LATEST ADDITIONS

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

In the large-screen category, Toshiba has plenty to show. The XV645 series includes 40-, 46-, and 52-inch models that will be available in May. All are 120Hz and include Toshiba's Resolution Plus, which used to be called SRT and does a very creditable job upscaling standard-def to 1080p.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

Sharp has two new Blu-ray players, the BD-HP16U ($279, lower left) and 22U ($299, lower right). Both are BD-Live capable, and the 22U comes with 2GB of memory—I got conflicting stories as to whether that memory is internal or an included memory stick. Both also implement Aquos Pure Mode, which automatically sets things like aspect ratio depending on the content in current and future Sharp TVs.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

Tucked away in one corner of the Sharp booth is a new single-chip, 1080p DLP projector, the XV-Z15000, which will sell for a mere $3000 starting in March. It has Sharp's VyperDrive, which bypasses the video processor for gaming, but it doesn't have anamorphic capabilities or, more importantly, lens shift, which makes placement more difficult.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

The new E77 series of 120Hz LCDs from Sharp include 40-, 46-, 52, and 65-inch models, all with the new Super Lucent Advanced Super View panels (say that three times fast!) that are said to improve contrast while reducing glare.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

Yet another concept demo in the Hitachi booth was called Super Resolution, which interpolates new pixels on a frame-by-frame basis to increase an image's resolution. The split-screen demo was very impressive, as shown here.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

Among the many interesting concept areas in Hitachi's booth was the gestural remote control. By waving your hands in various simple gestures, you can control the volume, change the channel, dim the lights, and other tasks, and the onscreen user interface is simple and attractive. The system uses a 3D camera and infrared beams to sense your gestures. It felt a bit awkward at first, but I believe I could get the hang of it eventually.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

Perhaps the most highlighted section of Hitachi's booth is called Style Unlimited, in which the current Ultra Thin TVs are wrapped in various designer frames, including the gold-leaf pictured here. The gold leaf was applied by a company called Hakuichi, one of the most famous in Japan for this skill. Hitachi had several people in the booth asking attendees which designs they preferred to gather data on the US market. Some of the designs were way cool and very beautiful, but I always prefer a black bezel that calls as little attention to itself as possible, and I said so to the pollster. However, I realize that I'm quite geeky and many Joe the (insert occupation here) types might really like this idea.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2009

Sure enough, Hitachi is demonstrating wireless HDMI using ADI's JPEG2000 codec and UWB wireless transmission. The LCD TV is the current Ultra Thin model with an outboard input/tuner/processor box (on the floor) whose output is connected to a transmitter (on the riser next to the box) that sends the signal to a receiver (mounted on the TV's pedestal), which is connected to the TV's HDMI input. The picture looked fine to me under less-than-ideal conditions.

uavGary Altunian  |  Jan 10, 2009

RBH Sound showed its new high performance Signature Series speakers, dubbed the 8300-SE and the reference version, the 8300-SE/R. The 8300-SE features three 8-inch aluminum cone subwoofers, two 6.5-inch mid-bass drivers and 1-inch soft dome tweeter. The 8300-SE/R, shown in the photo has upgraded 6.5-inch mid-bass drivers with a phase plug, a liquid-cooled Scanspeak silk dome tweeter and a modified crossover network resulting in increased power handling capacity. The 8300 speakers can be bi-amped or bi-wired.

Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2009
Video expert Joe Kane was on hand showing his new Affinity projection screen, to be manufactured by Da-Lite. The gain was 0.9, but other gains are expected shortly (up to a maximum of 1.3).

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