Pandigital debuts kitchen TV with extra perks

Pandigital, which is making a name for itself in the digital photo frame market, is branching out into kitchen televisions. As part of the upcoming International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, the company will be showing off a new 15-inch LCD HDTV that can display digital photos and act as a digital cookbook.

Here are the highlights and specs from the news release:

TV's resolution is 1,280 x 720

Preloaded recipes are included. Plus additional recipes can be copied onto the frame's internal memory

Copy digital photos onto the frame's memory via the memory card reader or by a connection to Google's Picasa photo sharing Web site

Messproof design that's sealed with glass, so it's protected from water, oil, flour, and other common ingredients, as well as from spills and splatters

Comes with a countertop stand and an under-cabinet mount, and is also wall-mountable

Interchangeable faceplates in brushed stainless, black and white to match various kitchen styles

512MB of internal memory stores up to 3,200 pages of recipes or digital photos

Calendar and clock functions keep customers informed and allow photos, video and music to be programmed for play at specific dates and times

The alarm function can be set to to noteworthy dates and times, including when it's time for a favorite cooking show.

Integrated 6-in-1 media reader that supports SD, XD-Picture Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro/Memory Stick Duo, CompactFlash, and MultiMediaCard

Programmable on and off times

Support for JPEG, Motion JPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, and AVI

Pandigital's multifaceted kitchen TV is scheduled to be available in June in the US and costs US$399.99.

Via Crave US | Photo credit: Pandigital

Samsung LCD TVs go "rose black" in the UK

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, TVs had faux wood all over them. They went all matte black in the late 1980s, then during the 1990s, a ghastly silver was all the rage. With the introduction of flat panels, matte black made a comeback for a while and later went glossy, known as piano black. So what's next in the goggle-box fashion lineup? If you listen to Samsung, "rose black" is the new must-have color and the Korean chaebol is slathering it all over its new range of high-end goggle boxes.

Happily, the full red effect really appears in all its glory only in a well-lit room. Samsung is certain we'll all be keen to light our TVs, specifically to bring out its exciting new color scheme. Of course we will. Indeed, Samsung believes in this color so much that it's also slapping the hue on its new DVD home cinema systems, such as the HT-X710 and even its high-end 800W, 5.1 HT-TX715. Prepare for an onslaught of slightly reddish TVs and home cinema equipment soon.

Now let's forget about the color for a moment--and let's wander around to the specs sheet. As this is Samsung's top-of-the-range LCD TV, it almost goes without saying that they're full-HD screens--with the exception of the 19- and 22-inch models. That does mean for the first time Samsung is producing a 1080p, 32-inch TV for the UK, joining other manufacturers in fulfilling demand for smaller "full-HD" screens.

The LE40A6 range uses Samsung's "ultra-clear panel" contrast-improving technology--"super clear panel" owners will be miffed. There's a stonking four HDMI sockets on the 32-inch and above models. If you buy a 37-inch or above, you'll also get Samsung's 100Hz technology, which aims to reduce motion blur and other movement artefacts.

The screens also feature the now ubiquitous game mode for console and PC gaming fans, and the contrast ratio of the larger sets is up to 15,000:1.

You should also be pleased to learn that Samsung is attempting to simplify the model numbers--we're genuinely ecstatic. While this screen is officially called the LE40A656A1FXXU, it can be referred to as the LE40A6, which is a substantial improvement. Hurrah! The A6 range will include 19-, 22-, 32-, 37-, 46-, and 52-inch screen sizes as well as the 40-incher we've introduced you to here.

Via Crave UK | Photo credit: Samsung

Onkyo's exciting entry A/V receiver trio

It was a no-brainer when Onkyo launched the brilliant 2007 TX-SR605 price-buster with cutting-edge onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding. Not only was this model awarded the coveted CNET Editors' Choice, they were also flying off the shelves at record time during our recent visit at a local A/V dealer. For 2008, the Japanese company is back with trio of entry-level receivers: TX-SR506 (S$689), TX-SR576 (US$479) and TX-SR606 (S$1,019).

These have inherited most of the value-added features of the 605, including Audyssey 2EQ automatic audio calibration system and zone 2--think secondary bedroom setup--loudspeaker support. New on the plate, however, is a Music Optimizer function to restore musicality of compressed MP3 soundtracks and upgraded HDMI connectivity. Surround sound support-wise, the 606 does just about every format under the sun, while the 576 is limited up to high-res Dolby Digital Plus and 506, the legacy equivalents.

The TX-SR506 and TX-SR606 will be launched in Singapore from April. Details for the rest of the region were not available at press time.

Click for larger images:



Via AV Zombie | Photo credit: Gordon Sell Public Relations

Tasty KEF "Egg" loudspeakers

The lads over at Home Cinema Choice sure had a "sweet" surprise from British loudspeaker manufacturer KEF all right. They recently received an impeccable replica of the company's popular 3000-series KHT home theater speakers, affectionately known as the KEF Egg among enthusiasts. This gift, however, was not the usual boring showpiece but rather a yummy dark chocolate treat which they mercilessly smashed apart and devoured.

I wonder if any of our TV vendors will ever send us something similar, molded in the form of an oversized 42-inch flat panel, of course. After all, we do have quite a handful of hungry mouths to feed within our CNET Asia crew. Bring it on, man! :P

Click for larger images:



Via Home Cinema Choice | Photo credit: Home Cinema Choice / KEF

Blu-ray recorders with a mirror treatment

If you're plain tired of the nonchalant facade of an average Blu-ray player, the exquisite mirror finish of the new Mitsubishi Electric recorders is guaranteed to knock your socks off. Pretty face aside, the DVR-BZ100 and BZ200 also combine versatile DVD/Blu-ray recording with generous onboard hard drive capacities of 250GB and 500GB, respectively. This delivers extended recording stamina ranging from 22 to 443 hours for the BZ100 and twice as much for its BZ200 sibling.

Another notable feature of these headturners is the touchscreen remote controller. This offers a color display as well as flexible softkeys tailored for specific user operation, for example, TV channels selection. To round it up, there are the almost standard flair of analog/digital TV tuners, EPG a.k.a. electronic program guide and film-centric 1080p24 video playback via an HDMI output. By the way, if you're a diehard fan of DVDs, it will record HD on these media using a new AVCREC format, too.

You can drool all you want, but these are strictly for the Japanese market yet again! Sob.

Via Akihabara news | Photo credit: Mitsubishi Electric

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