Filed under: Displays

[Thanks, Jaxim]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays

The leapfrog game played by manufacturers wanting to hold that oh-so-coveted “world’s largest” claim has spread from megapixels to HDTVs, and now onto resolution. This time around, however, NEC is simply outdoing itself, as its latest 21.3-inch a-Si (amorphous silicon) LCD rocks an astounding 2,800 x 2,100 resolution. The previous “record” holder was NEC’s NL256204AM15-01/01A, whose sesquipedalian model number was only trumped by its prodigious 2,560 x 2,048 pixel count. The panel also sports the company’s own “super-fine TFT (SA-SFT)” technology, which enables a brightness of 1000 cd/m2 and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. If you’re mulling over picking one of these up to really show off that kilowatt-burning quad SLI setup, you should probably know that this uber-fine monitor comes in monochrome only, as its sole purpose (for now) is to examine detailed medical imagery such as digitized X-rays. It’s probably for the best, though, as we don’t envision these black and white bad boys coming in cheap at any rate.

[Via TGDaily]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Displays, Transportation

We all know those analog gauges are going the way of the dodo eventually, and Sharp is hoping to accelerate their demise by unveiling an in-car LCD that boasts an unparalleled contrast ratio. While we’ve seen an LCD instrument panel in the svelte new Mercedes, its utility is still a bit limited; Sharp’s rendition, however, touts a 1500:1 contrast ratio — “triple that of the best alternatives” — and can produce deep blacks that match up with dark dashboards in addition to displaying full-motion video. The unit has been road-tested to withstand the usual bumps and jerks associated with cruising on (or off) those brutal highways, and can convey a myriad of useful information not possible with those plain ole mounted needles. The 8-inch panel sports an 800 x 480 resolution that shows the typical speedometer, tachometer, and fluid levels, but also packs the ability to queue up navigational maps and backup cameras to keep you on track. While we haven’t heard which (if any) automakers are placing bulk orders for these uber-contrasty LCDs, we aren’t exactly sure how much good it will do you if the whip ends up driving itself.

[Via BornRich]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Displays

NTT DoCoMo is looking to unveil a svelte 3D portable display system at the upcoming CEATEC in Japan, but unlike the traditionally uninspiring three-dimensional products we’ve seen (and even the not-so-gimmicky variety), DoCoMo’s device operates sans the red-tinted glasses. Working in conjunction with associate professor Yasuhiro Takagi of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the megacorporation has developed a 7-inch “3D display system” that makes images and video appear as if it’s “leaping out from the screen.” This rendition also allows viewers to experience the illusions from angles other than front and center, as onlookers can view the action within a 60-degree horizontal angle or 30-degree vertical angle without losing the wow-factor. An embedded camera senses the position of the viewer(s), and then intelligently beams the images through its lenticular (single-convex) lens attached to the front of the screen. While no word on pricing or availability outside of the CEATEC expo has been given, we can definitely envision this becoming an excellent tool to keep those mischeveous kids occupied for hours, but us grown folk will probably just hold out for the 110-inch version.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Displays, GPS, HDTV

Apparently bigger is always better in the realm of giant HDTVs, and the leapfrog game to have the largest — even for just a few months — continues as Mitsubishi has constructed a baffling 8,066 square-foot display at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan. By far the biggest Diamond Vision unit ever built, it trumps their own creation at Turner Field in Atlanta by spanning 218 feet wide by 37 feet high and allowing for 3 races to be shown at once. The two previous title-holders were Miami’s Dolphin Stadium at 137 x 50 feet and Texas’ Longhorn Stadium at 134 x 55 feet. Controversy over the true king will surely arise due to Tokyo’s set only rising 37 feet in height and rocking an unorthodox 5.89 aspect ratio, but it does indeed sport Hi-Vision (1080), making it a legitmate HDTV. Personally, we’d be able to get more use from a couple plasmas, but if you’ve got the space acreage, there probably isn’t a better way to spend $28 million.

[Via HD Beat]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Need a way to spruce up the house, but don’t quite have the coin for your very own talking mirror? Chris Owens, a design student at North Carolina State University, has crafted the perfect conversation piece using a common household item and LED lighting. While this was engineered for an assignment, the Illume LED display shelf has all the makings of a retail hit. The wall-mounted shelf has three platters which seem fairly typical — until you place an object on them. Then each section illuminates as LED lights below are triggered by weight on the touch-sensitive panels, which makes putting things away — especially glass or semi-transparent objects — a bit more entertaining than usual. While an estimated price and release date is unknown, it seems safe to say that Chris has a bright future ahead of him (ahem), and if LED-infused furniture suits your fancy be sure to check out the Illume in action.

[Via TechEBlog]

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Filed under: Misc

Making mobile displays extraordinarily bright seems counter to the logic that battery life is priority number one, but Konica Minolta is taking its chances and marketing its new organic EL backlight tech to cellphone manufacturers, claiming to rock 1,000 candela per square meter (by comparison, a highway flare burns at about 70 candela). We’re questioning the need — or ability, for that matter — to look at a screen blasting more light at us than a small flashlight, but if the output can be toned down for typical use, we can certainly see the safety applications in this. Just don’t kill our precious batteries, Konica Minolta, and we’re down.

[Via Akihabara News]

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Filed under: Displays, Portable Video

Just about everybody’s getting on the portable projector bandwagon; you’ve got Sony, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Epson, Viewsonic, all with sub-laptop-sized devices being prepared to throw up dimly-LED-lit images onto boardroom walls the business world over. But Explay’s about to say balls to that with their new pocketable digital projector, which they claim should hit the market in the first half of 2007. It’s not exactly a groundbreaking concept or anything, but ultraportable projectors are definitely about to become the hot new turf for those companies, like PVPro and Digismart, of itching to get theirs to market first.

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Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Handhelds

No, not that Origami. Sony is taking the term a bit more literally, and working on a technology to allow a device to be folded up to fit in your pocket, but which when unfolded becomes rigid for use. The whole unit, body and screen, would be made from a flexible material and contain conductive rubber bracing struts with some gel of aluminosilicate particles suspended in silicone oil mixed in for good measure. When zapped with a little bit of electricity, the struts harden almost instantly, allowing you to use the gadget in its proper state. The patent goes on to suggest the possibility of using this technology in conjunction with a video game in response to on-screen action. Unfortunately, our magic 8 ball says the signs aren’t looking too hot for seeing something like this in action any time soon.

[Via New Scientist]

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Filed under: Displays

Filed under: Displays

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Filed under: Displays

Filed under: Displays

Here’s one situation where we’d rather Apple would take a page out of Dell’s book. After receiving reports of severe color banding issues on certain users’ new 2007WFP LCD displays, Dell looked into the issue, found the problem to be pretty rare, and caused by the monitor’s active color management chip which switches between desktop, multimedia and gaming modes. Turns out the reported banding is caused by the “desktop” mode, and Dell has now updated the firmware to disable this mode (alright, so maybe Apple shouldn’t follow this plan 100 percent). Dell has provided contact information for help with the firmware fix, and will also straight up replace your 2007WFP if you’d like. The roughly one month response time from rumblings to solution could be improved, but it’s good to see a company take at least some responsibility for its faulty products.

[Via PC World]

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Filed under: Displays

Mitsubishi has just announced a new 21.3-inch flat panel monitor for the Japanese market, and even though it offers two DVI ports and a UXGA resolution of 1,600 x 1,200, we're not sure how many folks will be willing to part with close to ¥200,000 (about $1,775 US) to have this model on their desks. The RDT212H, in silver or black, does offer a pretty nice 1000:1 contrast ratio, but the 16-millisecond response time won't impress any gamers, and the 300cd/m2 brightness is nothing special, so we're struggling to discover what those hundreds of thousands of yen are really buying you. We'll have to wait a few weeks to find out, though, as that's when this LCD is scheduled to hit stores -- stay tuned to Engadget Japan for the latest.

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

Ah, summer; the season to kick back by the pool with a cool drink and catch up on all the reruns you've been saving to your DVR. What, you don't want to bring your TV and set-top down to the pool and risk splashing them a little? Well, neither do we. And that's why we're planning on picking up a Princeton PTV-WWTV7 wireless, waterproof display for the Engadget beach house. The seven-inch LCD, due out in Japan this June for 49,800, comes with a built-in battery and WiFi receiver, and a separate unit houses a transmitter that also includes an analog tuner and S-video and composite inputs for other video sources. And, according to Princeton, it really is waterproof, and can be used in the kitchen, bathroom and by the pool, though they don't recommend actually tossing it in the water. That's fine with us; this will be perched on our rubber float all summer long.

Filed under: Displays

Dell’s globetrotting 2407WFP display has shown up on another international Dell site, this time in Poland. (We first caught the peripatetic peripheral on Dell’s Japan site, and the specs — but no pricing or ordering info — later showed up in the US.) According to the site, the 24-inch, 1920 x1200 display will go for 4,634 zloties, or about $1,535, including VAT. That’s roughly in line with  Japan’s ¥157,500 (or about $1,400), though what we really want to see is a US price, already. And one that’s lower than $1,400, of course.

[Thanks, Krzysiek]

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Filed under: Displays

Filed under: Displays

Gamer display makers are shaving down like an Olympic swimmer to get those crazy pixel response times, and soon enough we'll be measuring in nanoseconds. But until we're there, we're still going to have to deal with millisecond measurements, as in Acer's new AL1951D gamer monitor, successor to their AL1951C. This one keeps the same 1280 x 1024 pixel count, cuts the pixel response in half to 2ms, drops the brightness from 400 cd/m2 to 300 cd/m2, and ups both the contrast ratio to 1,00:1 from 700:1 and the price to $379 from $359 (MSRP, of course). Certainly not worth it for everyone when you can have a decent and somewhat larger widescreen for about the same or even less, but these are the sacrifices gamers are expected to make for their art.

[Via Bios]

Filed under: Displays

With so much focus on response time these days, it's nice to see Samsung play up another aspect of its newest 19-inch LCD, namely the display's impressive 2000:1 contrast ratio. That's not to say the SyncMastermagic CX919B has a slow refresh rate -- to the contrary, it seems to employ the CX917B's "Response Time Accelerator" to go from gray to gray in a zippy 2-milliseconds -- rather, the highlight here just happens to be that "Dynamic Contrast" technology which promises to deliver truer blacks. Besides these two key details, however, not much else is known on the specs tip -- including our old favorites, pricing and availability.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

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HD Beat has the scoop
on an upcoming 42-inch plasma display from Hitachi that delivers a lot of features for its $2,500 price tag. The
42HDS69 accomplishes a native resolution of 1,080i through a rather strange pixel configuration of 1,024 x 1,080,
sports such viewing enhancements as an anti-reflective screen and ALiS pixel barrier minimization technology, and
features three each of component and HDMI inputs along with an optical audio out and CableCard support. No definitive
release date has been announced, but the ‘Beat reports that we can expect to see this model in stores
“soon.”

[Via HD
Beat]

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Filed under: Displays, Gaming

Yeah, we've seen plenty of LCDs haphazardly attached to about every recent console out there in hopes of creating a portable system of sorts, but we're not sure they've ever looked quite as ridiculous as this 9.2-incher from JoyTech. Sure, 9.2-inches is a decent bit of display as far as these setups go, and the 800 x 480 widescreen resolution is welcome, but with as hot as the 360 gets already, we don't think it'll take very kindly to having its side vents sealed off by a hunk of plastic. We also can't imagine this thing riding on your lap while you game in the backseat of your next roadtrip, but it doesn't look like even JoyTech would presume that, and instead probably hope to squeeze this into a few tight dorm rooms that would otherwise resign to being entries in Xbox 360 Fanboy's most pathetic 360 setup contest.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

If you're looking for the perfect 20-inch monitor, look no further than Dell's 2007WFP 1,680 x 1,050 widescreen display, say NewsFactor, who give the LCD five out of five stars. Clearly testing a unit not afflicted with the gradient banding issues some users are reporting on forums, NF finds the 2007WFP to be a solid performer for video, gaming, and office uses alike (although the 16ms response time probably won't cut it with hardcore fraggers in a world of 1ms options), offering good picture quality, plenty of connectivity options, and an intuitive GUI in an attractive package. Especially noteworthy are the variety of ports, with four USB 2.0, DVI, VGA, composite, and S-Video inputs ensuring that only component-equipped devices will feel left out. Best of all, this $530 display -- with its HDCP-support -- will work with an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player when you decide to take the plunge, making the Dell that much more of a bargain.

[Via Yahoo]

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Oh Barry Fox, does a week ever go by when you don't find a great patent or two? Today the intrepid Mr. Fox manages to dig up an application by consumer-darling Apple for an LCD display embedded with thousands of microscopic image sensors that would allow users to video-conference while looking straight into the "camera." Data accumulated by the individual sensors would be stitched into actual images using special software, which will probably be bundled into future versions of iLife. Since the patent specifies almost as many sensors per screen as there are pixels, some of those sensors could have different focal lengths, with a defacto zoom lens created by switching between them. Apple goes on to suggest portable uses for the technology, such as employing the displays in cellphones and PDAs, so you can add another item to the list of features we'll be expecting from the iPhone and Newton 2.0 when they finally hit stores.

[Via New Scientist]

Filed under: Displays

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Filed under: Displays

hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/samsunccdtdisplay.jpg" />

In an
age dominated by LCD, plasma and other flat-panel technologies, we’re always a little surprised to see anyone still
trying to advance the cause of tube-based displays. But Samsung, for one, hasn’t quite given up on tubes, and is
showing off what the company says is the world’s thinnest Color Display Tube (CDT) display, the 14-inch thick
SyncMaster 745MS. The 17-inch display is expected to debut globally in June for under $200. While the display is
unlikely to woo away too many LCD fans, it could sway some CRT loyalists who prefer tubes for their color range,
sharpness and fast response rate.

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