Samsung, Sharp settle screen scuffle

Sharp and Samsung have finally settled their LCD patent dispute. According to a press release issued today, the two companies signed a settlement to their three-year dispute on Monday. The dispute revolved around LCD panel patents that both companies claimed. In the settlement, both companies agreed that the other had the right to use the disputed patents in their LCD panels, and that they would effectively be shared between them.

— Will Greenwald

[Source: CrunchGear]

Samsung Blu-ray players getting Youtube

Samsung has been pretty good with streaming Internet video on his Blu-ray Disc players. Its newer models have been able to stream Netflix video, Blockbuster On-Demand, and other services. Until now, though, the players haven't been able to access keyboard-playing cats, Rick Astley music videos, or kittens riding Roombas.

The company has just announced at IFA 2009 that its Blu-ray Disc players will begin supporting Youtube. The players will also support MKV video files, expanding video compatibility. The new features will be available on all Samsung Blu-ray players to come out in Q4 2009.

— Will Greenwald

[Source: TechRadar via Engadget HD]

U.S. I.T.C. blunts Sharp imports

The U.S. International Trade Commission is banning imports of certain models of Sharp LCD, due to an ongoing 2007 patent dispute with Samsung. Out of four patent infringement claims from Samsung, an ITC judge ruled that one was indeed violated by , leading the commission to block Sharp imports.

The ban affects Sharp's ability to sell LCD HDTVs, along with computer monitors and other devices that use LCDs. The ITC hasn't issued a final ruling yet, but the ban will be upheld for the time being.

— Will Greenwald

Samsung presents a plethora of projectors

Samsung has unveiled an entire collection of new digital projectors, ranging from portable, low-power models to high-end 1080p home theater models. The Samsung P (Portable), L (LCD), D (Data), and A (A/V) series offer a broad range of projectors, but for S&V readers the A series is the money series.

The A series focuses on home theater use, and includes the A400, A800, and A900 models. While Samsung hasn't released specifics about the A400 yet, it has announced that the A800 and A900 will be known as the "Joe Kane Signature Series," named after industry figure Joe Kane, and will feature a DLP optical engine that can produce 1080p video.

Samsung has not yet announced pricing or availability of the new A/V projectors.

— Will Greenwald

Samsung Regroups

Samsung makes lots of stuff.  Lots of different stuff. To reduce internal and external competition, Samsung is splitting into two groups. The consumer group will be responsible for fully-assembled parts: Blu-ray players, cellphones, TVs, computers, refrigerators - complete products. They're going to combine their cellphone, TV, computer and all other consumer businesses into one huge group.

The other group is the electronics parts group. This is the division that makes the parts that go into Samsung and other manufacturers complete products. This is the group that makes displays, chips, flash memory -- the parts that go into other parts.

The move is said to reduce competition and help keep Samsung parts from going into others complete products that compete with Samsung complete products.

Seems like companies are doing everything they can to stay afloat. --Leslie Shapiro

Electronista

CES 2009: Samsung's HTiB Details

More details are now available on Samsung's new lineup of home-theater-in-a-box systems. Three systems are being unveiled, and all three have Blu-ray players with BD-Live capabilities.

In addition, they'll have streaming capabilities to stream on-demand content from Netflix and Pandora - bringing Internet radio to your home theater system. If you haven't checked out Pandora, it's worth a look. What is still not clear is if these systems will be able to stream HD content from Netflix.

Connect a Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n to the USB port, and all three models can wirelessly stream BD Live content or Netflix and Pandora through your home networks. Who needs nasty-looking ethernet cables?

Almost ubiquitous these days . . .

CES 2009: Samsung and Yahoo! Connect

Everyone is showing off their Internet-connected devices, and Samsung is never one to be left behind. The new Samsung Yahoo! Connected TVs will feature TV Widgets - icons that let you connect directly to the features you'll use most - weather, stocks, sports, traffic and more.

Also new will be the Yahoo! Cinematic Internet experience, which will connect the Samsung TVs to eBay, MySpace and entertainment sources such as CBS.

Also new from Samsung will be connected Blu-ray Disc Players - these will have built-in compatibility with Netflix and Pandora. They're introducing three new players for the year, with wireless network connectivity.  One model will be WiFi-ready.  They also confirmed the world's thinnest Blu-ray player - 1.5-inches thick - that we told you about earlier this week.

In the home-theater-in-a-box division, Samsung will . . .

CES 2009: Lots of new HD cameras on the way, no tape in sight.

It's a good time to be a home movie-loving home theater buff, since more and more high-def consumer camcorders are coming out every year. This CES has seen several new models from Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic, most of which are smaller, cheaper, or pack much more memory than the year before. MiniDV tapes might be a thing of the past for consumer HD camcorders; out of the dozen-or-so new models announced by the three companies, none of them use tape. Instead, these camcorders all use hard drive, removable flash memory, or built-in solid-state drives to hold their footage.

Samsung unveiled the HMX-H100, H104, H105, and H106 camcorders, svelte video cameras that rely solely on flash memory. The HMX-H100 records to SD and SDHC cards, and its bigger brothers feature SSD drives.The H104, H105, and H106 (pictured) pack 16-, 32-, and 64-gig flash memory drives respectively, letting users record up to 12 hours (with the H106) of HD footage at the camcorder's highest setting. They all have SDHC card slots, if you need just a little bit more recording time. All four models feature 2.2MP sensors and Schneider Kruznach lenses. The H100, H104, and H105 camcorders ship in March, and the H106 will be available in April. Samsung hasn't yet announced pricing for them.

Sony announced four new HD camcorders, all of which sport hefty hard drives for plenty of recording time. The Handycam HDR-XR100 features a 10x Carl Zeiss zoom lens with optical image stabilization and an 80GB hard drive that can record up to 30 hours of HD footage in LP mode. It also features face-detecting autofocus and Smile Shutter, a feature usually found on Sony's Cyber-shot digital cameras that lets the camcorder automatically take a still photo when a subject is smiling. Its step-up model, the HDR-XR200, features a 120GB hard drive, a 15x Carl Zeiss optical zoom, and a built-in GPS receiver for geotagging and navigation.

Sneak Peak: Samsung Ultra-thin Blu-ray

While we won't have an official confirmation, it looks like Samsung is planning to announce an ultra-thin Blu-ray player at CES tomorrow.

This 1.5-inch thick beauty will look great with the 6.5mm HD LCD they're teasing about too.

No word on price or specs, but hopefully, it will come complete with Profile 2.0 and all the latest and greatest surround decoding. --Leslie Shapiro

PC World

Amazon's TiVo/Samsung Sale

Did Santa bring you everything you wanted? Need to fill in a few blank spots on your wish list? Just in time, Amazon is playing an elf.  From now until December 29th, get $150 off the price of a TiVo HD DVR when you purchase one of seven select Samsung HDTVs.

Models from Samsung range from a 40-inch up to a 52-inch, all LCD, all 1080p. The TiVo is model TCD652160 records up to 180 hours of standard def, or up to 20 hours of HD content.

Need even more persuasion? Get two free movie from Amazon Video on Demand.

See which Samsung models are on the list.