In the bustle of holiday shopping, it’s easy to be persuaded by the salesperson at your local retailer that you need to buy a $50 HDMI cable to make your new gear work. They might say the expensive cable “supports faster speeds,” “has better video quality,” or that “cheap …
More: continued here
The LG 42LGX delivers impressive HD picture quality in a remarkably thin design.
More: continued here
Sony has launched its stylish Bravia EX1 picture frame TV range. Designed especially for the European and UK markets, the Bravia EX1 comes in a choice of wood finish, black or brushed aluminium frame, and an optional wall mount means the set can be hung on a wall to display high definition pictures and photographs. [...]
More: continued here
If the thought of a 50″ plasma evokes dreams of a home theater, then the Hitachi Ultravision P50V702 is a good candidate for the video centerpiece of that reverie.
More: continued here
LG Display Co Ltd and Sharp Corp will plead guilty in mid-December to price fixing in the market for thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
More: continued here
Specialty glass maker Corning Inc said on Tuesday that it was mulling permanent plant closings and additional job cuts as U.S. sales of LCD televisions rose less than expected in November.
More: continued here
The Sony KDL-52XBR7 is the first TV on the market with a 240Hz refresh rate.
(Credit: CNET)
With CES fast approaching in January, and with it a look at all the new TV technology of 2009, we’ve heard inklings of the next big thing in HDTVs: 240Hz. Sony has beat the other big LCD TV players to the punch, however, with the first 240Hz TV, the KDL-52XBR7.
LCD TVs with a 120Hz refresh rate are common enough these days. They refresh the screen twice as quickly as typical HDTVs, allowing TV makers to add dejudder video processing that smoothes out the picture, reduces blurring in motion, and matches the frame rate of 1080p/24 sources like Blu-ray movies. Of course, dejudder can make film look like video and introduce artifacts, and the benefits of reduced blurring and 1080p/24 compatibility are difficult for average viewers to spot.
Judging from our review of the KDL-52XBR7, the benefits of 240Hz are equally difficult to discern. The set did score higher on motion resolution test patterns, but that didn’t readily translate into an obvious difference with regular program material.
What’s easy to discern is that the KDL-52XBR7 costs a bundle: about $4,100 list, or currently $1,100 more than its already expensive 120Hz counterpart, the KDL-52XBR6. The 240Hz XBR7 is an excellent-performing TV, it’s just too expensive compared to the stiff competition.
Just in case you’ve forgotten, JVC is still around. And apparently it doesn’t want you forgetting that fact anytime soon.
On December 2 it plans to unveil what it says will be Times Square’s first true 720p HD screen. I assume they mean the first true 720p …
More: continued here
At $1500 list, the Vizio VP505XVT is one of the best values going among 50-inch plasma TVs.
(Credit: CNET)
When we chose the Vizio VP505VXT as one of three finalists for Best in Show among HDTVs at CES 2008, it was due to three letters on the TV’s spec sheet: HQV.” That well-known video processing brand made the 50-inch plasma pretty compelling on paper.
Now that we’ve had a chance to review the VP505XVT, it’s not HQV that floats our boat: it’s this plasma’s great overall price-to-performance ratio. At a list price of $1500, it’s a great value, and we expect that price to fall a couple hundred on the sales floor at Costco. It will have to, because competing, name-brand 50-inch 1080p plasmas like the Panasonic TH-50PZ85U, the Samsung PN50A550 and the LG 50PG30 are also in the same price ballpark.
In our tests the Vizio delivered excellent black levels–as good as anything from Panasonic and better than the other two–and while it didn’t have the color accuracy of the Samsungs, it was still pretty good in that category. HQV processing held its own, but we wouldn’t consider it a major reason to buy this TV. The Vizio just gets the basics right, and that’s what it’s all about.
Read the full review of the Vizio VP50XVT.
…
More: continued here
We learn the shocking truth behind broadband satisfaction in America, find some of the biggest HDTV bargains, and learn how to shop online and buy a better MP3 player.
More: continued here
