The media-rich LG PS80 is also one of the most stylish plasmas we've seen this year.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)When LG announced its LG PS80 series of plasma TVs at CES 2009, the series earned one of our three nominations for Best of CES in the TV category. We've already reviewed the other two nominees--Panasonic's G10 plasmas and Vizio's VF551XVT LED-based LCD--and both scored higher than the PS80. It's not that we're disappointed in the interactive features that originally caused us to nominate the LG. Those include built-in Netflix streaming, which is still an LG exclusive (at least until Sony turns its own version on, or Samsung or Vizio step up), Yahoo Widgets, and YouTube capability. Since then LG has also added the high-definition eye candy of Vudu's on-demand video rental service. Those interactive add-ons work great, and combined with LG's picture adjustment prowess they comprise the most impressive features list seen on any plasma this year.
Unfortunately for the PS80, its picture quality impressed us less. Its lighter black levels are the main culprit, abetted by it below-par video processing and even minor image retention--all areas that other plasma TVs outperform the LG. On the other hand its color accuracy is still very good, and of course it enjoys the off-angle fidelity of plasma that easily trounces any LCD. Armed with superb style and that stellar features list, the LG PS80 might still appeal to people willing to focus less on picture quality than on built-in content options.
Read the full review of the LG PS80 series.
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The well-equipped Vizio VF552XVT takes aim at the best HDTVs available when it launches in November.
(Credit: CNET)
The Via line of HDTVs from Vizio, due this January, promises the most comprehensive suite of interactive features yet seen on any HDTV, including a Bluetooth remote control with a keyboard. The two largest models will also pack LED backlighting with local dimming, the holy grail of LCD picture quality. These highly desirable features, combined with Vizio's customarily aggressive pricing, propel the flagship Vizio TVs past their counterparts from major brands like Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony--at least on paper.
Designed foremost to compete against current Internet-enabled HDTVs, the three "Via" (Vizio Interactive Apps) models are available in 42-inch, 47-inch, and 55-inch varieties. Here's a quick rundown:
Key features of the Vizio Via 2XVT series:
- LED backlight with local dimming (47- and 55-inch models only)
- 240Hz processing
- Bluetooth remote with full QWERTY keyboard
- Integrated 802.11(n) Wi-Fi
- Support for Adobe Flash for the Digital Home
- Yahoo widgets engine
- 42-inch SV422XVT: $1,199 MSRP | 47-inch SV472XVT: $1,699 | 55-inch XV552XVT: $2,199
- Available in January
As CNET noted earlier, the Bluetooth keyboard remote and built-in Wi-fi will be firsts among interactive TVs, which typically require cumbersome virtual keyboards for text entry and expensive extra dongles or third-party solutions for wireless connectivity. Since few people have an Ethernet cable next to their televisions, Wi-fi makes setup much more convenient, while the keyboard on the remote should make accessing and using the TV's "Apps" as easy as sending an e-mail on a BlackBerry.
(Credit:
Vizio)
Vizio promises to have more such applications on the Via platform than any other current maker, and the list is impressive indeed. ... Read more
TouchWiz 2.0 running on the Samsung Jet
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)On Monday, Samsung released its Mobile Widget SDK, giving developers the opportunity to create new widgets for the company's various TouchWiz phones, such as the upcoming Samsung Omnia II for Verizon Wireless.
The SDK is built on the Eclipse platform and includes developer tools for various platforms, such as Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Java, education resources, and guidelines on application distribution and marketing. Developers will also have 24-7 access to Samsung's Virtual Device Lab, where they can remotely test their applications on all current Samsung phones.
Once developers have finished their widgets, they'll be given the opportunity to pitch them to Samsung for consideration to be included on the company's devices as well as other channels, such as Samsung's own app store and the Samsung Widget Gallery.
The Mobile Widget SDK is available now from theSamsung Mobile Innovator site. In addition to the SDK, Samsung announced that it will host a Widget Developer Camp on September 11 through September 13 in San Francisco. More information and entry applications can be found here.
With graphics like these, how could you possibly resist the selection of games on Yahoo TV Widgets?
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)When Nintendo first revealed details of its remote for the Wii, then dubbed "Revolution," focus fell on the idea of gaming with what essentially looked like a TV remote. Now, services like Yahoo TV Widgets have turned actual TV remotes into gaming devices. Funspot, which releases casual games for interactive TVs, has three games released for the platform so far that range from somewhat enjoyable to somewhat terrible.
All three games, Sudoku, QuizzMaster, and Texas Hold 'Em, are available on Samsung and LG sets with Yahoo TV Widgets. Like some other widgets we've tested, all three strain the definition of "widget" as they open up full-screen. This really limits the utility of these games. None of them are particularly good on their own, but could have been if they were playable in a window as a way to pass the time during commercials. If you're going to go through the often slow process of launching a game and have to play it in full-screen, you're ultimately better off with a real gaming console.
Sudoku
Sudoku for Yahoo TV Widgets
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)The most solid of all the games, the Sudoku widget is exactly what you would expect. The controls are responsive and intuitive. You control which box you want to select with the control pad, enter numbers with the number pad, and clear a box with the OK or enter button.
Holding down one of the directional buttons causes you to move toward boxes faster, which somewhat makes up for the lack of board wrapping. The game is level-based and increases slightly in difficulty as you go along, with hints available for the first three levels. You can pick up on whatever level you left off with level codes, but you can't save your progress mid-game. If you can get past some minor issues and the kitsch background, the Sudoku widget is a pleasant time-waster.
... Read more
The Yahoo Sports widget offers informative and visually appealing headlines, among other features.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)It's not just called the crawl because it's low on the screen; if ESPN's news ticker isn't fast enough for you, then both Yahoo and USA Today have the solution. Both have sports widgets for Yahoo TV Widgets. While each has its own unique features, the Yahoo one is just flat-out better and great on its own as well.
Both widgets open up to a window with a number of quick links, including headlines. Selecting one of these on both widgets brings up the first paragraph of the article. The Yahoo widget draws its content from the AP, and so these snippets of text tend to be pretty informative as the AP consistently puts their ledes at the top of their articles. The other widget, of course, uses USA Today for its content, which tends to have more literary or anecdotal starts. This means that, at times, the USA Today headlines are just a tease without providing the information that you're really looking for.
Each widget has its own unique features, as well. The USA Today one has a thumbnail at the top of the main window that features "Snapshots," small sports-themed infographics. The best looking and most unique feature is the integration of USA Today's famous Coaches Polls. This list charts the changes in college football and basketball rankings, but is only useful during college sports seasons, leaving it useless for the summer months.
The Yahoo Sports widget doesn't have either of these features, but it does have a menu for different leagues with the ability to add each as a favorite, making it quickly accessible from its "snippet" form on the dock. Unfortunately, you can't view scores from the snippet or log in with your Yahoo ID to track your favorite teams, even though Yahoo offers similar functionality with its Finance widget. The widget does offer video content, which you can read about in our review of the Yahoo Video widget.
Where the two widgets really diverge is in the scoreboard. Since it's baseball season, we compared how the two choose to cover baseball scores. USA Today opted for a quick and simple scoreboard that is limited to the score and inning of the game. Tabs across the top of the score window separate the board by different leagues. The Yahoo Sports widget doesn't have this same organizational feature, but it does have a far more comprehensive scoreboard. At a glance, each game gives the score, inning, runners on base and, if the game hasn't started yet, the start time and each team's record. This view also lets you know what station each team will be broadcasting on, a particularly useful feature on a TV. If you can't actually watch these games, then you can select them in the scoreboard and give you a pitch-by-pitch visual representation of the game, complete with photos and other information for the current pitcher and batter.
Next up: Yahoo TV Widget games
Other recent Yahoo widgets reviews: Twitter, YouTube and Yahoo Video.
As Internet-connected TVs become more popular, set makers are looking for ways to stand out from each other. Vizio, which made its name by undercutting much larger names in electronics on LCD sets, is no longer just looking to attract buyers at Costco. It's now trying to compete directly on the number of bells and whistles with the likes of Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony.
Announced in late June, Vizio's Via HDTV has some things going for it that its competitors' sets do not: integrated 802.11(n) Wi-Fi--which means no separate dongle for connecting to the Web--2GB of flash memory, and a well thought-out remote control.
The remote design is almost a no-brainer in retrospect, and makes you wonder why it hasn't been done before. It looks like a standard model, but with this one, Vizio took into account what the user would be doing with it: interacting with Web applications like Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Sports, and Flickr. The TV maker put a slideout QWERTY keyboard on the back of the Bluetooth remote, so users can type as they would on some smartphones, instead of keying in letters one at a time. And, it doesn't seem to add much to the price of the Via HDTV: the 42-inch version will begin at $999 when it starts selling in stores in November.
Vizio is also looking to differentiate itself with developers who will create more applications for the TV. Yahoo developed its TV widget engine last year, which brings a range of preselected applications like Twitter, eBay, Flickr, Yahoo Sports, Showtime, and many others right onto the TV screen. Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Vizio each offer it. But Vizio says it wants to appeal to application developers, so it integrated Adobe Flash directly into its Via HDTV. ... Read more
A look at one of the category listings from the Yahoo Video widget for Yahoo TV Widgets.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Yahoo may not have the same stranglehold on online video as YouTube does, but it sure has tried. Yahoo does, however, boast a simple channel system and a large library of content from outlets like the Associated Press and cable news stations. In its video widget for Yahoo TV Widgets, Yahoo tried to focus on easy access to these channels instead of competing with a YouTube-type of service. Unfortunately, the result of this is an application that's often light on featured content and devoid of a search function.
When launched, the Video widget displays a thumbnail of a featured video along with buttons that link to channels like movies, sports and news (sadly, no finance). Some of these channels are great; the news and sports ones provide the top stories from the AP and generally content-rich. (We counted 15 videos under the US News category one day.) The Kids Movies channel is also surprisingly robust and offers a variety of trailers and clips for upcoming and recent releases. Then there are features like the regular Movies channel, which offers a handful of outdated movie trailers, and awkwardly promoted specialized content. While a strange addition, we could definitely see people interested in being able to easily access cooking advice videos from their kitchen TV. But a Nascar channel? We're still trying to figure that one out.
Disappointingly, and almost alarmingly, there's no search function. This is a major limitation on the widget and really minimizes the amount of available content. This also means that you're stuck flipping through the pages of each channel to find what you're looking for. To make this a somewhat faster process, each channel can be marked as a favorite, after which it can be quickly accessed by scrolling through the snippet form of the widget on the dock. Also, at the end of each video, four thumbnails suggest related videos to watch. Particular videos, however, can't be marked as a favorite.
Video is only viewable in full-screen and has pretty bare controls. The video quality is decent, although it stretches all content to match the wide-screen display. It's about the same quality as the AP videos on the regular Yahoo Web site; it looks a bit noisy, but it's definitely watchable and generally better-looking than the YouTube widget we recently reviewed. This, along with some of the better available content, gives the widget a good foundation. It's just a shame it doesn't have much more than this to offer.
Next up: Yahoo and USA Today Sports
The LG LH50 series is the first LCD that can stream Netflix without an external box.
(Credit: Sarah Tew)If the Internet is the future of television, then LG's LH50 series hails from the day after tomorrow. This flat-panel LCD is the first to offer Netflix streaming, which allows instant, free-to-subscribers access to an all-you-can watch menu of thousands of movies and TV shows without having to connect another box. Sure, Sony has already announced the service for its own compatible TVs later this fall, and we expect Netflix to make its way to Yahoo widget-equipped TVs from Samsung (and perhaps others) sometime later this year, but for now the LH50 holds exclusive claim to Netflix. Speaking of Yahoo widgets, the LH50 delivers that feature too, and better than other TVs we've tested, and also includes its own YouTube client and network streaming to boot.
On the other hand, the LH50 costs a good couple hundred more than its non-web-enabled cousin in the company's line--easily enough to buy an external Netflix device and then some. Its performance wasn't as good as some of the better LCDs we've tested, albeit still decent enough to pass most viewers' muster, especially in terms of color accuracy. For fans of Internet video who don't want one more box, however, those issues might be worth the sacrifice for the LG LH50, which for now is the most well-featured Interactive HDTV available.
Read the full review of the LG LH50 series.
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YouTube for Yahoo TV Widgets lets you search for and view videos on your TV.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Before Hulu and the online copyright crackdown, YouTube was the place to go for finding TV content on the Internet. Now, it's trying to be the place for Internet video content on your TV. YouTube has made the jump to living room screens through different methods, including as a widget for Samsung TVs running Yahoo's TV widgets. The YouTube widget is an easy solution to getting YouTube on your TV without the need for additional wires or devices, but it finds itself somewhere between a compact widget and a full-screen program, unable to compete with a number of other TV-based YouTube platforms.
We spent some time with the YouTube widget as part of our updated look at the Yahoo TV Widgets platform. The "snippet," or collapsed form of the widget as it appears on the dock at the bottom of the screen, only serves to launch the program--unlike the Yahoo Video widget, for example, which allows users to scroll through the snippet for favorite video categories. When expanded, the main window provides quick access to a number of familiar features, including links to all sorts of top video categories, channels and the search feature. Selecting any of these options (except Channels, which opens an additional but currently nonfunctional submenu) wipes the screen of whatever you were watching and loads a full-screen YouTube client that bears a resemblance to the Web site, only cast in black.
Call it semantics, but there's something about completely taking over the screen that isn't very widgety. Having a full-screen YouTube program is by no means a bad thing, but it does mean that the Yahoo widget has to hold its own against some strong competition.
... Read more
Twitter widget for Yahoo TV Widgets
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)As Netflix and other broadband media content integration has become the new "it" thing for TVs, it was time to revisit Yahoo TV Widgets. Since we last reviewed the platform's offerings, Yahoo has rolled out a number of new widgets and promises even more to come, including widgets for Netflix, Showtime, and other video services. For now, however, the official Twitter client is one of the most compelling widgets, so it will be the first we review as part of an ongoing series.
Overall we found the Twitter widget well-designed and we appreciated that, unlike Verizon's upcoming Twitter application for Fios, it actually lets you post tweets from your TV. Next time your Twitter craving kicks in right in the middle of "30 Rock" and you're too glued to the TV to search for your phone or laptop, this widget can save you the trip. You can now proudly tap out those 140 characters that will display on your feed above a timestamp that reads "from Yahoo! TV Widgets."
Anytime you load Yahoo Widgets with Twitter enabled, the Twitter "snippet" in the dock along the bottom of the screen displays the most recent tweet, whether it's from you or someone you follow. These are updated in nearly real time without having to hit a refresh button or take any other actions. It's unfortunate, though, that you're limited to just the most recent update in the snippet. The Samsung and LG TVs organize some other snippets, namely Yahoo Weather and Finance, into scrollable tabs that show multiple weather or finance updates right in the dock, without having to expand the widget.
When expanded, the clearly laid out and clean-looking main window presents three tabs that will take you to a stream of tweets, messages, or replies. There's also an option to post a new tweet.
Using the TV remote to tweet can be a frustrating experience since you have to use the directional pad to select letters on a virtual keyboard. ... Read more
