Sanyo's Nintendo-licensed Wiimote charger is Japan-only--for now

Finally, you can save on purchasing all those AA batteries weekly for your Wii remote. Nintendo has teamed with Sanyo in Japan to come up with a custom battery back based on its eneloop technology--a low self-discharge NiMH battery that charges on contact.

This is also the first Nintendo-licensed recharger. The Contactless Charger Set for Wii Remote Control (as the product is called) uses an electromagnetic induction system to charge the batteries, even through the silicon jackets that are now available for the remote. Battery life on a single charge is about six hours. And it takes around 220 minutes to fully charge--not bad for an overnight session, considering the base stations can be daisy-chained together to subsequently (not simultaneously) charge up to four remotes from one AC adapter.
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Some salespeople still think flat-panel LCDs beat plasmas?

In a time when CNET's two top-rated HDTVs of the year are Panasonic's TH-50PZ800U and Pioneer's PDP-5020FD (right), we have to wonder why a salesperson would recommend flat-panel LCD HDTVs at the rate that J.D. Power and Associates claims in a recent report.

The report, which surveyed more than 2,000 shoppers on their experience in big-box electronic retailers, a specialty television retailer, a mass merchant, and a warehouse store, found that retail salespeople recommended LCDs over plasmas at a three-to-one rate.

Sure, plasmas have a long list of supposed failings: They're allegedly bulky and power-hungry, and have image burn-in issues and leaks, and a short lifespan. However, most of these problems--image burn-in being the most common with early plasma sets--have been resolved on modern plasma displays.

According to the report, however, "37 percent of salespersons warned their customers that images may be permanently burned onto the screen of plasma TVs". The lifespan argument doesn't hold up either, as both LCD and plasma lifespan claims are basically the same now at 60,000 hours each. And, with LCDs still costing more at equivalent screen sizes, it's certainly convenient for retailers to promote the LCD technology over its less expensive rival.
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Sony's new Bravia T-series sings!

Instead of focusing only on the visual department, Sony is beefing up its latest Bravia LCD TVs with a slew of audio enhancements. Its latest T-series is equipped with either a pair of tweeters or a 3D woofer designed to reproduce crisper treble and deeper bass. All models also come standard with an onboard FM radio tuner to capitalize on its souped-up speaker subsystem and five-band audio graphics equalizer for personalization.

On the down side, the selection of video inputs is a bit lean with only a single HDMI terminal and a set of component-video sockets. That said, these petite sub-32-inch panels are right on par with its siblings in terms of an HD-ready resolution and the latest Bravia Engine 2 video processor. Sony is unable to provide detailed pricing till launch which is scheduled for end August throughout the Asia Pacific.

Click for larger images:



Photo credit: Sony

Inching closer to wireless hi-def video

The backers of Wireless Home Digital Interface plan to announce they are officially banding together Wednesday. But we're still months, or even a year from true, interoperable devices that can send high-definition video between themselves.

Wireless Home Digital Interface, or WHDI, sends uncompressed, high-definition video signals over the unlicensed 5-Gigahertz band. The backers of it say its immune to obstructions like walls and can deliver a signal that covers an entire home--that means setting up a settop box in a basement and connecting it wirelessly to a 1080p TV in an upstairs bedroom.

But we've been hearing this stuff for years. Several different standards have been proposed, and consumer electronics vendors have even announced products, but they've been very slow to trickle out to the market.

There's been more movement in this industry of late (Sony, and Sharp have released wireless HD video products this year, and Belkin is promising something for October), but we're still waiting for the floodgates to open where all the top-tier manufacturers have TVs with a wireless HD connectivity option.
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Wii controller gets renewable power pack

Here's a chance for you to chip in to the well-being of Gaia and go green. Sanyo and Nintendo have joined forces and introduced a new Eneloop Wii battery pack complete with standalone recharging dock. Aside from the environmentally friendly design, this product also offers Eneloop's renowned power retention feature combined with expansion capability to support up to another three additional units. The latter enables the ensemble to be driven by a single AC adapter, but with the caveat of "one-at-a-time-only" sequential charging.

The dock has been further designed to cater for silicon jacket-encased Wii controllers and requires up to 220 minutes for a full charge. Well, don't bang your luck on seeing these battery packs in your local retail stores anytime soon as they're currently available only in Japan. Yes, it sucks, but the Japanese are known for keeping the good stuff for domestic consumption. How about a short stopover at Akihabara, anyone?

Via Akihabara News | Photo credit: Akihabara News

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