Update: After reader feedback, we've added five additional products. Thanks for all the comments.
Here we are just days away from closing out the first decade of the 21st century, which means a lot of publications are in look-back mode, taking stock of all the good--and bad--things that happened over the last 10 years.
The Gizmondo in its heyday.
(Credit: ImageShack)Before we get to the list, let's get the parameters straight. This isn't a list of all the most spectacular tech failures. I chose to exclude dot-coms, corporate debacles (AOL-Time Warner), search engines (i.e., Cuil), and assorted other Web 2.0 flame outs (I'll let Webware handle that). No, this is a roundup of gear, the stuff that turns on and off, the stuff I've been covering for almost 10 years at CNET (yes, I started in 2000).
It's also important to define just what a flop is. In my book it's simply something that was really hyped but didn't live up to its promise or expectations. And while the word "flop" has a negative connotation, we here at CNET have a lot admiration for the designers, engineers, and everybody else who put their heart and soul into bringing these products and technologies to the world. Some of them didn't deserve their fates. They were ahead of their time or just marketed poorly. Whatever the case, we appreciate the vision, risk taking, and hard work that went into creating these things.
But enough sentimentality (I meant it, really). Let's get to the biggest tech flops of the decade. If you disagree with any of them or have more to suggest, please post a comment. If we missed any clear candidates, we'll modify the list.
Click on any image to start the slideshow. (Note: The list is in chronological order).
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(Credit:
Apple)
Recently, with the help of some of the editors here at CNET, I put together list of the biggest tech flops of the decade. Since I'm not a negative guy at heart, it was only a matter of time before I came up with a more positive spin on the whole tech-products-of-the-decade concept that's all the rage as we approach the end of '09.
Once again, I've enlisted the help of my fellow editors, so while my name may appear at the top of this list, it's really a collective effort. That said, you can blame me if you don't like the picks.
As always, feel free to suggest your own picks. If you make a good case, we'll update the list and make some changes. Also, let us know what your top five picks are in order of innovation and influence.
Click on any image to start the slideshow and see the picks (they are listed in alphabetical order).
(Credit:
Best Buy)
Every year, the Black Friday online circulars hit the Web, and lots of sites round up every Black Friday tech deal under the sun. If you want to see massively long lists with loads of models names that make no sense to you, go over to our friends at ZDNet or Gizmodo. They've done an excellent job compiling everything.
However, if you're trying to sort the real deals from all the crap that's being advertised to lure you into the stores, I've done my best to surface some of the more attractive options out there. The truth is a lot of the so-called deals are already available online from stores like Amazon and others--but a few items do stand out.
Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and some deals may appear better to you than us, but here's what we've picked so far. If you feel we missed anything, feel free to point it out in the comments section below, and we'll add it to our showcase. Also, noted doorbuster items will only be offered in limited supplies, so get to stores early--or don't bother.
Click on any image below to start the slideshow.
Editors' note: Updated on November 23, 2009.
A few years ago, we used to do a feature highlighting some of the top DVDs that made your home theater really look and sound like one. Well, with Blu-ray in full swing, we thought it high time to come up with a similar roundup of our favorite Blu-ray Discs that will help show off your home theater in all its glory.
While my face is at the top of the column, the list was compiled with input from editors John Falcone, Matthew Moskovciak, and David Katzmaier, who look at a lot of content in their day-to-day testing of products. We also keep an eye on AVS Forum's Blu-ray picture- and audio-quality threads and have always appreciated the site's "tier" rating system.
This list is not set in stone, and we'll be adding and removing discs as new ones come out. As always, feel free to make comments and suggest your own personal favorites. They may get added to the list in the future.
Also: If you're someone who likes demoing your system and skipping around between scenes, you'll want a fast Blu-ray player. Right now, the fastest players we've tested are the LG BD390, Sony PlayStation 3, and the Samsung BD-P3600. Though not quite as fast as its step-up sibling, the Samsung BDP-1600 is among the fastest sub-$300 players we've tested. (See CNET's full list of best Blu-ray players.)
Click any of the images below to start the slideshow.
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I've written articles in the past explaining various TV technologies, including the differences between 720p and 1080p and 120Hz and 240Hz LCD TVs. But with Samsung, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers pushing so-called LED TVs these days, it's high time that I--with an assist from our resident video guru, David Katzmaier--sort through all the marketing mumbo jumbo and provide some insight into just what an LED TV is. Here goes.
1. An LED TV is not a new kind of TV.
I appreciate a good marketing ploy as much as the next guy, but an LED TV is just an LCD TV that's backlit with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of standard cold-cathode fluorescent lights (or CCFLs). And while they've become best-known this year with Samsung's ultrathin models, LED-backlit LCDs have been on mainstream store shelves since 2007, when Samsung's LN-T4681F debuted.
Unlike plasma and OLED, which are emissive technologies where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a transmissive technology where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit.
2.There are two types of LED backlighting.
Initially, LED-based displays like the Samung LN-T4681F were backlit by what's referred to as a "full array" of LEDs behind the LCD across the back of the panel. But to create superthin TVs, engineers needed to eliminate that extra layer of LEDs and move it to the sides of the display. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via "lightguides." These types of TVs are commonly referred to as "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs.
Samsung is the main maker of such sets this year with three series of edge-lit sets, although Sony did release one model earlier this year, the KDL-40ZX1M, and has another flagship series, the KDL-XBR10 models, waiting in the wings. Samsung, Sony, Sharp Toshiba, LG, and Vizio all have non-edge-lit, or "full array" models, available today. See our comparison of edge-lit vs. local dimming for more info.
3. Of the two, local dimming can produce deeper black levels, but also creates "blooming."
Local dimming LED backlights can dim or turn off individually as needed.
The type of backlighting can impact how deep a shade of black a TV can produce. All current LED-based LCDs with rear-placed, "full-array" LED backlighting--except the Sharp LC-LE700UN series--feature a technology called "local dimming." With local dimming, specific areas of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter.
With fluorescent backlighting and edge-lit LED backlighting, by contrast, the entire backlight dims or brightens at once, if at all.
Being able to dim specific quadrants helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, and the end result is blacks that appear darker and more realistic. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture--and colors--appear to pop. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. A great example of local dimming done right is Samsung's UNB8500 series, which is one of the best-performing TVs we've ever tested.
One downside to local dimming is an effect called "blooming," where brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels. ... Read More
Critics of Blu-ray often talk about how expensive the discs are, but in recent weeks, a growing number of Blu-ray movies have become more affordable, with several dipping below the $15 price point and some even slipping in at $9.99 on Amazon.
Cheap is popular these days and, not surprisingly, a lot of these bargain-price titles end up on the bestsellers list on Amazon. But when it comes to owning discs, most people have become pretty discerning, and don't just buy anything because it's cheap. With that in mind, we've culled down the list of bargain titles and selected 15 we think are worth owning.
As always, it's important to mention that taste is subjective, and if you don't like our picks, call us out and make your own suggestions in the comments section. If you're persuasive enough, we'll edit the list and swap in new titles. And as new budget Blu-rays come out, we'll also update the list. (Note: The discs on the list all were priced at less than $15 on Amazon at the time of this writing. Naturally, those prices are subject to change.)
For reference, here are the discs we considered but ultimately didn't include this round: "Bullitt," "Unforgiven," "Beetlejuice," "V for Vendetta," "Swordfish," "A Clockwork Orange," "I am Legend," "Fugitive," "The Road Warrior," "The Dirty Dozen," "Enter the Dragon," "Risky Business," "Dirty Dancing," "The New World," "Top Gun," and "Being There."
Click on any image to view the movies we did pick.
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One of the reasons people like to give for not buying a Blu-ray player is that there just aren't that many Blu-ray discs out there and that a lot of great movies haven't come out on Blu-ray. That's not totally true. There are a lot of movies out on Blu-ray--over 2,000, in fact--and more are being released every month, including "Gladiator" and "Braveheart" in September and the "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" in November.
That said, plenty of movies have yet to be given the Blu-ray treatment. A good portion of those movies are bad or inconsequential, and you probably don't care whether they make it to Blu-ray or not (or they're fine on DVD). But we're concerned about the good stuff that's not available, which is why I've put together this list of key movies that aren't out yet on Blu-ray.
To be sure, some of you may take issue with my picks. And I probably missed a few that should have made the list. But like I do with my Top 25 must-have Blu-rays list, feel free to express your opinions and if you have a legitimate case, I will gladly update the list with new picks.
Click on any image to start the slideshow see the picks. The movies are listed in alphabetical order, and we didn't include any TV shows. (Note: there's a link on the last slide that will return you to this article to post or read comments).
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Hz so good: The marketing of 240Hz TVs may rely heavily on test patterns.
(Credit: Akihabara News)Every year it seems there's a new catchy spec in the HDTV realm everybody likes to talk about. A few years back it was 1080p resolution. Then we heard about 120Hz, which is supposed to reduce motion blur in fast-moving images on LCD TVs. Well, this year, the latest and greatest spec is 240Hz, which is supposed to do what 120Hz does, but better.
Not too long ago, our video guru David Katzmaier gave his initial impressions on 240Hz in a post titled "Is 240Hz worth waiting for?" When he wrote that piece, he'd just seen his first 240Hz TV in action and wasn't sold on the new technology. Now that he's reviewed four 240Hz HDTVs and has a fifth review (the LG 47LH55) in the works, he's still not sold, but he admits the verdict isn't totally clear-cut.
Part of the problem is that there's a difference between what your eye sees in everyday material you watch and objective testing done with test patterns. As Katzmaier notes in his post, "Standard LCD and plasma TVs refresh the screen 60 times per second, or 60Hz, which is plenty fast enough to eliminate flicker and create the illusion of motion from a series of still images. In fact, most sources sent to your display arrive at the nominal rate of 30 frames per second, and each frame is repeated once by the television to achieve 60 total fps."
For most people, including me and Mr. Katzmaier, it's very difficult to see the impact that "faster" LCD sets have on picture quality. We spent some time in our AV lab watching various source material from 120Hz TVs and 240Hz models and it's really hard to detect any difference (it's hard to detect any difference between 120Hz and 60Hz models, too). To be clear, I'm referring here to motion-blur reduction because of faster refresh rates, not to dejudder processing, which smooths out motion and makes film-based material shot at 24fps look more video-like. When dejudder is engaged, you can easily spot its impact on the picture. (It's also worth mentioning that the dejudder processing on the 240Hz TVs we tested so far wasn't any better--or worse--than than the dejudder on 120Hz TVs).
... Read More
Netflix's consumer survey has brought hope to PS3 owners with Netflix subscriptions.
(Credit: Engadget)In recent days, rumors have been percolating about the PlayStation 3 getting Netflix streaming video support. Most of the rumors revolve around a survey that Netflix has out gauging user interest in adding its service to Sony's game console for a fee. No one seems to know whether Netflix or Sony commissioned the survey, but either way, it's certainly raised hopes with PS3 owners that they would get something that Xbox 360 owners have had for a while. (For what it's worth, nearly identical rumors of Netflix on the Wii have also been making the rounds.)
Interestingly, as the rumors make their way around the blogosphere, Sony's been trying to promote how robust its Playstation Network Service (PSN) is and how great a media extender the PS3 is. A few weeks ago, a few of us from CNET spent some time visiting with Sony PR and marketing reps in a hotel suite going over what PSN had to offer, including Home, Sony's online virtual community that's hit 5 million registered users. And just yesterday, I got a voice mail from a PR rep encouraging me to do a story on what a great media extender the PS3 is.
I said I'd do a story--but only in context of the Netflix rumors.
"Why doesn't Sony just add Netflix?" I asked.
Of course, I knew it wasn't as simple as that. ... Read More
Is success in the cards? The Dark Knight Blu-ray sold 600,000 copies on launch day.
(Credit: Warner Bros.)I've been seeing a lot of articles lately about Blu-ray's fuzzy future, how it's doomed, and how its success will be short-lived even if it does take off. Well, that may well end up being the case, but I gotta say, from where I'm sitting, there's a far greater probability that Blu-ray will do just fine--for a long time. And I'm not saying that because I'm a fanboy or a shill for Sony. I'm saying it because a lot of simple market factors point toward it doing just fine. Here are nine reasons why I'm right.
1. Digital downloads will not eliminate the need for discs anytime soon.
Let's address this first since this is the biggest factor that people cite when trumpeting Blu-ray's defeat. If you haven't noticed, here at CNET we spend a good amount of time covering new streaming video platforms and services and really enjoy testing these new products. Everything from Hulu to Netflix streaming video to Slingbox to Apple TV to Vudu all show promise. That said, all these products have some limiting factors, including lack of content selection, pricing hurdles, and most particularly, bandwidth issues, which affect video and audio quality.
... Read More
