TV Logic have unveiled the world's first commercially available OLED screen at the National Association of Broadcasters event in Las Vegas. It's 15" small and is aimed squarely at the commercial market. However, if you fancy one for the Kitchen worktop it'll set you back a mere $6,000, or $7.500 for the 3D version.
There are questions about the durability of OLED technology. TV Logic quote an "anticipated" 30,000 hours of use, although it is not known whether this is to the industry standard "half brightness" (literally the length of time it takes until the screen is half as bright as it was when brand new) or some other, more convenient benchmark. Brightness issues were one of the reasons Sony recently suspended development of OLED for the domestic market.
A long way to go then before OLED technol;ogy becomes affordable for the home.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Friday, 9 April 2010
HD - 50% of people not getting what they've paid for
A report on BBC Radio Suffolk today said that 50% of people who have purchased HD devices eg Blu-Ray players, Sky HD, are not actually watching in HD!
Sadly this doesn't surprise us, but you have to ask how it can happen.
It's easy to think "how could they not realise they're still watching the same old standard definition picture they've always had?". Because it's a new box does it have Emporer's New Clothes properties, do they look at the picture and convince themselves it's better just because it's supposed to be? Do they say how good it is to justify their purchase - perhaps to a doubting spouse - whilst hiding their disappointment at the lack of improvement?
We can remember the early years of satellite and visting people - for other reasons - who turned out to have been watching screens showing more snow than picture - FOR YEARS!! They had assumed that's just how it was. Is it the same with HD? Once people have become accustomed to their disappointment they don't really think about it any more?
From a selfish point of view, this shows exactly what can happen - and according to the radio report often does - when people don't buy from a specialist dealer. It may cost slightly more than buying from one of the big stores and installing it yourself, but for half the people that do that it's a complete waste of money because they're watching the same picture quality they already had!!
When this happens with Sky HD, the blame has to lie with the Sky installer as they always install the new HD receivers. If they simply connect in the new box using the same leads that connected the old box then they will not be giving the customer an HD picture. The old leads are simply not capable of carrying HD. Is this purely laziness? Or are they not being trained sufficiently (although this is pretty basic stuff they are getting wrong).
Sky installers have never had a very good reputation, partly down to the quality of the people they recruit and partly due to unrealistic work loads that simply don't allow the work to be done to a high (or even reasonable) standard - not that workload can be any excuse when you're only having to plug a lead in. I should say that recently we have come across a couple of Sky installers locally who have not only been dilligent in undertaking their own work, they've taken the time and trouble to contact us to thank us for the preparation we had done for them. But sadly these still seem to the exception to the rule. Sky obviously still has enough couldn't-care-less installers that are not setting up equipment properly.
In conclusion, if you install equipment yourself, make sure you do a little research to make sure your getting the most out of it. If Sky fit an HD receiver for you and you don't notice a difference in the picture quality, don't feel foolish about mentioning that it doesn't look as good as you expected. If you don't notice until later, make sure that the receiver is connected to your screen via an HDMI lead - if not you are not watching in HD and you need to either tell Sky to sort it out or get a specialist dealer to put it right.
If we can be of any help please don't hesitate to conatct us.
Sadly this doesn't surprise us, but you have to ask how it can happen.
It's easy to think "how could they not realise they're still watching the same old standard definition picture they've always had?". Because it's a new box does it have Emporer's New Clothes properties, do they look at the picture and convince themselves it's better just because it's supposed to be? Do they say how good it is to justify their purchase - perhaps to a doubting spouse - whilst hiding their disappointment at the lack of improvement?
We can remember the early years of satellite and visting people - for other reasons - who turned out to have been watching screens showing more snow than picture - FOR YEARS!! They had assumed that's just how it was. Is it the same with HD? Once people have become accustomed to their disappointment they don't really think about it any more?
From a selfish point of view, this shows exactly what can happen - and according to the radio report often does - when people don't buy from a specialist dealer. It may cost slightly more than buying from one of the big stores and installing it yourself, but for half the people that do that it's a complete waste of money because they're watching the same picture quality they already had!!
When this happens with Sky HD, the blame has to lie with the Sky installer as they always install the new HD receivers. If they simply connect in the new box using the same leads that connected the old box then they will not be giving the customer an HD picture. The old leads are simply not capable of carrying HD. Is this purely laziness? Or are they not being trained sufficiently (although this is pretty basic stuff they are getting wrong).
Sky installers have never had a very good reputation, partly down to the quality of the people they recruit and partly due to unrealistic work loads that simply don't allow the work to be done to a high (or even reasonable) standard - not that workload can be any excuse when you're only having to plug a lead in. I should say that recently we have come across a couple of Sky installers locally who have not only been dilligent in undertaking their own work, they've taken the time and trouble to contact us to thank us for the preparation we had done for them. But sadly these still seem to the exception to the rule. Sky obviously still has enough couldn't-care-less installers that are not setting up equipment properly.
In conclusion, if you install equipment yourself, make sure you do a little research to make sure your getting the most out of it. If Sky fit an HD receiver for you and you don't notice a difference in the picture quality, don't feel foolish about mentioning that it doesn't look as good as you expected. If you don't notice until later, make sure that the receiver is connected to your screen via an HDMI lead - if not you are not watching in HD and you need to either tell Sky to sort it out or get a specialist dealer to put it right.
If we can be of any help please don't hesitate to conatct us.
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