Sony earlier announced the pricing and release date for their new 55-inch and 65-inch 4K LED televisions, but you might also want to check out their new 4K FMP-X1 media player if you are planning to fully experience one of the newly announced displays.

As you might remember, Sony showed off a prototype of the media player at CES back in January. Now, at NAB 2013, they have announced that the device will be available sometime this summer with a price tag of $699. The device will arrive bundled with 10 films: Bad Teacher, Battle: Los Angeles, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Salt, 2010′s The Karate Kid, Taxi Driver, That’s My Boy, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Other Guys, and 2012′s Total Recall. Those are certainly not too exciting for that price.

As for the company’s 4K video distribution service, Sony says that FMP-X1 owners will have to wait until fall. When its available customers will be offered a whole library of 4K movies, with titles from Sony Pictures and “other notable production houses”, and there will be a fee of course.

So, are you interested in getting an LED TV along with the FMP-X1? Or does the staggering price tag of $4,999/$6,999 for the TV and $699 for the media player turn you off?

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Not everyone needs the “phone” part of a smartphone and that’s why devices like the iPod touch exist. What if you’d prefer to align yourself with the Google side? Sony is doing just that by releasing the company’s first ever Android-powered Walkman media player. Here is the Sony NW-Z1000.

This new Walkman is pretty much the Android take on the iPod touch with some Sony Walkman aesthetics in tow. You get a 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, NVIDIA Tegra2 1GHz dual core processor, and 512MB of RAM. The flavor of the week is Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

For nearly all intents and purposes, this is a full-blown Android smartphone, just without the phone part. The kicker, which is a big one, is that it reportedly has full access to Android Market too, quite unlike some other off-brand Android devices that don’t do that. Rounding off the spec sheet are 802.11b/g/n WiFi, GPS, DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI-out, digital compass, G-sensor, mono speaker, FM radio, and a battery that lasts through 20 hours of music. The audio side also include S-Master MX sound processor and a dedicated “W” button for quick access to the media player.

Alas, this sounds like it could be a Japan-only toy though. The 16GB ($365), 32GB ($430), and 64GB ($561) variants should ship on December 10. You might have to hit up a buddy in Akihabara to get one for you if you’re not out Tokyo Way yourself.

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On the Apple side of the equation, if you want an iPhone without the phone, you might consider getting an iPod touch. On the Android side of the equation, if you want an Android phone without a phone, you might turn to something like the newly announced Primer Pocket tablet from Skytex.

With its 4.3-inch multi-touch display, the Primer Pocket is pretty much the same size as many Android smartphones. It doesn’t do the phone thing, but you have to realize that it carries a MSRP of just $99. That’s crazy cheap, considering that something like the Galaxy S II sells for over $600 unlocked and unsubsidized.

Not surprisingly, there are some shortcomings that explain the lower price. For starters, it only ships with Android 2.2 Froyo. Secondly, there is no Android Market support. Instead, you get pre-installed games and access to a GetJar market instead. That’s not really the same thing at all, but at least it’s something. Rounding out the specs on this sub-$100 unit are WiFi-b/g/n, g-sensor, 4GB flash memory, microSD slot for up to 16GB more, and a “slim and lightweight design.” The emphasis is on affordability, so if you’re looking for a cheap way to get on Android, this could be it. Look for it later this month through select online retailers.

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Just because you want an Android tablet doesn’t mean that you have to bump all the way up to the 10-inch or even the 7-inch offerings on the market. Archos has some smaller tablets too and joining that arena is a new entry from Latte Communications. It’s called the ICE Smart Media Player and its screen measures the same five inches across the diagonal as the Dell Streak.

Except, as you can imagine, it’s not a phone. In this way, it’s probably closer in scope to challenging the iPod touch, as well as other smaller Android tablets. Power comes by way of an 800MHz ARM11 processor with built-in 3D acceleration and the ICE Smart Media Player ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box. They say that it can support 1080p full HD video playback, though the display only has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Too bad it’s capacitive.

Rounding out the spec sheet is 802.11b/g Wi-Fi (where’s the N?), g-sensor, speaker and mic, USB OTG support, 8GB internal storage, and a microSD slot. It’s unclear whether Latte Communications got the full authorization, so I can’t say for sure whether this’ll do Android Market. There are so many Android tabs that don’t so buyer beware. But at only $189.99, which is $60 cheaper than its regular price. As an iPod touch alternative, you could do a lot worse.

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They seem to be putting these pico projector things in all sorts of products these days. We’ve already seen them in digital cameras, for example, and now they’re infiltrating the portable media player market too with the Sceptre Luna.

That’s the more interesting part of the news. The product itself looks very generic with a grey box and some basic media controls. However, there is no on-board display whatsoever, keeping you guessing as to the tunes pumping into your ear. The projector part can be used to show videos and slideshows, but that’s not all that useful when all you want to do is see your playlist… especially in public.

Running through the rest of the specs, you find no internal memory at all. Instead, it comes with a 2GB microSD card, which can then be upgraded up to a 32GB card should you feel so inclined. The projector itself can make for an image up to 50-inches across the diagonal from a distance of up to 99 inches. The other downside? The battery will only last an hour if you want to use the projector, not even giving you enough to get through a regular Hollywood movie.

Sure, the Sceptre Luna is an interesting idea, but its execution still leaves a lot to be desired. Check it out for $170 at QVC, Amazon, Walmart, NewEgg, Target, Sears, and K-Mart.

[via Sceptre]

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Applidium, the company behind that fantastic VLC media player that was recently released for iPad, has just announced they have a universal version presently going through the iTunes App Store scrutiny. Once it makes it through, you’ll be able to use VLC on any iOS device, which leads me to believe that also counts for Apple TV too. That’s pretty exciting, as I used to use my old Xbox 1st gen with XBMC for streaming videos over the network, it could play the divx and avi files without a glitch until 1080p came along. Now with VLC for iOS, we should be able to do the same thing not only on our iPhone’s and iPod’s, but also on our TVs via Apple TV. Applidium says that the iOS SDK “does not” always allow use of the decoding chip, so some 720p videos “may not be very fluid.” Perhaps it has something to do with multitasking and what other apps have priority, they have enabled some low-level optimizations to make the most of the A4 chip but make no promises at this stage.

Only iPhone 4, 3GS and same-generation iPod touch can run the VLC player, everyone else will be left in the dark. The processing power on earlier gen devices can’t keep up with the decoding.

They’ve also included support for Mail or Safari files to be opened. Strange, but cool.

SOURCE: Gadget Lab via Applidium

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Archos 101 Android Tablet with 10.1-inch LCD

Archos was already a major contender in the media player and Internet tablet market before the iPad had landed. Looking to re-establish itself as an industry leader, Archos has just announced no fewer than five new Android tablets. There’s even one that starts at under a hundred bucks.

The largest of the bunch is the Archos 101 Internet tablet with its 10.1-inch high-resolution screen, an HD multimedia support, and an adjustable kickstand. It also boasts a 1GHz processor, Bluetooth, USB, tethering support, HDMI TV out, accelerometer, 3D openGL technology, WiFi-n technology, and a PC-like web browsing experience. The Archos 101 ships this fall in 8GB ($300) and 16GB ($350) variants.

Offering many of the same features are the smaller Archos 70 Internet tablet and the Archos 43 Internet tablet. They get 7.0-inch and 4.3-inch color displays, rounded out by Android and Adobe Flash 10.1 players. The Archos 43 adds a 2MP HD camcorder to the mix as well. Look for the Archos 70 in 8GB ($275) and 250GB ($350) versions this fall too. The Archos 43 is only available as an 8-gigger for $200.

At the smallest end of the scale are the Archos 32 Internet tablet and Archos 28 Internet tablet. It’s probably more appropriate to call these MP3/MP4 players, but they are powered by Android. This means you get email, web browsing, social networking, and other apps, in addition to music and video streaming. The 4GB Archos 28 will be $100 and the 8GB Archos 32 will be $150 when they ship later this month.

ARCHOS introduces five new android tablets starting below
$100 [Archos]

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That’s why other people still are much more interested in using a home theatre PC (HTPC). In essence, you have a full-fledged multimedia computer connected to your HDTV, letting you do everything on that big TV that you would normally do on your home computer. The trouble is that all the controls typically come from a regular keyboard and mouse.

Using a full-size keyboard and mouse can be quite cumbersome. Instead, it may be much more convenient to consider this wireless combo controller from USB Geek. You get a notebook-style touchpad up top and full thumb-based QWERTY keyboard below. It may look like a graphing calculator or something, but it’s about all you need to control your HTPC.

It’s not the prettiest girl at the party, but it could be the most useful. Find it on sale for $62 at USB Geek.

Source: Crunchgear

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The iLuv i1166 isn’t completely groundbreaking in scope, since iLuv has already released similar products in the past, but this portable multimedia player is a great option for watching movies on the go. That’s because iLuv has stepped it up to a 9-inch widescreen digital TFT LCD display, making for a perfect size to watch videos on an airplane, bus, or car ride.

The i1166 will accept any contemporary iPod and the Apple device will actually be housed inside of the iLuv player, eliminating the need for messy cables and other attachments. The iPod will also charge up inside the i1166 if you have the player plugged in via the provided AC adapter.

In addition to iPod compatibility, the iLuv i1166 also has a spot for regular CDs and DVDs, including the data-only versions with DiVx video, MP3 files, and so on. Rounding out the specs are USB expansion, SD/MMC expansion, full subtitle management, and fast motion playback.

The iLuv i1166 portable digital multimedia player will ship in mid-October for $269.99.

Source: iLuv

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Yinlips is a manufacturer based out of Shenzhen in China and the company is working on a new media player that is, appropriately enough, called the Projector MP5. On the surface, you may think that this just another handheld that’ll do music, pictures, and videos. But that’s just one side of the equation.

Along one edge of the device is an integrated projector that can output its video content into an image as large as 80-inches. That’s much bigger than the TVs that most people have in their living rooms. I’m thinking the resolution may be a little lacking, but that’s still impressive nonetheless.

Other notable features on this PMP include the built-in 3.5″ display, 10Mbps streaming video, support for 64-bit games (N64 emulator?), infrared remote, and a 2cm profile.

For now, the Yinlips Projector MP5 PMP is just a concept, but they’re hoping to have a retail version ready for launch shortly. Since they’re a no-name China brand, I’m thinking the price won’t be outrageous either.

Source: ClonedInChina

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