Fox News' giant new Microsoft touch screens have fewer pixels than an iPad

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
News anchor Shepard Smith proudly demonstrated a remodeled "Fox News Deck" featuring massive, expensive new 55 inch touchscreens sold by Microsoft. However, the giant new screens have much lower resolution than even a 9.7" iPad.

big iPads with low resolution


Smith beamed in showing off how Fox had, at considerable expense, revamped its news anchor sound stage to include actors manipulating at least ten of the massive new displays, each of which sells for around $7,100.

The displays are sold by Microsoft, which last year acquired Perceptive Pixel, the manufacturer of the giant touchscreens. The screen is essentially a very high quality HDTV equipped with a "projected capacitative" multitouch sensor. The screens are powered by Windows 8 and can also be navigated using an "Active Stylus," which works like a wireless remote control.

New PCs in response to Post-PC iPad

Fox News said the month-long remodeling of its "revolutionary new studio" was performed in response to viewership changes, particularly the shifts occurring among users armed with mobile phones and iPads, many of which have ubiquitous data service.



"The way people consume news is changing," said Jay Wallace, Vice President of News at the company. "People aren't so linear. They don't sit down and watch TV at a certain hour. You know, and stick with the same thing from show to show to show."

"You're looking for more than just a recap of the stories you've followed all day," Smith explained over video of users reviewing a Twitter feed on an iPad and an iPhone. "Just like you, we get our news across multiple platforms. And this is the place where viewers can watch us sort it all out as it happens."

He added, "we had to completely overhaul the way our news gathering works." However, the "brand new tools to track developing stories," that Smith said Fox was installing on stage for viewers to observe actually convey far less information that a typical pair of 17 inch computer screens.

The Microsoft PPI screens have a 1920x1080 (2 megapixel) resolution, the same as a standard HDTV. That's a fraction the resolution of Apple's 15 inch Retina Display MacBook Pro (2880x1800, or over 5 megapixel), which sells from $2200.

MBP Retina Display


It's also significantly less than a $499 Retina Display iPad (2048x1536 or 3.1 megapixel), the very device 'users at home' can review Twitter with themselves, without Fox News reviewing the same information on flashy, oversized desktops running a very limited resolution.

iPad


Most bizarrely, Fox's video portrayed its "journalists" on stage in front of massive displays devoted to showing just four different tweets. At a maximum of 140 characters each, that's no more than 560 bytes of actual information per $7,000 screen. The standard Twitter client for iPhone packs more than that on a compact 4" display.

Using cutting edge computer programs on 55-inch tablets Fox News' information specialists can view 4 tweets at a time pic.twitter.com/byMybVMbWM

? Dick Wisdom (@nostrich)


The PPI displays that Microsoft bought last summer also come in an 82 inch variant (at the same resolution). They do not use the same technology as the company's original "Surface" product that debuted shortly after the iPhone in 2007. That is now marketed as PixelSense and still sold by Samsung as the SUR40.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 138
    stniukstniuk Posts: 90member
    Must be all blind at Fox.
  • Reply 2 of 138
    Can another joker tell us all how Apple is doomed?
    Did you actually saw some other company in the industry which is doing things better?
  • Reply 3 of 138
    It's a neat idea. Networked news information stations and feeding that to a main reporter. Resolution aside...oh and the general crap of Fox News, let's give them some props for pulling this together.
  • Reply 4 of 138
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by diggydobby View Post



    Can another joker tell us all how Apple is doomed?

    Did you actually saw some other company in the industry which is doing things better?

     

    Outside of a small handful specializing in click-baits, how many people are seriously saying that Apple is doomed?

     

    There are far more people whining about predictions of impending doom for Apple when there has not been a serious prediction about this. But it fits the narrative of Apple being an underdog to perpetuate this myth.

  • Reply 5 of 138
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    Isn't that the Galaxy Note 55? Comes with a free winch to get it up to your ear, fist-touch for when you realise software written for a 4-inch display doesn't stretch that well and a Shetland Pony to aid mobility.
  • Reply 6 of 138

    Yes, it is like the 5s package that comes with a magnifying glass and an hdmi cable so that you can output to a real HD screen.

     

    Android apps are scaled to 4.5 to 5 inch display size.

  • Reply 7 of 138
    techboytechboy Posts: 183member
    Fox News spreads nothing but misinformation and judging by their choice on big touch screen just to show off. You don't need big touch screen to report truth and since that isn't what they do anyway...

    There were a few studies a couple years ago that cites having second monitor can improve job performance. I don't recall those studies citing anything about higher screen resolutions. Mind you, Microsoft had it's on research on this back in 2003, http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/vibe.aspx.
  • Reply 8 of 138
    So does the title "Faux News" apply here? Sorry, total newb comment.
  • Reply 9 of 138
    danielswdanielsw Posts: 906member

    This is really bizarre. Is this another "Ballmer legacy"? Is Microsoft's board/management a bunch of crack addicts?

     

    Is Fox News even MORE desperate in "following the puck" than MS? What a dog and pony show! I keep expecting someone to come out and say, "Hey, we're just fckn' with ya!"

     

    Somehow, I'm reminded of the "SUX 2000" and that fool on TV who says "I'll buy that for a dollar!" on the first "RoboCop" movie.

  • Reply 10 of 138

    Let's be honest, giant newsroom touch-monitors is not Apple's market, so this is not a loss for Apple at all.

     

    Even if every newsroom in the world equipped themselves with these, we're talking a few thousand monitors at most.  Not a profitable segment to be in.

     

    I do applaud Fox for at least trying to integrate with social media.... Let's see how it goes.

  • Reply 11 of 138
    The dummies who watch FoxLies will just think it's better because it's bigger.
  • Reply 12 of 138
    Well the video was actually interesting, from the article I was expecting to see people "beaming", but it was actually a good video. It looks like they chose the big screens because he will be going around the room and viewing the info as he walks along with the cameras. It all depends on the software how this will work. Another article that seems overly enthusiastic about no big deal.
  • Reply 13 of 138

    One of the most important tenets in ergonomic studies is to not use a working area larger than 50x80 cm (that is less than a 25" diagonal) for both hands access (note that some things can be larger if the work area at any given time is that, ie a drawing table is larger but you use a portion of it at any time).

     

    That is something that is well known since about 50 years. Still from ergonomic point of view, angle is completly wrong for touch access.

     

    More, from sitting distance, i would bet that you cannot read on both sides without turning head.

     

    So, either fox news teams are idiots, either it is only a PR stunt.

     

    Maybe even both ?

  • Reply 14 of 138
    cletuscletus Posts: 54member
    Oompa Loompas toiling away at Willy Wonka's Bullshit Factory.
  • Reply 15 of 138
    conrailconrail Posts: 489member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by stniuk View Post



    Must be all blind at Fox.

     

    They're just actors playing reporters in the background.  Watch it long enough and they'll loop around to the beginning of their "shifts"

  • Reply 16 of 138
    shogunshogun Posts: 362member
    "We call them BAT's -- Big area tablets." Yeah right. That's what bat stands for lol.
  • Reply 17 of 138
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    It's a neat idea. Networked news information stations and feeding that to a main reporter. Resolution aside...oh and the general crap of Fox News, let's give them some props for pulling this together.

    Who in the world wants to use a 55" TV as a touch screen? A better solution would be to give the reporters iPads and then put an Apple TV on each large screen TV - using AIr Play to let the reporter manipulate the iPad and show what they want on the big screen. Way less than half the cost and far more useful (for example, the reporter could continue to look at the camera instead of showing their backside).

    techboy wrote: »
    Fox News spreads nothing but misinformation and judging by their choice on big touch screen just to show off. You don't need big touch screen to report truth and since that isn't what they do anyway...
    .

    Fox News actually argued (and won) a case in front of the FL Supreme Court claiming that they had the right to lie on air and that nothing required them to tell the truth.
  • Reply 18 of 138
    zabazaba Posts: 226member
    This is just hilarious. What a hideous idea
  • Reply 19 of 138
    wow, so funny. It would have made more sense though to have product placement for products people can actually buy.

    I can't wait for the day that you see all the screens turn to a blue screen of death during live TV!! ;-)
  • Reply 20 of 138
    Probably is a touch screen HDTV not a tablet.
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