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more about #51 more comments → JazzBri: I could see HDMI out through a docking station for the phone. A user could d/l an HD movie (from iTunes, for example), pop the phone into the dock, a... more » frigg: So who's Renesas? Are they one of those companies that no one's ever heard of, but quietly supplies chips to everything from the Pleo's eyeball's to t... more » Nick: so conceivably you could run two of these in a phone with their size and have some super powered phones? oh, man this is getting exciting. i think i j... more » victorkruger: That is really cool but what are the chances of a cellphone being able to output 5.1 let alone have a HDMI port? I could see this for netbooks but no... more » Jing_ta: I can't imagine hooking these up to my entertainment system then trying to watch a movie without getting blinded. more » -
#chips
Renesas Cellphone Processor Handles HD Video at 1080p With Surround Sound
Renesas has started shipping its SH7370 processor for mobile phones. The 1-centimeter squared chip is capable of decoding and encoding 1080p video in H.264/Mpeg-4, with 5.1 surround sound, via HDMI. Crazy. [TechOn] -
#sarotech
Sarotech's Abigs DVP-260X Media Player Holds 320GB, Does 5.1 Audio and HDMI, Plus FM Transmitter
Sarotech's' 2.5-inch ABigs player seems to be designed by an engineer with a gigantic budget. Why? Because it's got a 2.5-inch display, H.264 and MKV support, 1080p over HDMI and 5.1-channel out, a built-in FM transmitter, a photo viewer, an e-book and both PAL and NTSC compatibility. The 160GB version is available for $278 and the 320GB version is available for $328 from Korea, which isn't all that bad considering everything you get from it. If you still want the Korean flavor of this Sarotech but a bit more US availability, there's always Cowon's PMPs. They've got not quite as massive storage, but their format support is phenomenal. [AVING] -
#gadgets
Asus Xonar U1 USB Audio Device Supports Hardware Acceleration For Gaming
Although the ASUS Xonar U1 may look goofy, it promises quite a lot of features in its cone-shaped body. Among them are a high quality digital to analog converter, EAX and DirectSound hardware acceleration, 5.1-channel audio, a bundled array microphone, ambient noise suppression up to 20db, and a built-in headphone amp. No pricing or availability yet, but only Vista and XP support seem to be included. Sounds pretty great for laptops without decent hardware processing on board (which constitutes a good percentage of laptops out there). [Laptop Logic] -
#fieldguide
The Field Guide to Faux-Surround Soundbars
OK, we're calling it: this is the year of the sound bar, those long, slender speaker boxes that you see freakin' everywhere. (Today alone we mentioned three companies introducing a total of six new models!) When our very own Brian Lam was at CES this past January, he heard the editor-in-chief of a top home Audiophile/Videophile magazine tell one of his lead sound gear writers "audio is just dead." That kind of talk is not unexpected—it's about as shocking as a French wine critic calling Australian shiraz "the end of civilization." We all know sound bars have a place, but what have they done to 5.1? As you may have noticed, not all sound bars are surround bars. Here's the breakdown of most currently available models: More » -
