LCD

Report: Pioneer ending production of plasma panels

Pioneer plans to let someone else make its plasma TV panels, according to several reports.

Reuters reported Tuesday that the company will cease production of its own plasma panels because that portion of its business continues to lose money. The company will still sell plasma sets, but plans to get its plasma panels from Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, the Nikkei business daily reported. Panasonic is the biggest plasma TV vendor in the world, shipping nearly 40 percent of all plasma displays, while Pioneer ranks fifth, shipping just over 6 percent of plasmas worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2007, … Read more

LG's Flatron monitor: Super-high contrast?

The tech stork just dropped off LG's new 19-inch L197WH monitor, which the company claims has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. That's a pretty spectacular number given the highest we've seen previously came from LG's 5,000:1 L226WTQ.

The extra 5,000 points is the result of LG's "f-Engine" image processing system. Apparently it's utterly brilliant at making blacks blacker and whites whiter--like Daz washing powder, but in monitor form. Other specs include a 2ms response time, 300cd/m2 brightness, 1,440x900-pixel native resolution and 170-degree viewing angle.

We'… Read more

Attack of the hydra-headed displays

Whether you're talking about a day trader, wannabe security guard, or voyeur extraordinaire, it seems that some people just can't get enough computer monitors to stack together. The latest example of this obsession comes from the "Paramount Parabolic Multi-Monitor Display" made by Humanscale.

Accommodating up to eight displays, the system tops even CineMassive's six- or seven-screen "MasterPlex" line. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this set-up--which apparently provides only the rack and mounts, not the actual LCDs--is that it requires no tools. Additional monitors just "snap into place," Dvice says.

Convenient, … Read more

Gadgettes 78: The Last Gadget on Earth Episode

If that one missile that was shot at that one satellite was to, oh I don't know, miss that satellite entirely and redirect itself at the earth and blow everything up except for one of us and a small handful of gadgets...Well, let's just say you'd NEVER see us using them. Not even if they were the last gadgets on earth. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 78 Why didn't I think of that? What the HELL?! This Week in Hello Kitty

When a 17-inch monitor goes for $5,000

At first glance, this appeared to be some sort of new Panasonic TV with its buttons exposed in some retro type of design. But it turns out to be just a 17-inch LCD monitor--one that costs around $5,000, that is.

Why so much? The BT-LH1760 is designed for commercial photo and video editing, with a native resolution of 1,280x768 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate--which translates to Panasonic's claim of "faithful color reproduction with twice the response speed of other currently available professional LCD monitors," according to Engadget. That, in turn, means no more morbidly … Read more

The latest TV fashion may be bleached

There's not much that can (or should) be done to create an entirely new design for an LCD or plasma TV without ruining its clean and sleek look. They basically are limited by the same constraints as handheld devices with large touch screens--a lack of unused real estate.

But we hope that won't inspire manufacturers to go crazy experimenting with colors in a big way. It's true that we've seen a pink TV or two, as well as some that have sported natural wood and bamboo finishes (not to mention diamonds and rubies, but we won'… Read more

LG struts TVs on London runway

If anyone cared enough to wonder why LG was showing off its latest LCD TVs at London Fashion Week, one look at them will provide the answer.

The company provided an early peek at its "Super Slim" line at CES last month, startling Crave television guru David Katzmaier with an unusual round hole in the frame. Now it's added even more personality to its "cutting-edge TV collection" for the U.K. market by giving it a red-colored back to complement the "soft red pulsating glow" of the round LED aperture, according to Pocket-lint.… Read more

A hard look at digital picture frames

David Pogue has written up a review of seven LCD picture frames (you know, the kind that sit on a desk or mantlepiece and have pictures you've taken pushed to them by various means), and his critique is not pretty. He lays into most of them pretty harshly and concludes that most have had some very basic things screwed up by inattention to the user experience. Why, he asks, can't the manufacturers be bothered to do what's right?

I'm sure they have all kinds of excuses for compromise: "That would cost money," "That … Read more

Be careful how you light this multimedia fireplace

Interior designers have been doing their best to meld home media equipment and the fireplace, but to date most of the results have ranged from the awkward to the absurd--unless it happens to be in the back seat of a Hummer, of course.

But Germany's Vok may have changed all that, for it has had the audacity of combining an LCD TV, DVD player, PC, and Bose sound system directly above the hearth. Trendir says the entire apparatus--which can be made to order in oak, birch, or rosewood--comes in four sizes ranging from $23,800 to $31,500, … Read more

Get a 46-inch LCD HDTV for $869

I won't tell you what I paid for my Westinghouse LTV-46w1 when I bought it a little over a year ago, but I will tell you I love it. (I frequently refer to it as my "third child," much to Mrs. Cheapskate's chagrin.) I'll also tell you that you can now scoop one up for the extremely less-than-I-paid price of $869.

This is a 46-inch LCD with a built-in HD tuner, Clear QAM support, and output resolutions of up to 1080i. It pairs beautifully with my media-center PC, but I've also used it with … Read more