November 1st, 2009

Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Top Five HDTVs

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 9:21 pm

Categories: HDTV, Holiday Gift Guide

Tags: HDTV, LCD, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Monitors & Displays, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Hardware, Components, Sean Portnoy

Whatever the size of your wallet, every living room should have a respectable television set. Good news: HDTVs are cheaper, bigger and better than ever. Here are my top five picks for this year.

Splurge: Samsung UNB8500 Series

If you don’t need to wait for a full economic recovery to hit before you can afford a new top-of-the-line HDTV, then consider the Samsung UNB8500 sets (either the 46-inch or 55-inch model), which feature LED backlighting and 240Hz refresh rates. Our CNET colleagues found that the series has the best black levels of any TVs outside the fabled (and sadly discontinued) Pioneer Kuro plasmas, and corresponding excellent color reproduction. If you can set it up to minimize off-angle viewing, and you can swallow the high price, this will make quite a present—maybe for yourself most of all.

[read the review] [check prices]

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February 12th, 2009

Bad Gas? Pioneer officially ditches TVs, Vizio abandons plasmas

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 5:46 pm

Categories: HDTV

Tags: Plasma, LCD, Monitors & Displays, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Hardware, Components, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Sean Portnoy

Is plasma going to be the Betamax of HDTV technology? Despite still being regarded as providing better image quality than almost all LCD-based sets, plasma TVs have been on the losing side of the flat-panel equation for some time now. And the latest news isn’t any more encouraging.

Last week, I posted a rumor that Pioneer was exiting the TV business, which the company neither confirmed nor denied at the time. A few days later, the electronics firm has made it official: no more plasmas from the leading (at least in terms of technology) plasma manufacturer. Pioneer is also halting its fledging LCD business.

When I was at CES last month, I noticed during my briefing with Vizio that no new plasmas were being shown. I asked if the company was through with plasmas and was told no, but that “no” was pretty short lived, as Vizio has announced that it is stopping plasma production to concentrate on its more successful LCD business. That leaves much of the plasma market in the U.S. to Panasonic and Samsung, but while prices on plasmas have plummeted over the last year or so, consumer preference has remained strongly for LCD HDTVs. Is plasma still going to be a viable option for a TV, say, three years from now? Or to ask it another way:

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February 5th, 2009

SIM2 Solar Series LED-backlit LCD is first to use Dolby Vision technology

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 5:15 pm

Categories: HDTV

Tags: Technology, LCD, Monitors & Displays, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Hardware, Components, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Sean Portnoy

Everyone’s jumping on the LED-backlit LCD bandwagon this year, as even third-tier vendors like Haier are producing sets that rely on the technology, which is superior in color accuracy and black-level performance to the fluorescent lamps most other LCDs use. SIM2 Multimedia is hoping to stand out amid this crowd with its new Solar Series set, a 47-inch model that makes use of Dolby’s new Vision technology to control each of the more than 2,200 individual LEDs in relation to the on-screen image.

But SIM2 goes even further with high-dynamic-range technology, which boosts contrast ratio to north of 1,000,000:1. It also handles 16-bit color processing (in comparison, something like Sony’s Bravia XBR8 series is 10-bit), and its peak brightness can top 4,000cd/m2. Needless to say, this could be the best LCD TV you’ve ever seen.

But most of us won’t be seeing it for several months. While SIM2 has announced that its professional model will be shipping in the second quarter, it won’t be releasing a consumer version until the CEDIA convention in the fall. The good news is that it will at least be available in the US; the bad news is it will be probably cost several thousand dollars at a minimum.

November 11th, 2008

Third-quarter HDTV sales pace slows, plasmas show new signs of life

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 7:22 pm

Categories: HDTV

Tags: Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Sales, Sean Portnoy

Research firm DisplaySearch has released its third-quarter report on the state of the TV market, and it shows that the crummy economy is finally starting to erode sales growth for HDTVs. Manufacturers shipped 6 percent more sets to retailers than in the second quarter, while year-to-year growth is 12 percent. Considering that declines are popping up everywhere on the retail front, that’s not a bad showing, but sales growth could grind to a halt in the fourth quarter.

Another indicator of the belt tightening consumers are doing these days: Sales growth in LCDs with screen sizes less than 40 inches was 7 percent over last quarter, but bigger, pricier LCD sets gained only 3 percentage points. Price appears to be a big factor in plasma’s semi-comeback. Almost written off for dead, plasma sets have finally plummeted below $1,000 for many models, which has lead to a 20 percent year-to-year growth. And amazingly, CRTs are still hanging around, a trend that DisplaySearch suggests is due to people looking for the cheapest digital set they can find before analog TV disappears next year.

Among the top five sales leaders, the top three increased their market share: Samsung moved from 18.8 percent of the market to 19.4 percent, while Sony went from 10.3 percent to 12.3 percent, and Sharp jumped from 6.8 percent to 9 percent. Rounding out the top five, Vizio and LG declined slightly from last quarter. HDTVs still remain one of the most sought-after holiday purchases, but the fourth-quarter numbers will show how much—or how little—of a bump the holidays will give TV sales.

November 10th, 2008

Visionman Allio 32-inch and 42-inch HDTVs with built-in PCs debut

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 6:17 pm

Categories: HDTV

Tags: Hard Drive, PC, built-In, HDTV, Intel Core 2 Duo, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Media Center PCs, Processors, Personal Technology

One of the most popular posts since this blog started concerned whether people would use all-in-one PCs as their primary HDTVs. While all-in-ones from Sony may work for apartments or if you want an HDTV in your office, the fact is that a 24-inch or 26-inch screen isn’t going to cut it in most living rooms. The folks at Visionman (best known for its servers and performance PCs) have obviously been paying attention, as the company has just announced its Allio line of Media Center LCD HDTV/PCs, which will come in more home-theater-friendly 32-inch and 42-inch sizes.

The 32-inch model starts at $1,599, which means it doesn’t cost much more than 30-inch computer monitors, but packed within the 720p HDTV is an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a DVD burner, a Hauppauge HVR-950Q TV tuner, and built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. The $2,199 version moves to an Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 CPU, 500GB hard drive, and—perhaps most importantly—a Blu-ray player/DVD burner combo drive. For $200 more than that, you can get the 32-inch Allio with a Core 2 Duo E8400 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive.

Not surprisingly, the 42-inch models costs more, but in addition to more screen, you also get a 1080p screen. The PC specs for each config are the same as for the 32-inch Allios, however. The base 42-incher costs $1,999, while the mid-tier model is priced at $2,599 and the top config is $2,799.99.

The Allio also comes with decent connectivity, including 6 USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, two component-video ports, and a pair of HDMI inputs. Despite the added computer components, the set is still wall mountable. It comes with a wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse and equipped with Windows Vista Home Premium, which means Media Center’s DVR capabilities are built-in to record shows on the Allio’s hard drive. It is saddled with integrated graphics (understandable given the form factor), so you’ll want to keep the action limited to console gaming.

While the Allio is a noteworthy step forward that a TV manufacturer is eventually going to emulate, its biggest problem is that it’s from a niche PC company, so the number of people willing to try it out will be limited. Will you be one of them? If not, would you be more willing if it came from a big-name company like Apple, HP, Samsung, or Sony? Let us know in Talkback.

[Via CrunchGear]

November 9th, 2008

Kmart Black Friday deal: $699.99 42-inch Samsung plasma

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 7:18 am

Categories: Black Friday, HDTV

Tags: Plasma, K Mart, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Home Entertainment, Tv & Home Theater, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Sean Portnoy

It looks like Samsung plasmas are going to be one of the hot tickets this holiday season, as two leaked Black Friday ads are already listing these sets at sub-$1,000 prices. I posted a couple of weeks ago about Sears offering a 50-inch Samsung plasma for $899.99. Now, Kmart’s Black Friday ad has reached the Internet, and while it doesn’t offer much in the way of home theater products, it does list a cheaper Samsung plasma than Sears.

Forget the third-tier LCD TVs also being offered—the Samsung PN42A400, available for $699.99, may be the one you want to wait in line for. It’s a 42-inch 720p set with decent connectivity (two HDMI ports, two component-video ports) from a well-respected plasma manufacturer. Of course, it’s not a 1080p set, and since it’s not a model that’s part of Samsung’s regular lineup (Google “PN42A400″ and see what you find), you won’t find much info on its performance and reliability. (Given the product number, it’s most likely a cut-down version of the PN42A450.) Then again, for $700 the words “42-inch plasma” and “Samsung” may be all many will need to hear to close the deal.

Best Buy, what’s left of Circuit City, and Wal-Mart have managed to keep their ads off the Web thus far, but as soon as they leak, you’ll find out about it here.

October 28th, 2008

Mitsubishi's LaserVue HDTV is finally shipping

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 5:49 pm

Categories: HDTV

Tags: Mitsubishi Corp., HDTV, Laser, LCD, TVs, Monitors & Displays, Tv & Home Theater, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Hardware

It’s been a long, long time, but Mitsubishi has finally made its laser-based HDTV, the 65-inch LaserVue, available to the public, for a price that’s laser-focused on bleeding-edge types’ deep wallets: $6,999.

As you can probably surmise, the LaserVue uses lasers as its light source, an innovation that Mitsubishi claims offers twice the color gamut of typical HDTVs and consumes only one fourth the power plasma TVs require and one third the energy LCD sets need. Of course, the LaserVue is a 1080p HDTV and also features 120Hz refresh rates like higher-end LCDs. It measures 10 inches in thickness, so it can be wall-mounted, and includes stereo speakers, though no one dropping $7k on a set like this is going to bother running audio through those speakers.

Though there have been a number of demo showings of the LaserVue over the last year or two, it’s only been in recent weeks that experts like HD Guru have been able to do hands-on testing. His conclusion: “Overall the L65A90 rates in the stratosphere of top displays, specifically the Pioneer Kuro Elite plasmas, the LED backlit Samsung 950 LCDs and the 65” Panasonic Premiere TH-65VX100.”

Up next is a 73-inch LaserVue, though its release date hasn’t been officially announced. That set will be even more expensive, so who knows when and if this technology will eventually reach a more mainstream price. Will it become the next great display technology, or will OLED TVs scale up in size to win out?

October 27th, 2008

First Black Friday ads show up online: 50-inch Samsung plasma for $899.99

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 9:01 pm

Categories: Black Friday, HDTV

Tags: Plasma, Home Theater, Advertisement, Sears Roebuck & Co., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Retail Company, Home Entertainment, Retail, Tv & Home Theater, Consumer Electronics

Try as they might, big retailers can’t stop their ads for Black Friday (otherwise known as the day after Thanksgiving and unofficial start of the holiday shopping season) from leaking online often weeks in advance. This year, Sears has the dubious distinction of being the first major retailer of HDTV and home theater components to have its plans placed online at Black Friday sites.

With the economy in the tank, deals are going to have to be particularly enticing to get people to part with their money, and Sears does a few good ones, including Samsung’s PN50A400 50-inch 720p plasma for $899.99, Panasonic’s TH-42PX80U 42-inch 720p plasma for $699.99, and a handful of decent-sized 1080p LCD sets (such as the 46-inch LC-46SB54U for $899.99). If you’re looking more for components to round out your home theater, there are a couple of Blu-ray options: Sony’s BDP-S350 player for $179.99 and Samsung’s HT-BD2E system for $599.99. For more deals, check out the full Sears Black Friday listing.

Still to come, though no doubt before the end of November, are deals from retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-mart. While we wait for those to sneak online, what are you feelings about Black Friday deals? Do you drag yourself out early in the a.m. on Friday to wait in line? What could get to do so this year? Let everyone know in our Talkback section below.

October 21st, 2008

Vizio rolls out four new bargain-priced 1080p LCD HDTVs

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 8:49 pm

Categories: HDTV

Tags: HDTV, LCD, 1080p, Vizio, Sean Portnoy

It’s highly debatable that you can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p HD content in sets under 50 inches, much less in models less than 42 inches, but that isn’t stopping HDTV makers from bringing 1080p to sets as small as 32 inches. Vizio continues the trend with two new lines of 1080p LCD HDTVs that are priced to trump the competition as the company almost always manages to do.

Vizio offers a 32-inch and a 37-inch model in each line, with the smaller sets both priced at $649.99 and the bigger models at $849.99. With the VOJ320F and VOJ370F , the company is hopping on the colored bezel bandwagon, as each LCD sports a Java brown frame. The sets will be available at Dell’s online store and Target. They share most of the same specs with the VO32LF and VO37LF, though these TVs have a more traditional dark-gray bezel. These sets will be available at Costco.

Of course, native 1080p resolution is the highlight feature here, though the new Vizios also come with built-in 12-watts-per-channel speakers that output SRS Lab’s TruSurround XT audio processing. They also have ample connectivity, including three HDMI v1.3 ports. And with HDTV prices set to plummet even more in this bad economy, those looking for smaller 1080p sets won’t need to justify paying more for the privilege.

October 19th, 2008

Sharp to introduce LCD HDTV/Blu-ray combo units in the U.S.

Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 8:48 pm

Categories: Blu-ray, HDTV

Tags: Sharp Corp., LCD, Blu-Ray, Monitors & Displays, TVs, Tv & Home Theater, Personal Technology, DVD, Home Entertainment, Hardware

LCD TVs with built-in DVD players generally come in smaller screen sizes and are often budget-priced. That may change if you add Blu-ray to the equation, which Sharp is apparently planning to do this December with the U.S. release of HDTVs that sport Blu-ray drives.

Sharp has just released the Aquos DX series in Japan, which consists of LCDs in a wide range of sizes that come with built-in Blu-ray recorders. The good news is that Sharp is planning to jump-start that trend in the States, but the bad news is that most of the sets released here will just have Blu-ray players instead of recorders.

No doubt copyright issues have something to do with that decision, but you can imagine that HD addicts would love to dump hours of high-def content onto disc. Even so, if the price of the Blu-ray drive is mixed in with the cost of the TV, it could entice customers who aren’t willing to pay $300 for a standalone player. I’ll keep you posted when Sharp decides to officially announce more details about the U.S. release.

[Via Reuters]