LAS VEGAS--On high-end LED-based TVs, our favorite picture quality extra is a full-array backlight with local dimming, which allows different areas of the screen to dim independently of one another.

Unlike the flagship LED TVs of LG, Sony, and Sharp Elite, Samsung's best LED, the UNES8000 still lacks the full-array part, but the company says its local dimming, despite relying on LEDs around the edge of the screen, has been improved over last year's version. Check out our breakdown of LED backlight schemes here for some background.

Dubbed "micro-dimming ultimate," the new feature divides the screen … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Now that gesture you make to your TV might actually elicit a response from the boob tube itself.

Today at CES, Samsung has announced that certain of its high-end TVs will include new Smart Interaction technology, which allows control over the set by waving, shouting, or otherwise using gestures and voice.

Think of Smart Interaction as Microsoft's Kinect built into the TV, without the games. The feature depends on a camera and microphone sandwiched into the bezel along the top of the screen, powered by voice and gesture recognition software developed, the company told CNET, internally by Samsung … Read more

Update March 2, 2012: Company reps have told me only that the status, and indeed the model name and prospective features (eg local dimming) of this model, are now uncertain. For that reason I have removed it from the company lineup chart until I hear more.

LAS VEGAS--We love the picture quality improvements wrought by full-array local-dimming backlights, so color us excited that Sharp is migrating the technology down from its awesome Elite TVs to these new models.

The 945 series will offer that sweet backlight configuration in two screen sizes that will be familiar to fans of the Elite: … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Last year LG released only one TV with our favorite kind of LED backlight, but for 2012 it has announced three sizes, from 47 through 60 inches.

All three of the LG LM9600 series offer that rare full-array local dimming LED backlight, but only two--the 47- and 55-inchers--utilize the "Nano" structure found on the 2011 55LW9800, which allows for a thinner cabinet design. The non-Nano 60-incher will have a thicker cabinet, although all three will boast the company's new thin Cinema Screen bezel, measuring "less than 5mm" according to a company rep we spoke … Read more

LAS VEGAS--LG's pre-CES teaser release already confirmed the company's plans to ship a massive 84-inch 4K resolution LCD TV this year, but now we know when, and can speculate whether it will provide "lossless" passive 3D images.

The LG 84LM9600 will be the largest LCD confirmed for U.S. shipping this year, outdoing the 80-inch Sharp. LG has shown the screen size before but this is the first time it has promised a U.S. ship date: June or July of this year, according to the company rep we spoke to, price TBD.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--When it comes to black levels, perhaps the most important ingredient in picture quality, LG's plasma TVs certainly have some improving to do.

The flagship LG PZ950 series we reviewed last year trailed plasma heavyweights Panasonic and Samsung badly in this department, with grayish blacks that prevented it from scoring well in our evaluations. For 2012 an LG company rep tells CNET that the new models, thanks to upgraded phosphors and other improvements, boast black levels up to 40 percent deeper than last year's. If that's true, maybe LG with its historically excellent color accuracy will … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Apart from the Swiss Army knife that is LG's new Magic Motion remote, the company's next best trick is its thin-bezelled range of televisions under the banner Cinema Screen.

The LED-based TVs all offer bezels under 5mm in width. There's a war on, it's no longer whose TV is biggest, but who can get their frames thinnest for that nearly all-picture look. Samsung fired the first salvo last year and we loved it, giving the UND8000 a "10" in Design by virtue of its 0.2-inch bezel. It's no coincidence that LG'… Read more

Toshiba has confirmed to CNET that it plans to make a glasses-free 3D TV available to buyers in the U.S. sometime during the first quarter of 2012.

The set would be the first of its kind for the North American market, although Toshiba already has 55-inch glasses-free 3D TVs available for sale in Germany (the 55LZ2) and Japan (the 55X3). Both went on sale in December and retail for more than $10,000 in their home currencies.

A Toshiba representative told CNET that the U.S. version would be similar to those versions, but he couldn't provide additional … Read more

Despite reviewing TVs for a living, I don't actually own a TV. The last TV I bought was a 27-inch CRT, in the summer of 2000.

Instead, I do all my TV and movie watching on a 102-inch screen. It's epic. And a projector doesn't have to cost a lot of money, nor is it difficult to set up.

The pros and cons of projection (and why you really, really want it), after the jump.… Read more