JVC: Lean and Green

At the past few CES's, manufacturers were all striving to produce the "World's LARGEST" TVs. We seemed to have gotten bored with that category, and really, who needs a 106-inch TV? This year, the trend is to see who can produce the thinnest. Admit it - you can never, ever be too thin.

JVC is announcing that their latest prototype LCD will be the lightest 32-inch TV out there, and almost the thinnest. Samsung just announced a 6.5mm, and this one measures a waif-like 7mm.

It weighs in at . . .

Samsung Profits Not-So-Sunny

Obviously, more and more companies are going to face problems, in these "challenging economic times." Samsung is the latest to weigh in with disappointing numbers. The world's largest memory-chip and LCD manufacturer has said that their  profits were wiped out this quarter, due to the global recession.

As prices have fallen for the consumer (yippee!) it's become more and more difficult for the manufacturer to earn a profit. At the moment, Samsung will be forced to rely on their mobile phone business to avoid posting their first quarterly loss.

Since Samsung makes LCD more economically than competitors LG and Toshiba, expect even larger losses from those companies.

In a report from Bloomberg . . .

Small LCD HD TV Wars

In a smackdown of very small proportions, HANNspree and Westinghouse are battling for your dollars and shelf-space. Neither name is a heavy-hitter in the US television market, but they do have some interesting new products.

HANNspree just introduced the world's first 28-inch LCD TV with Full HD 1080p capability. The set has two HDMI ports, and a VGA port makes it easy to use as a computer monitor. It will set you back $499.99 - not bad for Full HD.

Looking for something just a touch cheaper? See what Westinghouse is introducing.

Pantel Showing Off Waterproof Mirror TVs

  Sure, there are waterproof TVs. But most TVs turn into eyesores when not in use. No matter how pretty the bezel, even the most expensive set is a big black hole in the wall when the set is turned off. Pantel is making waves with their latest product line.

These new LCD  TVs are designed for bathrooms, including showers, and saunas. Why there? When the sets are turned off, they turn into mirrors.  How cool is that?

They are waterproof, so they can also go outdoors.

These aren't scaled-down low-end models, but not exactly spec'ed to the max. Their specs are:

LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Plead Guilty to Price Fixing

Oooh . . . someone was caught cheating. And, this one is gonna leave a mark. LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes have all plead guilty to price-fixing.  Total fines? $585 million.  Life's not so good.

The three were found to have conspired to keep prices high on LCD panels, including those sold to Dell, Motorola, and Apple. LG was found to have fixed prices from 2001 to 2006, and they're getting hit hardest with $400 million. Sharp gets $120 million fines. As any maturing technology does, prices for LCD screens were dropping, but these companies didn't want to play with the laws of economics.

So, they have to pay the Justice Department. Consumers are going to get . . .

At Last: Some Good News

Declining: The value of your stock portfolio, your home and . . . TV prices!  An outfit called DisplaySearch is reporting that "e-tail" prices (internet-based prices) of LCD TVs fell an average of 22% year-to-year in September. What's more, the average PDP TV e-tail price fell by 27% in the same period.

On the other hand, the price of CRTs rose 4%, as if anyone really cared.

White LED Versus RGB LED

Traditional LCD screens use fluorescent lighting components — cheap, reliable, but power-hungry. Lately, manufacturers have been using RGB LEDS in their backlight units, mainly in high-end units. While more expensive, they use less power, have better color reproduction, and in general, provide a better picture than CCFL (fluorescent) backlights.

However, manufacturers are now looking at using white LEDs

Boomtime for Plasma

Even with the global economy on increasingly shaky ground, a new study out of China shows that — not  only are plasma sales booming as LCD sales fall — plasma sales are actually hitting historical highs.

While you can debate on which is better/cheaper/blacker/thinner/sexier/brighter, it seems plasma sales are going strong, according to a report from DisplaySearch, a market research firm.

Is it technology-driven, or an effect of the economy?

Eternal Sunshine of the Sharp Solar-Powered LCD

It's not clear whether Sharp is showing their latest prototype as a for-real solar powered LCD screen, or if it's a dramatic visualization on how little power is required to run this new 52-inch TV.

Using a solar panel just a bit bigger than the ultra-thin set itself, this television will run as long as the sun is shining on the panel — it doesn't have any type of battery, so it can't store that power for use at night or cloudy days. A battery should be easy enough to add in the future.

Why does it use so little power?

CEDIA, Pythonized: New Hitachi HDTVs are onlee wahfair theen.

Hitachi is joining the legions of TV manufacturers making their big screens screens slimmer, thinner, narrower, and measuring significantly less physical depth. At CEDIA 2008, the company revealed details on large-screen models of its UltraThin line of 1.5-inch-thick HDTVs.

The series itself is nothing new; 32-inch, 37-inch, and 42-inch screens have been trickling in since last spring. The 32-inch models offer only 1080i resolution, but every other UltraThin TV offers a 1080p picture.

The big news is Hitachi's new 47-inch and 50-inch HDTVs. The 47-inch LCD stands as the biggest LCD in the line, while the 50-inch UltraThin presents Hitachi's first and only 1.5-inch-thick plasma screen so far. The 47-inch LCD, coming in both Ultra Vision (UT47V702) and the slightly more high-end Director's Series (UT47X902) versions, will ship by the end of the month and retail for $3,499 (Ultra Vision) and $3,699 (Director's Series). The larger screens come at a much heftier price tag than the 42-inch LCDs, which have been available for a few months and retail for about $1,000 less.