Tom Norton

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CES 2012
Who the %$#@ is TCL?
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
An ambitious Chinese manufacturer of LCD sets, that's who. The small booth had demos 3D sets and an innovative 21:9 flat panel set optimized for 2.35: 1 movies—with black windowbox" bars at the sides for 16:9 material. Reportedly, TCL makes sets for VIZIO, which makes sense seeing that VIZIO is nearly set to release 21:9 sets. The only puzzle here remains why my camera rendered the TCL logo on top a red-fringed yellow, when the sign was clearly solid red.
CES 2012
Already Had a Bite?
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
Don't expect to get a quick lunch at CES. The food services t the Las Vegas Convention Center were overwhelmed by the crowds, with early estimates at 140,000 show attendees.
CES 2012
Be Sharp
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
Also eye-opening were Sharp's 80" Quattron sets. Humans on broadcasts now can be here almost life-sized.
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CES 2012
Sharp Packs 'Em In
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
Crowds were around the block for all of the 4K (and OLED) prototype displays at the show, including a 4K demonstration in the Sharp booth.
CES 2012
Samsung Does Compute
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
And I just bought a Macbook Air!
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CES 2012
Samsung is Totally Tubular
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
Here's a closeup of the two tubes (or at least the only ones that are visible) in Samsung's tube-input HTiB.
CES 2012
Samsung Explains
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
Here is Samsung’s story about its use of vacuum tubes in an HTIB.
CES 2012
Samsung Does Vacuum Tubes
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012
When have you last seen a Home Theater in a Box that uses vacuum tubes in its AV receiver section? Samsung has one in its 6730W home theater system&$151;flat panel available separately! It sounded warmer and more pleasant than it had any right to in an open space, though of course tubes alone are no panacea. No price available as yet, but it's the first HTiB I've found at least interesting. The tubes are in the receiver's input stages; the output is solid state. Samsung is also offering some one-piece, two-channel iPod (and Android) docs with vacuum tube inputs.
CES 2012
LG OLED
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2012
While no price or availability date was announced for LG’s 55” OLED HDTV, its prototype drew big crowds at the opening press conference of the day. So big, in fact, that you can’t see the set with the madding crowds pushing in for a closer look.

What we do know is that the set uses what LG refers to as 4-Color Pixels (red, green, blue, and white) together with a Color Refiner for color consistency over a wide viewing angle.

An eye-opening infinite contrast ratio is also claimed. This is possible because OLED is a self-illuminating technology in which the individual pixels, in theory, can be completely turned off. Response time is also said to be 1000x faster than in LED/LED sets.

LG’s OLED TV is as pleasing aesthetically pleasing as it is technologically trend-setting. It’s passive 3D-capable and an incredible 4mm thin (about one-sixth of an inch) and a feather-light 17 lbs.

CES 2012
LG Kicks It Off
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2012
While not as svelte as the company’s 55-inch OLED prototype discussed below, LG’s new lineup of Smart LED/LCD sets is still just a bit over an inch thick with a 1mm thick bezel framing the screen. The top of the line Nano sets, available several sizes up to 84” in size. The Nano designs are full backlit local dimmers, utilizing LEDs impeded into t thin membrane that allows for superior backlit local dimming in a thinner design. LG’s magic remote has been improved, allowing not only pointing but also both gesture and voice recognition. And like all the HDTV manufacturers at the show, LG’s Smart technology offers further enhancements in convergence and connectivity with Web-based sites and features.

That 84” model is unique in that it is a 4K design. Despite the lack of 4K sources, 4K offers significant advantages for LG’s passive glasses approach to 3D. Specifically, it can present a full 1920 x 1080 resolution to each eye, unlike the half vertical 3D resolution on conventions 1920 x 1080 sets.

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