Mitsubishi's iSP 149 LCD Lineup Reproduces 5.1 Surround Sound Straight From The TV
Mitsubishi isn't a flat panel maker that pops up with something new every second day, but when they announce a product you can guarantee it'll be good. Case in point-the upcoming LaserVue laser TV's. But today they've announced something new and innovative again, a couple of new ultra-thin LCD TV's with something called integrated sound projection (iSP). The iSP 149 line features a couple of new models, the 46-inch LT-46149 and the 52-inch LT-52149, both of which will ship in the United States this month.
What's unique to the new Mitsubishi models is of course the iSP, which actually simulates 5.1 surround sound from a single speaker cabinet found at the bottom of the screen that house a 16-speaker array. By using a simple on-screen setup you can input the room dimensions, where your going to be sitting to watch the TV and the set will bounce sound waves at different angles and output it at intervals through the 16 speakers. With some of the sound hitting your ears indirectly, you get the feel of real surround sound. The TV's are also CableCard-ready, have HDMI and PCM audio support, and feature Smooth 120Hz Film Motion that ensures you won't have to see 24Hz artifacts in slower-moving film scenes. The LT-46149 and LT-52149 will set you back $3299 and $3699 respectively when they hit shelves this month.
byd:sign's New DivX Certified LCD TV A Japanese First
byd:sign's new 19-inch LCD TV's, a black model DC-1902DWB and white model DC-1902DWW, will be the first DivX Certified HDTV's to hit the Japanese market when they're released later in July. DivX has been super aggressive in sticking their brand on the face of seemingly ever piece of home theater equipment coming out lately and has been big in seamlessly moving PC video content to the living room home theater. The byd:sign LCD's feature a DVD player, 1440 x 900 resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio, a USB 2.0 port, SD/MMC/ Memory Stick slot, ATSC/NTSC tuners and HDMI connectivity.
Samsung's LN46A750 Gets Reviewed: A Little Expensive, But A Big Performer
The folks over at CNET have put the Samsung LN46A750 46-inch LCD TV through the ringer and it looks to be a top-of-the-line performer. A member of the Red Touch of Color series, features include a 1080p, 120 Hz display, 50000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a 6ms response time, picture-in-picture, and a pair of built-in 10 Watt speakers that pump out SRS TruSurround sound. Put all of these features together and you get a set that has a superb black level and highly detailed picture. Plus a host of handy extras like network streaming, built-in interactive content access, and even real-time stock price and weather feeds and you have a flat panel definitely worth purchasing. Oh wait, purchasing if it was a little cheaper. CNET's reviewers don't think the $1882 price tag for the 46-inch Samsung LN46A750 is quite worth the features the set offers.
Sharp's LB-1085 108-Inch LCD TV Hitting US This September; For $150, 000?
Remember Sharp's monster 108-inch LB-1085 LCD TV? Of course you do, how could you forget? If you have some cash to burn and plenty of room, the 209 pound display will be hitting the US this September. It's already available in Japan and a few European retailers have started to sell the LB-1085 priced at about 120, 000 Euros or about $185, 000 in the US. Apparently we can expect the set to cost about $150, 000 when it arrives in December but it'll only be available through special order; you won't find this one sitting on store shelves. If for some unexplained reason you're planning on spending six figures for the LB-1085 you should remember you're paying for nothing more than its size. Its features are nothing special: 1080p resolution, 1200:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness, and a 6 ms response time. If you're still taking the dive, please send us some pics. We'd love to see this giant actually sitting in someone's living room
The Hello Kitty phenomenon continues, this time in the home theater industry, with a couple of new 19-inch Uniden Hello Kitty LCD TV's. Available in red or pink, the Uniden TL19TX1 features 1440 x 880 resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a brightness measurement of 300 cd/m2. Surprisingly the Hello Kitty display have a fast response time of 5ms, but only features a digital tuner. No analog tuner at all with the TL19X1. It also features a duo of built-in dual-channel 3 Watt speakers and HDMI, component, and composite inputs, and an analog audio output. Come July 4, Uniden's TL19TX1 Hello Kitty LCD TV's will be available in Japan for 69, 800 Yen, about US$648.
Via AV Watch
Sanyo's CE52SR1 52-Inch LCD Display--Marine-Grade And Super Bright
Sanyo's CE52SR1 52-inch LCD monitor is built for commercial applications rather than the living room home theaters, but it has some cool features we just have to tell you about. Some of the usual features include 1080p resolution, a 6.5 ms response time, 16:9 aspect, and inputs including a DVI-D, VGA, S-video, five component slots, a stereo mini jack, and RCA inputs and outputs. That's pretty boring in inself, but the CE52SR1 is actually built with a marine-grade construction making it fully waterproof and dustproof and features a super bright 1500 cd/m2 screen, easily viewable in direct sunlight. Plus if 52-inches doesn't quite cut it for whatever you're trying to display, the 52-inch toughie can be put together with up to 24 others in a 5 by 5 array creating a movie theater-like screen that receives the picture signal through a single input. Amazing eh? And being a commercial-grade LCD monitor and all, so is the price--$13995 when it hits the public in October 2008.
JVC Unleashes P-Series LCD TV's With iPod Docking, Procision 899 Series LCD TV's, And A Couple Super-Slim 1.5 Inch Models
JVC unleashed a few new lines of LCD HDTV's on the US yesterday, including a new super-slim line. The first new line, the P-Series, brings four new sets to the market--the 32-inch LT-32P679, 42-inch LT-42P789, 47-inch LT-47P789, and the 52-inch LT-52P789. All of the P-Series' displays, with the exception of the 720p 32-inch set, feature full 1080p resolution, come with a universal remote with direct input, ATSC/QAM tuning, a USB photo viewer, and a new on-screen menu system. The usual inputs are their including three HDMI, two component, one S-video input, an SPDIF input, and an analog audio output for blasting sound through a home theater system.
The feature unique to the P-Series is the built-in iPod dock controlled using the included remote. When an iPod is placed in the dock, an on-screen menu pops up letting users navigate through their tunes right on the TV screen. The song title and artist's name are displayed on-screen when a song is played, and images can even be set up to display during playback. Plus, whether or not the TV is on or off, the iPod will charge when docked. The 32-inch LT-32P679, 42-inch LT-42P789, and 47-inch LT-47P789 are all available now for $999.99, $1599.99, and $2199.99 respectively, while the 52-inch LT-52P789 will be available in August for $3199.99.
The second line is the Procision 899 Series featuring the 42-inch LT-42X899, the 47-inch LT-47X899 and the 52-inch LT-52X899. All three models use JVC's high-def Clear Motion Drive III engine with a sixth-generation Genessa 32-bit processor. The Clear Motion Drive III engine is impressive, moving the screen beyond 10 bits, actually converting 8 bit images into 12 bits. Other features include a 120fps frame rate, full HD 24/30p, nine video aspect modes, ATSC/QAM tuning, a USB photo viewer, and three HDMI v1.3 (two CEC) inputs. The 42-inch LT-42X899, 47-inch LT-47X899 and the 52-inch LT-52X899 are all available now, priced at $1999.99, $2599.99, and $3699.99 respectively.
Finally, next month JVC will release a line of 1.5-inch thin LCD TV's with built-in TV tuners. The line, part of the Procision Series, will only feature a couple of models-the 42-inch LT-42SL89 and 46-inch LT-46SL89. Both sets features 1080p resolution, a CCFL backlight 40% smaller than the conventional LCD backlight, and only consume 145 Watts of power. Both will hit shelves next month for $1899.99 and $2399.99 respectively.
Sony's BRAVIA KDL-32J1 32-Inch LCD Set The Most Efficient Around
Sony claims their latest BRAVIA 32-inch LCD flat panel is the greenest of all green 32-inch LCD TV's. The new BRAVIA KDL-32J1 uses only about two-thirds of the power a similar screen would use, culminating in a 70% savings in energy use over the course of a year. It's done using more efficient fluorescent backlights and screen filters that allow more existing light to pass so less tubes are needed to create the same level of brightness as a similar LCD set. Interestingly, the KDL-32J1 is also made of predominantly recycled materials including leftover plastic, styrofoam, and optical film, making the new Sony set almost completely recyclable once its life is over.
As for specs, the Sony KDL-32J1 features 720p resolution, a 2500:1 contrast ratio, 24p True Cinema, analog and digital terrestrial tuners, a couple of both HDMI and component video ports among others, and both pink and silver color options. This LCD set will hit Japan first of course, on July 25, priced at 150, 000 Yen. This would be a ridiculously expensive set if were ever to hit the US at this price--it's equivalent to about $1390 is US currency.
Sony's Bravia S4000 Series: 26-, 32-, 37-Inch Models HD-Ready, Flagship 40-Inch Full HD Model Delivers It All
Sony Europe's announced the Sony Bravia S4000 series, available in 26-, 32-, 37-, and 40-inch screen sizes. All of the new Bravia LCD's feature Sony's 'draw the LINE" design concept, using a simple piano black design that's meant to emphasize what's on the screen rather than what's around it, and all sets come with a swivel base so you can easily view the S4000 from anywhere in the room. The S4000 sets up to, and including, the 37-inch model are HD-Ready, have an DVB-C/DVB-T tuner for pulling in standard-def TV broadcasts, feature Bravia Theater Sync for one remote button whole home theater control, Bravia Engine processing and 3 HDMI slots for plugging in all your HD gear. The flagship 40-inch model is a full HD 1080p set, with 33000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, Bravia Engine 2 processing, an integrated standard-def tuner, Bravia Theater Sync, Bravia Sync for on-screen control of devices such as Sony's Handycam connected to the set via HDMI, 24p True Cinema, and 3 HDMI ports.
Hitachi UltraThin 1.5-Inch LCD TV Full Release Date And Pricing Schedule
The first time you caught a glimpse of Hitachi's 1.5 UltraThin line of LCD TV's, they were headed for shelves in Japan. In early May, we were thrilled to hear that the 1.5 family was hitting the US this summer and Hitachi has now confirmed this, releasing an availability and price schedule for the new UltraThin lineup.
Only 1.5-inches thin as you may have guessed, the UltraThin line will be available in 32-, 37-, 42-, and 47-inch sizes and broken into two categories--the Director's Series and the UltraVision-V Series. A few of the models have already seen their release dates, but here is the info for this summer's upcoming releases:
Director's Series
UT47X902--47-inch, 1080p, 120Hz Reel120, $4699 in September
UT32X812--32-inch, 720p, 120Hz Reel120, $2299 in August
UltraVision-V Series
UT47V702--47-inch, 1080p, 120Hz Reel120, $4499 in September
UT42V702--42-inch, 1080p, 120Hz Reel120, $3499 in July
UT37V702--37-inch, 1080p, 120Hz Reel120, $2799 in July
UT32V502/UT32V502W--32-inch, 720p, 120Hz Reel120, $2099 in August
UT32A302/UT32A302W--32-inch, 720p, 60Hz, $1799 in August
Sharp LB-1085 108-Inch LCD TV Available In Japan, For The Price Of A Second Mortgage
We've been anxiously waiting for Sharp to bring its 108-inch LCD TV to the Japanese market for a while now and we can finally breath; the wait is over. Sharp is now accepting commercial orders for the world's largest LCD TV, the LB-1085, with its first delivery scheduled for June 19 to Shinjuku Piccadilly, one of Toyko's hottest multiplexes. It'll look down from the 3rd floor of the theater's open lobby so those on the first floor can view movie trailers and ads, and impressively, is bright enough to display an ultraclear picture down three floors in an area filled with exterior light.
The Sharp LB-1085 features a 108-ASV widescreen 1080p LCD panel, 400 cd/m2 brightness, 1200:1 contrast ratio, 6 ms response, and a 176 degree viewing angle. The massive 430 pound behemoth utilizes a fanless design and is looking blessed connectivity-wise with 3 HDMI, 1 DVI-I, 2 component, 1 S-video, 2 composite, 4 RCA analog auido, and 1 Stereo-mini slots. Although the set is built-to-order contract by contract, Sharp has set an expected price of around 11 million Yen for the LB-1085, equivalent to a little over $101, 000 in the United States. Wow!
LG's Crystal Studded 47-Inch Canvas Crystal X LCD TV For Bling Fanatics
If you like a little bling in your home theater and you live in Korea, set your eyes on LG's Canvas Crystal X, aka 47LB90FD, a 47-inch LCD TV featuring 1080p resolution, 50000:1 contrast ratio and a base studded with 1000 Swarovski crystals. Now you may be thinking this set is ridiculously expensive, being laden with crystals and all, but Swarovski crystals are really just pieces of glass with high lead content, so first of all they don't really contribute to a ridiculous price, and second of all, you'll want to make sure the young 'uns don't swallow these. The set also features EyeQ which automatically adjusts the screen's brightness according to the surrounding ambient lighting conditions and costs the equivalent of about $3200 US. Of course, there's no telling if we'll ever see it in the US.
You'll easily spend well over $2000 at best for the latest 52-inch models from names like Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony and you'll probably find your purchase well worth the money. But some are touting the Westinghouse TX-52F480S 52-inch LCD set as dishing out the best bang for your buck. Not only is it stylish with a glossy black bezel and 6-inch thin design, the Westinghouse and its 1920 x 1080 pixels display remarkable picture clarity, aside from the need to tweak the green a little bit. Plus if you have a ton of home theater gadgets, the TX-52F480S has 4 HDMI slots and a couple of component video inputs so you should have no problem hooking everything up. Once hooked up, the set auto-switches to whatever device you turn on so you're not constantly having to fiddle with inputs using the remote. And for the treehuggers amongst you's, the set has an energy saving feature that consumes less than one Watt of energy when in standby or turned off.
Interested? Head over to Amazon where you'll find the Westinghouse TX-52F480S currently priced at $1700.
If you happen to be in Vegas between June 18-20, consider checking out Philips' 52-inch 3D display at the InfoComm conference. Perfect for gamers, the 3D display requires non of those pesky glasses thanks to its auto-stereoscopic WOWvx technology and the LCD screen features full 1080p resolution, 700 cd/m2 brightness, a 2000:1 contrast ratio, and a 8 ms response time. Look for it to hit the market sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Mitsubishi's iSP 149 LCD Lineup Reproduces 5.1 Surround Sound Straight From The TV
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