Open Air Cinema's seasonal timing on bringing out its 16x9-ft inflatable projection screen is a bit off, but who knows -- maybe picking one up now will give you something to look forward to once the ground thaws. Or, be our guest and set up what's billed as "the largest screen available for backyard use" in the snow, call the neighbors over and break out the hot cocoa. For $999, you'll get a 220-inch screen that should put an end to any arguments about who has the biggest TV, and -- mercifully -- a blower that will inflate the rig in seconds so you can spend time getting the projector (not included) set up "just so." We figure that if you're going to be outside, you might as well splurge on the largest screen, but there are also 12-foot and 9-foot versions available for $599 and $449, respectively.

Apparently through with its legal issues, Tzero's decided now is the time to show its second generation UWB-based wireless HDMI technology. ZeroWire 2.0 is sending out 1080p (24/56/30/60fps) video with 16ms or less "sub-frame latency" suitable for lag-free high definition gaming, 7.1 audio support, and 480Mbps transfer rate with ranges of greater than 20 meters. The most important number is a $50 per unit price, with all that wireless magic performed via UltraMIMO signal technology and h.264 compression (replacing the old JPEG2000 system seen in Hitachi's Wooo HDTVs and Gefen wireless extenders) in the TZC7200 chipset. Impress Watch caught one of the demos currently going on in Japan and were told this is well below the price of other technologies like Wireless HD and WHDI, while enjoying wirelessly connected gaming on conveniently located PlayStation 3 consoles. With the previous generation's external antennas also getting the ax, we'll see if a leaner, cheaper technology can stand up to the competition (and convince us there's a reason to play Rock Band from way across the room) next year.

[Via Tzero]

Resolution+. Super Resolution Technology. Upscaling. Upconverting. You've heard it all, but what does it all really mean? Home Cinema Choice has taken the liberty of breaking down the art of upscaling to explain in-depth what's going on when pixels become slightly-more-detailed pixels. We'll leave the dirty work to the read link, but if you've been wondering just how good SD content could look (or if these upconverting technologies were simply sophisticated bottles of snake oil), you owe it to yourself to give this a look. As you could likely glean, the end-all statement is that upscaled material still can't match bona fide high-def, but it's still worth understanding the who's, what's and why's behind making your current DVD collection and SD shows look their best.

What's up with Australia and its promotions? Last year, the big deal was Toshiba giving away free HD DVD players with an LCD HDTV purchase and Sony tossing in a PS3 with select 1080p BRAVIAs. This year, we've got Panasonic throwing in a Wii with an HDTV and Toshiba handing out netbooks. You heard right -- for Aussies who plunk down for an XV500 series HDTV at 37-, 42- or 46-inches between now and January 15, 2009, they'll also receive an 8.9-inch NB100 (AU$799) netbook free of charge. Of course, that's "while supplies last," so we'd get on this pronto if you're even mildly interested. As for we Americans? We're taking home free movies with pricey Blu-ray decks. Awesome.

[Via SmartHouse]

Wait just a second there, vaquero. We know you're invigorated, but you should probably attempt to digest the price tag here before blowing a gasket in excitement. Bel Canto -- not known for trickling out low-end gear -- has just introduced the $495 USB Link 24/96, which presumably does an impeccable job at converting high quality USB audio (up to 24-bits and 96kHz) to S/PDIF via a single 75-ohm BNC cable. The unit works natively in both Windows and OS X, comes bundled with a Stereovox XV2 BNC / BNC S/PDIF cable (with RCA adapter) and gets all the juice it needs from your powered USB socket. Now, if only five unclaimed bills weren't so difficult to obtain...

The WirelessHD group has been making noise all year in what looks like run up to big things in 2009, so two of its biggest supporters, Panasonic and Samsung, are putting their money where their mouth is, with a "strategic investment" in developer SiBEAM. No word on exactly how much cash was laid out by the two, but the 60Ghz band chip maker is spinning it as a clear show of confidence from two of the world's biggest consumer electronics manufacturers that will help it roll out product in the future. With more than a few variants of cable-free technology on shelves or on the way we'll need to see actual hardware for sale before lining up as true believers.

We're still not over Sony's trickeration -- which led us to believe the version 2.53 firmware update was hitting prior to the US Thanksgiving holiday -- but we're not ones to turn down a free update under any circumstances. As of now (as in, right now), Sony's PlayStation 3 can support full screen embedded Flash videos courtesy of the latest firmware, so there's really no excuse for you not firing up the System Update and sucking it down. Get to it!

[Via PS3 Fanboy, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Believe it or not, this is far from the first we've heard of bringing high-def video to cellphones, and it's not even the first application to dabble in mobile 1080p. Still, we'll take all the innovation we can get in this space, and when the real Touch HD ever arrives, we'll be ready and waiting with Full HD capabilities. Announced at ISSCC 2009 in San Francisco, Renesas Technology is showing off an application processor that enables handsets to process 1,920 x 1,080 resolution video at 30 frames-per-second; the processor's core has a maximum operating frequency of 500MHz and supports MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video formats. There's no telling when the 6.4- x 6.5-millimeter chip will be available en masse, but we need the HTCs of the world to get us a 1080p phone and a retina implant or two to read 0.2-size fonts before it even matters.

It's two things that are inevitably tied to one another each Sunday -- LCD TVs and alcohol. Now, Micro Matic is bringing them together like never before, and only the most serious of in-home bartenders need apply. The v-POD comes in a couple of shapes and colors to best suit your needs, with the stainless steel Kool-Rite boasting a half-dozen taps, stereo speakers and an inbuilt 10-inch LCD. Now, if only these were available with slightly larger HDTVs and price tags nowhere near the three grand mark, we'd be talking.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

If you're looking for HD resolution in an industrial app -- you know, so your work rig can be on equal footing with your home one -- last month's introduction of the Kodak KAI-02150 HD CCD sensor may have caught your attention. But not everyone is into developing cameras from sensors, so Prosilica has kindly done that lifting for you with its new (but almost as forgettably named) GE1910 camera. The GE1910 puts the Kodak sensor into a C-mount lens body up front, a Gigabit Ethernet interface (GigE Vision standard) around back and a host of camera control features between (binning, shutter, IP configuration, etc.). Surely you can find a work-related requirement for this kind of hardware, right?

Not much has changed about the 17-inch Sooloos Control:One touchpanel you see above, but what is different about the newly announced Ensemble System is the lowered barrier to entry. Sure, the kit still demands a stuff $7,900, but that nets you the aforementioned screen and the combined storage / playback Ensemble server. In other words, this neat little package includes everything you need to digitize your CD collection and integrate it into your current home entertainment setup. The server itself includes an optical drive and USB port for importing tunes, 1TB of storage space and compatibility with other control systems including Crestron remotes and Apple's iPod touch / iPhone. Full release is after the break.

Now that Black Friday is behind us and Cyber Monday is but hours away, we're curious to know what kind of deals you snagged yesterday. Find anything particularly noteworthy? Were you disappointed with the "sales?" Feel free to chime in below with how you contributed to stimulating the economy while jazzing up your home theater.

If you reckoned high-def was confined to the living room and / or theater, you've got another thing comin', partner. Lowrance has just introduced two new GPS-Chartplotter and Fishfinder combination units, both of which are the first on the market to combine "high-definition chartplotter capabilities and Lowrance's Broadband Sounder functionality into a compact, easy-to-install system." Of course, you won't be able to really take advantage of the HD inclusions on the 480 x 480 (HDS-5) / 640 x 480 (HDS-7) displays, but maybe the definition of "high-definition" is different on the lake. Hmmph.

The flow of HD camcorders has slowed dramatically since CES 2008, but Canon bucked the trend by introducing a new pair smack dab in the middle of summer. The brawny (and capacious) HG21 was recently handled by the mates over at CNET's UK branch, and a host of hands-on photos have magically appeared. At first glance, the general build reminds us a lot of JVC's Everio HD40, but it's probably that 120GB HDD flanked on the side that does it. At any rate, have a gander yourself down in the read link.

The Sling.com portal is still sporting the beta tag, but now anyone can hit it up for a dose of streaming movies and TV shows, with Slingbox owners able to add live TV from home to the mix. Sans-Slingbox, the lineup as is mimics Hulu without the lovely HD gallery, and the truly groundbreaking Clip+Sling support is still in development. Still, give it a look or check out DownloadSquad's hands-on to see if Sling Media has a hit on its hands.