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CES 2007: BIGGER still doesn’t mean BETTER
Texas Instruments showed it isnt sitting on its hands in the flat-panel vs. microdisplay rear-projection TV showdown, and two new HDTV trade promotion groups made their debuts at the show. Alternative illumination systems for rear and front projection were hawked, including RF-excited lamps, LEDs, and several prototype laser light engines. Warner Home Media showed how a packaged media company decisively straddles the blue-laser fence. And a high-resolution video interface battle is joining the blue-laser format war. Japanese plasma manufacturers set up a not quite dead yet exhibit that clearly showed the motion-blur problems with LCD technology. LG and Sony unveiled small to midsize AM OLED HDTV displays. Panasonic proved it can indeed stuff 2 million pixels into a 42-inch plasma.
ISF Proves Merely Changing ONE Factory Preset Can Save Energy! (19 ...
The Imaging Science Foundation, working with ECOS Consulting, is currently deploying lab grade power consumption instrumentation to research how HDTV settings impact energy consumption. Since 1994, over 4000 top home theater experts have been trained to deliver ISF Calibration services and improve picture quality. ISF's initial estimate for power consumption benefits of ISF Calibration was a five to ten percent savings. Research has proven that estimate to be conservative. Examples from initial ISF research: A well designed Sony LCD used for ISF's Microsoft Media Center certification program had 100% superior black levels after calibration - and a 50% energy saving! A Sharp 1080p DLP projector set to "Eco-Quiet" mode produced over a 50% improvement in picture quality - and a 30% energy saving! A high-end Runco 1080p projector with ISFccc Certified Day and Night mode was flexible enough to optimize picture quality for evening ambient home lighting - and in ISF Night mode, a 30% energy saving! ISF understands that ultra-bright HDTV factory presets are needed to compete with ambient lighting in retail showrooms, but believes the price for that in energy consumption is severe.
Upgrade Your Home Entertainment
TV aficionados have a number of things to look forward to this year, as vendors are poised to upgrade everything from HDTVs to set-top boxes to recorders for both the living room and the PC. That means bigger screens, better color quality, and more choices in recording and viewing your favorite shows. TVs are getting some of the more significant upgrades. To start with, Sharp's splashy demonstration of a whopping 108-inch prototype LCD set further cements the notion that LCD can compete with plasma at the largest screen sizes, says Eric Haruki, IDC research director for digital TVs. Sharp's new plant, which produced the megaunit, can also make cheaper 46-inch and 52-inch LCDs. The upgraded capacity drives down prices at those sizes, Haruki adds. When Sony and Samsung open their own next-generation LCD plants later this year, that downward price trend will continue.
Sony’s New 15X Cyber-Shot H9 and H7 Cameras
March 12, 2007 Responding to the growing demand for super zoom digital cameras, Sony showed its new 8-megapixel DSC-H9 and DSC-H7 models at PMA, with both cameras featuring powerful Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom lenses, Sonys new advanced sports shooting mode and high-definition outputs so they easily connect to a HDTV for spectacular reproduction. The advanced sports shooting mode combines high shutter speed shooting and intelligent continuous auto-focusing. The cameras can quickly focus on fast-moving subjects by predicting where those subjects will be in the frame. This predictive technology also helps to reduce shutter lag, the time it takes for the camera to focus and shoot. Sonys new face detection technology is also employed on both models and it can identify up to eight faces in the cameras LCD frame, and automatically adjust white balance and flash as well as focus and exposure for correctly exposed, sharp photos Even if youre not at full speed during the soccer match on Saturday morning, the H9 and H7 models will be.
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