Weekly Podcast Roundup, June 11th 2010

I’m sure you non-sports/soccer fans are going to be happy for this massive list of podcasts for the weekend and next week. Enjoy!

Contrast ratio, or the ratio of brightness between full white and full
black on screen can be a very revealing number.  Since most sets can
go full white, it really tells you how black a set can get.  Keep in
mind that really good contrast ratios only matter if you’re watching
very dark content, like you see in some movies.  Most TV viewing never
gets into the full black range.  Contrast ratio can also be canceled
out by the ambient light in the room.  No matter how dark the picture
gets, it can always be washed out if you can’t control the light that
doesn’t come from the screen.

There was actually quite a bit of Media Center related news this week
and you’ll find all the links below.  I’d take time to spell it all out
here but I’ve got a trip to take today and didn’t want to delay getting
this out to our listeners.  We cover all the topics in the podcast so
enjoy!

Returning to the show this week is Microsoft’s Mark Pendergrast talking
about the inclusion of Windows Media Center into Windows Embedded
Standard 7. Mark was involved with Windows Media Center and Windows Home
server projects and he explains why Microsoft decided to include Media
Center in Windows Embedded and what we may see OEMS do with the
platform.

 

More podcasts available after the break…. 

 

 

That’s right, with a full complement of EHD podcasters we kick things
off with plenty of Apple talk, including the other Steve’s comments on
set-top boxes, and the debut of the iPhone 4. After that we take a look
at Redbox’s Blu-ray rates and what’s going on with the Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3.

Answers to your questions about 3-D TV, LED lit LCDs, OLED TVs, and
more. Guest: Tom Norton, senior editor and video technical editor for HomeTheaterMag.com
and UltimateAVMag.com

Is Hulu finally coming to the living room? How many hard drives does it
take to contain your movie collection? Internet Traffic Will Quadruple
in 4 Years, and the Blu-ray releases for June 8th, 2010.

 

More news leaked about the potential Hulu/Xbox 360 partnership that
we’re expecting to be announced at E3 next week. This week’s news comes from Reuters, who has it on authority of
two people very close to the situation that not only with Microsoft’s
box get support, but that iPad support is right behind it.

Now that the iPad has shipped internationally, it is only right that we
have our very own round table. For this panel we have two great guests: James Kendrick from jkOnTheRun,
and David McCabe of the
Home Server Show and the recently launched AddingApple.com. James and
David join Sheldon and I as we discuss design, software, some of our
favorite apps and plenty more.

Yes, no matter what you read up above or what you hear during the show,
this is a Media Center show and we won’t be changing.  That said,
GoogleTV did make the news this past week so we take some time to try
and figure out what it’s all about.  Really, it’s more of a
speculation/it’s awful/NO IT’S NOT type of deal but we do discuss it.