1080p Stories March 16, 2016
Ring slims down and specs up its iPhone-linked doorbell with 1080p video, 5GHz Wi-Fi, more zones
Dom reviewed Ring’s iPhone-linked Video Doorbell last year, and was impressed. I was too, with two minor complaints: video is 720p rather than full HD, and it only connects to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks.
1080p Stories June 26, 2015
9to5Toys Last Call: top-of-the-line previous gen 11″ MacBook Air $1,000, Monoprice Action Camera $60, more
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
1080p Stories June 10, 2015
Code found in the first iOS 9 developer betas reveals that Apple is planning to support some significant camera features and upgrades with the new software version. Presumably planned for the next iPhone hardware version, developer Hamza Sood has discovered code in iOS 9 that reveals support for long-awaited changes to the front-facing FaceTime camera. According to the code, iOS 9 adds support for a FaceTime camera with 1080p video capture, up from the current 720p camera on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus… expand full story
1080p Stories April 6, 2015
The Apple TV set-top box hardware is expected to be updated this summer after 3 years since the last real refresh and a recent price drop from $99 to $69. While the last Apple TV upgrade boosted video output from 720p to 1080p, the rumored Apple TV 4 is not believed to support ultra high definition 4K video output featured on newer TV sets. Here’s why that’s no surprise and what I think it could mean for an actual Apple TV set:
1080p Stories December 19, 2014
9to5Toys Last Call: iPad Air 2 15% off, Samsung 40″ LED HDTV $298, Sony on-ear headphones from $8, more
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the brand new 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
Get 15% off iPad Air 2 at Target stores
Samsung 40-inch 1080p 60Hz Slim LED HDTV: $298 shipped (Reg. $400)
Amazon Gold Box: Save up to 60% on Select Sony Headphones – prices as low as $8 (orig. $20)
Last Day: Four magazine subs for $16 incl. Wired, GQ, Rolling Stone, Men’s Fitness, ESPN, many more
Giveaway: Grado Prestige Series SR80e Open-Ear Headphones ($99 value)
1080p Stories November 11, 2014
Netflix updated its iPhone and iPad app to version 7.0 today adding optimization for the larger displays on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus introduced in September. The updated version of Netflix shows more content like titles and genres as well as previews of movies and TV shows when browsing for something to watch. In addition to optimizing the Netflix app for iPhone 6 users, Netflix says the new version of its app will now offer video playback in 1080p, full HD, for users with the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. expand full story
1080p Stories November 7, 2014
iPad mini in Silver or Space Gray: $199 shipped or pickup at Walmart ($50 off)
From 9to5Toys.com:
Today only, Walmart offers Apple’s iPad mini (non-Retina) in new condition either Space Gray or Silver for $199 shipped or ship to store. That’s $50 off Apple’s current price (though Walmart mistakenly says $100 off last year’s price) and tied with the lowest price we’ve ever seen. A nice pickup for the same price as the iPod touch. Features:
These often sell out pretty quickly so you might want to jump in early.
1080p Stories September 23, 2014
iPhone 6 camera compared to all previous iPhones (Gallery)
The makers of camera app Camera+ have put together a great comparison of the new iPhone 6 camera vs almost all previous generation iPhones including the first iPhone, the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, and 5S.
Skin tones look brighter and more true to life with the iPhone 6 in this portrait series. Although the iPhone 6 photo has a higher level of detail, I’m finding it slightly pixelated and blotchy-looking. Apple altered their local tone-mapping algorithm for better exposure and contrast using the new A8 processor, but it looks like it might be causing some issues with the skin tones in these shots. Additionally, their new noise reduction algorithm seems a bit heavy handed causing pixelation.
The full comparison on the company’s site lets you view full-sized shots for a number of different shooting scenarios including daylight, backlit, macro, lowlight, and portrait shots. Here’s an example from the portrait comparison (click below for full size):
Earlier today we published our own review of the iPhone 6 camera’s improved video shooting capabilities, which now includes the ability to shoot 1080p video at 30/60 frames per second and Slo-Mo video in 720p up to 240 frames per second.
1080p Stories July 2, 2014
9to5Toys Last Call: 3D printers from $600, Westinghouse 24″ 1080p HDTV $100, Mophie 1500mAh Juice Helium 5/5s battery pack $40, more
Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
Today’s can’t miss deals:
Last Call Updates:
3D Printers: MakerBot Replicator 2 (refurb) $1200 (Reg. $2200 new), UP! Mini 3D $600 (Reg. $900+), more
Westinghouse 24″ 1080p HDTV w/ HDMI $100 shipped (Reg. $150+)
Games/Apps: Fantastical 2 for iPad $15, Injustice: Gods Among Us $30, iOS freebies, more
Other new deals:
More deals still alive:
New products/ongoing promotions:
Microsoft/Google/Android:
1080p Stories March 31, 2014
If you like to use your iPhone to shoot video and Apple offered to upgrade your iPhone 5s from 1080p HD to 2k video for just $7, the decision wouldn’t require much thought. That’s exactly the trick Ultrakam has pulled off with its new iPhone app.
If you’re wondering how a mere app can convert your camera to a higher resolution, it doesn’t: it simply allows the software to use more of the hardware capabilities of your camera. Apple may say that your iPhone 5s has a 1080p HD videocamera, but that’s not quite true: the camera hardware itself is capable of anything up to 3264×2448, it’s just that the software can’t process that many pixels at a sensible frame-rate … expand full story
1080p Stories October 15, 2013
Image: techbeat.com
French site MacG, which has an imperfect track-record, claims to have been given the dates on which the new MacBook Pros, iPads and Mac Pro will go on sale. The claimed dates are:
With Apple’s media event scheduled for 22nd October, this would put the MacBook Pros on sale very quickly indeed, just two or three days later.
However, the iPad and Mac Pro dates do not make as much sense. Apple has typically launched its new iPad models on Fridays (or Saturday for the original version), making it unlikely that the new tablets would hit store shelves on a Wednesday or Thursday (as the MacGeneration report claims).
As for the Mac Pro, that machine is a built-to-order computer, so perhaps it would be difficult to pinpoint an actual launch date for that product. MacG also happened to have claimed that Apple’s event would occur today, so that does not add much credibility to these new claims.
Below is what we’re expecting to see for each product … expand full story
1080p Stories May 31, 2013
Update: Pricing has just been announced, at $3,799. Pricey, but actually not bad value in a market that had five-figure pricing not so long ago.
ASUS today revealed that it will launch a 31.5-inch 4k monitor late next month, its 3840×2160 pixels allowing four 1080p HD videos to display full-size on the same screen without overlap. A 4k monitor in such a small package is made possible by using an IGZO panel, whose smaller transistors enable greater pixel density, and is likely to be in the same league (and possibly from the same manufacturer) as the 32-inch Sharp panel we saw at CES.
However, don’t rush out to buy one just yet: it’s unlikely that even a top-spec Mac from today’s line-up would be able to drive the resolution at a decent frame-rate. But the next-generation of Haswell-powered Macs almost certainly will. Indeed, as we mentioned earlier, it’s even possible that a next-generation MacBook Air could do so … expand full story
1080p Stories March 4, 2013
We reported over the weekend that there was some confusion over exactly how Apple’s new Lightning digital AV adapter works and why it lacks the ability to carry a native 1080p signal. One theory is that Apple was using an AirPlay wireless streaming protocol, but we’ve since learned that is not the case. According to a post that purports to be from an anonymous Apple engineer explaining how the cables function, Apple does not use Airplay protocol. It instead uses the same H.264 encoding technology as AirPlay to encode the output into the ARM SoC. From there, the data is decoded and sent over HDMI:
It’s vastly the same thing with the HDMI adapter. Lightning doesn’t have anything to do with HDMI at all. Again, it’s just a high speed serial interface. Airplay uses a bunch of hardware h264 encoding technology that we’ve already got access to, so what happens here is that we use the same hardware to encode an output stream on the fly and fire it down the Lightning cable straight into the ARM SoC the guys at Panic discovered. Airplay itself (the network protocol) is NOT involved in this process. The encoded data is transferred as packetized data across the Lightning bus, where it is decoded by the ARM SoC and pushed out over HDMI.
Perhaps even more interesting is that Apple could improve the quality with future software updates since the firmware is stored in RAM as opposed to ROM. The poster noted that Apple deemed the quality “suitably acceptable” but *will* make improvements with future iOS updates: expand full story
1080p Stories March 1, 2013
The hacked apart cable costs as much as a Roku because it has the same kind of horsepower
The fine software developers over at Panic are working on some new AV software, and they are investigating Apple’s new-ish Lightning Digital AV Adapter. What they found is that unlike the earlier 30-pin module, the Lightning adapter doesn’t carry a native 1080p signal. In fact, when mirroring, Apple says the optimum resolution is 1,600-by-900, and, when that signal is shown on a 1080p display, it is likely up-converted, showing artifacts consistent with streaming and uncompressing video data
Before it is ripped apart, via Amazon
What’s more interesting is that they split open the cable and found a full ARM processor with 256MB of RAM to process video signals inside the adapter cable. We knew way back in September that the 8-pin adapter wouldn’t carry video natively, but Apple was able to build a cable. How? Panic thinks that it is actually streaming an AirPlay network signal through the cable, and the ARM processor is decoding it.
Why would Apple do this? It’s likely Apple wants to move people to AirPlay wireless streaming to Apple TV, so this is just a stopgap solution. Rather than making a larger Lightning cable, it sacrificed on wired video-out quality and HDMI (And VGA?) cable costs.
Update: Our friends at Braeburn and an anonymous Apple Engineer sent along their takes on the situation below:
1080p Stories January 25, 2013
YouTube Capture version 1.1: Google has updated its newly released YouTube Capture app with some welcomed features including 1080p video uploads:
· 1080p uploads! · Improved audio sync · More detailed upload feedback · Share to networks after uploading · Bug fixes & stability improvements
Vine — Make a scene version 1.0.2: Just released yesterday, the app for sharing short video clips (and recently acquired by Twitter) today updated with improvements to profiles and more reliable Twitter integration:
* Logging in through Twitter is more reliable * You can now update your profile photo from your Camera Roll * Character limit for usernames and bio field * International keyboards have better support * Various bugs that caused crashes have been fixed
Google Currents version 2.0: Google is updating another one of its apps today, its magazine style news reader for tablets and smartphones now sports a new catalog design. The update also includes an Edition sidebar for quick access to categories, a new fast scan feature (Vertical swipe to scan an edition, horizontal swipe advances to next edition), and a new breaking stories section ranked by Google News. You can also now star to save stories for future reading: expand full story
1080p Stories March 21, 2012
Following coming under a bit of heat for its report about the iPad running “significantly hotter than” iPad 2, Consumer Reports just published a review of the new Apple TV ahead of its full comprehensive testing. While the review could not help but praise the refreshed set-top box’s 1080p video support, Consumer Report’s “bottom line” is that the device is not worth the upgrade for second-generation Apple TV owners. It also claims the cheaper Roku and D-Link’s Boxee Box offer more content options: expand full story
1080p Stories March 14, 2012
Along with Apple’s refreshed Apple TV capable of 1080p video output, iTunes movies also got a bump up to 1080p with the introduction of iTunes 10.6. While there were some concerns over increased file sizes, iTunes users for the most part seem to be quite pleased with the quality of iTunes movies encoded in 1080p compared to the 720p they were stuck with before. On that note, Ars Technica decided to find out exactly how the 1080p movies compare to the same content on a Blu-ray. Here is what it found: expand full story
1080p Stories March 7, 2012
Apple just announced at a media event occurring in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts that an updated Apple TV set-top box is capable of 1080p video output. Of course, 9to5Mac was the first to call that one. What is better: iCloud now streams movies in 1080p—an upgrade from the previous and often criticized 720p video resolution. Even more importantly, you can now access purchased movies in iCloud any time you want, just like with music and television shows.
Also updated is the Apple TV’s user interface. It is now more streamlined and taking advantage of the full 1080p video resolution. The new interface takes clues from iOS with its shiny new icons and the beautiful Cover Flow view. The new Apple TV has the same low price of just $99 and is available for pre-order today with shipments beginning March 16. In addition to the new Apple TV, Apple has tweaked its pricing matrix for movies and television shows on iTunes to reflect 1080p content. More on that below.
