Top 5 HD LCD Screens for Spring 2009

1.		Samsung LE32A436T – 32” Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV – With Freeview by Samsung £329.99
2.		Toshiba 37XV555DB – 37″ Widescreen 1080P Full HD LCD TV – With Freeview by Toshiba £459.99
3.		Toshiba 19DV555DB – 19″ Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV/DVD Combi with Freeview – Glossy Black by Toshiba £289.99 £199.99
4.		Samsung LE19R86 – 19” Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV – With Freeview – Black by Samsung £189.95
5.		Sony KDL-26V4000 – 26″ Widescreen HD Ready Bravia LCD TV – With Freeview by Sony £379.99

KDL52V5500U 52-inch Widescreen Full HD LCD TV

Product Features

• 52″ Full 1080p HD LCD Screen
• 1920 x 1080 Resolution
• Eco Settings with Light Sensor
• USB Media Player
• 4 x HDMI Scokets
• Dynamic Contrast of 60,000:1 to deliver high levels of detail in darker scenes
• DLNA technology to share your multimedia content with DLNA certified devices in your home network
• USB Media Player allows easy access to photos, music and video through your TV
• AppliCast™ allows you to view internet information while watching television

Manufacturer’s Description

A BRAVIA LCD TV is no ordinary television. Design is sleeker, pictures are brighter, details clearer. All BRAVIA televisions are HD Ready as a minimum, with up to 4 HDMI connections, and come with an integrated digital tuner so there is no need for a set-top box to view Freeview TV and radio channels. Most of the BRAVIA LCD TVs feature BRAVIA Sync technology, it takes just one button to turn on your entire Sony home entertainment system, while XrossMediaBar helps you navigate your TV easily with its best-in-class menu screen. After all advanced technology should simply mean technology that does more for you.

Packed with the latest Sony technology, the BRAVIA V5500 lets you experience HD entertainment in all its glory. BRAVIA ENGINE 3 digital processing delivers excellent image quality, with vivid colours and sharper edges. It’s DLNA-enabled, allowing it to become the hub of a home network of other compatible devices, so you can enjoy all your music, video and pictures on a whole new level. Meanwhile, a built-in USB Media Player enables you to connect other devices to your TV screen. Plus you can use the AppliCast™ feature to check on-screen RSS feeds of news and other information while you’re watching your favourite programmes.

The Sony Bravia range really is fantastic. High definition screens are now available at very affordable prices. With high contrast ratios, options to access media files via USB and new AppliCast technology that combines the internet with your television, these are the future of home entertainment.

Product Details:

Packed with Toshiba’s own Active Vision LCD processing power, this 37 inch LCD TV instantly gives you Freeview with an eight-day TV guide. This gloss black screen is also HD Ready, so you can attach the latest hi-def equipment. Main Features:2 x HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface is an all-digital audio/video interface capable of transmitting uncompressed streams. HDMI provides an interface between any compatible digital audio/video source and video monitor

Visit our Amazon store to purchase today.

Sony is the backer of Blu-Ray, and Toshiba backed HD DVD. However, to mark its defeat, Toshiba has stopped producing HD DVD players in February 2008, and it is likely that all other manufacturers will follow suit quickly, so that they can start developing Blu-Ray machines.

Toshiba has suffered as a result of this already, as it has had to lower its full-year profit forecast by 30%. Toshiba has also suffered a reduction in demand for its Nand memory chips, which are used in digital cameras, mobile phones and portable music players. Maybe the move to hard drive format is hitting Toshiba hard.

So, Blu-Ray has won the format wars. Already there are PC Blu-Ray players on the market for as little as GBP115.00, or GBP226.00 for home cinema Blu-Ray players, such as the Sony BDP-S300 – Blu-Ray DVD Player. This low-end Blu-Ray players allows you to enter the world of high-definition. This DVD player reads Blu-Ray discs and offers a 1080p Upscaling function via its HDMi connection, so you can enjoy sensational images that are unbelievably realistic. The HDMi port also delivers uncompressed 7.1 sound. The BDP-S300 player is equipped with x.v. Colour technology to improve colour quality as well as a Bravia Theatre Sync processor for perfect sound and image restitution on your HD ready or Full HD TV. The BDP-S300 also includes Dolby Digital and DTS audio decoders, ushering you into a new era of audiovisual entertainment!

So, time to sell those DVD’s on eBay while there is still a market, and start building your Blu-Ray Collection.

So, what is new in small screens? Philip’s’ High-definition LCD WXGA+ display 1440 x 900p

This WXGA+ display with state-of-the-art LCD screen technology gives you widescreen HD resolution of 1440 x 900p pixels. It produces brilliant flicker-free progressive scan pictures with optimum brightness and superb colours. This vibrant and sharp image will provide you with an enhanced viewing experience.

HD ready for the highest quality display of HDTV signals

Enjoy the exceptional picture quality of a true High Definition TV signal and be fully prepared for HD sources like HDTV broadcast, Blu-ray DVD or HDVD. HD ready is a protected label that offers picture quality beyond that of progressive scan. It conforms to strict standards laid out by EICTA to offer a HD screen that displays the benefits of resolution and picture quality of a High Definition TV signal. It has a universal connection for both analogue YPbPr and uncompressed Digital connection of DVI or HDMI, supporting HDCP. It can display 720p, and 1080i signals at 50 and 60Hz.

Crystal Clear III for natural images with enhanced quality

Crystal Clear III combines a whole range of enhancements to provide a better picture. They include a 2D Comb filter, Dynamic contrast, blue stretch and green enhancement so that you always get the most natural looking colours.

Progressive Scan component video for optimised image quality

Progressive Scan doubles the vertical resolution of the image resulting in a noticeably sharper picture. Instead of sending a field comprising the odd lines to the screen first, followed by the field with the even lines, both fields are written at one time. A full image is created instantaneously, using the maximum resolution. At such a speed, your eye perceives a sharper picture with no line structure.

Incredible Surround for enhanced audio enjoyment

Incredible Surround is an audio technology from Philips that dramatically magnifies the sound field to immerse you in the audio. Using state-of-the-art electronic phase shifting, Incredible Surround mixes sounds from left and right in such a way that it expands the virtual distance between the two speakers. This wider spread greatly enhances the stereo effect and creates a more natural sound dimension. Incredible Surround allows you to experience total surround with greater depth and width of sound, without the use of additional speakers.

Compact and slim design that fits in every room

This design style emphasises a slim, compact look that saves space and fits in anywhere.
1000 page Hypertext for instant fast access to teletext

The teletext is a common system transmitted by most broadcasters. The 1000 page smart text feature gives you extremely fast access to information when changing pages.

HDMI for full digital High Definition connection

HDMI makes an uncompressed digital RGB connection from the source to the screen. By eliminating conversion to an analogue signal, it delivers an unblemished image. The non-degraded signal reduces flicker and leads to a clearer picture. HDMI intelligently communicates the highest output resolution with the source device. The HDMI input is fully backward compatible with DVI sources but includes digital audio. HDMI uses HDCP copy protection.

PC input lets you also use your TV as a PC monitor. With PC input you can connect your TV to a computer and use the TV as a PC monitor.

Amazon review: Say goodbye to clutter with the DCR-SR32 from Sony! Equipped with a 30 GB hard drive, the DCR-SR32 lets you record over 20 hours of digital video in three different quality modes, while its 800,000-pixel CCD sensor, renowned Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens and 40x optical zoom make sure your recordings come out sharp and clear each and every time. The DCR-SR32 is really easy to use and has a 2.5? LCD screen, as well as 10 scene modes that adapt to any situation. You can even film in VGA resolution and save your creations directly to a Memory Stick Duo memory card, while its USB 2.0 connection transfers your films to your computer for easy editing. The high-performance and user-friendly DCR-SR32 lets you capture life?s best moments, without the clutter of tapes or DVDs!

Manufacturer’s Description:

DCRSR32 Hard Disk Drive Handycam
Ideal for everyone who’s on the move, the DCRSR32 offers an impressively long recording
time and longer battery STAMINA – without the hassle of carrying extra tapes.

Imation and Verbatim have announced the availabiility of blank 8cm Blu-ray discs. The discs have a capacity of 7.5GB, and can store an hour of 1920×1080i video, or two hours of 1440×1080i. Two versions are available: BD-R is a one-shot recording medium, while BD-RE is erasable and rewritable.
Source: whathifi.com

If you cannot decide which format to go for, and you like to record home cinema as well as watch films, then maybe Blu-ray is the best option with the availability of Blu-ray camcorders.

	Sony HDR-SR5E 40GB High Definition Camcorder Buy new: £574.98 Usually dispatched within 24 hours
	Sony HDR-SR7E 60GB High Definition Camcorder Buy new: £759.99 Usually dispatched within 24 hours

Last week saw the HD DVD group proudly announcing that sales of HD DVD hardware have outstripped sales of Blu-ray hardware by three-to-one in Europe’s main markets so far this year. But surprise surprise, the Blu-ray camp isn’t prepared to take that lying down.

The Blu-ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee has reacted by saying that the HD DVD camp’s claims are ‘misleading and misrepresentative of the real and clear market trends in Europe’. Ouch. For while HD DVD does indeed have the sales advantage in the standalone player market for what the Blu-ray camp describe slightly amusingly as ’several reasons’, if you look at the HD market as a whole things aren’t so simple. In other words, in the PC HD market, Blu-ray is apparently outselling HD DVD by two to one from a total sales figure of 24000 units so far in 2007. Plus the HD DVD claims didn’t include the Blu-ray sporting PS3, and when you factor that into the equation, the Blu-ray camp reckons its format actually accounts for almost 96 per cent of all next generation hardware sales. Source: Homecinemachoice

Samsung BD-P1000 – Blu Ray 1080P DVD Player £394.95	Toshiba HD-E1 HD DVD High Definition DVD Pl… £199.00	LiteOn HD-A760GX 250GB Hard Drive, Dual For…

Time will tell who comes out on top, but if we hark back the the Betamax v’s VHS v’s Video2000 wars, experience tells us that this battle could well go on for some time. Best not to wait for the victor if you want hi-def video, just pick one of the two. Toss a coin if need be. Check which films are available on each format, see which players are by preferred brands etc. It is unlikely that either Blu-ray or HD DVD will fail in the immediate future, so risk is minimal in the short to medium term (i.e. over the next 5 years). So dive in, and go Hi-Def today!

Panasonic TH-42PX700 – 42″ Widescreen Viera HD Ready Plasma TV – With Freeview, From Panasonic.

Once you decide that you’re ready for a large-screen TV, you quickly discover that you only really have two main options – a plasma TV or an LCD TV. Plasma TVs were first on the scene, but the recent mass production of LCD TVs by major manufactures has put LCD TVs pretty much on equal footing with plasmas. That said, you will still have to make a choice.

If you’re like most people, you not only have no idea how the two differ, you don’t even know the areas you should be considering in order to determine how they differ. But they do indeed differ, and knowing the difference is extremely important if you’re going to get the TV that’s right for you.

You can essentially boil the differences between plasmas and LCDs into twelve basic points. In some areas, plasmas will win out. In other areas, LCDs will win out. In yet other areas, it will depend on your own personal taste in order to decide who wins out.

The twelve ways plasma TVs and LCD TVs differ are the following:

The first is a technical issue, and may seem a little boring, but it really does affect other areas. Plasmas TVs are made of chemical compounds called phosphors. LCD TVs use millions of liquid crystals.

The next section is related to how big the TVs are and the availability of larger sizes. You have a wider selection of larger-size TVs with plasmas (though LCDs are catching up).

The next section is “small size,” which is also important. Plasmas don’t come in smaller sizes, which you will need for places like the kitchen.

Next is viewing angle. Plasmas tend to have a wider viewing angle (though, again, LCDs are catching up).

Although the manufacturers may not like to admit it, each “can” suffer from certain problems. Plasmas can suffer from burn-in effect; LCDs don’t.

Another problem area, but for LCDs, is “delay.” LCDs can produce a jagged figure when in motion. Plasmas tend to do better. HDTV improves this dramatically for both.

The next area is life span. You can replace the light source with an LCD, thereby bringing your original picture back. With plasmas you can’t.

In the next few sections, the theme of “picture quality” is considered. First, color: LCDs produce sharp, lively colors. Plasmas produce warmer and more accurate colors.

Next is brightness levels and the TVs ability to handle different lighting. LCDs tend to do better in bright-light conditions

Also related to picture quality is “black levels.” Plasmas tend to produce blacker blacks.

Another area to consider is contrast range. Plasmas, “technically,” produce a higher contrast range.

Last, and certainly not least, is price. At the moment, plasmas tend to run a little cheaper, but this is changing rapidly as LCDs flood into the market. By the time you read this, in fact, there may be no difference at all.

Essentially, which one is right for you will all comes down to taste: What potential negatives will you not really notice? What positives do you want more of? What do you really want the TV for – movies, sports, news, regular TV shows? Both plasmas and LCDs have strong advocates in their corners. Both have deliriously happy customers. But those happy customers are only happy because they knew what they wanted before they made their purchase. If you want to make the right choice, you’ll have to decide what it is you want and which of the two TVs can best give you that.

About the Author:
Plasma vs. LCD TVs: To learn more about these two technologies and how your own personal tastes and viewing habits will affect your choice, read the full report at http://www.plasma-vs-lcd.com . You might also be surprised to learn that plasma TVs are like peanut butter and LCD TVs are like jelly. Yes, really. Read the report.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

SED TV combines both yesterday and today’s technologies to give the video viewer the very best of both worlds. For example SED TV uses one electron gun per pixel as opposed to just one electron gun. Since the electrons don’t have to travel as far, less power is needed. Moreover, since the electrons are so close to the display surface, the SED TV is much slimmer than the CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube).

SED Inc. hopes to launch the SED TV set in stores sometime this year but won’t reach maximum production goals until 2010. Still, 2007 may bring SED TV out of the emerging spotlight and into most stores.

One of the hopeful competitors to SED TV, and also using less power than the traditional LCD is OLED (Organic Light- Emitting Diode). OLED technology is a thin film light-emitting diode (LED) intended primarily as picture elements in practical display devices.

Eastman-Kodak developed small molecule OLED. Since OLEDS can be printed onto any suitable substrate using inkjet technology, they can have a lower cost than LCDs or plasma displays.

Still, we are likely to see SED TV sets before we would an OLED display. The biggest technical problem left to overcome for the OLED technology has been the limited lifetime of the organic materials. Particularly, current materials used as blue OLEDs typically have lifetimes of around 1,000 hours when used for flat panel displays, which is lower than typical lifetimes of LCD or plasma technology.

But that’s not the only reason we’ll be shopping for SED TVs first. Another concern for OLED technology, the intrusion of water into displays can damage or destroy the organic materials. Therefore, improved sealing methods are important for practical manufacturing and may limit the endurance of more flexible displays.

Another would be competitor to the SED TV technology is FED (Field Emission Display), which also has not as yet reached commercialization. FED is a flat-panel display technology that uses a grid of tiny cathodes for image generation. Sony is researching FED because some believe it is the flat-panel technology that comes closest to matching the picture of CRT.

FEDs were invented more than 20 years ago. The problem with FEDs is efficiency. To get enough electrons to produce adequate light, you cause internal destruction of the emission layer. Reflected electrons poison the layer. The destruction begins with burn-in effects and eventually progresses to complete breakdown of the structure. These obstacles have caused the downfall of most FED efforts but variants of the technology still appear from time to time because many companies are still striving for new ways to compete with LCDs.

If Canon and Toshiba, i.e. SED Inc., has their way, OLED and FED technology laborers will soon be referring to SED TV as their competition in the flat-panel display industry as SED TV sets are sure to be in some stores before Christmas 2007.