My friends! IFA is beginning to take off, and I finally had a few minutes to grab some photos of some that Panasonic hotness I mentioned yesterday.
Behold, Vieracast. Like I said, it’s sorta like Dashboard for Mac OS X. The screen is filled with a bunch of non-moving widgets that show the weather, stocks, etc. It’s not really a huge deal, but it’s something that many TV manufacturers are starting to include.
And that TV in the gallery is the prototype NeoPDP, the “slim” one. Yeah, sure, it’s slim, but damn near every HDTV is slim these days. (More on that tomorrow, I think.) Again, the NeoPDP technology is still, let’s say, in beta, so it’ll be a while before we see anything like that at a Best Buy or anything.
Also, I’m thinking of going around to all the big booths—Sony, Samsung, LG, etc.—and doing a little of that Photosynth magic. Then you’d get an idea of just how overbearing this can be.
Delta Electronics took the IFA global stage and announced the companies first LED-powered DLP projector. The initial specs sound good – expect one, keep reading – 1080p, large color gamut, and 20,000 hours on the LED unit. The company didn’t announce pricing yet, but it will be at CEDIA next week so I’ll hit ‘em up with some questions then.
Before I ask about price though, I want to know the brightness in terms of lumens. It curiously wasn’t announced and that one spec is the reason major projector players haven’t produced LED models yet. LED units tend to last longer than metal halide bulbs, but they also tend to not be as bright. Hear me right though, I’m not dogging the projector just yet, as I would love to see a demonstration and receive a full white paper on the unit before I do.
Delta via i4u
Blu-ray player launches are getting kind of commonplace. Really, the only spec I am looking for right now is BD-Live and yes, both the Panasonic DMP-BD35 and BD55 are equipped with it. Of course, both players also have HDMI, proprietary video processing, and a sleek, modern design. As far as pricing, European high-fi guys can pick up the BD35 for €399 and the BD55 for €499. Chances are that when these players launch next week at CEDIA though, we here in the States will see a similar figure just with a dollar sign in front. You just wait and see.
via Akihabaranews
Green is still a buzzword worth marketing and Toshiba is showing off its environment friendly products at this years IFA. The companies LCD power consumption is being slashed by 20% over ‘06 model levels and are more of the flat panel displays are LED backlit. By 2010, Toshiba will no longer be manufacturing incandescent lamps and thus cutting CO2 emissions even more. The Portégé R500 series of notebook PCs even receive some ‘green’ upgrades too and are now producing 69g less CO2 than the 2650 Dynabook model. Lastly, Toshiba’s amazing 90-recharged-in-less-than-five-minutes-SCiB battery rounds up the tree hugging coverage.
I am all for so-called Green technology as long as it doesn’t hinder other breakthroughs. Agreed?
PR
Philips has expanded its Active Crystals product line with a few new items. Above you see Naughty Raymond and Happy Laura, two cute accessories for your digital life. Simply pull off their heads to reveal the 2 GB USB key buried within.
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High-end HDTVs have featured internal upscalling tech for a while now, generally garnishing higher prices because of it, but now Toshiba is bringing the goods to the masses. The companies latest LCD lineup, called ZF, sports Tosbiba’s homegrown Cell processor and some proprietary picture enhancing tech labeled Resolution+. When the two of them combine forces, they should produce a sharper and clearer image.
Both the 40-inch (40ZF575D) and 45-inch (46ZF575D) models are destined for a European release shortly. They both spec out with 1080p screens, 30,000:1 contrast ratio, 6ms response, and four HDMI inputs. In good ‘ol IFA fashion today, no word on price just yet.
via PR & Engadget
I’m here at IFA in Berlin, a stone’s throw away from my temporary base of operations in Barcelona. The show itself—think CES, just run by a bunch of well-dressed Europeans—starts this weekend, but a few companies are having hip-hip hooray press conferences a bit early, announcing new products then quickly putting them back behind a curtain, saying how great they are, etc. Panasonic did as much today, showing off a few items that might interest you.
First up, a 58-inch “neo PDP” plasma TV that’s only 1-inch thick. (Neo-PDP is an unreleased, next generation plasma technology that’s twice as efficient as current plasma TVs. Power consumption is cut in half, cabinet profiles can be reduced, etc. Everyone wins.) It’s still only a prototype, so Panasonic’s not talking release dates or prices quite yet. Basically, it was an opportunity for the Panasonic guy to hold up a €2 coin to demonstrate how thin the TV is.
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And the IFA 2008 news keeps rolling along with an ultra-thin LCD from Sharp that’s 2.3cm thick. The 100Hz AQUOS XS1 will be available in 52- and 65-inch sets and features 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 6ms response time. The latest AQUOS display is full HD and comes equipped with a detachable 2.1-channel speaker system.
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The Philips Essence is a television that is only 38 millimeters thick. It has a 100Hz display that provides a 2 millisecond response time. At only 36 pounds, it is ideal for wall mounting and even includes a self-leveling mounting kit so you won’t need to venture into Home Depot.
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At IFA 2008, Philips announced the CinemaOne, an all-in-one home theater system. It’s targeted at smaller rooms — bedrooms, dorm rooms, etc — where a full-blown theater system is unlikely to fit. The CinemaOne is the little brother to Philip’s fancy SoundBar, and includes their new FullSound technology to produce a surround sound experience with fewer speakers.
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It’s just a matter of time before Blu-ray all-in-one systems hit the street. Sony’s BDV-IT1000 seems like a killer system even though AV guys will scoff due to the all-in-one moniker. I believe the two HDMI inputs, wireless rear channels, 1080p24 along with Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support rounds out this system nicely. We all know the proprietary pitfalls that come with these systems, but they work out to be great deals for many consumers. No word on a US price or availability but you can bet your Target card that this system will find its way over here.
PR
On display at IFA — though sadly not yet out of the research labs — is a new flat panel television display that is a whopping 8 millimeters thick. That’s about the thickness of a Euro coin, for those with Euros handy to use as a reference. In the image above, you can see the support bracket at the bottom, and you can see the front and back of the unit reflected in mirrors at each side. What you can barely see in the middle of the picture is the display itself! The guts of the television live within the pedastal upon which the super-slim display sits. No word yet when this will be brought into a product that you and I can buy.
LED LUX is the name of the technology in the new 42PFL9803 television unveiled by Philips today that uses LED backlighting to produce more natural black colors. With individual dimming control over 128 areas, LED LUX produces blacks that compete with plasma televisions, with a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
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Sony wants to be the number one TV company by the year 2010. To that end, they’ve announced three sexy new products today at IFA.
The Bravia EX-1 PictureFrame television is a wall-mountable LCD television that utilizes wireless HDMI to reduce cables going to your set. It’s designed to look good on your wall, as though a piece of art. The wireless HDMI has a range of about 30 meters, so you can tuck that little white box under the couch or in the closet.
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Word “got out” a few days ago that Griffin has revised its iTrip line of FM transmitters for the iPod. First up was the iTrip Universal, which, shockingly, works with any device with a 3.5mm audio jack. Second up is the iTrip Auto, which is being showed off right now at IFA in Berlin.
Griffin says it’s been redesigned from “the ground up,” which is fair to say. That is, it looks really different than the previous model.
The functionality is largely the same: you hook it up to your iPod, then it transmits The Game’s LAX (”Bulletproof Diaries” is the best West Coast hip hop song in quite some time) or whatever to your car’s stereo while simultaneously charging your iPod.
If you have a car and an iPod this is probably the iTrip to get.
She should start showing up in stores in next month for around $60.
Our roving cub reporter Scott Merrill is live in Amsterdam at the Philips Research labs. His first report is on the HomeLab.
The HomeLab at the Philips research center is a model home built to test and monitor real-world response to prototype technology. Thirty cameras and microphones record subjects as they use and interact with products for the home; then researches review the recordings to refine the products. The living room is currently configured to demonstrate ambX (pronounced “ambiex”), the successor to AmbiLight, which extends the accent lighting from around the television to throughout the room.
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