CES - Televisions

Ray Zone 'King of 3D art' bullish on 3D TV (podcast)

Ray Zone has been an expert and advocate for 3D since the early 1980s. A pioneer in the field, he is responsible for more than 100 3D comic books, along with plenty of movies and other 3D productions. His interest in 3D began in 1953 when, at age 6, he started reading 3D comics starring Mighty Mouse. He has been converting flat art to 3D for 25 years and has worked on many feature films. He's now involved in the revolution to bring 3D to TV.

I caught up with Zone in the 3D exhibit area of CES where … Read more

Netgear debuts first Wi-Fi Direct device

UPDATED on January 11 at 12:30 PST: Though based on the final Wi-Fi Direct specification, the Push2TV is not yet certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance group, which is the owner of the Wi-Fi Direct designation and plans to start the certification program for Wi-Fi Direct later this year.

LAS VEGAS--Remember the time you needed to hook up your laptop to an external screen, be it a monitor or a TV, and had to fumble around with cables, ports, and the laptop's keyboard? Now, you won't have to do that anymore.

Netgear, in collaboration with Intel, unveiled Thursday … Read more

RealD signs big names for 3D TV

RealD, a company whose 3D display technology already is widely used in movie theaters, has enlisted a raft of prominent partners for the TV industry: Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, JVC, Samsung, and DirecTV.

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, RealD announced deals that will bring its technology to Samsung products, Toshiba's ZX900 TV, Panasonic's Full HD 3D Viera TVs, Sony's Bravia HDTVs, and LCD monitors from JVC.

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based RealD also announced it's cooperating with those same companies for 3D eyewear.

Being able to display the 3D imagery is one part … Read more

D-Link Pebble to dive in the digital player pond

LAS VEGAS--If LaCie's announcement of the LaCinema Mini HD or Seagate's upgrade to the FreeAgent Theater+ aren't exciting enough, here's another one for you.

D-Link, a prominent networking vendor, announced Wednesday at CES 2010 its interest in the digital content player market with the brand-new and unique-looking D-Link Pebble. The company says the new player is "a stylish addition to any home entertainment environment" that is able to play virtually all media on a TV.

Unfortunately, for now, it's still unclear which media formats the player can play back, both locally or from … Read more

Wi-Fi Direct becomes real at CES 2010

LAS VEGAS--It's not like I need any more reasons to love Wi-Fi; my iPhone attests to that everyday. However, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit group that promotes the use of Wi-Fi technology, has something it believes will make you love this popular way for devices to connect even more--especially owners of electronics that, for now, are not known to be Wi-Fi-enabled.

It is called "Wi-Fi Direct." and for the first time it's now being demonstrated at CES 2010.

First introduced back in October, Wi-Fi Direct makes connecting Wi-Fi-enabled devices much easier by allowing many of them … Read more

Yahoo adds new Net TV, processor partners

Yahoo has announced several new partners involved in its Connected TV effort to bring Internet services to the coming generation of network-connected TVs, as well as new programming tools to help programmers build services that use the technology.

Three TV manufacturers and two TV processor companies are now partners, Yahoo said Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The processor companies are notable given that the Connected TV effort began in close cooperation with Intel.

Yahoo hopes to bring its Internet clout to the consumer electronics world with software called the Yahoo Widget Engine, a foundation on which programs called widgets run. Widgets can provide access to TV show information, sports scores, weather forecasts, stock prices, online photos, and more, but don't require a keyboard to operate. And unsurprisingly for an online advertising company, the technology also accommodates ads. … Read more

Panasonic adds Skype, Netflix to new 2010 plasma TVs

The big hype for Panasonic's plasma lineup revolves around the company's 3D-compatible TC-PVT25 series, but for shoppers satisfied to see their TV shows in the traditional number of dimensions, there's the TC-PG25 series and its doppelganger, the TC-PG20 series. According to Panasonic's media kit, the two sets are basically identical--the only differences are minor cosmetic touches and the ability of the G25 to control a networked camera--so we'll address them both here.

Panasonic's most visible improvement between those older "G" plasmas and the new ones is the inclusion of shiny new interactive services. Currently the company's VieraCast service offers Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg news, and weather; however, for 2010 it will also get Netflix streaming, the capability to place and receive video phone calls via Skype (more information; external speaker/camera required), and access to Pandora, Twitter, and Fox Sports news. The selection brings VieraCast into the same league as the extensive interactive offerings from LG and Sony. Unfortunately for owners of 2008 and 2009 VieraCast TVs, Netflix and Skype will not be added to their televisions.

Panasonic makes 3D HD official with VT25 plasma TV series

Editors' Note April 26, 2010: This post has been updated to reflect new pricing/availability information. CNET has not yet reviewed any of the models in this series, however.

Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba and Vizio all announced 3D-compatible HDTVs at this year's CES, but Panasonic has made the most noise about the technology. The company began touting an extra dimension at last year's CES, and this year it has finally announced a shipping date for its first 3D plasma TV. Dubbed the VT25 series, the 50- and 54-inch models are expected to be released in May 2010 (price as yet undetermined). They should be be among the first 3D-capable flat-panel HDTVs available for sale in the U.S.

The set will include one pair of 3D glasses--every other 3D set announced at the show, save Sony's XBR-LX900 series, lacks included glasses. Also, like all other makers, Panasonic will employ an active LC shutter system. The right and left lens in the glasses alternately darkens and lightens, too quickly to perceive, while the TV synchronously displays the corresponding right- and left-eye-specific images. The result is a stereoscopic 3D effect that, in the case of the VT25 mated to full-resolution 3D content, preserves all 1,920x1,080 (1080p) pixels for each eye--hence Panasonic's term "Full HD 3D."

Samsung's flagship plasma delivers 'Real Black' filter

LAS VEGAS--Samsung announced three lines of plasma TVs at CES 2010, and the most expensive, dubbed the PNC8000, is also the most intriguing from a picture quality standpoint. In a CES flooded by 3D, interactive gizmos, and wireless doo-dads, it's refreshing to see good-old black level performance used as a selling point. We don't expect the PNC8000 to rival the vaunted Kuro for black level bragging rights, but given Samsung's improvement in that area over the last couple of years, it may come close.

Hauntingly similar to the TruBlack filter advertised on LG's PK750 and PK950 … Read more

Samsung plasma thinner but adds an extra dimension

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic isn't the only plasma TV maker to include 3D compatibility among its 2010 CES announcements. While none of LG's plasmas offer the capability to interface with 3D glasses to create that stereoscopic illusion, two series of Samsung plasma TVs do: the flagship PNC8000 and this series, the step-down PNC7000.

The set is compatible with multiple 3D standards including both half- and full-resolution 3D, as well as the Blu-ray Disc Association's "Blu-ray 3D" standard. But such content is destined to be rare during the nascent launch of the new format, so Samsung also added … Read more