Hands-on with the JVC HD750/350

We recently had a hands-on session with the JVC DLA-HD350 and DLA-HD750, currently making their rounds worldwide. Despite using out-of-the-box factory settings, the almost silent DLA-HD750 was putting out some pretty amazing pictures. Blacks were definitely better than before and was matched by a strong depth of field and smooth visuals. Having said that, the projector's sharpness was a bit on the soft side, just like the DLA-HD1, and exhibited a distinct film-like appeal.

If you're in the market for new home theater projectors, there will be another announcement soon on these JVC models which will probably rock the market. While we were given strict instructions not to disclose any information, here's a teaser to get you on the right track. Do you seriously believe the new HD750 will feature the same 30,000:1 native contrast offered by the 2007 DLA-HD100?

The 1,000-ANSI lumens HD350 and 900 ANSI lumens HD750 will also ship with a built-in lens aperture--which allows fine-tuning of brightness levels without compromising contrast performance--and an automatic protective lens shutter. Other useful niceties include zoom and wide lens shift capabilities (similar to the HD100) with upgraded fully motorized adjustments and focusing.
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Rock Band available in Singapore from September 25

For those of you who have been waiting for the Rock Band to officially debut in Asia, you now have a date to look forward to.

According to Electronic Arts, the music video game will hit store shelves first in Singapore come September 25, followed by the rest of Asia after.

The game will be available for the Sony PS3 and Xbox 360. The instrument pack does not include the software and will cost S$269 on both platforms. Standalone drums and guitars will cost S$179 and S$149, respectively. The actual game disc will retail for S$71.90 for the PS3 and S$60.90 for the Xbox 360.

LED-backlit LCDs battle for "best" title

Now that we've published our review of the LED-backlit Samsung LN46A950, we're already receiving emails from readers, apparently with money to burn, who're anxious to find out whether it's better than the Sony XBR8 series, another LED-backlit contender that will hit shore shelves in October.

Sony and Samsung will also be joined by LG in the backlit-LCD race, despite apparent lack of reader interest in that company's LG 47LG90. Since we haven't reviewed either of those two models yet we don't know how they compare with one another or with the Samsung, but that won't stop us from "speculating" with the only information we do have: Spec sheets, rumors, and brief eye-time.

First off, it's worth noting that each of the three sets use a technology colloquially called "local dimming", where the individual LEDs behind the screen can be dimmed or turned off as needed. It's this technology that adds some weight to each company's claim of a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio (a nice round number, no?) When part of the screen goes dark and another is bright, standard fluorescent LCD backlights must rely on the LCD panel itself to block out the light and create dark areas. The result is the less-than-stellar black-level performance for which many LCDs have been noted.


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Unboxing Rock Band 2

Mock rockers around the country will be warming up their fingers this week for Rock Band 2, the sequel to last year's hit music game. Both Rock Band and rival game Guitar Hero are banking on high-power holiday entries, with competing set lists of classic and new rock, from The Who to Bob Dylan to Jimi Hendrix to Metallica.

We got our hands on the new Rock Band 2 game disc and hardware, and gave the setup a quick run-through (purely in the name of journalism, of course).

It's worth noting that in fact, it's the Guitar Hero franchise that gets the biggest upgrade this year, with Guitar Hero: World Tour (expected in October) adding drums and a microphone for the first time, while Rock Band 2 is mostly content to make some general improvements to its existing peripherals.

The new drum kit looks almost exactly like last year's, but has a wireless connection (removing the need for a separate USB hub) and the drum pads each have a thick rubber cover. The original Rock Band drum kit had hard plastic pads, which made a fairly annoying clacking sound when hit with a drum stick. As a result, many users either bought after-market rubber dampening pads or even glued cut-up mouse pads on top of the drum surfaces. The new wireless drum kit also has a reinforced kick pedal with a metal plate on top. The original one was known to snap in two occasionally under the heavy feet of overenthusiastic gamers.
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Pocket projector gets an early screening

It looks like 3M is trying to bring back the good old-fashioned vacation slideshow.

The company is reportedly close to rolling out a miniature, portable digital video projector, the likes of which could be used to project digital photos, PowerPoint presentations, or cat-on-a-treadmill videos wherever you see fit.

The lucky ducks over at Popular Science got an early look at the MPro110 and report that after plugging it into a DVD player, they were able to project a movie up to 11 inches wide on various pieces of furniture, walls, and co-workers' body parts. The picture fared much better (and bigger) in a dark room.

Apparently, 3M had planned to officially announce the projector in a few weeks, but an overly enthusiastic German division of the company let the cat out of the bag a little early with a press release.
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