Sharp concluded their CES 2010 announcements today introducing QuadPixel technology.

QuadPixel, which will be added to new Aquos LCD panels, adds a "Y" pixel to RGB pixels, giving TVs the capability to display over 1 trillion colors. Current LCDs can render one to two billion colors.

The HDTVs will not be cheap however, with the LE 920 Series starting at $3300 for the 52-inch model.

All pics via DVICE:

Permalink | Comments

---

Today at the CES 2010 event, Toshiba showed off their ZX900 Cell TV, using the Cell processing engine found in the powerful PlayStation 3.

The player will come as either 46-inch, 55-inch or 65-inch models and the company says each will include a 3.2GHz Cell chip with eight cores. Each core will upscale SD content into 1080p HD content using "smart" pixel generation that Toshiba says will leave upscaled images almost "indistinguishable" from Blu-ray and other legitimate HD content. The same technology will reduce noise and remove artifacts, all on the fly.

The processor is so powerful that it can also convert 2D content into stereoscopic 3D, all on the fly as well.

Heading over to the actual display, the ZX900 will have 512 separate backlight zones, about five times the amount current top-end LED-backlit TVs have. The screen will also "adjust the picture's color temperature to compensation for each environment it's placed in, using a sensor to measure light and color levels around it," says Reghardware.

The Cell TV has a contrast ratio of 9,000,000:1 and brightness of 1000cd/m².

Additionally, the TV has a 1TB HDD built-in to the set's control box, which is linked to the Cell TV by Wireless HD technology. 802.11n Wi-Fi is standard. The TV has a built-in upscaling DVD player, and the screen has a built-in surround sound bar.

Although pricing was not made available, Scott Ramirez, Toshiba America Consumer Products marketing chief frankly said the price will not be cheap.

Permalink | Comments

---

According to an interview with Japanese site Asahi, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says a new DS handheld is in development, one that will include an HD resolution screen and a motion sensor.

The handheld is being developed in-house, will have a 1024 x 768 resolution screen, will have ability to download e-books via 3G of Wi-Fi, and will include the motion sensor, allowing accelerometer technology for gaming.

When asked when the next DS would hit the States, Iwata was careful to not say anything. Our guess? 2011.

Permalink | Comments

---

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) president Dana White has said today that the sport is preparing to sue individuals and websites that offer the MMA content illegally.

The UFC made about $350 million in PPV revenue in 2009, but many websites have been streaming the UFC PPV events for free online, while they are playing live.

UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said his anti-piracy group had found 271 illegal streams of the UFC 106 event, with a total of 140,000 viewers.

"The piracy of live sporting events is illegal, it kills jobs, and it threatens the expansion of U.S. based companies," Fertitta added. "The UFC is potentially losing millions of dollars a year from piracy."

White, clearly extremely angered by pirates, says the company has been considering the legal actions since 2007 but will take the leap this year due to heavier "losses."

"It's going to be a battle, man," White says, via MMAJ. "It's going to be a battle, but I'm ready to {censored} fight.We're gonna go after them, we're gonna go after them hard, and we're gonna hurt them."

White readily admits however that the lawsuits will cost the MMA far more money then the piracy is "costing them."

"[Piracy] hasn't cost us anything compared to what it's going to cost us to go after these guys. It's gonna cost us a lot of money, but guess what — it's gonna cost them a lot of money. It's gonna get to the point where it's like, you know what, [expletive] it, maybe we shouldn't pirate MMA any more. You got these websites like Justin.tv, and they pirate all kinds of things. They play all kinds of [expletive] on there. Well, we're gonna make it where it's not worth it to put UFC events up on the website," he says.

PPVs cost $45 per event in SD and $56 in HD.

Permalink | Comments

---

In what is frankly a head-scratching display of skewed reasoning, Sony has said today that it will not promote the sleeper hit Moon (starring Sam Rockwell) for an Oscar award because the movie does not come out on DVD in the U.S. until later this month and the company does not want to have screeners leaked to the Internet.

Last week, director Duncan Jones tweeted his displeasure at Sony's decision to not send screeners out, citing the fact that Moon had been successful (awards-wise) in many other smaller awards shows. You can view his tweets here.

Sony's response (via MovieLine): "The DVD and Blu-ray come out on Jan. 12 — next Tuesday — and it was felt that to preserve the integrity of the film, we didn't want to send screeners. We're concerned about piracy. The thing about Moon is that its particular genre is very predisposed toward being uploaded onto the Web. We really just wanted to protect that aspect of it. I''s a simple as that. […] A lot of publicity for Moon is coming out next week. Hopefully that will remind all the consumers, all the readers — and especially any awards folks — that this terrific title is out there."

That is all good and well Sony, however, it is notable for me to publish that DVD copies of Moon have been available online since late October, and Blu-ray copies have been available since November.

Permalink | Comments

---

In March 2009, Nine Inch Nails went around the U.S. for the Lights In The Sky Tour and because they somehow could not get a professional capture team for a commercial release, they released 405GB of free raw HD footage from the tours to their fans, allowing them to do what they please with it. Today, the group This One Is On Us has released their creation, in literally every format you could ever need, for free.

The full post:

Our 2008 Lights In The Sky tour was an ambitious multimedia production on a scale well beyond anything we'd ever attempted before. Everyone involved was extremely proud of how it came together, and we were devastated when, for a variety of reasons, we were unable to capture it professionally for a theatrical or commercial release. As a "plan B" of sorts, early last year we released a massive 405gb free download of raw HD footage captured at three different shows during the tour. The idea was to get the footage out in the wild and see what our notoriously enterprising fans could do with it. There were no rules. No strings attached. This was a gift, and an experiment, and for the past year we've watched it come to life in more ways than we could have ever imagined.

Fans have edited thousands of videos from the footage, assembled their own DVDs and live albums, even held theatrical screenings of their creations. And now, the ambitious and well-organized group known as This One Is On Us have released their massive, highly-anticipated creation, Another Version of the Truth: The Gift.

For 12 months, a core team of dozens of fans and a network of thousands spanning the entire globe pooled their efforts to create this professional-quality 1080p 5.1 concert film, and have released it in every format from Blu-ray and DVD to iPod and YouTube. It combines footage from all three shows and includes DVD menus, bonus footage, a PDF booklet, and more. That something of this scale was produced entirely by fans, on their own time, purely for the sake of giving something back to the community, is absolutely unprecedented. You can read all about the project and find all the download links here, or watch it immediately on YouTube here. Theatrical screenings are already being organized, you can find more info about those here.

This is yet another example of a devoted fanbase and a policy of openness combining to fill in blanks left by old media barriers. The entire NIN camp is absolutely thrilled that treating our fans with respect and nurturing their creativity has led to such an overwhelming outpour of incredible content, and that we now have such a high quality souvenir from our most ambitious tour ever. Or, as Trent simply put it, "Nine Inch Nails fans kick ass."

The film is available in the following formats, says NIN, and available for FREE, here: This One Is On Us

# Blu-Ray - the highest quality output. 1080p High Definition video with 5.1 surround sound (25GB) COMING SOON
# Dual Layer DVD - caters to most DVD players. A decent substitute for those without Blu-Ray players (6.5GB)
# Standard DVD - The quickest way to get this format is to download the DLDVD and use DVDshrink. Step by step instructions here or, if you're computer challenged, a torrent has been created here by sikntwzd
# Apple TV - 720p HD video for computers and Apple TV (4.5GB)
# 720p Playstation 3 - for use on PS3s and computers (3.5GB)
# MOV file - 1080p file for playback on computers (9GB)
# iPod - perfect for small monitors and on the go (1.7GB) (thanks to swimfin)
# Youtube - 1080p/720p HD & lower resolution streaming videos

Permalink | Comments

---

The NYTimes is reporting today that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil a Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard built tablet tonight during his CES 2010 keynote speech, stealing some thunder from Apple's still unofficial "iSlate."

Both HP and MSFT declined comment on the report or the product, but sources say the device will be "touted as a multimedia whiz with e-reader and multi-touch functions."

In September, Gizmodo showed off a prototype for Microsoft's tablet, dubbed Courier. You can view pictures and the video (which I recommend) here: Courier: First Details of Microsoft's Secret Tablet

We will update the article after Mr. Ballmers speech tonight at 9:30 EST.

Permalink | Comments

---

Samsung has announced that their upcoming Moment Android smartphone will be the first American phone to include the free Mobile DTV standard.

There is no word when the Moment will be launched for the public, but it is being trialed in Washington D.C, the first city to receive the free broadcasts.

Local broadcasters can use Mobile DTV to transmit free signals to mobile phone and laptops and Mobile DTV devices, and 35 channels are already available.

The Moment has a 3.2-inch AMOLED display and will run the newly launched Android 2.1 firmware, the same that is run on the Nexus One.

Pic via PCMag (Note: pic shows 1.6 firmware):

Permalink | Comments

---