Smart TV” functionality. Couple all of these confusing, and sometimes unnecessary, choices in HDTVs, we then have the cable TV which throttles down the kind of content we see on our TV sets. It really is a mess, just like the MP3 and smartphone market was before the introduction of the iPod and iPhone. So when I found out that this was Steve Job’s next big thing, I know that the television industry will never be the same once the Apple TV is out.

Something much better than this.

From his forthcoming biography, as reported by Washington Post, author Walter Isaacson writes, “He very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant.”

“‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ he told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.’”

You get to see a lot of cool and unique things during the Trade Show at GITEX, and sure enough, one of the coolest things for this year was the Emulator DJ multitouch display panel at the Microsoft booth. The Emulator DJ panel is basically a huge glass panel that can connect with any PC or tablet running Windows 7. The display itself doesn’t show the image, instead a projector underneath it displays the image one the screen. While the screen is powered by a projector, the panel itself is a touchscreen and can accept multitouch gestures, whereby one can control anything on screen, or indeed Windows itself, on this faux display. See for yourself.

LG has been in the spotlight a lot recently, what with their 3D push on the Cinema 3D TVs and Optimus 3D smartphones. Today we got a chance to catch up with the President of LG Gulf region, Mr. H. S. Paik and talk about some of the latest products from LG as well as his favorite product from the lineup.