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Home Theater Programming Sources
Off-Air TV
The term set-top box will become something of a misnomer in the near future, as most
displays will become too thin to allow a box to placed on top of them. As the price of plasma
& LCD displays has plummeted and their image quality has improved, they are popping up
in homes everywhere.
Although they are the darlings of the media and the generic for flat panel display in the
minds of many, plasmas are in a serious fight with other technologies for the flat panel
crown.
LCD displays, seen on the desktop for years as computer monitors, and commonplace in
smaller flat panel TVs, are finally increasing in size to the point they are becoming a rival to
plasmas in the 42" – 50” size range. Picture quality is similar to plasmas; however LCDs are
immune to the burn-in that can affect plasma displays. This burn-in occurs when plasma
units are used to display static images such as video game screens and stock or sports
tickers.
Plasmas generally have an edge in the ability to produce deeper blacks and more
saturated colors than LCDs. Plasmas are also better at producing full motion video than
LCDs because of the response time of the LCD panels, although this difference is
disappearing.
LCD TVs have been bit more expensive than plasmas at 42" and larger sizes, and they
should last a while longer. Plasma displays should last 20,000 – 25,000 hours and LCDs
should give 30,000+ hours of useful life. However, the latest generation of plasma displays
from NEC, LG & others is claimed to have a 60,000 hour life. If that is an industry trend, the
traditional lifespan advantage held by LCDs may soon disappear. The Plasma price
advantage will disappear by the 2006 holiday season. The LCD TVs shown at the 2006
CEDIA Expo in Denver were extremely price competitive with plasma displays. This comes
at a time when Sony and other major consumer electronics manufacturers are either
abandoning plasma or reducing their plasma offerings. Others, such as Panasonic, Fujitsu
and Pioneer remain firmly committed to Plasma technology.
Currently Sony has a 42", NEC a 40", Sharp a 47", 52", and a 65", Samsung a 40" LCD TV
or display. Samsung also has the big one, a 46" that started shipping in early September of
2004. The Samsung 46" was the first consumer LCD video display to have a 1080 line
native resolution. This allows it to display 1080p native when that format arrives for HDTV.
The Samsung has been joined by Sony, Toshiba, Sharp and others, to endow the mid 40
to 50" size category with some pretty solid LCD offerings.
The largest consumer LCD TVs or monitors are the Sharp 65". Sony showed a prototype
82" LCD from their Bravia line at the 2006 CES in Las Vegas. Improvements in back light
technology and panel design have made a tremendous difference in the image quality and
viewing angle of LCD TVs on the market. Most manufacturers at the 2006 CEDIA Expo in
Denver were showing 1080p LCD TVs from 37 up through the mid 50" size ranges. These
included Sharp, Sony, LG, and Samsung.
Other technologies are on the horizon as well. One that has shown great promise is OLED,
for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Developed by Kodak and Pioneer, this technology has
been used for a few years in car stereo and cell phone displays. It's just about ready for
prime time. Philips has shown a 13" unit, Samsung a 17", and Seiko-Epson has shown a
40" prototype.
OLED’s advantages are many. It actually emits it’s own light, so it requires no backlight and
has better contrast than a traditional LCD. OLED displays have a wide viewing angle like a
plasma display. Power usage is very low, less than 1/2 that of a traditional LCD display. At
around 2mm deep, OLEDs are much thinner than either a plasma or LCD.
They have a refresh rate about 1,000 times faster than a traditional LCD, so they will be far
superior for video applications. They have fewer parts than LCD or plasma and can be
manufactured using a novel ink jet printing process. This promises to keep prices low as
the technology is implemented. It is expected to see sub 20" displays in stores by 2006 with
larger units following one to two years later.
Other promising display technologies on the horizon include SED (Surface-conduction
Electron-emitter Display) and carbon Nanotube. SED was developed by Canon, who began
research into the technology in 1986. SED is basically the same principle as CRT, however
there are important differences. The most important from a consumer standpoint is
thickness. An SED display is only an inch or two thick, depending upon screen size.
The basic construction is two glass plates separated by a vacuum. One of the plates is
coated with phosphors the other is mounted with electron emitters. Electrons are ejected
when a voltage of about 16 to 18 V is applied to the emitters. These electrons are then
accelerated by a higher voltage into a beam similar to that in a CRT display.
The visual advantages of SEDs are as for CRT displays, great color, deep black levels and
quick motion response. These advantages, combined with the slim form factor, low cost
and small power requirement should make for a real winner.
A unit shown by Toshiba at a Japanese trade show in April of 2005 even had it’s contrast
ratio up to an incredible 100,000 to 1 by significantly reducing black luminance. Even if the
specs were a bit inflated this would still amount to a fantastic contrast ratio, on the order of
5 times that of a traditional CRT. At one time, Toshiba indicated they would move to this
technology for all displays over 40” by 2006. However, after a spectacular demo at 2006
CES by where they indicated a late 2006 debut, both Canon and Toshiba, Toshiba
rescheduled their release date for SED until mid 2007, ostensibly to allow them to produce
lower cost SEDs.
There is another fly in the SED ointment too. On April 21st, 2005 US firm Nano-Proprietary
has filed a suit against Canon in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas,
alleging that the surface (SED) televisions that Canon plans to release violates a licensing
agreement signed 5 years ago between the Japanese giant and Nano-Proprietary.
The pace of change in the home theater and entertainment display market has just kept
accelerating. There are some promising technologies around the corner that will allow, as
usual, higher performance, lower cost and more compact form factors. As prices for
advanced technologies plunge and technology improves, it will make it even easier for the
average person to have a fantastic media system almost anywhere in their home.
displays will become too thin to allow a box to placed on top of them. As the price of plasma
& LCD displays has plummeted and their image quality has improved, they are popping up
in homes everywhere.
Although they are the darlings of the media and the generic for flat panel display in the
minds of many, plasmas are in a serious fight with other technologies for the flat panel
crown.
LCD displays, seen on the desktop for years as computer monitors, and commonplace in
smaller flat panel TVs, are finally increasing in size to the point they are becoming a rival to
plasmas in the 42" – 50” size range. Picture quality is similar to plasmas; however LCDs are
immune to the burn-in that can affect plasma displays. This burn-in occurs when plasma
units are used to display static images such as video game screens and stock or sports
tickers.
Plasmas generally have an edge in the ability to produce deeper blacks and more
saturated colors than LCDs. Plasmas are also better at producing full motion video than
LCDs because of the response time of the LCD panels, although this difference is
disappearing.
LCD TVs have been bit more expensive than plasmas at 42" and larger sizes, and they
should last a while longer. Plasma displays should last 20,000 – 25,000 hours and LCDs
should give 30,000+ hours of useful life. However, the latest generation of plasma displays
from NEC, LG & others is claimed to have a 60,000 hour life. If that is an industry trend, the
traditional lifespan advantage held by LCDs may soon disappear. The Plasma price
advantage will disappear by the 2006 holiday season. The LCD TVs shown at the 2006
CEDIA Expo in Denver were extremely price competitive with plasma displays. This comes
at a time when Sony and other major consumer electronics manufacturers are either
abandoning plasma or reducing their plasma offerings. Others, such as Panasonic, Fujitsu
and Pioneer remain firmly committed to Plasma technology.
Currently Sony has a 42", NEC a 40", Sharp a 47", 52", and a 65", Samsung a 40" LCD TV
or display. Samsung also has the big one, a 46" that started shipping in early September of
2004. The Samsung 46" was the first consumer LCD video display to have a 1080 line
native resolution. This allows it to display 1080p native when that format arrives for HDTV.
The Samsung has been joined by Sony, Toshiba, Sharp and others, to endow the mid 40
to 50" size category with some pretty solid LCD offerings.
The largest consumer LCD TVs or monitors are the Sharp 65". Sony showed a prototype
82" LCD from their Bravia line at the 2006 CES in Las Vegas. Improvements in back light
technology and panel design have made a tremendous difference in the image quality and
viewing angle of LCD TVs on the market. Most manufacturers at the 2006 CEDIA Expo in
Denver were showing 1080p LCD TVs from 37 up through the mid 50" size ranges. These
included Sharp, Sony, LG, and Samsung.
Other technologies are on the horizon as well. One that has shown great promise is OLED,
for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Developed by Kodak and Pioneer, this technology has
been used for a few years in car stereo and cell phone displays. It's just about ready for
prime time. Philips has shown a 13" unit, Samsung a 17", and Seiko-Epson has shown a
40" prototype.
OLED’s advantages are many. It actually emits it’s own light, so it requires no backlight and
has better contrast than a traditional LCD. OLED displays have a wide viewing angle like a
plasma display. Power usage is very low, less than 1/2 that of a traditional LCD display. At
around 2mm deep, OLEDs are much thinner than either a plasma or LCD.
They have a refresh rate about 1,000 times faster than a traditional LCD, so they will be far
superior for video applications. They have fewer parts than LCD or plasma and can be
manufactured using a novel ink jet printing process. This promises to keep prices low as
the technology is implemented. It is expected to see sub 20" displays in stores by 2006 with
larger units following one to two years later.
Other promising display technologies on the horizon include SED (Surface-conduction
Electron-emitter Display) and carbon Nanotube. SED was developed by Canon, who began
research into the technology in 1986. SED is basically the same principle as CRT, however
there are important differences. The most important from a consumer standpoint is
thickness. An SED display is only an inch or two thick, depending upon screen size.
The basic construction is two glass plates separated by a vacuum. One of the plates is
coated with phosphors the other is mounted with electron emitters. Electrons are ejected
when a voltage of about 16 to 18 V is applied to the emitters. These electrons are then
accelerated by a higher voltage into a beam similar to that in a CRT display.
The visual advantages of SEDs are as for CRT displays, great color, deep black levels and
quick motion response. These advantages, combined with the slim form factor, low cost
and small power requirement should make for a real winner.
A unit shown by Toshiba at a Japanese trade show in April of 2005 even had it’s contrast
ratio up to an incredible 100,000 to 1 by significantly reducing black luminance. Even if the
specs were a bit inflated this would still amount to a fantastic contrast ratio, on the order of
5 times that of a traditional CRT. At one time, Toshiba indicated they would move to this
technology for all displays over 40” by 2006. However, after a spectacular demo at 2006
CES by where they indicated a late 2006 debut, both Canon and Toshiba, Toshiba
rescheduled their release date for SED until mid 2007, ostensibly to allow them to produce
lower cost SEDs.
There is another fly in the SED ointment too. On April 21st, 2005 US firm Nano-Proprietary
has filed a suit against Canon in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas,
alleging that the surface (SED) televisions that Canon plans to release violates a licensing
agreement signed 5 years ago between the Japanese giant and Nano-Proprietary.
The pace of change in the home theater and entertainment display market has just kept
accelerating. There are some promising technologies around the corner that will allow, as
usual, higher performance, lower cost and more compact form factors. As prices for
advanced technologies plunge and technology improves, it will make it even easier for the
average person to have a fantastic media system almost anywhere in their home.
Copyright 2004-7 1 touch movie.com
Home theater and Automation Guide
All rights reserved.
Home theater and Automation Guide
All rights reserved.
The Future of Flat Panel Displays - Beyond Plasma
1 Touch Movie.com