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To: AlexW

I know one computer that was available 30 years ago. The Commodore 64 which was available in January 1982.


27 posted on 01/09/2012 1:07:39 PM PST by I Drive Too Fast
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To: I Drive Too Fast

“I know one computer that was available 30 years ago. The Commodore 64”
______________________________________

I, along with most everyone else, had a C-64.
The vic 20 came before it, along with my first computer play toy, the timex/sinclair...maybe 1980?


29 posted on 01/09/2012 2:55:48 PM PST by AlexW
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To: I Drive Too Fast; ADemocratNoMore; advertising guy; aft_lizard; AJMaXx; Alice in Wonderland; ...

PINGING THE HDTV LIST, (with special thanks to “I Drive too Fast”)!

http://news.yahoo.com/vizio-to-ship-ultra-wide-screen-tvs-by-february.html

Vizio to ship ultra-wide-screen TVs by February

LAS VEGAS—Do you think your wide-screen TV isn’t wide enough? Vizio’s 21:9 TVs have you covered.

(Credit: Vizio)

The company’s CinemaWide models, dubbed the XVT3D0CM series, offer three screen sizes (50, 58, and 71 inches) that have an aspect ratio of 21:9, which in person is noticeably wider than the normal 16:9 rectangle shape used by typical HDTVs.

The advantage of the shape, according to Vizio, is that it allows the sets to display 2.35:1 (CinemaScope) movies without any black bars. As the company points out, many big-budget Hollywood flicks are shown in CinemaScope, which means that standard 16:9 wide-screen HDTVs have to either zoom the image, cropping or distorting it, or show black bars above and below (more info). The new Vizios will have a 2,560x1,080 native resolution, compared to the 1,920x1,080 of standard TVs.

The wider aspect ratio also allows the TVs to display a full 16:9 wide-screen image while simultaneously showing a screen-worth of Vizio’s Internet Apps.

If the above two paragraphs elicit a sense of deja vu, it’s not a glitch in the Matrix. It’s because Vizio’s 21:9 TVs were announced at CES last year but, along with the company’s full-array local dimming passive 3D XVT3D5 series and Google TV equipped VIA Plus XVT3D6SV series, never shipped in 2011.

The company assures us that the CinemaWide 50- and 58-inchers will be available to buy in February, with a new 71-inch size to follow later in the year. The main differences? The smaller models will be edge-lit with local dimming and a 120Hz refresh rate, while the 71-inch gets a full-array LED backlight with local dimming and 240Hz (more info).

Here’s my quick take from last year, which still applies:

It’s a cool idea, and I’m always intrigued by something different, but when I asked Vizio’s reps how the TVs handled CinemaScope Blu-rays I was disappointed by the answer. Since such movies are formatted to a 1,920x1,080 resolution, some of the 1080 lines actually consist of black bars. That means that the 21:9 TVs have to zoom the image to eliminate those bars, scaling the image and preventing the 1:1 pixel matching achieved by actual 1,920x1,080 HDTVs. Still, I’m curious to see the sets in action, and I doubt most viewers will notice the scaling. On the other hand, they might notice the need to zoom/stretch/crop (or deal with black bars to either side) when watching normal 16:9 movies, TV shows, and sporting events.
When I mentioned these issues again to Vizio VP John Schindler during a CES 2012 prebrief, he told us that the company intended to face the chicken-and-egg problem of sparse ultra-wide-screen content by delivering the hardware first, and encouraging software and content developers to follow the lead.


33 posted on 01/11/2012 2:35:45 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave
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To: I Drive Too Fast

The original IBM PC came out in ‘81. I got mine in Spring of ‘82, it had an Oct ‘81 ROM date.


34 posted on 01/11/2012 2:53:37 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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