Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Thanks to Sanyo’s quick-fingered Japanese branch, you already know the basics on the PLV-Z3000. For those that missed out, it’s being hailed as the industry’s very first 5:5 pull down beamer with a 120Hz Full HD panel. Furthermore, it boasts a 65,000:1 contrast ratio, TopazReal HD 3D color management technology, a pair of HDMI 1.3 inputs and 1,200 ANSI lumens. The best news here is the US price — the converted yen amount is actually a fair bit higher than what Sanyo plans on charging in greenbacks, though $3,295 will still be tough to part with come December.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Haven’t had your fill of Sharp LCD HDTVs yet? Fret not, as said outfit is taking the wraps off of two more families at the Colorado Convention Center. The D65U / D85U LCD HDTVs all pack 1080p panels and range between 42- and 52-inches in size. The D65U line comes with five HDMI inputs, a six-millisecond response time, 176-degree viewing angles and a dedicated PC input to boot. The D85U steps it up by offering 120Hz Frame Rate Conversion and a four-millisecond response time. The sets will be in stores this fall (think October / November) for $1,599.99 and up. Per usual, the full releases are waiting after the break.

Continue reading AQUOS D65U / D85U LCD HDTVs get uncovered at CEDIA

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV

IFA’s apparently given Toshiba just the opportunity necessary to refresh its line of Regza LCDs, for those without the Resolution+ itch with a few new sizes and features. The existing entry-level XV line of 1080p LCDs gets 46- and 52-inch models, plus a gloss black design that helps it fit in at the Regza family reunion. The brand new RV line of 1080p LCDs bring similar features to the ZF Series, sans Resolution+ technology and one HDMI port, but with Active Vision M100 HD 100/120Hz 5:5 pulldown image processing intact. 37-, 42- and 46-inch sizes are confirmed for the October Euro launch, prices and U.S. availability for both TBD.

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Filed under: Displays

NVIDIA’s NVISION conference kicked off without too many announcements today, but ViewSonic was making some waves with a prototype 120Hz LCD display that it says brings HDTV-level motion and crispness to the desktop without sacrificing resolution. The 1680 x 1050 22-inch monitor will eventually hit as the VX2265wm, with dual-link DVI inputs, stereoscopic 3D support, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 3ms response time, and 4-watt speakers — hopefully we’ll get an official price and ship date soon.

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Might want to slow down there, Samsung — don’t want to pull anything by cranking out too many new HDTVs at a time. Yep, Sammy’s letting loose a few more sets today alongside the Series 7 plasmas and Series 9 LCDs: the September-bound Series 8 LCD HDTV line. The Series 8 850 (rose accents) and Series 8 860 (deep blue accents) only differ in color, while they both pack a 1080p Ultra Clear panel, Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, InfoLink RSS reader, DLNA certification, 4-millisecond response time and twin down-firing speakers with an integrated subwoofer. You’ll also find a built-in NTSC / ATSC / ClearQAM TV tuner, a DNIe Pro video processor, swivel stand and four HDMI-CEC ports (among others). The pain? $2,699.99 for the LN46A850, $3,399.99 for the LN52A850, $2,799.99 for the LN46A860 and $3,499.99 for the LN52A860. Got all that?

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Can’t say we’re surprised to see ‘em, but Sammy has done its due diligence by pumping out the official verbiage for the 9 Series LCD HDTVs that were leaked late last week. These second-generation LED-backlit sets feature 1080p Ultra Clear panels, Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios, the familiar Touch of Color design and a smattering of networking technologies like InfoLink (RSS access) and WiseLink Pro. Additionally, both the 46-inch LN46A950 (pictured) and 55-inch LN55A950 feature 4-millisecond response times, down-firing speakers with a built-in subbie, an integrated NTSC / ATSC / ClearQAM tuner, four HDMI-CEC ports, a PC input, Ethernet socket and a pair of component jacks. Look for each to land next month for $3,199.99 and $4,199.99, respectively.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Well, what have we here? A trio of newcomers from “North America’s fastest growing brand of flat-panel HDTVs,” that’s what. Kicking things off in the all new XVT Series is the 42-inch SV420XVT and 47-inch SV47XVT LCD HDTVs, both of which feature 1080p panels, VIZIO’s Smooth Motion technology (120Hz), a 6,500:1 contrast ratio and the usual complement of ports including four HDMI 1.3 sockets. Next up we’ve got the 50-inch VP505XVT, a 1080p plasma with Silicon Optix’s famed REON HQV processing engine. Furthermore, this one packs an integrated digital TV tuner (with ClearQAM support), a dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and SRS Labs’ TruSurround XT audio processing technology. The new trio is all set to ship next month for $1,499.99, $1,899.99 and $1,699.99, and of course, you’ll find ‘em perched at Circuit City, Sears and your favorite Club retailer. [Warning: PDF read link]

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Aw yeah, those svelte Sony XBRs that were leaked back in mid-April have just been confirmed by Sony, and it’s going to be a long, sweaty summer waiting for the whole load to land this fall. Kicking things off is the XBR8 series, headed by the 55-inch KDL-55XBR8 and 46-inch KDL-46XBR8 models, which incorporate the outfit’s TRILUMINOS three-color LED backlight technology, 10-bit processing, BRAVIA Engine 2, Motionflow 120Hz and Advanced Contrast Enhancer PRO. The 70-inch KDL-70XBR7 and 40-inch KDL-40XBR7 headline the XBR7 lineup, while the XBR6 features sets range from 32- to 52-inches in size. All the gritty details are waiting below — if you feel like waiting ’til tomorrow for Sony’s glacially slow servers to load, that is.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Sharp’s re-upped on the super-size rollouts, with 22 LCDs including every color and size variation, ready to hit shelves this summer ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Available in black or brown, the RX5 series (pictured) headlines the pack with 65-, 52- and 46-inch versions including 1080p resolution, 120Hz motion, a “living contrast” ratio of 1500:1 (dynamic ratio 20,000:1), 12bit image processing and internet access to a specially tuned Yahoo! Japan page all packed into a 5cm deep frame (42- and 52-inch, 6.6cm for 65-inch). The more mainstream GX5 line ranges from 52- to 32-inches complete with all the 1080p resolution, side mounted ARSS “Around Speaker System”, DLNA access and internet hookups we know and love, plus 32- and 26-inch GH5 models that drop down to 720p, losing the around speakers, internet and 1080p res. The DS5 line is aimed at those who don’t need internet access, but do need to choose between black, white and red LCDs. Check the chart on Sharp’s page to compare with the “world’s thinnest” X-series and see what HDTV corresponds with your social status when these drop in June.

[Via AV Watch & Akihabara News]

Read - Aquos 22 LCD models comparison
Read - R series
Read - G series
Read - D series

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Filed under: HDTV

Following up on the DAPs and BD-Live announcements, Samsung’s seen fit to attach prices to its 750 series of LCD HDTVs and their “Touch of Color” frames. At the top end, the 750 ranges from 39.9- to 52-inch sizes, all with 1080p, 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, DLNA network access and 120Hz motion processing for $2,599 - $3,499 when they hit shelves in May. The 650s are already on shelves with 720p or 1080p variations from 19- 52-inch variations, sans-DLNA, but all models include Samsung’s Infolink RSS service for news direct to your flat screen. Don’t have Ethernet in your TV room? The Wireless LinkStick enables either series to pull down news without those pesky physical connections for $34.99. Probably not worth rioting over, but check the read link for complete specs and prices.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

In Japan, the hand can be used as a knife. And you can’t swing a Yume Neko Smile cat without defacing a 1080p TV with built-in Ethernet and a hard disk drive recorder. Case in point, Toshiba’s latest batch of REGZA LCDs, ten in all. The top of the line ZH500 series measures in at 52- (52ZH500) and 46-inches (46ZH500) with 120Hz VA panels, 4x HDMI (1080/60p, 24p) inputs, 3x Ethernet (with DLNA support), 2x USB, Bluetooth, Firewire, SD slot, and a DVR to record your shows to the built-in 300GB disk. These lack the eSATA jack found in the 42-, 37-, and 32-inch RH500 series, but you can add more disk over Ethernet via an I-O Data REGZA drive wrapped in DTCP-IP DRM to keep your HD recordings off the global torrents. Rounding things out are the 42- and 37-inch ZV500 series of 120HZ IPS panel LCDs and the relatively low-end, 42-, 37-, and 32-inch CV500 series of diskless TVs. Prices will range from ¥160,000 ($1,560) on up to about $5,850 when products start hitting shelves between April and June. Pics of the in/outs on the ZH500s after the break.

Read - ZH500 and ZV500 series
Read — RH500 and CV500 series

Continue reading Toshiba’s 10 new REGZA LCDs: 3x Ethernet, built-in DVR, and much much more

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Filed under: CES, Displays, Features, HDTV

As you’ve surely saw in our liveblog of the Toshiba press conference, the firm went wild with new LCD releases for 2008. The overriding theme was thinness and early release dates, with essentially every set listed shipping by April. We’ll get down to the dirt: two new 720p sets were introduced — the AV500 and REGZA CV510 — the first of which will be available in sizes ranging from 19- to 42-inches and feature DynaLight, HDMI and a PC input, while the latter will only be available in 32- / 37-inch sizes and sport PixelPure4G 14-bit internal processing, a 1.5-inc ThinLine Bezel design and a trio of HDMI 1.3 ports. For more on the outpouring of 1080p sets, click on through.

Continue reading Toshiba announces slew of LCDs for 2008: hands-on and video

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Although it’d be easy to take one of our reader’s word for it, Sound and Vision Magazine set out to see if Samsung’s sleek LN-T4681F really was the best home theater display on the market. The 46-inch LED-backlit display is a proud member of Sammy’s 81 series, and while the glossy motif sure boosted the sexiness, reviewers did note that a “fair amount of reflected light pooled up on the screen during daytime viewing.” The crew didn’t have much trouble tweaking the settings to get the image just right, but it did exhibit a few problems deinterlacing film-sourced 1080i-format programs. Nevertheless, LED SmartLighting / LED Motion Plus both proved extremely beneficial, color rendition was deemed “excellent” and picture uniformity was satisfactory save for the slightly lackluster off-axis performance. Overall, those in charge of critiquing this here set were mighty impressed, and while a few niggles may annoy those looking for reasons to nitpick, most everyone else will likely walk away quite pleased with its performance.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

We won’t be waiting long for Hitachi’s new thin LCDs, the company announced they will make their U.S. debut in 2008. No details on price, but we can still take a look at the feature list for the 42- and 37-inch Ultra Thin 1080p HDTVs, coming in Q2, along with the 32-inch 720p version due in the first quarter of next year. With Hitachi’s latest 120Hz anti-judder technology and image processing stuffed into 1.5-inch thick frames, these screens may not be quite as thin as some of the competition but will hit store shelves far sooner. The bad news is there was no mention of the optional UWB expansion for wirelessly hooking up additional components. We hope Hitachi doesn’t expect U.S. customers to go through the hassle of actually plugging things into our HDTVs, or if we at least get an additional HDMI port for the trouble.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays

LG.Philips just announced an “ultra-slim” 42-inch Full HD 120Hz panel for 2008. Not Q4 2008 either kids, we’re talking sometime before March. So what can we expect after Sharp’s 1.1-inch thin 52-inch panel and Hitachi’s 0.74-inch 32-incher? Something in between right? Nope, 7.8-inches thick. According to LG.Philips, that still makes it 40% thinner and 10% lighter than conventional LCD TVs which is pretty hot. It’ll be CCFL backlit (not LED) though when it does hit — that’ll keep the cost down but won’t do much for the contrast. The panel will be on display at FPD International in Yokohama next week where we hope to bring you a first look.

[Via DigiTimes]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays

LG.Philips just announced an “ultra-slim” 42-inch Full HD 120Hz panel for 2008. Not Q4 2008 either kids, we’re talking sometime before March. So what can we expect after Sharp’s 1.1-inch thin 52-inch panel and Hitachi’s 0.74-inch 32-incher? Something in between right? Nope, 7.8-inches thick. Exactly, 19.8-mm or just 0.78-inches thin. According to LG.Philips, that makes it 40% thinner and 10% lighter than conventional LCD TVs which is pretty hot. It’ll be CCFL backlit (not LED) though when it does hit — that’ll keep the cost down but won’t do much for the contrast. The panel will be on display at FPD International in Yokohama next week where we hope to bring you a first look.

Update: Oops, major metric conversion snafu — good thing we’re not in charge of the Mars space program. It’s fracking thin!

[Via DigiTimes]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!