Displays – Page 7 – Devices View

I Want My IP TV

February 1, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

The current issue of BusinessWeek has a nice overview of Microsoft’s efforts in IP TV (sending television feeds to a set top box over a broadband connection). It’s a bit skeptical, and focuses on how Microsoft has bent over backwards to address the needs of partners. For example, Microsoft’s brand does not appear on the set top box, and the boxes don’t even need to run a Microsoft operating system. I saw a demo of the system at CES, and BusinessWeek leaves out an important element of the story: it’s really, really cool. I suppose cable operators adopting this system …

Displays

Plasma vs. LCD

January 19, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 3 Comments.

Now that CES is over, it’s time to hit the mailbag. If my email inbox is a barometer of market readiness, there’s a lot of consumer confusion around LCD and plasma. Here’s a primer: Both LCD and plasma have advantages and disadvantages. The simple answer is that – due to manufacturing constraints – for smaller sized screens you’re limited to LCD and for larger screens you’ll only find plasma. If you’re in the middle, then keep these guidelines in mind: LCD LCD is currently a lot more expensive on a per inch basis. This doesn’t mean it’s better, just that …

Computing / Displays / HDTV / Industry

CES 2005: Trends

January 12, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I spent most of my time at CES focused on mobile devices, but did note a few overriding trends: The story of the show was definitely flat panels, which were everywhere. LG showed off a particularly interesting integrated plasma/HDTV tuner/DVR, and Samsung showed off a plasma so big you couldn’t get it down the stairs and into my basement even if you took out a second mortgage to pay for it. On the opposite end of the pricing spectrum, there were countless Asian importers with booths at the show displaying large LCD and plasmas at much lower prices. The other …

Displays / Industry

SED: Time to memorize a new acronym?

December 29, 2004 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

A blog quoting a Japanese source suggests that Toshiba is abandoning LCD and plasma and instead putting its display R&D into yet another display technology: SED. SED stands for Surface-Conduction Electron-emitter Display, which, if I understand it correctly – and I probably don’t – is an array of millions of tiny tube TV sets. Advantages include many of the same claims made for another technology working its way through the labs, OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode – don’t you just love these terms?): really really thin incredibly bright, sharp images more energy efficient than plasma a technology that [insert Korean …

Accessories / Displays

Are Furniture Vendors In Too Deep?

December 22, 2004 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

It’s right before CES, and I’m inundated with press releases. Bell’O sent over a preview of their 2005 lineup, and I noticed something that struck a nerve: like all furniture vendors, they claim that their stands are ideal for hot selling rear projection TVs using digital technologies (DLP, LCD, and LCOS). They even go so far as to list a few specific models such as Sony’s 60" Grand WEGA LCD TV. Except that the stand doesn’t match the TV’s depth. None of them do. All the stands are at least 19" deep, and most are 21" – 24", while the …

Displays / Games

DLP Ideal Display for Gamers

December 19, 2004 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Joe Wilcox saw Samsung’s DLP promotional tie-in with Halo2 for XBox and liked the notion but asks whether it could be more than just marketing. Samsung does note that their sets offer easy A/V hookup for video game consoles (like nearly every TV on the market today) and digital image processing. But Samsung and TI, the makers of DLP technology, have really dropped the ball here, because it turns out that DLPs may be the ideal display technology for videogames, and I’ve yet to see any marketing pushing that message. Here’s what they should be saying: DLP sets are big …

HDTV

Purpose-built HDTV antenna slightly better

December 6, 2004 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

In a completely unscientific test, Gemini/Zenith’s high tech HDTV antenna slightly beat out Jensen’s adjustable loop antenna in my basement. With proper windowsill placement, both can pick up seven over the air HDTV channels, and neither can pick up NBC no matter what I do. Neither of them get perfect reception: despite what you’ve heard about the "cliff effect" (the signal is either there or not there, as if dropping off a cliff), HDTV is not an all or nothing affair in my house. Perhaps it’s the grade of my street, the angle to the Empire State Building, or the …

Displays / Industry

TI Taking Over Where Intel Left Off?

December 2, 2004 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I was wandering through IKEA yesterday and noticed that Philips appears to have an exclusive on all the A/V display props; an interesting product placement ploy. Even more interesting were the sheer number of plasmas sitting on top of $79 build-it-yourself furniture. Plasmas and LCDs may win on decor friendliness, but not on budget, where microdisplays offer a reasonable compromise between the size of the unit and the size of your wallet. Usually, microdisplays means DLP or LCD, but I’ve always been a fan of LCOS, which can offer the resolution of a digital technology and the fatigue-free experience of …

Displays

New LCD contender: Samsung reinvents CRT?

November 4, 2004 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

The rumors of the CRT’s demise may have been overstated. Gizmodo dug up this Nikkei Electronics article reporting how Samsung has developed a 32″ TV using proprietary CRT technologies that allow a total cabinet depth of just 15″. Now, it’s still going to be heavier than a comparably sized (and much thinner) LCD, but if they can keep prices down to current CRT pricing levels (under $1,000 for HDTVs), this could be a killer product. The article describes how difficult an engineering challenge it was to acheive; production is expected to ramp up throughout 2005. Keys here: Samsung is once …