Tom Norton

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Tom Norton  |  Jan 08, 2008  |  0 comments

Pioneer’s current Kuro plasmas may be the hot ticket this year, but there’s more in store. It isn’t sure when we’ll see the result of the company’s latest design effort, the Extreme Contrast Concept, in stores. I’m hoping for this time next year, because this is what we have all been waiting for: blacks as dark and rich as the very best CRTs of the past. No, not <I>as</I> good. Even better.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 06, 2008  |  Published: Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

Blame Sony's Chief Boss Howard Stringer for commenting that OLED sounds like a Norse god. But it's not. It's an ultra flat display technology with an inherently outstanding black level. Last year, Sony showed a number of small 11-inch models, together with a slightly larger prototype. The display was essentially the same this year, except that the design has been refined and the 11-incher is actually on sale now for $2500. OLED is currently expensive to manufacturer in larger screen sizes, and reportedly has a shorter life than LCD and plasma displays. But the pictures on these small screens sure looked fantastic.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 06, 2008  |  Published: Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

The crowds were overflowing at the Samsung press event. We couldn't even get in. But according to Samsung's press kit the company will be releasing a new dedicated Blu-ray player, the BDP-1500, in June. Reportedly, it can output both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream form. (Ditto for DTS-HD High Resolution as well&mdash;though we are unaware of any Blu-ray discs that use this audio format.)

Tom Norton  |  Jan 06, 2008  |  Published: Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

Fresh from flooring virtually everyone (apart from the competition) with its latest line of Kuro flat panel plasma displays, Pioneer is showing two new concept displays at the show: a future design that offers even better blacks, and a new, super-flat model.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 06, 2008  |  Published: Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

LG announced a slew of new LCD displays. These include wireless models, some with ISFccc calibration memories, and a 1.7" deep, LGX Super Slim design. But the potential all-stars are in LGs 75 range, with ISFccc, 120 Hz operation, and a claimed 100,000:1 contrast ratio courtesy of local dimming from 128 LED backlights.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 06, 2008  |  Published: Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

Sharp announced the construction of a new 10th generation LCD plant in Sakai City, Japan, a huge facility on 314 acres of land, 30 times the area of Yankee Stadium. The mother glass that this plant can handle will be 1.6 times the size of that produced in the current Kamayama plant. Each 10th gen mother glass can be cut into six 60" displays, eight 50", or fifteen 40", greatly increasing production efficiency.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 06, 2008  |  Published: Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

We were all wondering how Toshiba would deal at its press conference with the recent news about Warner going Blu-ray exclusive. The answer: to their great credit they made clear their disappointment with the news, admitted that it had been a difficult week for them, but still expressed their belief that HD DVD offered the consumer the best combination of value and performance. However this all pans out, they handled it as well as could possibly be expected.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  2 comments

And here's another one.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments

As always, there are manufacturers trying to make a splash in the huge US television market. We wish them luck.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 05, 2008  |  0 comments

Every year the press corps gets some sort of bag or other as SWAG (Stuff We All Get&mdash;though probably not Stuff). I have so many of them I could almost furnish an army. I'm sure it was too late this year to change the embroidery.

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