Sony Making Impressive Changes

July 12, 2008 – 8:33 am, posted by Shannon

Sony is getting a warm reception for its new Bravia XBR8 series. In fact, the company recently took a moment to show off the new televisions to Kevin Miller, who is the contributing editor for CNET. Miller was thoroughly impressed by what he saw. While spending time with Miller, Sony showed him a Bravia XBR8 next to a Pioneer PDP-4280HD and a Samsung LN-T4681. According to Miller, the difference was quite noticeable. “The blacks on the new XBR8 series look to be the best of any LCD that I have seen to date by a good margin,” said Miller. Sony claims that the deep blacks of the televisions are made possible with its Triluminous technology, which makes use of LED technology. With the help of the LED technology, the lights can be dimmed separately throughout the screen rather than being constantly turned on as with a fluorescent backlight. Sony is ...

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Panasonic Making Plans for OLED Television Launch

July 9, 2008 – 4:22 pm, posted by Shannon

Panasonic has long been working on being able to offer new OLED-based HDTVs to consumers. Recently, the company announced that it is in the final stages of creating plans to launch a new 37 inch HDTV that will implement the technology. Better yet, the company intends to offer the televisions at a price that is comparable to what LCD and plasma televisions are currently being sold for. Unfortunately, it will be quite some time before you can get your hands on it. In fact, the company says the televisions likely will not be available until 2011. When they do become available, however, they anticipate attaching $1300 price tag to the sets. OLED televisions are still in the planning stages with all companies exploring the technology. Currently, the only OLED television available is an 11 inch model offered by Sony, model XEL-1. The industry expects to ...

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JVC Launching New Thin LCD Televisions

July 8, 2008 – 12:58 pm, posted by Shannon

If you are looking for a super-thin LCD television, you might want to turn your sites toward JVC. The company has recently announced that it will soon be launching a 42 inch LT-42SL89 (MSRP: $1899) and a 46 inch LT-46SL89 (MSRP: $2400) 1080p LCDs, which the company claims to be the thinnest in the industry. The new televisions, which are to be released next month, measure only 2.9 inches thick and come with built-in TV tuners. The new televisions will also feature a new form of backlight technology as well as direct mount power supply substrates that does not require a fan to dissipate heat, which JVC says make it possible for the televisions to weigh less and to work more efficiently. “The backlight is 40 percent slimmer than the old panel, and weighs in at 26.5 pounds while consuming 145W,” says JVC. “The slimmer backlight was ...

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Wireless DTV May Soon Be Available for Your Vehicle

July 7, 2008 – 7:20 am, posted by Shannon

Have you been longing to be able to access television programming from your car? If so, you might not have to wait much longer. In fact, broadcasters say it is only a matter of months before they can offer a standard mobile DTV. In addition, MatrixStream says it is also close to being able to offer a method of streaming high definition content over IPTV. According to MatrixStream, its MX Drive system will utilize its MatrixCast streaming video technology, which will be able to deliver HD and SD signals over a low bandwidth. As would be expected, the company is partnering with vehicle manufactures in order to create a wireless touchscreen terminal for vehicles that will be called the MX2. With this technology, users will be able to access on-demand and live programming with any vehicle that contains the MX Drive. Of course, a wireless ...

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HDTV and Antennas

July 5, 2008 – 7:23 am, posted by Shannon

If you have an HDTV, you might be considering setting up an antenna with your television. While this may seem like a throwback to the dark ages, using an antenna with your HDTV may actually be able to help you get an even better picture than what you would get with satellite or cable. The reason for the difference is really quite simple. When television is broadcast, over the air, it is not compressed nearly as much as it is when it is sent by satellite or through cable. Therefore, in order to get the best HDTV picture, using an antenna may be a good idea. Of course, you won’t be able to pick up as many channels with an antenna as you will with satellite or cable. If you live in a larger city, however, you should be able to pick up all of the major television ...

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LodgeNet Forms Important New Partherships

July 4, 2008 – 11:13 am, posted by Shannon

LodgeNet has formed an innovative partnership with Philips, LG Electronics, and Panasonic that it hopes will help provide improved HDTV solutions to hotels. Through the partnership, LodgeNet plans to offer pre-bundled packages that would include “plug-and-play” HDTVs from partner manufacturers. These HDTVs would be designed to improve the performance of the televisions while also reducing the out of service time and making it possible to open rooms more quickly. The new sets will come standard with the technology needed to support video on demand as well as Pro:Idiom encrypted HD free-to-guests. With the new technology, hotels will not need to visit the rooms in order to install these technologies and the system can easily be set up and ready to go as soon as the sets arrive. "Working with these world-class manufacturers to offer the HD Built-In and HD Certified TV program is a win in every way for ...

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Report Predicts Drop in HDTV Sales in a Couple of Years

July 3, 2008 – 6:52 am, posted by Shannon

HDTV sales have already started to slow down and, according to a consultancy company based in Austin called DisplaySearch, sales may stagnate completely if manufacturers do not start offering some improvements in technology or start making some innovative changes. Despite the fact that many companies have dropped their prices on HDTVs, customers still are not clamoring to get their hands on one of the television sets. As a result, the researchers predict that the sales of HDTVs is about to hit its peak. “Our research shows that the growth of the market will peak between 2009 and 2011,” said the report. “Thereafter, growth will be limited without the development of new, enhanced features for TVs, such as higher resolution, expanded broadband infrastructure, internet connectivity, versatile applications and interactive capabilities to meet the needs of the connected digital home of the future where PC and TV are synonymous.” Most manufacturers are already ...

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Closed Captioning and HDTVs

July 1, 2008 – 10:19 am, posted by Shannon

If you have an HDTV and if you need to use closed captioning, or you simply enjoy having them running at the bottom of your screen, you may have noticed some problems with getting the closed captioning to show up. If so, the problem is likely caused by the way you have your HDTV set up. When a television receives over-the-air digital signals, it is able to easily receive and display closed captions. Many people, however, prefer to hook their HDTVs up through a cable box with an HDMI cable because it provides the best sound and picture quality. When you do this, you may no longer be able to get closed captioning because it cannot be sent to your television in the same way. "If you're using a cable box, it's the cable box's job to open up the captions," says Tim Taylor, who is vice president of ...

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Asia Pacific Market Expected to Enjoy Strong HD Growth

June 30, 2008 – 8:10 am, posted by Shannon

The high-definition market appears to be moving in a positive direction in the Asia Pacific market. In fact, a new survey that was conducted by Euroconsult that was commissioned by MEASAT Satellite Systems, has determined that 75% of operators of pay television intend to launch high definition programming this year. In order to conduct the research, Euroconsult polled 25 different operators within 15 markets within the region. The overall consensus was quite optimistic and the operators expected to enjoy a jump in profits once the changes are made. According to the researchers, the operators believe high-definition technology is going to be viewed as a “must-have” by the 24 million customers that subscribe to their service. The researchers found that this enthusiasm may be partially due to the fact that the HD movement is being lead by newer companies specializing in pay television. Older, more established companies, on the ...

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ABI Research Makes Bold Predictions for the Future of Wireless HDTV Technology

June 28, 2008 – 1:23 pm, posted by Shannon

According to ABI Research, wireless HDTV technology will enjoy a significant increase in demand by 2012. In fact, the research company predicts that competing technologies will be duking it out by this time in an effort to fulfill the demand for over a million installs. The three technologies that will be fighting for the lead position include 56Hz, 60GHz, and ultra wideband (UWB). This year, less than 100,000 wireless technology HDTV devices are expected to be shipped out. By 2012, however, this is expected to change because all three types of technology are capable of broadcasting HD programming from a variety of sources. These sources include Blu-ray players as well as cable boxes. “5 GHz technology is better understood and more prove,” said Steve Wilson, principal analyst for ABI Research. “But, achieving the required data rates requires new approaches and more complex solutions. UWB technology has ...

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