High Display

It's always a pleasure to discover new LCD TVs on their way to becoming available through retail chains, simply because I felt that some producers released a lot of products lately, and others seem to fade. One of those from the last category, at least in my neighbourhood, is Panasonic. The reason for saying this is that I am tired of seeing LG and Samsung LCD TVs, and no new models from Panasonic. Well, today I just found out about a bunch of new Panasonic TVs, so here you have them, but there's only one problem: these are Plasma TVs!

Unfortunately, it seems these models are so new, that the rest of the world, except Japan, will have to wait some time until they arrive in local stores. Anyway, let's see if there's a serious reason to wait for them, or we should simply grab something else, shall we?

The new models belong to the LX and PX series, for a total of 6 (probably) brand-new Plasma TVs - the LX80, and PX80, available in 3 sizes - 37, 42 and 50-inch. The features of these TVs include x.v.Color, HD in 24p, Viera link and an impressive contrast ratio of 15,000:1.

The problem is that the only HD-Ready models are the 50-inch ones, with a resolution of 1366X768, while the 2 smaller ones can only go as high as 1024X768 and 1024X720.

There are no hints about pricing or when these are going to be available for the public, but we'll keep an eye on them. Despite the LCD-fever, it seems plasma is not dead yet, but they need to get much better to figh the new HD LCD TVs...

Lately, devices that can do a bunch of things at the same time without going anywhere above the average in any of them became pretty popular, but a lot of people still like it the old-fashion way. For an instance, why get an external TV tuner for your laptop, when you can get a good looking TV, easy to carry all over the place, and with better visual performance? That's exactly where the new Sony BRAVIA B4000-series fits in!

According to Sony, the new BRAVIA B4000 is easy to carry around, has "the perfect size for any space", and you get a device "coloured to harmonise, styled to fit in" for your money, but what about the technical specifications?

Available in two different colors, Pearly White and Glossy Mocha, the Sony BRAVIA B4000 could be found in 20, 23 and 26-inch sizes, and is powered by the notorious BRAVIA ENGINE. Unfortunately, no details about the response time and contrast ratio were to be found, but I can tell you that the BRAVIA B4000-Series feature up to two HDMI sockets, as well as a digital tuner that can receive free-to-air (DVB-T) digital TV when this is available.

At last, we shouldn't overlook the fact that this new product is extremely energy efficient, comes in a eco-packaging free of halogen and chlorine, and it will always draw your guest's attention.

“We tend to talk about it as a Lifestyle product, but what this means to the customer is practicality and convenience. Here is a TV that looks good wherever you put it and that’s designed so you can pick it up yourself and move around easily. As with the whole Bravia range, it has a great picture, quality sound and plenty of connectivity too, but what’s really special about the BRAVIA B4000-Series is that it is an engagingly stylish but ultimately practical lifestyle solution.”, said Angela de Klein, Product Manager, LCD TVs, SONY TV Operations Europe, about this new product.

The MacWorld Expo closed its doors, but we still have a lot of products that were shown there for the first time to talk about, and today it's the time for the latest two models of the SyncMaster series of LCD monitors from Samsung, 2493HM and 2693HM, to be more specific.

First, the 2493HM, pictured above, comes with a Height Adjustable Stand (HAS), has a screen size of 24-inch, built-in speakers(most people don't use them, anyway, but it's good to know that you have an alternative at hand, if your sound system gets fried one day), a 5ms response time, HDMI, 1080p HD capability and an impressive 10,000:1 contrast ratio, with 400cd brightness.

Its elder brother, the 25.5-inch 2693HM, has the same features, except the fact that its contrast ratio is 3,000:1. The interesting fact is that, while these 10k and 3k contrast ratios are achieved using digital enhancement techniques, the "real" contrast ratio for both monitors is the same, 1,000:1.

The 2493HM and 2693HM are both Microsoft Vista Certified, and they are priced at $599 and $699, respectively.

Samsung is one of the largest LCD displays manufacturer in the worl, and they couldn't have missed the opening month of this year without announcing some interesting LCD TVs scheduled to be released in the coming months. Since they are always covering the entire price range, from low-end models, to expensive high-end displays for video addicts that can afford them, they announced the introduction of new models in the 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 LCD sets...

The 4 and 5 series belong to the entry-level price range and feature set, with sizes between 19 and 40-inches and 3 HDMI inputs for the first, and full HD 1080p support and touch senzitive controls, for a size between 32 and 50-inch, in the second case.

The 6 series is the first ever flat panel TV that's manufactured without using any glue or screws, and comes in Samsung's trademark black gloss, and just a bit of red. Its features include 120Hz refresh, 4 HDMI 1.3 inputs, 1920X1080 resolution, and an impressive contrast ratio of 30,000:1.

Just near the top, the 7 series add DivX and MPEG 4 playback capabilities via the USB port, and RSS via Ethernet, sporting 1GB internal Flash Memory. The sizes available are 40, 46 and 52-inch.

At last, we have the impressive (and very expensive, I am sure) 9 series, with LED Smart Lighting Technology backlighting that enable the TV to achieve an incredible contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1.

Unfortunately, no data about prices and availability is yet known, but we'll keep you in touch, you can bet on that!

Taiwan's Chi Mei EL Corportation, or shortly CMEL, is a producer that already offers a few AMOLED panels, and they just announced a new such panel that's likely to be produced in the near future. At this time, CMEL offers 2.2-inch and 2.8-inch panels, and a 4.3-inch model is already announced to start shipping in the second quarter of the year, according to company's president, Peter Chen.

In the image above, you can see the 2.8-inch AMOLED display from CMEL, used in a digital photo frame manufactured by the Chinese company Digital Foci. Since between the existing 2.8-inch display and the 4.3-inch one that has been announced there's quite a gap, CMEL needs to close this gap and, as Chen himself said, the product to do this is going to be a 3.5-inch display, probably, since this screen size became so popular with devices like the iPhone.

Since I mentioned the iPhone, it seems that, according to some sources, Apple may use AMOLED panels for the next-gen iPhone. Hopefully, the life span of such displays will be extended until that happens, because I wouldn't like to have an expensive mobile with a display that may "die" on me after about 5,000 hours...