What we’re watching tonight:

• Fox (720p) has Cops at 8 p.m.
• Syfy (1080i) presents Dinoshark at 9 p.m.
• Ion (1080i) has the series premiere of The Guard at 9 & 10 p.m.
• NBC (1080i) has Saturday Night Live with Jude Law at 11:29 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has the Big East Championship with Georgetown/West Virginia at 9 p.m.
• HBO PPV (1080i) presents Pacquiao/Clottey boxing at 9 p.m.

HDTV Listings for March 13, 2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The technology arm of the cable industry has come forward with an official specification for the tru2way set-back box. We first heard of these when Panasonic was requesting a waiver from the FCC to exclude an analog tuner, but we did find one of the floor of CES — although it wasn’t a functional demo. Basically this makes the box one step closer to reality, and if the cable industry has its way, tru2way with it. The idea of an inexpensive HDTV companion might be the perfect low cost, easy to support, solution that consumer electronic manufactures are looking for. And although we’re not fans of tru2way in general, we do think it is an acceptable solution for those who don’t want a DVR but do want an HDTV mounted on the wall without a set-top box to be found.

CableLabs officially defines tru2way set-back box originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Both Samsung and Panasonic started selling 3DTVs with great fanfare this week, but only Consumer Reports bought both and started testing them head to head. This is hardly a full review, but initial impressions seem to confirm what we saw at CES which is that Panasonic’s 3D has the edge. To be more specific “in the 3D mode, its (Panasonic’s 50-inch VT-20 series) lack of crosstalk and great black levels really made three-dimensional images pop.” Of course some will always prefer LCD over plasma, but the initial reviews seem to indicate that plasma’s great contrast and super fast response time go a long way in delivering a great 3D experience.

First 3D showdown pits Samsung vs Panasonic originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That’s right, you can’t now reserve your place in line to be the first to record four HD cable shows at once on your Windows 7 Media Center. The bad news is that ship date for the InfiniTV 4 is now May 31st. Ceton wasn’t willing to share a specific reason for the 60 day delay, but we suspect CableLabs is to blame — Ceton refuted this and insisted CableLabs has been very helpful, but we don’t buy it. The other big news — for those that were concerned with noise or fitment options — is that the latest version of the PCI-E card pictured above no longer includes a fan. The InfiniTV name was the result of over 1000 submissions to Ceton’s naming contest, of which Gary Petro came up with winner — the name is not to be confused with Comcast’s XFINITY. Future tuners in the line will share a variation of the name, so the dual external tuner would be the InfiniTV ex2 — for example. But Gary isn’t the only one receiving a free tuner, as two more submitters were deemed worthy. Rus Sanchez submitted 94 different product names, while Charles Fraser earned his free card with the funniest submission; Wicked Super, Super Duper, and Super Duper Alleyoopder. The last bit of news out of the Kirkland startup is a littler clarification in regards to the network capabilities of the card. Although you can share the tuners with a small form factor PC on the network, the bad news is that it gets paired per CableCARD, so all four tuners have to go to the same PC. Ohh we almost forgot, the best news of all is that we received our review sample, so stay tunned for a full run down.

Ceton’s quad CableCARD tuner for Media Center available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not much more than a hard drive with HD media playback abilities, but the Packard Bell Studio ST certainly looks nice, doesn’t it? It’s Europe-only for now, but we’re hoping parent company Acer brings over a US-branded version of this box, which holds up to a 2TB hard drive and can do 1080p out over HDMI with Dolby Digital. Codec support is described as “all main formats,” which is a little shady, but we’ll be forgiving if it’s cheaper than the Western Digital WD TV Live HD.

[Thanks, Matt]

Packard Bell Studio ST media playback drive invades Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What we’re watching tonight:

• NBC (1080i) has Who Do You Think You Are? at 8 p.m.
• MyNetworkTV (720p) has WWE SmackDown at 8 p.m.
• Syfy (1080i) has Caprica at 9 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) brings Ghost Whisperer at 8 p.m., Medium at 9 p.m. and Numb3rs at 10 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) airs What Not to Wear at 9 p.m. and Four Weddings at 10 p.m.
• Starz (1080i) has Spartacus: Blood & Sand at 10 p.m
• HBO (1080i) has The Ricky Gervais Show at 9 p.m., The Life and Times of Tim at 9:30 p.m., Real Time with Bill Maher at 10 p.m. and Funny or Die Presents at 11:59 p.m.
• Discovery (1080i) brings American Loggers at 10 p.m.

HDTV Listings for March 12, 2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You picked up an Okoro media PC last month, didn’t you? If you’re nodding up and down in a worried fashion, you’re probably better off ignoring everything else we’ll say in this post. For the rest of you HTPC hounds, the boutique outfit has something that’s very likely to pique your interest (and kick that upgrade itch into high gear). Announced today, the company is adding Core i3 and Core i5 processors to its 2010 media center PC lineup, and as if the extra horsepower weren’t enough, users will also find native bitstreaming of TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio on every system save for the Q100. You’ll also get a 64-bit copy of Windows 7, up to 8TB of internal storage space, optional Blu-ray playback, quad CableCARD support and the new holy grail of transfers, USB 3.0. You can hit up the outfit’s webstore now to configure your dream machine, and if you so desire, you can check out its dedicated trade-up program that’ll last through May 31st.

Okoro Media Systems upgrades HTPC range with Core i3 / i5 CPUs, bitstreaming and USB 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s gone now, but for at least a moment there was an opportunity to pre-order Ceton’s quad-tuning CableCARD solution for Media Center PCs on Amazon, a sure sign that it is moving even closer to reality. Branded the Ceton InfiniTV 4 digital cable tuner card, the read link is the now-busted address for your F5ing pleasure — do it too much and you’ll go blind.

Ceton CableCARD tuner briefly appears on Amazon flying the InfiniTV flag originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eagerly awaiting DirecTV’s new multiroom tandem of set-top boxes? A group of DBSTalk posters got an early preview of the H24, and now have also posted their impressions of the HR24 DVR unit. Somewhat cheesy YouTube trailers aside, there’s a lot of info here if you’re considering a new DVR setup. Just like the recent NFL combine, we know that speed kills — and has been killing DirecTV recently — but they reveal the HR24 is much improved in that area. There’s also detailed descriptions of the new scheme for programming the remote to control other devices, and the units overall slimmer and quieter stature, all awaiting just beyond the read link.

DBSTalk goes hands-on with DirecTV’s new 24 series receivers originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading HDI headquarters walkthrough: details galore on the new face of in-home 3D

HDI headquarters walkthrough: details galore on the new face of in-home 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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