Samsung Electronics unveils another concept television set with this 30” AMOLED 3D TV with Full HD in Japan. Measuring just 2.5 mm thick, this TV set boasts of shutter-glasses technology which can help reduce the dizziness for some people who are still not used to 3D displays. No price has been bared for now but if you consider the features TV set, expect it to be costly!

(Source) Engadget

So I got to try out a Samsung UN55B6000 and even I have to admit that I was stunned by this one.  It’s a truly impressive hunk of television.

First, it’s got some plain old awesome specs on it.  it’s a fifty five inch 1080p LED television that includes Infolink feeds off your broadband connection (so in a really, really limited way, this is almost a net capable television, which is by itself a thing of beauty), four HDMI slots, one component slot, two USB ports, one Ethernet jack (for that Infolink setup), one PC input (use it as a monitor OR a netsurfer!) , and one optical digital audio output.

But it’s not just the specs that make this a fantastic system–it also features excellent picture and sound.  There weren’t even any artifacts in the colors or movement from distances as close as a foot, or at least, none that I noticed.  Of course, the normal Samsung control scheme is still in play, which I’m never happy about, but frankly, I’m beginning to even warm to that just a bit.  i still prefer my clear buttons and rocker switches, but I can understand why someone might enjoy the hidden controls.

At any rate, this is an excellent overall setup, but be prepared to pay for the excellence.  This sucker costs a whopping thirty four hundred bucks, depending on where you shop.  But it really is a magnificent set.

Today we’re going to talk about a little considered phenomenon that is unnecessarily costing you every month: the phantom load.  We’re also going to talk about what you need to do to get rid of this problem.

When you go to bed tonight, take a look around your house or apartment.  Look for all those little glowing LEDs–your chargers, your electronics in standby mode, all like this.  Everything with a glowing clock–that counts too. Your microwave, everything.  Those are all pulling power, and they’re all contributing to your power bill.  The question is, how many of these can you reasonably shut off?  You may not want to unplug those things with clocks–you’ll have to reset them every time you plug them back in.  Same goes for anything that has a clock but doesn’t display it.  Now, things like battery chargers might be a great place to start–your charger doesn’t need to run any time it’s not actually charging batteries.

If you take a quick look and figure out where your phantom loads are, you might be able to save some money.

Mitsubishi unveiled a monstrous 155” OLED TV at the CEATEC 2009 in Japan which should make ego-boasting home theater owners sheepishly shy away. The name of the game is “BIG” in the visual displays and it looks like the Mitsubisi 155” OLED TV has made all other products shrink in shame, at least for the moment. This 155” behemoth OLED TV is made of 720 modular sections which measures 4×4 inches. No word on pricing but for something this huge, expect the price to be gigantic as well!

(Source) Ubergizmo

OLED displays will be a real hit in the near future. We’ll probably see them in more and more big-screen TVs and all sorts of computers and laptops. Take this Rolltop laptop here for example. The whole thing can be rolled up neatly whenever not used. The laptop comes with a flexible multitouch OLED screen which can be adjusted to serve either a 17-inch flat screen or a 13-inch tablet. There aren’t enough details about this concept at this point but we would certainly love to see this baby in action. Did I say it can also be used as a TV?

via Orkin Design

That’s what the crew out at Contrarian Profits is calling, folks–you don’t hear too much about OLED (organic light emitting diodes) these days, mostly because it doesn’t seem to show up in much stuff at all.  But when you look at the transfer of power between the old tube television and the liquid crystal display, you discover that technology moves in cycles, and it’s about time for the OLED to cycle in.

Quoth the Contrarian:

Overall, the OLED display market will grow to $6.2 billion, according to DisplaySearch forecasts. Last year, the total OLED market was worth an estimated $600,000. As you can see, we are looking at exponential growth, with the mobile phone market leading the charge.

But OLED just won’t be part of mobile phones.  it’s going to have a piece of every touch screen and home theater display and everything in between.  The move is on–but be sure not to be an early adopter.  You’ve all seen, firsthand, how the price of LCD and plasma fell through the floor.  Wait a while and you’ll be buying OLED goodness at plasma prices.

Seems that Sacramento finally heard the massive hue and cry against the big screen TV legislation, because they’ve just released the final proposal, and the big screen TV ban is out of the picture.  Though, probably as a sop to the environmental lobby, they’ve reserved the option to come back later and restrict the sales, which will probably happen about the same time hell freezes over.

I can’t believe they actually thought they could get away with this one–if there’s one thing Americans love, it’s their TV. Trying to step in on truly shaky environmentalist grounds and declare that you can’t buy a certain size television because it’s not sufficiently “green” is the single dumbest thing I’ve heard.  This proposal was clown shoes from the very beginning, and at least now, it’s getting its just desserts from a firestorm of public hate-on that you can still see steaming over the San Fernando Valley.

Even the Santa Anas are scared of it.

So good job, Californians–way to blast your insane egomaniacal government back to the CRT age!

One of my favorite movies of all time is In the Mouth of Madness.  It’s a John Carpenter flick, features Sam Neill, and there’s this really awesome sequence where suddenly the entire world around Sam turns blue at the behest of an author with mysterious powers.  This sweet home theatre is a lot like that, only not as scary.

It’s called The Blue Lounge, with obvious reasons–there’s a low light level all around, plus a starfield in the ceiling, all adding up to a suggestion of twilight or even night outright.  But it’s not all about the intangibles in this setup; there’s plenty of choice tech in here too. There’s a JVC projector, B & W in-wall speakers (left, center, right), a 103″ Vutec screen, a Crestron MC2W control system and an ML-600 handheld remote.

The really great part about this setup is that all the electronics, with the exception of the remote, are hidden, so it’s almost as though the movies just spring to life out of thin air.  All of this adds up to be one sweet home theatre setup.

This is a question I’ve been asked a few times by folks looking at a projector for their home theatre plans versus those more interested in a TV, be it LCD, LED or plasma.  So for the benefit of those folks who asked–and those who would have asked but didn’t think to–allow me to present a brief primer on LCD and DLP projectors.

LCD, or Liquid Crystal Display, projectors operate much like an older television, but writ large.  An LCD has three separate panels, one in red, one in green, and one in blue.  The three then combine to create a single image with all the various hues involved in the picture.

DLP, or Digital Light Processing, uses just ONE chip to generate the necessary mixing of reds and greens and blues by using the DLP chip’s tiny mirrors and a color wheel of filters to produce the shot.

Now, DLP generally does the job more efficiently than LCD, producing a sharper, clearer image, but some people can actually detect the individual colors used in a DLP image.  This results in eye strain, so if you’re thinking about going with a DLP projector (which is smaller, lighter, and usually a better buy than the LCD) you’ll want to see it in action first to make sure you don’t get the eye strain.

Yes, I know, no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes you’ve just got to suck it up and deal with it.  After all, you come here for no holds barred unvarnished commentary, news and advice, so I’m glad to be the one to dish it out.  It’s not always pleasant but it’s usually necessary.

1. The gear you buy today is either already obsolete or will be within days.

That’s the nature of the beast, folks–you’ll find a better deal on better components before you’ve put the hundredth hour on your home theatre setup.  There’s just no two ways about it.

2. Just because the picture looks great in the store doesn’t mean it’ll look good at home.

The TVs that you see in the store–even the projector images–are specifically set up for that store.  You’ve got to consider that, especially if you’re shopping the big box store, you’re in a huge cavernous space.  The light levels, the sound flow, everything will look (and sound!) different between there and there.

3. Something will go wrong.

Sorry perfectionists in the crowd, something’s going to go wrong and it’s going to do so a lot sooner than you expected, too.  That new 1080p you bought has MILLIONS of pixels, and the chances of one of them dying are really REALLY good.  Like almost certain good.  So chances are your magnificent five thousand dollar set will lose a teeny-tiny chunk of the screen within the first few weeks.

And there’s your bad news feed for the day–don’t worry; it can only get better from here.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true…you really can see the difference with an LED TV.  At least you can see the difference with the Sharp Aquos LC40LE700UN.

The Sharp Aquos LC40LE700UN is a forty inch LED TV with 1080p processing, four HDMI ports, a PC input jack, an RS-232C input and the proprietary Sharp Ultra Brilliant LED system.

This is an absolutely beautiful picture, folks.  It’s unbelievably crystalline clear, there’s just not enough good I can say about that picture.  I was tempted to reach my hand through the screen on several occasions.  And the sound is nicely done too, though I don’t believe any TV’s sound quality can match the picture quality this one was putting out.  The tech just isn’t there.

Despite that, however, the Sharp Aquos LC40LE700UN is an excellent quality TV that’s actually completely worth the fourteen hundred bucks they’re charging for one of these monsters.  If you can find one, and you’re cool with dropping four figures on a television, then this is exactly what you need.

Not only are Californians sputtering over the recent push to ban the big screen, but local businesses are also weighing in.  Their own quotes speak for themselves very nicely, but from Los Angeles to San Francisco, home theatre and electronics retailers are firing back and hopping mad.  Check out what they had to say, straight from their own mouths:

LOS ANGELES: “This regulation is a bad idea in a good economy and a horrible idea in a recession. With Los Angeles facing nearly 13 percent unemployment — why is the state pursuing this costly and harmful regulation?” — Steve Caldero, Ken Crane Big Screen Headquarters

MONTEREY: “It’s ironic that the California Energy Commission is targeting one of the few bright spots in the economy. Televisions remain an affordable and convenient entertainment option for cash-strapped families.” — David Hearn, Carvid Systems Inc.

SACRAMENTO: “Why is the California Energy Commission proposing such a harmful regulation, especially when the state is suffering the worst unemployment rates since World War II?” — Charlie Martinez, Elk Grove Home Theater

SAN DIEGO: “What we need during these tough economic times is for the state to remove road blocks for small businesses like mine, not add more.” — Shawn Worst, Evolution Home Theatre, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO: “With San Francisco facing nearly 10 percent unemployment, why is the California Energy Commission proposing a regulation that will ultimately drive jobs and tax revenues online or into nearby states like Oregon and Nevada?” — Barry O’Brian, Performance Audi

And these are just the tip of the iceberg.  Generally, when unemployment’s down and the economy’s souring, it’s a bad idea to pass restrictions on what people can and can’t buy.  Given that seventy to seventy five percent of the United States economy is consumer driven, the best way to recovery is to give the consumer lots of choices and plenty of cash to shop with.  Cut taxes and ease regulation when it comes to getting products to market.  We can worry about the environment later–we’ve done it this long….

What you see above are some Lego characters starting in awe at a glass jar. However, what’s actually in the glass jar is what’s important. Kodak has recently used this promo picture to let the world know that they are working on underwater OLED displays.

As of now, they are in their early stages of development but who’s to say in a few years we won’t be seeing underwater home theaters?

Crazy? Yes. Practical? No. Going to happen? Probably.

via oled-display

It was only a few days ago that we first heard of LG’s 15-inch OLED HDTV and that time we knew nothing of a release date or price point.

Today, however, LG has let us know that their 15-inch OLED HDTV will go on sale in South Korea this November and in other markets sometime in 2010. As for a price, well unfortunately we still don’t have anything to go by other than the “ridiculously priced” rumor we heard about with the products unveiling.

via engadget

There is a stiff price to pay for technology and that is what most critics are expecting as far as the LG 15” OLED monitor is concerned. It looks quite impressive and you bet that for such a work of art, the price will not be cost-friendly.

As Engadget puts it, “It will most likely follow the footsteps of the Sony 11” XEL-1”. In case you didn’t know, that product was priced ridiculously in Europe. With the recession sparing no one, only a handful of people (expectedly techie geeks) may consider purchasing a $3,000 plus monitor.

And though it has not yet been shared, the LG 15” OLED screen is expected to follow the same route. It looks impressive with the various pictures thrown on the web but reality check people, the price may not be ideal during these hard times.

(Source) Engadget

IFA 2009 is just around the corner and already we have companies coming forth to tell us what we can except. LG in particular has recently let us know that they will be focusing on putting their AMOLED TV offerings on display at this year’s IFA.

What’s more is LG exec Won Kim went on record of saying that their 15-inch OLED HDTV has been in production since early summer and is expected to hit store shelves in December of 2009.

via oled-display

If you’ve been holding out to purchase one of Sony’s new OLED TVs, you better look elsewhere as recent supports suggest the company is likely to delay the release of such TVs.

If you didn’t know, Sony was planning to launch a larger OLED TV to go along with their already released 11″ model sometime towards the end of 2009. Well, it seems that due to the fact that Sony’s TV business has lost money for the 6th straight year the company is forced to delay any further OLED TVs until next year.

This is quite the unfortunate news considering the beauty captured on an OLED display. Let’s hope Sony gets their stuff together and gets their OLED TVs out sooner rather than later.

Read (WSJ)

When will LG launch the first OLED screen you ask? We have an answer for you and it looks like it’s December 2009. This first LG 15-inch OLED screen is already being produced so by December we should see it out in the wild. There’s nothing official just yet so we don’t exactly know how much one will cost. But according to a senior LG staffer, an OLED panel will “cost double, if not triple, the price of an LCD panel.” And let’s not forget that LG might make all these OLED displays for Apple so we’re not exactly sure how these new OLED displays will be used. Will we see 15-inch OLED monitors or will the panels be used in the next generation of MacBooks?

via OLED-Display

Samsung unveils a new online campaign, “Painting with Lights with Samsung LED TV”, a memory puzzle competition that is tied up with their new online campaign. The contest is quite simple. Just remember the proper sequence of flashing LED lights and recreate an image of the memory.

But this is not just about how good your memory is. The sweetener is the prizes that are at stake. Winners of the competition can get the chance to win a HMX-105BP SSD Full-HD Camcorder, an i8910 HD Video-Recording Mobile Phone or a N120 Mini Notebook.

The competition is open until August 20 for citizens and permanent residents of Singapore only.

(Source) Press

If you were hoping to get a big OLED TV from LG soon then we have some bad news for you. The company has decided to postpone the launch of a 30-inch OLED display to 2012. The company said earlier that it intended to produce 32-inch OLED TVs in 2011 but it looks like that won’t be happening now. What’s the matter LG? Isn’t life that good anymore? Is the economy killing you?

That means for us that we can try the 15-inch OLED TV coming from LG in December. After that you’ll have about three years to test it out before having to decide on whether to buy or not to buy LG’s future 30-inch OLED TV.

via OLED-Display