Tag: consumer-electronics connectivity

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Sony

Sony launches new premium 3D Blu-ray Home Cinema System : Consumer Products Press Releases : Sony Australia

My Comments

I had some experience with two of Sony’s premium network-capable Blu-Ray-based home-theatre systems, especially the BDV-E990W (BDV-N990W) unit. This was in the form of setting up the prior model which was the BDV-E980W (BDV-N980W) for them and eventually troubleshooting it to find out they had ended up with a faulty unit which was replaced under warranty with the ‘E990W. Even when they received the replacement model, I was involved in setting it up and testing it to make sure it worked.

These home-theatre systems were very capable when it came to functionality such as being able to work with their setup which involved their first flatscreen TV which was a low-end entry-level model from a discount store along with a recent-issue cable-TV set-top box. This was because of the number of HDMI input ports along with the HDMI output port that these systems were equipped with.

The reality with this setup was that most older and low-end “bargain-basement” flatscreen TVs don’t have the HDMI-ARC functionality for returning sound from the TV’s tuner or video peripherals connected to the TV’s HDMI ports. Also, by connecting the cable box to the home theatre system, there is a guarantee of “best-case” video and audio quality for the premium pay-TV channels even if the TV had just one HDMI connection which is something that a lot of cheaper sets like the Kogan “Kevin 37”, which was on sale at the time of Kevin Rudd’s economic stimulus package, had. Here, you have the ability to have best-case sound and vision even if you start out cheap with your flatscreen TV and gradually upgrade to better equipment as you can afford it.

For that matter, I would like to see the HDMI Consumer Electronics Control and Audio Return Channel features effectively “pushed down” to lower-tier flatscreen TV sets. This is more so as we see manufacturers equip Blu-Ray home-theatre systems, soundbars and similar “compact” AV equipment with this functionality and use it as a way to cut costs by reducing the number of HDMI and other connections on these devices. Similarly, from my experience the HDMI Consumer Electronics Control functionality has helped with simplifying the operation requirements with consumer AV setups and this has been a boon with older friends of mine who aren’t confident with operating consumer-electronics equipment.

I have also been pleased with the wireless surround-speaker link which pleased the house-proud owner who wouldn’t like the sight of cables coming from the front to the back of the viewing area. The microphone-assisted auto calibration routine made things easier for keeping the soundfield at an optimum level which has led to a “properly-placed” surround-sound experience when I watched the “Back To The Future” Blu-Ray with her and is to be used when you rearrange the lounge area in such a way as to relocate the speakers relative to each other.

These sets also offered what was expected for equipment that was to be part of the home network where they gave access to Internet-hosted radio and TV services as well as access to DLNA-hosted media collections on that network.

But the Sony BDV-N9100 Series adds some extra icing on the cake for Android users. It has integrated Bluetooth A2DP audio streaming so you can wirelessly play your smartphone or tablet through the system’s speakers. This is finished off with NFC “touch-and-go” setup for Android devices that implement NFC functionality. Like the rest of the current Sony Blu-Ray home-theatre range, this unit also has the “sports sound” mode labelled as “Football” but this should be used with all of the stadium sports like cricket, baseball or most Olympic Games events.

An improvement that I would like to see for these systems is for Sony to provide units with the same connectivity and functionality at a more reasonable price that can appeal to most purchasers. The best way to go about this would be to add some of the high-end functionality to mid-tier models and add extra functionality just to the high-end models. Similarly, these units could effectively answer Panasonic by integrating Skype capability with the optional camera. But, as high-end highly-capable home-theatre setups that are part of the home network, they have earnt their keep in this regard.

Article

‘Wi-Fi Ready’ ruse snuffed out by ACCC | The Age

My Comments

I have given a fair bit of space in HomeNetworking01.info to the issue of “Wi-Fi Ready”, including writing an article dedicated to this issue. This is where consumer electronics that are marked as “Wi-Fi Ready” can work directly with a Wi-Fi segment only if they are equipped with a dongle or module that the manufacturer sells at an exorbitant price.

In some cases, these dongles or modules don’t perform as they should and is something I had observed with a TiVo that being demonstrated at a consumer-electronics show a few years ago. Here, the PVR was being connected to a 3G Wi-Fi router via the official USB dongle that was to be used with this device but the unit, which was in a metal AV rack as part of a large-screen demonstration, threw up “out-of-range” error messages even though the router was in the stand opposite the demonstration space.

I even though of the issue where a manufacturer could have equipment not able to connect to a home network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi unless the customer purchases extra accessories through them. This is although most of these “Wi-Fi ready” TVs, Blu-Ray players and other consumer-electronics equipment, like the Sony BDP-S380 that I previously reviewed, have an Ethernet socket so you can connect them to an Ethernet (or HomePlug AV powerline) segment.

Other situations that could come of this include customers having to order the modules through the manufacturer or distributor rather than picking them up from their favourite retail outlet. Or a requirement that a technician has to fit the module to the TV or other device, requiring either a service call or the equipment sent to a workshop for this to happen, which also entails extra cost to the consumer.

Now the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have taken steps in tackling this issue. Here, they have required the main consumer-electronics brands to qualify this statement in their promotional material that they provide to consumers and retailers about these products. This means they have to mention in the brochures that the customer has to buy the module to enable this feature.

Previously, whenever the European TV manufacturers provided the ability for customers to have add-on modules installed in to their TVs to enable functions like teletext, stereo audio reception or picture-in-picture, they would emphasise in the promotional material that these were options for the sets concerned. This put in to the customers’ minds that you didn’t necessarily get the feature with the set.

The European Union could tackle this issue using a directive; and other consumer-protection agencies could make sure that this issue is raised concerning “Wi-Fi ready” consumer electronics.

But what was never looked at was the continued availability of the extra-cost accessories that enable these functions. This can definitely affect TV sets that typically serve more than 10 years with older units being “pushed down” to secondary areas like bedrooms.

What can typically happen is that, as part of superseding a model, a manufacturer could cease to supply the accessories available for that model and design similar-function accessories for the newer model so they don’t work with the product in question. When the consumer-protection departments look in to this issue, they should raise the issue of having customers able to use newer accessories to enable prior models using the lessons learnt from computer design.

Similarly newer standards concerning the network interface will arrive and customers could be limited in to using accessories that only support the older standards. This can happen as the Wi-Fi wireless-network standard evolves to faster technologies or is able to use newer frequencies.

These issues such as disclosing whether extra-cost accessories are needed or whether such accessories are available beyond the equipment’s lifecycle need to be looked at to encourage a consumer-friendly experience when buying network-capable consumer electronics.

Today, I had seen some excellent YouTube videos posted by Netgear on how to integrate your games console in to your home network. They make references to the networks being based on their own hardware, but these instructions apply to any and all home networks no matter what router is at the edge.

Also, when they discussed how to connect the XBox360, PlayStation 3 and Wii to the home network, they mentioned that you can use a HomePlug-based power-line network setup using their PowerLine AV network kit to build the HomePlug segment. The main theme was to connect the HomePlug adaptor to the console via its Ethernet port and select the “wired” connection option as appropriate.

The reason I have liked the videos was because they gave a visual walkthrough of the setup user interaction needed to be performed at each console. They also pointed out if a console needed extra hardware to be part of the home network depending on the connection type. They are also worth having as a reference if you are likely to move your console(s) between locations such as for video-games parties.

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TV-connected consoles

Microsoft XBox360

Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) – includes “PS3 Thin”

Nintendo Wii

Handhelds

All of these handheld have integrated WiFi as their sole connection means due to their portable nature.

Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)

Benefits: Online Gaming, Web Browsing, RSS Feeds and Podcasts

Nintendo DSi

Benefits: Online Gaming,Game download via DSi Store, Web browsing

HP Unveils the First Web Connected, TouchSmart Printer for the Digital Home | eHomeUpgrade

My Comments on this Web-enabled printer

When I first read about Hewlett-Packard’s Web-connected printer in this article, I thought that the idea may not be real but they have followed the same path as the recent crop of Web-enabled TVs and the smartphones that are part of most currently-running mobile-phone service contracts. This all-in-one printer could be the start of another development arena for these devices, allowing for a new scope of applications that are “printer-based”. These could include “print-on-demand” like the initial offerings from Google (calendars), Web Sudoku (sudoku puzzles) and DreamWorks Animation (colouring-in sheets) and extend to such applications as image-upload interface points for photo-sharing / social-networking sites and online file storage services.

If this idea pulls off for printers and “all-in-one” devices, then it could lead to other devices that are capable of working with the home network being able to work with the Web and the home network in a manner beyond their obvious design. For this to be achievable, the devices would have to work on platforms like the Windows CE / Windows Mobile platform, the Symbian S-series or UIQ platforms or the Android platform and allow an easy yet secure way of installing the software.