Tata Sky Launches First 4K STB In India For Rs 6400

 

Tata Sky has upped the ante in the Indian DTH scene by launching its first 4K set top box. The company had announced and demoed its 4K STB with live 4K stream of France vs Germany World Cup 2014 quarter final match in July last year. The company has finally launched it this year and is advertising it as just in time for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, although it has nowhere been announced that the shooting will use 4K cameras during this sporting extravaganza.

Review: Xiaomi Redmi 1S - Brace for the second assault

Xiaomi Redmi 1S
Price: Rs 6000 (Available soon Flipkart.com)

 

Xiaomi, now known as China's answer to Apple, has got a new ace up its sleeve for India - the Redmi 1S. After its earlier onslaught via the hugely successful Mi3, the Chinese manufacturer has planned to launch the brand new dual-SIM smartphone in a bid to capture the low-end segment. Yet again, the company promises high-end hardware and performance at an unrivalled pricing. I got to try my hands on the new handset before its launch to find out whether the numbers on paper really translate to good real life performance. Read on for the review.

  

Review: Xiaomi Mi 3 - Finally, Premium Smartphone At Budget Pricing

Xiaomi Mi 3
Price: Rs 14,000 (Flipkart.com)

The smartphone market is probably the most varied today, when it comes to the sheer number of mobile phones and models by various manufacturers, each trying to up the ante in face of competition. In a budget market such as India, price is considered to be the driving force for sales of any product, and the mobile phone is not an exception. The Chinese manufacturer, Xiaomi, which had taken China by storm last year with its Xiaomi Mi 3 Android smartphone with high-end specs, registering record sales, has finally turned its attention to one of the most lucrative markets - India. The phone has been finally launched in India at an attractive price of Rs 14,000. Some of the high-end features of the phone includes a Snapdragon quad-core CPU with 2 GB RAM, 5" Full HD IPS screen, and 13 MP camera with Full HD recording. Xiaomi has been generous enough to send across a review unit, therefore, a review was in order. Do the high-end specs really translate into a pleasant smartphone experience? Read on.

Review: Panasonic VIERA TH-P50ST60D - The Last Of The Plasmas Can Still Hold Its Own

Panasonic VIERA TH-P50ST60D

MRP: Rs 1,25,000 (market price starting at Rs 1,00,000)

Television technology has come a long way with LED-backlit TVs currently being the TV technology of popular choice. However, Plasma TV technology continues to hold its own purely because of its inherently superior image quality. Panasonic has been one of the main proponents of this ageing technology and is still one of the largest Plasma TV makers in the market. The company has got the VIERA TH-P50ST60D belonging to the ST60 series, which is its 2013 mid-range offering. However, the performance surprised me. Read on.

Sharp Unleashes The World's Largest "3D Internet LED TV" For Rs 20,00,000

Sharp has launched the LC-90LE740X, which is the largest 3D LED TV in the world with 4-colour Quattron Technology. In case you are wondering, what about the Samsung UN110S9 TV with a 110" screen that was launched at CES this year; that is a 4K TV, while the one from Sharp is Full HD, which is a quarter of the number of pixels as on a 4K TV. As mentioned, the Sharp TV supports active shutter 3D at 120 Hz, making it compatible with every 3D Blu-ray player, 3D game console, and NVIDIA 3D Vision products. Of course, the 1920x1080 pixel dimensions are somewhat of a let-down at such a large screen size as the pixels would be large enough to be readily visible, unless you view it from quite afar. With an aluminium frame, this TV is a real looker that should dominate any room.

VU Shows Off World's First Customisable Luxury TVs In India

VU held India's first Television Trunk Show in Mumbai today to show off the world's first customisable luxury televisions. The event was held at the Four Season's hotels at Worli and I was invited. The company showcased its 50", 55", 65", and 84" LED-backlit LCD TVs, of which the 84" is the recently launched 3D model sporting Ultra HD or 4K panel with 3840x2160 pixels. Of course, there were also smaller screen models with touch screen just to take a look. The purpose of the event was to allow consumers and reviewers to not only get up, close, and personal with the various VU TV models, but also avail the one-day-only discounted price offers such as a 50" LED TV free on purchase of the 84" model.

Panasonic Launches HC-MDH2 And HC-MDH2M Wedding Cameras For Rs 79,990 And Rs 84,990

Panasonic has launched two new movie cameras in its Wedding Camera line-up in India well in advance of the wedding season. The models HC-MDH2 and HC-MDH2M unveiled today differ in only the storage aspect with the former having two SDXC card slots, thus at least theoretically supporting up to 2 TB in each slot, while the maximum capacity of such a card available today is 256 GB. The latter sports an internal storage of 32 GB and an SDXC card slot for expandability. In my opinion, it does make better sense to have internal storage as well as external storage when it comes to Full HD recording that these cameras support. Other than the storage factor, the cameras are virtually identical.

Manish Sharma, MD, Panasonic India said during the event,

"With technology constantly changing it allows our brand to push boundaries and create new and exciting products that are customised according to the needs and requirements of the Indian market. With the newly launched wedding camcorder in our AVC cam range, we plan to take customer experiences to the next level making it special by providing them with a rich photographic experience".

The new cameras feature powerful 21x optical zoom and 50x Intelligent Zoom, along with advanced shooting performance for photos as well as movies in Full HD (1080 pixels height). The 5-Axis Hybrid O.I.S. + (optical image stabilisation) and Level Shot Function make sure that you don't have to worry about blurry images due to shaky hands. Additionally, it supports simultaneous recording in the dual memory devices so that videos and images are always backed up. Low light performance has been improved, thanks to the new high-sensitivity sensor that is 1.3 times as sensitive as sensors used in conventional models.

The cameras come with an easy-to-view large 3.0" LCD screen with intuitive touchscreen interface. The recording can be backed to an external hard drive without the need of a computer. With Eye-Fi compatibility, these can also connect to Wi-Fi devices to save files recorded on the card to a PC or upload them to social networks. They are designed with ergonomics and hours of sustained usage in mind with the acclaimed "Ergonomic Stable 4-point Support Design", which are essential attributes while capturing lengthy special occasions such as weddings. Here are some of the salient features of the two cameras:

• 1/2.33-type (17.52M) S-FSI sensor
• 5-Axis Hybrid O.I.S. + Level Shot Function 
• F1.8-F3.5 
• 3.0" LCD (460K) 
• Manual ring (Focus, Zoom, Iris, White Balance, Shutter Speed) 
• 28 mm wide-angle lens for covering a larger shooting area in indoor shooting 
• 21x optical zoom for capturing close-up images of subjects that you cannot get close to and 50x iZoom (1400 mm) 
• Large lens and lens-emphasized design 
• Light weight for easy handling & easy to use LCD layout

The Panasonic HC-MDH2 and HC-MDH2M are available at Rs 79,990 and Rs 84,990 respectively. You can get to have a closer look at the HC-MDH2 before buying if you happen to visit the Gujarat Photo Fair being held from the 20th to 22nd of September 2013, in Ahmedabad.

In case you wish to purchase one of the above cameras, or any Panasonic camera, you can find out the contact nearest to you from the below contact list: