Need another televisual tech phrase to add to the mix? Sure you do, and today's word comes from Philips with its new 9704 TV range that offers "LED Pro" technology.

Clearly better than just TVs marketed as LED sets, the "Pro" 9704 range offers "sensational black levels, brilliant whites and an incredible contrast level of 5,000,000:1 – while consuming up to 50% less power than conventional LCD TVs".

The LED Pro bits come in with the 224 LED segments, each of which can be independently dimmed or brightened - or even turned off completely - greatly improving contrast.
?
A few more proprietary phrases to throw at you now, and there's also "Perfect Pixel HD engine", "200Hz Clear LCD technology", "Perfect Natural Motion system", "Perfect Colour" and "Colour Booster technology", all of which are said to add up to a fab viewing experience.

The TV also offers "Ambilight Spectra 3", another Philips tech, that projects lights from both sides and the top edge of the TV on to the rear wall for what's claimed to be a more immersive viewing experience.

Other features include a 1ms response time, 2x15W output into four speakers and DNLA-certified Wi-Fi for Philips' "NetTV" that means you can access t'intenet through telly and five HDMI 1.3a EasyLink sockets.

All of the above will cost you ?1799 for the 40-inch 40PFL9704 and ?2499 for the 46-inch 46PFL9704, both due on sale in December.

?

Tags: Home Cinema Philips LCD televisions Televisions LED televisions

Philips announces 9704 range of "LED Pro" televisions originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:01:32 +0000

There are few things over which geeks and gadget lovers unite, but one stonewall certainty is that we all love big TVs. Give us some content and an enormous panel to watch it on and you'll have us transfixed. In fact, there's probably a directly proportional relationship between the size of the screen and the amount of time spent arrested by its charms. So, with the recession hitting just before CES 2009 and the subsequent absence of a new claim to the world's biggest TV at the annual Las Vegas tech binge, it didn't look like a good year for home cinema. Fortunately, we were wrong.

Below you'll find a Pacific Ocean of contenders for this year's most coveted of crowns - the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Best Home Cinema Device - but which little devil has stolen your heart? Let us know.

TVs

There's simply no other place to start the bidding than with the panels themselves and, while neither size nor width was particular a factor over 2009, there's been some excellent ground covered in both quality and design. If the economic climate has done one thing for the positive, it's to make technology manufacturers more conscious of green issues. When many consumers see that a TV can save them money on energy, then suddenly the double win of the situation means that the environment can benefit as well.

Sony has been the most overt at capitalising on the situation with the Bravia WE5, which goes so far as to switch itself off when it knows it's not being watched. Others though, like LG with the LH2000 and the Sharp DH77 and LC-32DH57E TVs simply use a blend of light-sensing and component efficiency to get the job done and, in LG's case, manage to get the wattage to almost record lows. Even Loweve is in on the act this year, adding a certain level of style to the proceedings with the Art SL eco range. At least you can counter-balance the initial outlay with some cheaper running costs.

Of course, for many of us, it's all about performance rather than environmental or economic credentials and, where picture quality is paramount these days, people are heading to LED backlight LCD technology. Philips brought out the third in its premium line with the Aurea 3, complete with an Ambilight as well as the pin-point LED dimming. Three more manufacturers joined the fray with the LG LH9000 borderless design, the Toshiba REGZA SV and the Sharp Aquos LX series, while Samsung continued to extended its presence in the field with the Samsung 6000, 7000 and the high-end, high-priced but very highly acclaimed 8000 model too.

Fortunately, the expansion at the top end has meant we can get a better quality picture at more affordable prices with a straight LCD panel. 200Hz frame rates are more or less the standard now, internet connected widget TVs have been all the rage since CES and we've also seen a huge pick up in built-in Freesat support, with LG and Sony Bravia seeing a great deal of value in the no cost satellite platform. Philips has been looking strong with the high end Philips 9000 range, which has included the 20mm 9664, and if slim is the choice for you in straight LCDs then the Sony Bravia ZX1 may only have 100Hz technology but manages to squeeze it all into a 9mm frame - otherwise it's probably the Bravia Z5500 that you'll be after from the Japanese giant.

As always, though, the most exciting area of TVs is in the very new - the cutting edge and the sets of years to come. Sadly, for much of the innovation we see, it either never exists or it's years before we can get our hands on it. Fortunately, 2009 has brought some excellent developments straight to the shelves. The two standouts have got to be the Philips 21:9 Cinema super wide TV - the ultimate set for movie buffs - and right at the other end of the scale, the incredible Sony XEL-1 11-inch OLED TV. Curiously, they're both around the same price but both will blow you away - if for very different reasons.

Projectors

Of course, it's not all about panels. If it's size you're really after then DLP is the more cost effective way to go. While there's plenty of cinema quality light-throwers at cinema industry prices, there's still been a steady trickle of models more suited to the average consumer's budget this year. LG has continued its onslaught on just about every area of tech with a flurry of monitors and projectors at very reasonable prices, Optoma brought in the HD20 1080p unit and BenQ has hedged their bets and covered all your bases with the W600, W100 and W6000 depending on just how flush you're feeling.

If money's no option then another choice for 2009 would have to be the Panasonic PT-AE4000, but the prize for the most interesting take on it all has to go to the Epson EH-DM3 which takes the gaming projector one stage forward to bring you the karaoke version. It needs to be seen to be believed.

AVRs and speakers

Naturally, a quality picture is nothing without quality sound to back it up and 2009 has given us even more choices when it comes to home cinema systems. For the best of Britain, KEF has turned up with both a 5.1 set up and a sound bar of note, whilst further afield there's the likes of Creative, the Klipsch HD Theatre systems and Tefuel Theatre 80, all with some high quality, good value offers. For the ultimate choice, though, Panasonic has come up with 10 home cinema systems including a 7.1 set up and an internet connected system with DVDs, docks and the odd BD player thrown in too.

On the AVR side, it's Onkyo that's been by far the busiest in 2009 with the rather sexy and nearly affordable TX-SR707 and TX-NR807 as the tempters and the totally obscene TX-SR5007, TX-NR3007 and TX-NR1007, with their 9.2 channels its the stuff that dreams are made of. And last, but certainly not least, there has been a rare moment of innovation in this field with the rather novel Q Acoustics Q-TV2s back mounted speakers. A cracking solution for small TVs at a very small price to match.

Blu-ray players

Once we had our system set up, it was content that we were after and with even Toshiba cracking under the pressure this year, 2009 really has been the first time Blu-ray can feel confident that it's going places. The options have ranged from the subtle to the insane. Samsung showed us the incredible wall mounted slim jim that is the Samsung BD-P4600 at the beginning of the year and, since, the likes of the LG HLB54S has added some sound to the form factor as well as just about anything you could need in a piece of home cinema hardware.

Philips went for mass appeal and mass affordability instead with the BDP3000 and even Denon reached down some of the way to give the public a taste of luxury with the DBP-1610 and the ?600 Denon DBP-2010, for those that simply couldn't resist. Sony hasn't been slow to promote the company's very own format with two networked players featuring DLNA and a few tasty features, with the BDP-S760 the pick of the crop, while Pioneer has added a little more class and sophistication at the expense of the Wi-Fi and quite a bit more money.

What seems to be the hallmark of 2009 in AV though is what LG and most notably Panasonic has offered. They may not look like the prettiest things in the world but when you combine a BD-player with twin TV tuners, Freesat and a big old HDD to record onto, you've got integration at its best. Keep 'em peeled for the LG HR400 and probably the pick of the others would be the Panasonic DMR-BS850 with just about all the trimmings you could possibly want - unless you really need Sony's 400 disc MegaChanger, that is.

Media players

There have been a few eyebrows raised on the subject of optical storage and removable media. With video files, streaming and, let's face it, piracy all doing well, there's plenty of manufacturers looking at cheaper, more convenient AV solutions for computer literate users (is anyone not computer literate these days?).

The Emtec Movie Cube P800 combines a removable, portable HDD with a strong media interface, while the recently released WD TV Live from Western Digital has brought an upgrade to a hugely successful almost pocket-sized device. Naturally, the PS3 has plenty about it as a streamer and with the PS3 Slim launched a few months back, it could well be in for a shout of a gong whether in this category or another. Fresh on the scene at an alarmingly reasonable price tag is the Asus O!Play networked storage device and media player, but for something rather more profound the Compro T1000W VideoMate will do just about anything you like for ?200.

Even the simple set top box has got a little more interesting in 2009. We're seeing a lot more with PVR capabilities such as the Humax PVR-9300T with 500GB of space and the Digital Vision GiGo which ditches it all for three USB ports and whatever kind of memory sticks you wish to supply it with. But perhaps most interesting of all are the teeny-tiny PCTV Pico Stick tuners which'll turn your PC into a TV and the Elgato EyeTV Sat which siphons HD satellite programing straight from your dish to your computer, and you can even edit the footage later.

Remote controls

Last of all come possibly the least likely little fellows to receive a Pocket-lint Awards nomination but, then again, you just never know. There are three to consider that not only throw the rule book out the window but take both barrels of a shotgun to it too. The insane looking The Loop remote control promises impressive ergonomics and pin point accuracy, the Philips uWand adds full gesture control to the buttons and the Glide TV Navigator couch mouse looks like bringing Star Trek just that little bit closer. Definitely worth a look at the future, if not your vote.

What do you think?

But these are just some of the fantastic choices our readers have had in 2009. What would you like to see held aloft as the winner of Pocket-lint Best Home Cinema Device 2009? What have we missed out? Which are your unsung heroes and of those we've already mentioned, which would get your vote? Let us know in the comments below and you can help our panel decide which make the shortlist of nominees to be announced here on Pocket-lint on 16 November. We'll have all out coverage of the Vodafone Pocket-lint awards 2009 right here. Don't miss a minute of it.

?

Related links:

• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - gaming hardware
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - games
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - software, services, apps

Tags: Home Cinema Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Features Bravia Samsung LED televisions LCD televisions Projectors BD-Live Blu-ray players Speakers Televisions

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - home cinema device originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:29:23 +0000

Takuya Kawagoi has been a Sony man for nearly 20 years now. Having spent plenty of time based in Japan as one of the graphic designers at the heart of the company image, he has now been appointed head of Sony Design Centre Europe. We stopped in for a chat to see how life in London was treating him.

What is your background?
I joined Sony in 1991 as a graphic designer - that was what I studied as - and I was mostly involved with branding and logos. While I was at the Design Centre in Tokyo I created the Sony Ericsson logo. The idea is that it is in two parts, the silver and the green. It's supposed to be more friendly, more emotional, the green is the organic partner, the end user and the silver represents Sony such that we're balanced between content and life.

Before Sony I was at university. I went straight from there. I'd studied graphic design in Kyoto at KIT, the Kyoto Institute of Technology, where they have a special department for graphic design. Kyoto is a very traditional city in Japan and it was very good for me as a designer to get this mix of the modern style of the school and the traditional influence of the city at the same time.

Who are you biggest design influences?
Well, as a graphic designer, it would be Ikko Tanaka who is a famous Japanese graphic designer. He used very vivid, very bright colours together but in very simple designs. He reminds me that simplicity is the most important part of any design and it's not an easy thing to achieve. With so many functions in our products these days I have to avoid too many things and too much confusion on a screen or UI, for example, at any one time and it's important to remember this. Mr Tanaka and I also happen to come from the same town, Narra, so that's another reason I look to him.

And what about technology design, which products do you respect the most?
This may sound boring to you but I love cars - particularly British cars. Here cars are a real lifestyle for people. There is the space for larger lower cars like Jaguars and for people to really live them and have them as part of their lives, even when not driving them. I bought myself a Jaguar in Japan when I started at Sony in 1991. It was a beautiful car.

So, what exactly is the Sony Design Centre all about?
Sony Design has been there for nearly 50 years - since 1961 - when the first Design Centre opened in Japan. At the time, the company noticed that foreign products, particularly ones in Germany, for example, had a style that we wanted to bring to Sony. The classic sliver and black looks from Germany gave the products a more premium feel and so the Design Centre looked at aspects such as these to see how we could improve.

Sony design works with the four principles of originality, lifestyle, function and utility and we make sure our products represent each of these. There are now Sony Design Centres in London for the EU, in Singapore for Asia and in Los Angeles for North America as well. The idea is for them to both inform Japan of the global trends and styles in these areas, as well as create products on their own for the world market and to make sure that the products coming from headquarters will work in their parts of the globe too. In the EU team we have 16 designers representing 7 different nationalities, which is very good for our design influences. Maybe not so good when the World Cup comes round next year. Maybe there'll be a little tension in the office.

What is your role as Head of Sony Design Centre Europe?
Something that I'm looking into at the moment is really the life of the product all the way down the line - from manufacture to the customer purchase and even beyond to installation and customer care. Total experience, we should be more friendly and we need to collaborate more. Smarter styles. The customer journey is very long and we would like to be with them as far as we can. Retail experience is one area of this that we've been looking at and bringing a more obvious branding to the shops, educating the sales staff and providing digital signage in some of our flagship stores, hopefully by the beginning of next year too. Customers will be able to use touchscreen displays to find out all the information they need about different products.

User interfaces are also something we've been looking closely at too. Recently, of course, we've seen the XMB (cross media bar) used in all consumer arms of Sony - Sony Ericsson, PlayStation and Home - and we've recognised how significant the UI is. It's a very strong part for us, as functions become more and more complex. It's very important.

You said before about making packaging more environmentally friendly. How do you plan to do that?
It's not an easy thing to achieve with so many products and different packing needs, but we're already trying different techniques on some product lines. Bravia TVs are coming with no paper manuals at the moment with all the information in on-screen menus. There are also one box solutions for them with the TV stand packed into the same space and we're also testing out pulp moulds for packing, which are 100% recyclable. It's all in the early stages but obviously it will be good if we can bring it into products like headphones which have all plastic packaging, but it's harder to see how that will work with the current designs.

How do European design tastes differ from those in the rest of the world?
Hmmm, that's a difficult question to answer but a good example would be the Bravia picture frame TV. It's specifically a very strong European design where people do not always wish their technology to be the focus of their space. In fact this is another area where we'll be looking to work with living room related products. Home entertainment is very important to the EU team. We have a very strong will to newly define the living room. TV used to be a static focus but now they are internet connected so that we can change the style of family life and the attitude towards them as well. I would say it's a global idea, and communication would be the most significant barrier. The XMB is a good step towards this. In the future, hopefully, the arms of Sony will become more borderless. Bravia must be friendly with PlayStation and we should navigate and appear to the consumer in the same tone and manner.

Does that mean we'll see the three consumer arms of the business merging? Are we going to get Sony Ericsson phones with Bravia screens?
There already is a Bravia phone available in Japan but there no plans to merge the parts of the business at all. We just hope to homogenise some of the ideas.

Why is it that we don't get all those incredible gadgets we see in Japan?
Well, we cannot experiment with all of the products all over the world at the same time. Sometimes we feel that certain products will work best in certain regions and we try them there first.

So, does that mean you're here to fight for Europe to get them?
This will be the biggest job for me.

?

Related links:

• News - Sony launches Bravia E4000 series LCD televisions

Tags: Home Cinema Sony Bravia Features Interviews Televisions LCD televisions

Sony design and the shape of things to come originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:46:09 +0000

Samsung has launched its first TV slash DVD combo offering in the UK. The LE22B470 LCD TV is angled as "the perfect solution for stressed parents struggling to decide between a TV and a DVD player for their kids this Christmas".

While there's many folk around the world that would love to have such a pressing problem to worry about, if this kind of issue is troubling you, then note that the LE22B470 is said to be "an ideal space saver".

No spec has been revealed but we do know as well as the built-in DVD player, the 22-inch LCD flat screen TV offers a Freeview tuner. It's said to be available now at the likes of Currys, John Lewis, Comet, Amazon and Play for around ?325, although it's certainly not showing up under a model number search just now.

Tags: Home Cinema Televisions LCD televisions Samsung Samsung LE22B470 DVD TV DVD

Samsung LE22B470 DVD TV combo launches originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:09:37 +0000

British retailer John Lewis has launched its own brand range of LCD televisions. Sized at the smaller end of the market, the new John Lewis tellies are available with 19-, 22- and 26-inch screens.

All models get an integrated digital tuner for access to Freeview channels whilst set-up is said to be simple thanks to "one touch" remote tuning. The TVs also get two HDMI inputs, PC input, table top stands - and - screen cleaning cloth.

Complete with a free 5-year guarantee, pricing starts at ?199 for the 19-incher, ?269 for the 22-inch model while the 26-inch version costs ?349.

Tags: Home Cinema Televisions John Lewis LCD televisions

John Lewis launches modestly-sized own brand TVs originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:22:44 +0100

Toshiba has unveiled the 55-inch Cell Regza 55X1 in Japan as its new flagship LCD television.

With high quality sound, a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, and brightness of 1250cdm2, the 240Hz TV boasts "ultra-high-speed processing and recording, enhanced navigation and seamless network interactivity".

The TV's Opera-powered browser also supports Full HD and can display HD YouTube videos while, thanks to Toshiba's Cell platform, the company boasts processing capability around 143 times that of standard Regzas as well as 512 distict LED backlit areas.

With a 3TB hard disk drive, two of those terabytes are dedicated to the telly's "time-shift machine", which can record up to 26 hours of programmes across 8 channels, so viewers can select to watch a show they've missed and search for content via key words.

The Cell Regza system is made up of a TV and a separate matching box that houses the tuner and the HDD. Both boast a "smoked aluminium finish", as does the remote.

The Cell Regza 55X1 will go on sale in the Japanese market from the beginning of December. We're unsure of pricing, but we're looking at thousands and thousands of pounds, for sure.

Tags: Home Cinema Toshiba Televisions LCD televisions Toshiba Cell Regza 55X1 Opera Networking

Toshiba Cell Regza 55X1, new flagship television unveiled originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:22:44 +0100

HANNspree has announced the availability of a 32-incher into its recently revealed ST series of HDTVs.

The new 32-inch ST321 offers a Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution and HANNspree's proprietary X-Contrast and X-Celerate technologies.

The ST321 also gets "Multiple Aspect Ratio Support" that sees the default 16:9 aspect ratio adjusted to Full, Wide, Panarama, Zoom, Subtitle, Auto and Normal views as the user sees fit.

Features include a 2 x 10 Watt audio system, 500cd/m2 brightness, 6ms response time, an "X-Contrast" ratio of 10000:1, four HDMI 1.3 inputs as well as VGA, Component, Composite, S-Video and two Scart inputs

The ST321 is available now from www.misco.co.uk for ?329.99 with a 2-year collect and return warranty.

Related links:

• News - HANNspree unveils the new ST series of HDTVs

Tags: Home Cinema Televisions LCD televisions HANNspree Misco

HANNspree ST series gets 32-incher originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:37:51 +0100

Sharp has announced that it's bringing four new televisions to Japan on 10 November, called the LX Series. The products are being released to mark the start of the tenth anniversary of the first AQUOS LCD TVs, and feature LED backlighting, along with a newly developed LCD panel.

The televisions incorporate Sharp's UV2A technology that improves the contrast ratios, and combines with the LED backlighting to offer - according to Sharp - the industry's lowest level of energy consumption. There's also the company's image processing chip, which helps out with fast moving images, and it can control peripheral devices with the AQUOS Familink II technology.

There's a a 60-inch model, a 52-inch model, a 46-inch model and a 40-inch model, but there's no European pricing yet because these are just being released in Japan for now. When they come to these shores, we'll make sure that you're the first to know.

Read

Related links:

• News - Sharp launches AQUOS HDTVs with built-in Blu-ray

Tags: Home Cinema Televisions Sharp LCD televisions

Sharp launches LX series Aquos TVs originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:43:23 +0100