Category: Televisions

A reader writes: I need a good TV for my living room, and I've decided that LCD, particularly LED, is the way to go. I've heard that some plasmas can look better than LCDs, so I definitely want good video quality, but I heard they use up a lot of energy and I don't want to break the bank if I can avoid it. Also, I'd like something that doesn't use up too much power. Please... just tell me what ...

In a dramatic shift from the usual fare of live sports or snippets of 'The Rock' that has become the norm across most Best Buy HDTV displays, one Manhattan store has opened its doors to the art world, dousing its Home Entertainment section with a heaping tablespoon of hip. Artist Borna Sammak joined forces with curator Thomas McDonnell to convince a Best Buy in SoHo to display a collection of ...

We've spent the past week here in Tokyo taking a look at some of the latest gadgets on display at CEATEC, the annual Japanese Consumer Electronics Show. It's a great place to see everything from cutting-edge TV technologies that'll end up stateside next year to stylish mobile phones that'll (sadly) never find their way out of Japan. And then there's the oddball stuff that probably shouldn't ...

Call us crazy, but we think increasing hype around 3-D movies and TV is ill-deserved -- didn't this goofy technology that requires users to put on special glasses die out in the 1950s? Sure, today's version is much improved -- and in HD, no less -- but it still reeks of gimmickry since you still have to put on those glasses to get the full effect. Well, whether you like it or not, 3-D HDTV ...

Bigger isn't always better with HDTVs; a too-big screen in a small room looks ridiculous and will make non-HD content look fuzzy. On the other hand, you don't want to go too small or else you won't get the benefits of HD. There are a lot of formulas for optimum HDTV size-to-room size ratios, but one rule of thumb says to measure the distance between where you'll sit and where the TV in inches, ...

Plasma's dying, huh? Go and tell that to Bang & Olufsen. Just in case the 50- and 65-inch versions of the BeoVision 4 HDTV weren't expansive enough, the high-end home cinema outfitter has just pushed out news of an all new addition: the 103-inch BeoVision 4-103. If that number immediately rings a bell, here's a cookie. The 103-inch Panasonic TH-103PF9 panel is indeed the exact one used here, ...

The Nielsen Company released a report Monday revealing that (surprise!) Americans watch more TV than ever. But, terms such as couch potato and boob tube (does anyone even use that anymore?) may soon become quaint colloquialisms as viewers explore new mediums. The Nielsen report reveals that while the average American watches an all-time high of more than 151 hours of television per month (last ...

Today is the original deadline for the switch to digital broadcasts, and even though Congress agreed to push the deadline back till June, many stations are making the change anyway since the process was already well underway. We knew that many of the stations would be making the move to DTV on February 17 regardless of the extra time afforded them, but it was unclear which ones would be ...

Say it ain't so (again) Pioneer, Japan's Nikkei is reporting that despite planning a return to profitability by sourcing Panasonic plasma panels, facing a consolidated loss of 100 billion yen ($1.08 billion U.S.) it will end TV development and production entirely. The DVD business will be spun off into a new venture with Sharp as part of a plan to shed several thousand employees over the next ...

Well, Congress may have postponed the mandatory digital TV switch from analog to digital until June, but some stations around the country will go ahead with the switch anyway (up to one-fifth, according to USNews writer David LaGesse). That could mean up to 500 of the 1,700 stations around the country that eventually will make the conversion. The full list of stations that will make the ...

We already covered the numbers of Netflix's impressive earnings this past Monday, but there was another story lurking in there, too: a potential sign of the coming apocalypse for physical media. According to ArsTechnica, Netflix is reporting that many of its customers are substituting streamed movies for mailed ones, taxing the USPS less and their broadband connections more. CEO Reed Hastings ...

If Vision Express was looking for some attention, it just got it. A recent study by the optician chain found that 60-percent of Britons had avoided an eye test over the past year, with that number rising to 79-percent in Scotland. Phillip Hyde, dispensing optician and head of professional services at the firm, was quoted as saying that "even a marginally short-sighted person sitting on a sofa ...

Is gesture-based remote control the next biggest thing since the touchscreen? Last week, we saw Sony Ericsson's new W508 Walkman phone, which lets you ignore a call and shut off the ringer with the wave of your hand. And as we wrote back in October, TV manufacturers certainly seem to be taking their inspiration from the motion-sensitive Wii remote with gesture based control technology for changing ...

With the money well all dried up and a monumental transition looming, Barack Obama's transition team is urging Congress to take a second look at letting the cutover take place as planned on February 17th. According to a letter recently sent to Capital Hill, John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team, stated: "With coupons unavailable, support and education ...

Has your $2,500 XEL-1 display already started to show a case of the dimming blues? If so, and if you can go without seeing Cookie Monster in his natural hue for a few more months, you may have another OLED replacement option after this summer. LG is indicating it will begin producing a 15-inch panel in June of this year. No word on whether it'll match the Sony's 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, but it ...