LCD

Ambilight is one of those ideas that sounds like it was cooked up by a mad scientist who had a quiet week and a couple of colored LEDs lying around. The reality of it is quite different, because once you've seen Ambilight working, the scientist doesn't seem quite so mad anymore. The Philips Cineos 42PFL9632D makes him seem worthy of a Nobel prize.

If you've been living in a cave for the last couple of years, you might not know what Ambilight is--allow us to help. Simply, an Ambilight TV has a series of LEDs at the … Read more

Talk about opposite extremes. Plasma TV makers seem to think that's the direction--or directions--of the future, as they've unveiled a 142-inch screen and a 32-inch display in just the last few days alone. And LCD manufacturers are right behind them.

On the small front, Sharp has released LCD TVs in 22, 26 and 32 inches as part of its successful Aquos line. All in full 1080p high definition and equipped for game consoles, the sets are designed to serve as the hub of a home media system, according to Shiny Shiny. The modest-sized models could also be going … Read more

It's hard to criticize Korean companies these days. There was a time when LG and Samsung were famous only for their low-end products, but these days, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, it seems to be the Korean companies who are innovating and adding new features, and in LG's case, it's only gone and stuffed a Freeview PVR into its new TV, the LG 32LT75.

LG, which has done this before with previous models in the U.S. market, isn't the first company to put a PVR in a TV--Humax first did this a … Read more

It's not often--if ever--that a TV maker brags about a smaller model these days, unless it's talking about some type of new technology. Yet that's just what LG is doing this week in announcing what it calls "the world's only 32-inch plasma."

There are a lot of reasons for this, one of them being that this size is the fastest-growing segment in the industry primarily for price but also for the "second TV" market, as noted by Slippery Brick. And LG and other plasma makers are responding as much to competition as … Read more

At a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, Hitachi unveiled its new "Ultra Thin" LCD TVs, a new line of flat-panel sets that measure only 35 millimeters (1.5 inches) in thickness. While other companies have also announced uberskinny flat-panel TVs recently--some even thinner than Hitachi's--the Ultra Thin (or UT) LCD line is the first to actually hit the market.

"Our focus for the last few years in the flat-panel business has been on the plasma side, but we've been working very diligently on the LCD side," Kevin Sullivan, Hitachi's chief strategy officer … Read more

The ongoing trend for slim products in home audio-visual products continues with LG.Philips' recent announcement of its ultra-thin LCD panel at the FPD International 2007 event held in Japan. The companies claim that the new panel is 40 percent thinner and 10 percent lighter than conventional designs from their competitors, though other companies are working on similarly slim displays as well.

Measuring just 19.8 millimeters thick, the 42-inch screen packs more than 2 million pixels with a native 1,920x1,080 resolution and picture motion enhanced by a 120Hz video-scanning technology, according to DigiTimes. And in an apparent … Read more

If razor-thin OLED screens do eventually supplant LCDs as some predict, there may still be hope for liquid-crystal display technology--in a new shape.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology has created a circle-shaped LCD that could be used for digital instruments in cars, according to Fareastgizmos. Why a circle? Because it can fit in certain parts of the dashboard better than cornered shapes, as well as particular design styles. (Think speedometers, tachometers and such.)

Besides, it's a much more dignified fate than resorting to a gimmicky engagement ring box.

It's nice to see that some things never change. In the old days, when many households had only one television set (horrors), it wasn't uncommon to keep it on a cart to be wheeled from room to room as needed. That need apparently still exists today, as evidenced by this cabinet from Amsterdam-based Two Eyes TV.

The updated version is much sleeker, of course, needing to accommodate a set that's only a few inches thick as opposed to the 30-inch-deep models of yesteryear. And the LCD or plasma screen lifts from the portable cabinet automatically when turned … Read more

Display maker ViewSonic has announced what it claims is the highest resolution 19-inch LCD panel on the market today.

While the price will be announced closer to its launch date, ViewSonic's VX1940w is expected to appeal to those who have a limited desktop area but need a high-resolution screen for viewing multiple windows comfortably. The company, which said the monitor will roll out in selected markets starting next month, has also revealed that it plans to introduce new displays with "super-high resolution." (ViewSonic has been on something of a high-def roll lately, having just released a new … Read more