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Mitsubishi affirms that LaserVue HDTV production is back on

by Darren Murph posted Mar 24th 2009 at 1:35PM

After Mitsubishi suddenly and unexpectedly suspended production of its flagship LaserVue HDTV in early February, many took the liberty of believing that the end was nigh for this extremely high-end set (given the not-exactly-booming economy). We contacted Mitsubishi in order to follow up, and today we've received direct confirmation that the LaserVue is indeed "back in production." In other words, the supply channels are all moving smoothly again, and whatever caused the issue to begin with truly was simply a snag and not a foreshadowing of the set's death. Too bad this thing is still up near seven grand in many places -- after seeing one in action, it's hard to look at any other technology the same way.

Samsung declares victory over Sharp in LCD patent dispute

by Darren Murph posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 10:20AM

Samsung and Sharp, like any good pair of competitors, have been slapping each other around for years now. Specifically, Sharp tagged Samsung with an LCD patent infringement lawsuit back in the latter half of 2007, and at long last the courts have made a decision. In short, Samsung wins. The Wall Street Journal has an exceptionally brief writeup noting that Sammy has declared victory in the case as a Tokyo court "upheld a Samsung Electronics' countersuit filed last June that claimed that Sharp LCD TV products infringed on Samsung's patents." There's no word on what affect this will have on either firm, but feel free to cheer / cry at the office today in order to truly show your fanboy colors at work.

Sharp debuts AQUOS A series LCD HDTVs in Japan

by Darren Murph posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 9:59AM

Sharp already introduced us to its BD and E series at CES this year, but this here A team is something different. Debuting first in Japan, this threesome is comprised of the 52-inch LC-52AE6, 46-inch LC-46AE6 and 40-inch LC-40AE6, all of which sport 1,920 x 1,080 resolutions and a digital TV tuner. The whole crew also includes 120Hz de-judder technology, a 15,000:1 contrast ratio, 450 nits of brightness and 176-degree viewing angles. Moreover, each one features an integrated ambient light sensor to adjust the backlight automatically depending on surrounding light, and they also pack a pair of stereo speakers in case your surround rig is currently out of order. The larger two are expected to ship on May 15th, while the small fellow heads out on April 10th; as for pricing, we're hearing ¥390,000 ($4,048), ¥260,000 ($2,698) and ¥200,000 ($2,076) from largest to most diminutive.

[Via Impress]

Gallery: Sharp debuts AQUOS A series LCD HDTVs in Japan

Engadget's recession antidote: win a 22-inch iZ3D 3D monitor!

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2009 at 12:00PM

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a 22-inch iZ3D 3D monitor on offer, ready to take you (and your mind) to a dimension rarely seen on typical computer LCDs. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting!

Special thanks to iZ3D for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) 22-inch iZ3D 3D LCD monitor. Approximate value is $399.
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
Entries can be submitted until Thursday, March 19th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

EETI to purportedly ship 7- and 12-inch capacitive touchscreens this year

by Darren Murph posted Mar 7th 2009 at 5:39PM

It doesn't take much to make us happy -- in fact, just mention the word "capacitive" and you're already halfway to winning us over. Throw in "multitouch," and you've got us hook, line and sinker. According to an admittedly dodgy DigiTimes report, Taiwan's own EETI is gearing up to ship laptop-grade 7- and 12-inch capacitive touch panels in the the latter half of this year, and if you're to believe it, that's word straight from company president Mei Tsai. EETI has already begun shipping smaller capacitive touch panels, so larger ones for use in netbooks and ultraportables is just a logical extension of the business. Of course, just because these things ship to OEMs doesn't mean we'll see them right away in commercialized products, but we feel pretty good about seeing a few near-final units at CES 2010.

[Via Slashgear]

ASUS shows off Wireless LCD prototype, "Green" monitors

by Darren Murph posted Mar 6th 2009 at 7:46PM

ASUS news from CeBIT? Say it ain't so! Just hours after the company introduced two new "Green" LCDs, we stopped by to see what all the fuss was about. What we found were two rather vanilla looking LCDs (they're in the gallery below, we promise) sitting beside something entirely more interesting: a Wireless LCD prototype. An ASUS rep informed us that the model shown was utilizing the currently-in-limbo ultra-wideband (UWB) standard, and he affirmed that the monitor didn't have a model name nor an estimated ship date or price; it was simply on hand to prove that wireless LCDs were possible and that they're on the way. He noted that ASUS was looking into other wireless protocols -- namely wireless HD and WHDI -- and that it was "waiting things out" before making a final decision on what variation to use. Our take? We suspect it's both testing for best compatibility / range and waiting to see if UWB will remain viable in the coming months, which likely means no shipping product for quite some time. For what it's worth, the on-hand demo was stellar, with no visible lag, glitches or dropped frames to speak of.

Gallery: ASUS shows off Wireless LCD prototype, "Green" monitors: eyes-on

ASUS debuts EzLink Series, VH192C / VH196 Green LCDs at CeBIT

by Darren Murph posted Mar 6th 2009 at 12:12AM

Just when you thought you'd heard the last from ASUS at CeBIT, in flies this. Here in Hannover, the outfit has broadened its reach by introducing a few new monitors, with the EzLink Series piquing our interest the most. The simply titled Wireless LCD Monitor can reportedly be connected via the Wireless Host Controller Interface (WHCI) or USB Host Wire Adapter (HWA), essentially turning it into a more recognizable USB monitor. There's also the Green line, which -- for now, at least -- contains the VH192C and VH196. Both of 'em reportedly save around 20 percent in the power consumption department compared to who-knows-what, while the former model incorporates Color Shine to nix the glare, enrich color density and make your life approximately 8.23 times better. Curiously, there's no word on specs, pricing or release dates, but we'll do our best to dig all that up on the show floor.

Panasonic's CES 2009 Viera HDTVs get US pricing and dates

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 6:02PM

Panasonic announced a slew of Viera TVs at CES, and although we already knew when they'd be making their Japanese debut, US info has been hard to come by. That's starting to change: pricing details are leaking out, and CNET and HDGuru have managed to assemble a pretty exhaustive list of what to expect and how much it'll cost. Of interest, Panny's still going strong on the plasma tip, so those of you aching for the best picture possible but unwilling to shell out for the dead-ended Kuro will still have plenty of options -- there's a set at every point between the 42-inch 720p X1 at $899, the 50-inch 1080p S1 with a nicer NEO-PDP panel for $1,799, the 50-inch THX-certified G10 with VieraCast for $1,999 and the as-yet-unpriced, one-inch thick wireless 54-inch Z1. As for LCDs, it's a similar story at smaller sizes: you've got sets ranging from the budget $499 720p 32-inch C12 to the $1,099 120Hz 1080p 37-inch G1 with Motion Focus and a 20,000:1 contrast ratio. Check all the info at the read links; we'll be scouring the wire praying for news that Panny's bought up the Kuro tech from Pioneer.

Read - HDGuru
Read - CNET

Sony expands connected BRAVIA HDTV line with new W-Series

by Darren Murph posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 8:00PM

While these three weren't quite ready for CES, they're still being debuted in Las Vegas alongside Sony's new Blu-ray devices. The W-Series, as with the recently announced BRAVIA Z5100 and XBR9 models, is fully equipped with an Ethernet jack and a Yahoo!-powered widgets engine. Consumers who bite on the 52-inch KDL-52W5100, 46-inch KDL-46W5100 or 40-inch KDL-40W5100 can expect easy access to Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Sony Pictures content, etc. The new family also includes Sony's Motionflow 120Hz technology, DLNA compatibility, a USB port for loading up external media, BRAVIA Sync (HDMI-CEC), four HDMI inputs and the Xross Media Bar (XMB) interface. As expected, each one sports a 1080p panel, and while pricing details are still sorely missing, the trifecta should hit retailers later this Spring. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Sony expands connected BRAVIA HDTV line with new W-Series

Sony takes the wraps off 240Hz, RFID enabled BRAVIA LCDs in Japan

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 11:03AM

If the trouble of typing in a credit card number was the thing keeping you from renting acTVila video on-demand movies in Japan, Sony's fixed that right up by including FeliCa reading capability in the remote for its latest BRAVIA LCDs. No longer tied to an ugly outboard box, now you need only to press your credit card, cellphone or other RFID enabled device against the remote to authorize payment. The Japanese edition W5 and F5 line of LCDs mostly feature 240Hz MotionFlow and the latest BRAVIA Engine 3 display processing, and top out around ¥450,000 ($4,614) for a 52-inch. Check out video of the RFID remote on Akihabara News or embedded after the break and imagine living in a Blade Runner-type world of the future where overpriced rentals downloaded via fiber directly onto an HDTV screen are billed to whatever card desired with a mere flick of the wrist, as opposed to overpriced, overcompressed rentals that shamefully expand ones cable bill each month.

[Via Akihabara News & AV Watch]

Continue reading Sony takes the wraps off 240Hz, RFID enabled BRAVIA LCDs in Japan

Researchers look to coffee stains for improved TV screen coating

by Donald Melanson posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 6:03AM

While there's plenty of discoveries that no doubt wouldn't have been possible without coffee, few have been as directly influenced as this latest fit of inspiration from Ivan Vakarelski of the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences in Singapore, who apparently saw the future of TV screens in a coffee stain. More specifically, he was intrigued by the way a coffee spill dried into a circular stain, which, as New Scientist notes, is effectively caused by coffee granules being "assembled" by the varying evaporation and convection rates in the fluid. That process, Vakarelski thought, could be replicated artificially to create a better coating for LCD and plasma screens, and he and his colleagues were ultimately able to do just that with a suspension of gold particles that were left to dry on a glass plate covered with closely packed latex microspheres. According to Vakarelski, the resulting network of gold nanoparticles is "finer than spider's silk," and potentially even more conductive than the ITO coatings commonly used today. Of course, it's still a long ways from actually be used on LCDs, although the researchers have already created coatings a few square centimeters in size, and say they plan to increase that "tenfold" as soon as possible.

[Via New Scientist]

22-inch SX2210 widescreen LCD monitor spotted on Dell's website

by Ross Miller posted Feb 26th 2009 at 10:43PM

That enigmatic monitor that's been strutting its stuff in Dell's Studio XPS 435 glamor shots has been unmasked as the 22-inch SX2210. A product page and online manual for the widescreen LCD have surfaced on the company's site, and here's what we know so far: it's got 1080p resolution, a 2.0 megapixel embedded webcam, 1000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 2 millisecond response time, 160 degrees horizontal / 170 degrees vertical viewing angles, and 300 cd/m² brightness. Unfortunately, mum's the word on pricing or availability, but with an estimated March 19th launch for the new XPS, our fingers are crossed for a double feature.

[Thanks, Tin!]

Read - Dell.com listing
Read - Product manual (PDF file)

Dell's greenish G2410 LCD monitor goes on sale

by Darren Murph posted Feb 26th 2009 at 3:08AM

Dell's new 24-inch G Series LCD, which was previewed during CES this year, has finally gone on sale at the outfit's website. The G2410 flat-panel is said to be one of the firm's greenest LCDs, as it proudly sports an EPEAT Gold rating and utilizes halogen-free laminates in circuit boards along with chassis plastics that contains 25 percent post-consumers recycled plastics. Other specs include a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution panel, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 250 nits of brightness, VGA / DVI connectors and a 5 millisecond response time. It's all yours for $349, though there's no apparent discount for hugging a tree prior to pulling the trigger.

[Thanks, Rob]

Sony's GXD-L64H1 LCD survives elemental woes, ignores economic ones

by Tim Stevens posted Feb 24th 2009 at 9:17AM

We see plenty of rugged and semi-rugged entries in the portable market, but it's not often that you see a large-screen HDTV you'd want to touch with anything other than white gloves and (clean) cotton diapers. Sony's GXD-L64H1 is one of those rare durable displays, a 65-inch LCD that scores an IP54 on the International Protection Rating scale. That means it's almost entirely dust-proof and can survive a light shower, as demonstrated in a video after the break -- at least we presume that's what they're demonstrating, as the footage never shows the thing actually turning on again. The set is due to hit the market with a splash (sorry) in May at a price of ¥1,850,000, about $19,300, making us wonder if it can float in these economic times.

[Via Akihabara News]

Continue reading Sony's GXD-L64H1 LCD survives elemental woes, ignores economic ones

Philips gives Cinema 21:9 HDTV a price and release date

by Darren Murph posted Feb 20th 2009 at 6:04PM

We'd already heard during a UK preview show that Philips' Euro-only Cinema 21:9 HDTV would be priced around £3,000 when it launched sometime this Spring, but now we've got some more official details to share (and only half of it is good). So, the good news -- we're told that this behemoth will start shipping "as soon as June." The bad? The 56-inch ultra-widescreen panel will run you €4,000 ($5,045). Don't bother turning your head, that's just your wallet over in the corner wailing.

[Via Register Hardware]