CES - LCD TVs, HDTVs

LAS VEGAS--Cisco Systems will soon be testing a home version of its TelePresence video conferencing product, the company said Wednesday from the Consumer Electronics Show here.

Cisco, which is the world's largest supplier of networking equipment, has been selling videoconferencing equipment to large companies for the past few years.

Now the company plans to provide consumers with a similar video conferencing experience at home. The telepresence system will use consumers' existing high-definition TV sets and broadband Internet connections.

Cisco plans to begin testing the home version of its telepresence product with Verizon Communications in the U.S. later this … Read more

Skype is embedding its service on a bevy of HDTVs, the company said Tuesday, adding that it is supporting high-definition video calls in the 720p HD format on PCs.

With the moves, the free online phone service is aiming to make video conferencing something that can be conducted from the living room while making high-definition connections mainstream.

Skype said its latest Windows version can deliver HD calls as long as people have an HD Webcam and a chip running at least 1.8GHz. The HD Webcams are expected to be unveiled at CES for early 2010 arrival.

More interesting is … Read more

CES 2010 doesn't start until later this week, but I can already tell you what the biggest trend will be: 3D TV. While 3D was teased at the 2009 CES, for 2010 we'll be seeing manufacturers tout actual products that consumers will be able to buy by next Christmas (if not much earlier). But my question is: Does anybody actually want to buy it?

The industry thinks 3D is a slam dunk. It's already a hit in theaters--almost half of the top-10 highest grossing movies of 2009 were offered in 3D--so the thought is it should translate perfectly to the home. And the current technology is widely agreed to be superior to the red/blue anaglyph method used throughout the middle-to-late 20th century.

Call me a skeptic, but I consider the industry's enthusiasm to be premature. I think bringing 3D to the home will be an uphill battle, for three main reasons:… Read more

Flaws in shipping sometimes result in cracked, shattered, or dented televisions. Useless? ShopJimmy.com doesn't think so. The Minnesota-based company had a revenue of $3 million this year by salvaging functioning parts from damaged televisions.

Every week, ShopJimmy receives between 800 and 1,000 broken TVs to disassemble in search of sellable parts for small repair shops.

"We're looking to limit the random e-waste that ends up in landfills," said Ryan Zarlengo, marketing director at ShopJimmy.com. The company is also sparing resources by lowering the demand of brand-new replacement parts (which are far more expensive … Read more

A new decade is upon us, and to kick off the "tens" in perfect fashion, there's the International Consumer Electronics Show. CES is ground zero for TV announcements, so each year I use this space to predict the major trends in TV tech. As you may know, CNET also runs the Best of CES awards, and I'll be picking the three most compelling HDTVs again this year. Chances are, one or more of the following trends will play a big part in the winner's pedigree.

Over the last five shows worth of prognostication--CES 2005, … Read more

Three-dimensional TV is coming to a living room near you. But will the technology spur a consumer spending spree like digital and high-definition TV did before it? Or will 3D end up being the next big flop?

One thing is clear, TV manufacturers need something new to get people buying TVs. Over the last couple of years, TV manufacturers have experienced a sales boom as consumers upgrade to digital TVs in anticipation of the government's mandated switch to digital TV broadcasts in February 2009. Eager shoppers have also been upgrading to high-definition TVs as movie studios, cable and satellite … Read more

The television category is a perennial CES staple and this year was no different. For some reason nobody showed a TV bigger than Panasonic's 150-inch plasma from last year (have we maxed out in flat-panel screen size?), but most of the other trends I discussed in the preview were borne out in the show's extensive announcements. Here's my take on what CES 2009 bodes for HDTV this year.

Plasma ain't dead yet. I get more than my share of e-mails, and have seen plenty of blog comments and forum posts that are quick to claim the demise of plasma at the hands of LCD. Judging from CES announcements by companies that comprise the "big three" of plasma--Panasonic, LG and Samsung--those big glass flat panels have a brighter future than Detroit, at least.

Panasonic, by far the biggest and most-committed of the group, bragged about its newest plasma factory (No. 5) coming online, and showed its largest plasma lineup ever, with five new series and a new 54-inch screen size. I'm really excited to review the company's new "NEO PDP" panels, the first of which, members of the S1 series, will ship in March. They boast significantly improved black-level performance and contrast ratios, according to the company, yet manage to cut power consumption in half. If the latter claim proves true, LCD will lose perhaps its biggest arrow in the antiplasma quiver (at least among consumers who care about the planet and are savvy enough to ignore the nonissues).

Absent any announcements by Pioneer (which will come in late spring, most likely), Panasonic's G10 series is probably the surest bet for Editors' Choice of any TV I saw at the show. That's why I awarded it Best of CES in the TV category. In case you're wondering, however, all of the Neo PDP panels, including the least-expensive S1, share the same basic picture-quality specs.… Read more

In Westinghouse's press materials it states that either of the following monitors would be an ideal solution for a tailgating party. Finally, vendors are starting to give tailgaters the respect they deserve. No word yet if these TVs/monitors include beer holders.

During CES Westinghouse announced three new LCD HDTVs. The 19-inch PT-19H340S, the 22-inch PT-22H340S, and the 22-inch 1080p PT-22F380S. Each display includes support for 720p (1,366x768) resolution, a 16:9 aspect ratio and a purported 5ms pixel response time.

In addition, each display includes connections and support for ATSC/NTSC/CATV/ClearQAM tuner, which allow for … Read more

With Funai licensing the Philips brand in 2009, things have gotten a little confusing about just what's going on with Philips home audio and video products. But it appears that all the products that Philips announced at CES 2009--including the new 7000 series Flat TVs--are true Philips products. Philips had already planned out its 2009 line and Funai Electric will be taking over the production of that line this year.

Thus far, details are scant on just when the new 7000 series LCD TVs will be released and how much they'll cost. However, they do have a new … Read more