Review Horizon

1.Introduction

When I got my first 3D projector, the  Epson PowerLite 3010e 3D 1080p projector, I went ahead and purchased the Panasonic 3rd gen TY-EW3D3MU (also sold as twin pack under the designationTY-EW3D3MPK2), glasses that are compatible with the universal standard M-3DI and are among the very few listed on Epson’s website as compatible. I only got four pairs since the Panasonic glasses are quite expensive at around $100/pair. Last week though, I realized I need a couple of extra pairs to have around and I looked for a cheaper solution. While not officially listed as compatible with Epson 3010/5010/6010 series, the Sony PlayStation 3 3D Glasses were reported in several places as working well with my projector, so I went ahead and ordered two pairs from Amazon that currently has the lowest price (around $50 shipped). In this review, I’ll not only describe how they perform, but I’ll include side by side comparisons versus the other 3D glasses I am currently using, the 3rd gen Panasonic TY-EW3D3MU .  Read More…

AT&T just announced that they’ll be the exclusive seller for the Sony dual screen folding tablet in the US. Uncovered in April, the new tablet contains two 5.5 inches capacitive LCD screens with a resolution of 1024 x 480 each, a powerful Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset and will run Android OS 3.0, with an update to 3.1 expected soon. Since the tablet will sell through AT&T ,expect HSPA+ support through AT&T’s 4G network.

There is no price announced yet but since we are talking about a Sony product, expect it will be high. Our bet, around $700 high. An interesting feature that will help differentiate from the competition is the support for Sony’s PlayStation Network with all the goodies that come out of that including games, movies, Qriocity, etc.

Shipping wise, expect it sometime in the Fall, maybe around  the time Amazon’s own Android tablet will ship. This is an interesting year.

Check after the break for the full Press Release Read More…

Android is still somewhat in need of official premium services and the latest Sony movement pumps up a lot of value in the platform. The popular Qriocity service is now available via a free application in Google’s Android Market and brings on-demand music streaming for a monthly fee. The Qriocity powered app is actually called Music Unlimited and it comes with a 30 days free trial. After the trial ends, you can choose between a $4/month basic plan with personalized radio stations a la Pandora, and a $10/month all you can listen program allowing you to choose the exact songs you want to listen.

What is rather interesting is that Qriocity also comes with a feature similar with Google/Apple cloud technology called Music Sync, allowing you to synchronize your existing song collection and access it on a variety of devices supporting Qriocity technology including Read More…

You know when you have a winner on your hands, right? Yep, when it makes the top list as the fastest selling consumer electronic device in the world, as Microsoft announced yesterday, with well deserved pride. And it looks like it still sells, in the number of 133,333 (nice number) devices a day, over 8 million of them sold in the first two month since on the market and currently well past 10 million mark.

The Kinect games also sold fairly well, without counting the Kinect Adventures included by default with all the Kinect kits, Microsoft sold over 10 million games as well, which considering the debatable quality of many of them, is still a pretty nice figure.

Comparatively, Sony’s Move controller only sold about 4.1 million in the same time frame, while being significantly cheaper.

The new record will be included in the next Guinness World Record Gamer’s edition recognizing record breaking achievements in the world of video games. Kinect sold at the full price during Holidays but is currently on sale at Amazon for a lower than MSRP price.

Just in on the Playstation blog, a really good news for the PSP owners that can put PSP on the map again as a multi-media device – The Sony cloud Qriocity will be put to good use with the addition of Music Unlimited – a “new, cloud based digital music service from Sony that will give music lovers access to millions of songs stored and synchronized through the cloud.”

The new feature will require a new PSP firmware version 6.35 which means you’ll have to update your jailbroken PSP or just wait until the new feature finds its way in the custom firmwares that are also updated regularly. Whichever way you choose to do it however, you’ll notice a new entry in the Xross Media bar under Music. The Media Go app will also be updated with a brand new UI and photo editing features.

There is no mention about when exactly the service will go live, nor any mention about the price but we can’t imagine will take too long. In the meantime, push Sony to add the same goodies to PS3 as well.

You know, we keep telling you that Sony is becoming a force in the media streamer world and Sony keeps proving us right with every move they are doing. First Hulu Plus, then Netflix without a disk and with one of the best interfaces around and surround sound (read our Sony PS3 Netflix Review) and now, Sony just announced that VUDU is coming on their consoles starting November 23rd.

Impressed? If you only want one box for your media streaming needs, PS3 might just be it and, unlike XBOX 360 you don’t need any extra subscriptions like XBOX Live Gold to access the goodies.

VUDU was not too long ago purchased by Walmart and offers on Demand HD content with 1080p and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound in 5.1 glory. There is no subscription involved, you’ll have to pay per each movie you watch, however the movies will be available for streaming before they go on Netflix.

While on November 23 VUDU for PS3 will come with its old, well known interface, starting in December they’ll release their brand new UI, featuring ratings, recommendations, a layout improvement and PS3 Move controller support.

With this flurry of announcements right around holidays, it is obvious Sony wants to sell as many boxes as they can, and considering the Hulu Plus, Netflix, VUDU, DLNA support plus GAMES and a pretty good list of HD video codecs supported, they might actually have a point! The Sony PS3 160GB is available at Amazon for only $299 (no taxes, free shipping) and at this price they might leave other media streamer boxes in the dust.

Check after the break for additional screenshots of VUDU’s new user interface and full press release.

Read More…

Do you remember Sony Dash? It used to make big waves a while ago and then, after some bad reviews concerning its speed and ergonomics, was somewhat dormant and out of the news? Well, it is back again with a vengeance because it can now offer Hulu Plus starting today!

Based on the popular Chumby platform and inheriting over 1000 applications this way, Sony Dash is a small wireless Internet connected device with a 7 inches 800×480 resolution, 500Mhz processor with 32kB I/D L2 cache; 256 MB, 667MHz DDR2 DRAM and doubling as a media streamer and capable to connect to a myriad online services including Pandora, AccuWeather, YouTube, Flickr, Netflix, Slacker, Amazon video on Demand,  and, of course now Hulu Plus (for the standard 9.99 / month). It also doubles as an alarm clock and social network hub showing messages and news from Twitter and Facebook, your e-mail messages from GMail and others, etc. Currently on sale at Amazon for $169.

What is more interesting though, is that apparently this little device has a strong WAF (Wife Approval Factor) because it comes with bundled content from Martha Stewart, like “Dinner Tonight™ Recipe of the Day, video health tips from Dr. Oz and so on .

1. Introduction

2010 is certainly a year where media streaming boxes really flourished. From cheap dedicated media streamers like WD TV Live Plus and Apple TV, going through (although unreleased yet  Boxee Box) and ending with more expensive (for now) Google TV boxes from Sony and Logitech (Revue) there is enough diversity to satisfy everyone. The questions are: Do they succeed in offering a truly enjoyable experience? Which one is better / simpler to use / easier to integrate in your existing Home Theater?

Google TV’s entry in the media streamers market is here and it hopes to bring more than mere streaming. Its main purpose is convergence and the ability to search / reach for your media in a unified manner, while enjoying the comfort of your own couch. Does it succeed? We’ll try to find out in Review’s Horizon ambitious take to review this complex box.

2. Sony Google TV Unpacking Read More…

As you might know, Sony’s PS3 got its disk-less Netflix client two days ago, as soon as Microsoft exclusivity for XBOX 360 expired. Because Sony had some time to spend for their implementation, they had the chance to do it right, but did they? Let’s take a look and let the screenshots speak for themselves.

One of the pre-requisites of the new Netflix client for PS3 is the firmware 3.50 which also enables support for 3D Blu-ray content. After you upgrade to the latest firmware, you will see a red Netflix icon in the Xross media bar. Selecting it will prompt to download the Netflix applications and a minute later you are in business. The activation is a tad different that other Netflix media streamers and it doesn’t prompt you to go to a PC to input a code. Instead, you’ll have to input your Netflix user name and password. Upon sign in, the new Netflix client is waiting for you. Read More…

In a recent press conference with investors, company’s CEO Bert Nordberg announced that Sony Ericsson will work to release Windows Phone 7 based smartphones in 2011, moving away from previous OS used, Symbian. Nordberg did not explicitly said what kind of handsets they will release or even when exactly they will be released, but we cannot feel sorry that the company will miss the holidays again.

Sony Ericsson is not amazingly successful, due in part to their prices and their lack of coherent plans for software upgrade. The most expensive Sony Ericsson smartphone, Xperia X10 for example doesn’t use the latest Android OS 2.2 (when most of its competition does) while being priced significantly above the market.

Windows Phone series, as a Microsoft product is famous to bring deep XBOX Live integration. It would be interesting to know if Sony intends to add any kind of Playstation Network Functionalities or even PS3 Remote Play, a technology found in their portable PSP devices and some Sony Vayo laptops that allows PlayStation Portable user to interact with their PlayStation 3′s Xross Media Bar.

Sales overall were €1.6bn, with net income of €48m ($68.8m) which is fairly weak for a major player in the smartphone market.