HP Debuts Digital Entertainment Products
April 28, 2005 | by Ian Bell
HP has unveiled a line of 10 newly branded HP Pavilion TVs, including four HD microdisplay rear-projection televisions, three HD plasmas and three HD LCDs.
From the press release:
Introduced at the Home Entertainment Expo, all of the TVs include new HP Visual Fidelity technologies, which provide enhanced image quality and brilliant color by, depending on the model, gauging a room's ambient lighting and doubling pixel resolution among other innovations.
HP's microdisplay TVs also feature a lighted front-connection panel designed with a special slot under the TV so audio/visual cables can easily be connected from the front and then hidden from view. The microdisplay TVs additionally enable viewers to quickly and easily select an input source, such as a DVD player, by touching a button on the remote control to view on screen how all input sources are being used.
The company also announced the availability of three new models of standard and high-definition HP Digital Entertainment Centers - devices that allow consumers to personalize and manage their TV viewing, movies, music, photos and videos, all from one remote control. New functionality on certain models includes the ability to record over-the-air high-definition programming and store up to 55 hours of HD content.
Consumers have more choice across the breadth of HP's TV product line
-- HP Pavilion microdisplay televisions, the company's first line of microdisplay rear-projection TVs, are designed for consumers who want to enjoy HDTV programs in full HD-resolution and DVD movies on a large screen. These televisions are equipped with HP Visual Fidelity technologies that help ensure top picture performance from virtually any video source. All models - including the 65- and 58-inch 1080P and 58- and 50-inch 720P - are expected to be available for purchase in North America in late summer.
-- HP Pavilion plasma TVs feature 50- and 42-inch models with ultra-long life panels built on next-generation phosphors that create an image 10 percent brighter than conventional panels. Created with the latest video processing technology that delivers up to 3.62 billion colors and 2,048 levels of gradation, these TVs ensure that even the subtlest details are rendered with uncompromising clarity. The plasma TV line also includes a 42-inch enhanced definition TV. All models are expected to be available for purchase in North America in late summer.
-- HP Pavilion LCD TVs are available in 37-, 32- or 26-inch models and deliver exceptional image accuracy due to a sophisticated video engine that combines scene-by-scene contrast adaptation with information about the room's ambient lighting. All models are expected to be available for purchase in North America in late summer.
All of HP's new digital TVs are CableCARD ready and, with HP's additional features and accessories, consumers can easily integrate any HP TV into their existing home theater system. HP also offers consumers a variety of TV stands to showcase their home theater centerpiece for an outstanding high-definition viewing experience.
HD Digital Entertainment Center z550 series
The new HP z555 and z557 High-definition Digital Entertainment Center series include three tuners: One ATSC OTA high-definition TV tuner for the ability to pause, play and record HD over-the-air programming and two NTSC tuners for recording two standard definition shows simultaneously. The z555 model comes with a 250 GB 7,200 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, and the z557 model comes with two 300 GB hard drives, one being a personal media drive to deliver over half a terabyte of combined storage.
Both units offer high-performance TV quality with the Nvidia GeForce 6600 PCI-Express graphics card. This product enables digital entertainment enthusiasts to combine entertainment features with the ability to surf the web or instant message friends, all in the convenience of their living rooms by fusing the best of PC and audio-video elements. All HP Digital Entertainment Center models are available for purchase now in North America, Sweden and France.
Post Your Comment...Comments
MIchael Nathan Harris on Apr 14th, 2006 at 10:04 PM:
Candidly, I have been encreasingly frustrated at my inability to connect with appropriate channels of HDTV product distribution. A media small fry, yet someone, albeit a beginner someone, with proprietary, HDTV resolution ambient video entertainment catalog (based on large scans of vintage 19th Century color photo-realistic hand printed art), I have been unable to find cable or satellite broadcast liaison to even take a look at the programs. Like real estate, the programs sell themselves, not a realtor's claims or my own claims.
Can you give me some advice or encouragement? If you like, I am happy to send you small clips of HDTV programs, in HD 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, loaded on conventional DVDs... to illustrate my point.
I'm on the up and up, legitimate, self funded, far along in product::HDTV video catalog development, and just cannot seem to get anyone, anyone mainstream, in HDTV content delivery, to take a look for themselves and consider refining/packaging content for target audiences, in the US, in Asia with tailored Asian art decorative content, in India, in Persia, in western Europe.
The content, the image quality, the appeal... are in place, truly. What can you suggest to guide me, commercially?
Michael Harris MD
San Francisco
www.chromolithograph.com
Postscript: my web site has a downloadable sample HDTV program to illustrate what I have mentioned.
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James on Apr 28th, 2005 at 6:26 PM:
I think their new media center PC's look pretty cool.