Slowly but surely, 3D broadcasting is making its way across the world. However it looks like one of the last places it will reach is Japan. The USA is looking to have their first broadcast with in a few weeks, but Japan’s first 3D broadcast will not happen until May 16th with the broadcast of the Asakusa Sanja Festival. The festival celebrates the three men who founded the Buddhist temple in the Asakusa district. At the climax of the festival, the stations will host an hour long broadcast titled, “3D Broadcast First Try!” Unfortunately though, the only ones who will be able to see the broadcast are those who have the equipment.

[via Engadget]

One of the new HDTVs to come from Sony’s UK division is the KDL-37EX503. This 40” display has full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution “High” dynamic contrast. Today, a writer from Trusted Reviews got the opportunity to see how this model did against other displays from the same series. The TV sports a gloss black finish, and a brushed aluminum panel o the bottom edge. The connection panel was the same compared to other EX503 models and was suitable for the writer’s HD needs. The image quality also received high marks with impressive color subtlety and blending. However as nice as the display was, the writer stated that the TV tended to look washed out. Another problem was with watching dark scenes. The contrast was not as good as the other models and the detail was simply not there. The final verdict was, “The KDL-37EX503 isn’t a bad 37in TV at all when considered in isolation, or against many other 37in TVs from other brands. But it does suffer a bit when compared with its own 40in sibling, thanks to a reduced black level response and the fact that the superior – and, of course, larger! – 40in model can be found online at the time of writing for only around £80 more.”

[via Trusted Reviews]

Back in January Samsung unveiled their first 3D Blu-ray player, the BD-C6900. Today, the company has released the player to consumer market and has reduced by retail price by $40. Originally, the 3D player was supposed to retail for $399, but now it is found for only $359. The player is still expensive compared to other Blu-ray players, but it also comes with the latest 3D technology. Other features include built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, internet widgets, and a 1GB internal memory. Some of the widgets that will be included are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and more.

[via 3D Display info]

One of the biggest problems with HD content is that you need HDMI cables in order to fully appreciate it. The problem with the cables is that some companies charge an arm and a leg for them. The worst of these companies is Monster Cables who charges up to $250 for a 4ft long HDMI cable. But the same 4’ HDMI cable can be found by other manufacturers for as low as $10. So the question is why is there such a price difference? The answer is that Monster tends to include features that they claim can’t be found with other cables. Features like gold plated connectors, Shielding from EM and RF interference, and gas-injected cables. While these features could possible help improve the image quality, the fact is that testing shows that the $10 cable and $250 cable show difference in quality. The reason why is because the information is digital, which means all it is, is a string of 1’s and 0’s. The digital connection will either work or not and there really is no grey area anymore like with the old composite connections. So even with this information available, why are the cables costing so much? Part of the reason is the product markup when it goes into stores. The markup indicates how much money the retail store receives after the purchase. Monster cables can reach a markup up to 80%, which means a cable that the retail store will receive $200 for a cable that retails for $250. This is where the retail store makes its money. Click on the link to see the entire chart.

[via Crunch Gear]

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Logitech has made some pretty impressive universal remote controls. However, they also tend to be high in price. But today, the company is releasing a new model called the Harmony 300 and it sacrifices some of the high-end features for a more affordable price. For starters it doesn’t have a built-in LCD screen to view. It is able to control up to four devices at the same time, or individually. It also has programmable buttons to get to specific stations or to menu options in your devices. The other major feature is the instant syncing process. This allows you program your remote via USB connection to work with your equipment. The beauty of this feature is that it eliminates the need to punch in codes or look online for codes that aren’t listed. The Harmony 300 is set to retail for just under $50 and it will be available in April.

[via Engadget]

Samsung is one of the two companies that currently have 3DTVs available on the consumer market. Today, the company has predicted that they will sell up to 2 million 3DTVs before the end of 2010. They also said that that goal could increase the goal again before the year is out. The company’s 3DTVs use LED and LCD display technology and require the active shutter glasses in order to function. They have already released their 7000 series a few weeks ago and plan to release their 8000 series very soon. The fact that the company actually has products in the market makes this prediction incredibly possible. In order to make room for the new 3DTVs. Samsung also stated that they have reduced prices for several of its LED backlight TVs.

[via Digitimes]

Last week Sony released their new NX800 HDTV series. However, today the company has announced that the Japan branch has delayed their release. The models affected include the KDL-40NX800 and KDL-46NX800, which are the smaller models in the series. The KDL-52NX800 and KDL-60NX800 however will be releasing normally. The company states that the reason for the delay is, “the demand, exceeded the original anticipated supply of key components.” The 40NX800 and 46NX800 are expected to release in Japan on June 10th.

[via Sony Insider]

One of the new series to come from Panasonic is the G20 series and one of the leading models from that series is the TX-P50G20B. This model features plasma technology, a 50” screen and 1080p HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Recently, CNET released their review of this HDTV. They did notice that the TV is rather expensive compared to other HDTVs. However, for this extra price you get a superb picture quality. The writers state that the quality is so good that it would even appeal to picture quality enthusiasts and videophiles. Unfortunately though, ever TV has its drawbacks and for this model it’s the speakers. The writers did not like the built in speakers at all and recommend that if you are going to have a display this good, then you should get some external speakers to match the audio to the video quality. However even with this problem, the writers conclude by stating, “We think you should buy the Panasonic Viera TX-P50G20B. It will almost certainly make you very happy indeed. It’s got a shed load of cool Internet features, and the picture is very good, with the potential to get even better if you get it calibrated properly. It’s also a decent-looking TV and just about the only screen on the market that can claim to come anywhere close to the black levels of Pioneer TVs. That said, this TV isn’t capable of the deep blacks displayed by our Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090, which remains our reference TV two years after it was discontinued.”

[via CNET]

This week on HD Nation, Robert and Patrick talk about the latest HD news and the latest HD technology. One of the newest announcements that they talk about is Sony’s release of their BRAVIA NX800 and NX900 series HDTVs. The most notable feature is the tilted screen which is designed for people who put their TV a little lower like on a coffee table. The hosts also answer a fan’s question about what 3D Ready means. The first point that the hosts make is that retailers are selling bundles of 3D equipment for thousands of dollars and there is no content available for the systems. They also highlight that right now there are only two companies, Panasonic and Samsung that are releasing 3DTVs. True Mitsubishi does have some 3D Ready DLP HDTVs currently on the market, but because they were released before the 3D Blu-ray standard was finalized, they are not compatible with the 3D players. Fortunately, though Mitsubishi is correcting this problem by creating a converter box that will be available soon. The last question that they answer asks about the frames per second rate of 3DTVs. Since a normal TV uses only 60Hz, then why isn’t 120Hz considered 3D capable? The hosts explain that the 120Hz is not fast enough to create a “flicker-free” image. The truth is that the problem is with the shutter glass lenses. It is able to match the frame rate of the TV, but it is actually performing four functions instead of two. Each lens needs a turn on and turn off frame. This means that in order to create a decent 3D image, the TVs need to display four times the frames per minute.

[via Revision 3]

Last week you might have heard about all the channels that are looking to release 3D channels. One of those channels is ESPN and today, the station announced that they will launch their ESPN 3D channel in June. To make the announcement better, they also stated that the channel will be through DirecTV and will not cost extra for any current DirecTV subscriber. ESPN 3D has now become the third 3D dedicated station for DirecTV. The other two include “N3D powered by Panasonic” and a 24/7 on-demand pay-per-view movie channel. ESPN plans to broadcast at least 85 live sporting events in 3D this year. One of the more anticipated events is the 2010 X-Games.

[via Electronic House]