Plasma

A TV that's too big for your apartment

The crown for manufacturers that produce the "world's largest TV" seems more like a relay baton the way it's constantly being handed off to someone new.

Recently, JVC showed off a 110-inch LCD set at IFA in Berlin. Next up: Shinoda Plasma. The Japanese company says it will begin producing 142-inch panels based on plasma display technology, called "plasma tube array," by the end of 2008. That's roughly 12 feet measured diagonally. It will be up to TV manufacturers to put the displays into their own sets. No customers have been announced yet. … Read more

LG goes small with latest plasma

It's not often--if ever--that a TV maker brags about a smaller model these days, unless it's talking about some type of new technology. Yet that's just what LG is doing this week in announcing what it calls "the world's only 32-inch plasma."

There are a lot of reasons for this, one of them being that this size is the fastest-growing segment in the industry primarily for price but also for the "second TV" market, as noted by Slippery Brick. And LG and other plasma makers are responding as much to competition as … Read more

A shopping cart for your TV

It's nice to see that some things never change. In the old days, when many households had only one television set (horrors), it wasn't uncommon to keep it on a cart to be wheeled from room to room as needed. That need apparently still exists today, as evidenced by this cabinet from Amsterdam-based Two Eyes TV.

The updated version is much sleeker, of course, needing to accommodate a set that's only a few inches thick as opposed to the 30-inch-deep models of yesteryear. And the LCD or plasma screen lifts from the portable cabinet automatically when turned … Read more

HDTV's evolving alphabet soup: LED, OLED, LCD, DLP

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--So you've finally got your mitts on that 42-inch LCD TV you've been lusting after since last Christmas. Congratulations. The major television manufacturers would like to thank you for your business by finding ways to make your shiny new display look old and out of date very quickly.

It's nothing personal, of course. But such is the nature of a commoditized and maturing industry like high-definition televisions. There are more than 70 TV brands on retail shelves competing for your dollars and eyeballs, and the only way to differentiate themselves is to keep tweaking … Read more

Episode 580: (MAWV) Mothers against Windows Vista

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Philips blowing out 50-inch plasmas for less than a grand

Budget brands like Vizio are serving up 50-inch plasmas for around $1,500. But lo and behold, Philips has a deal running at its outlet store on a few 50-inchers, the lowest priced at $949.99 when you apply the $150 instant rebate coupon code. Impressively, shipping is only $29.99.

But there's a catch (isn't there always a catch on great deal?). The plasma models Philips is selling are refurbished units. Also--and not surprisingly--they're last year's models. Philips lists the eligible models as:

50PF9631D/37B 50PF9431D/37B 50PF7321D/37B

Amazon is selling a new 50PF7321D/… Read more

Sony's mystery revealed: first OLED TV

If Sony wants to be effective in this mystery marketing game, it's going to have to be more patient. Unlike B&O's "Serenata" campaign, which made us wait weeks before letting the secret out, Sony's latest product went live only days after its teaser site began to circulate in earnest.

But no matter. It turns out that the box under wraps was what it called the world's first OLED TV, referring to its ultra-thin and flexible screen technology that uses organic light-emitting diodes. The energy-efficient TV is just 3 millimeters thick and will … Read more

Hot and dirty is out, plasma is in

Medical instrument sterilization is a hot, dirty, expensive business involving chemicals, ozone-depleting aerosols and hazardous waste, but a new plasma technology promises to change the way we kill germs.

Atmospheric Glow Technologies of Knoxville, Tenn., is building a portable medical device called the Steriglow Sterilization System that it says will produce no waste or heat and costs much less to operate than existing technologies.

The process takes plasma, the same stuff found in flat-screen TVs, and creates "short-lived reactive chemical species from air" that neutralizes all biocontaminants. Viruses, bacteria, fungi--it kills them all. It's so effective that … Read more

Panasonic lowers 1080p plasma bar

Despite the fact that the benefits of 1080p native resolution are difficult to discern at the 50-inch screen size, let alone 42 inches, Panasonic has to keep up with the LCD competition if it wants to maintain spec-sheet parity in the eyes of comparison shoppers. That's probably the main reason why the plasma powerhouse announced two new, lower-priced 1080p models today at CEDIA in Denver: the 42-inch TH-42PZ77 ($1799) and the 50-inch TH-50PZ77 ($2799).

These sets trim $200 off the list prices of the formerly least-expensive 1080p Panasonic plasmas, the excellent 42-inch TH-42PZ700U and the ever-popular TH-50PZ700U, making them the most affordable 1080p plasmas on the market, and strongly price-competitive with similarly sized 1080p LCDs. Here are some more items from the press release:

Panasonic TH-PZ77 series key features

1080p native resolution Two HDMI inputs Antiglare screen coating SD memory card slot September release date… Read more