Soon LG and Samsung won't be the only TV makers to offer the ability to control your TV by talking to it.
Yesterday Nuance Communications announced that its Dragon TV voice control platform would be shipping with some Panasonic TVs in Europe this year.
Plans for a US introduction were not announced, and a Panasonic representative I spoke to didn't have any additional details. I don't expect the company to incorporate voice control into its already-announced 2012 TVs, via some kind add-on USB microphone for example, but it is a possibility. I'd be surprised if 2013 … Read more
When he's not flying around in a jumbo jet or singing with soul musicians, President Barack Obama can be found curled up on the couch enjoying a 3D movie with his family. And 40 of his closest minders.
He doesn't watch movies in the sound-bar-centric home theater we might be used to, but a plush, dedicated "family theater" inside the East Wing of the White House. The room has been used to show movies for the First Family since 1942, and also doubles as a rehearsal space for State of the Union addresses.… Read more
In response to complaints and a class action lawsuit over failing TVs caused by bum capacitors, Samsung has promised to provide benefits to owners of a select group of its TVs.
The benefits include extension of a warranty for 18 months after March 2, 2012, a "free service visit" to determine if your TV has the issue, and refunds for related expenses and/or payments via debit card or cash. They apply to all U.S. consumers, not just residents of Oklahoma where the lawsuit was filed.
The TVs covered by the proposed settlement include LCD, plasma, and DLP models made before December 31, 2008. The settlement does not cover Samsung TVs manufactured after that date.
The latest incarnation of the HTC Media Link is a small box that allows you to stream music, photos and videos straight to a TV from an HTC phone using a three-finger swipe.
Media Link will also support full mirroring, allowing you to stream whatever is being displayed on your phone to your TV. That could potentially allow for streaming video from premium video sources like Hulu Plus or HBO GO, although that hasn't always been the case with Apple's competing AirPlay streaming standard, which allows apps to block full-mirroring. … Read more
Audio is no less immune to the sort of mild lies and partial truths found in the HDTV world. As I discussed in the HDTV edition of MMM, cutting through these fabrications is the key to understanding what really matters.
Before you spend any money on audio, check out this list for what's important, what's not, and what's just total misdirection.… Read more
Are the "lifespan" claims by manufacturers proper? I've read numbers ranging from 50,000 hours to 100,000 hours, often with plasma TVs at the higher end of that scale compared to LED and CCFL LCDs.
I would have thought, being solid-state devices, light emitting diodes would have had a greater lifespan than their fluorescent counterparts. Hearsay also puts plasma at the bottom, but numbers I've found show the opposite? Are any of these true?
All claims by manufacturers should be taken with a grain of salt, but you pose an excellent question.… Read more
Forget spending countless hours and dollars on a viral video--hello OK Go!--one band is doing viral the old fashioned way.
You probably haven't heard of Dry The River, but come this March you will, and if you're in London it will be via the old fashioned "lover's phone": a tin can on a string.
Twelve posters are scattered around London which, if you hold the can up to your ear, will play a track from Dry The River's new album "Shallow Bed."
The posters feature animals constructed from wires pulled from … Read more
When Boston Acoustics first came out with its TVee line of sound bars , its modest pricing and focus on simplicity were a welcome addition to a market filled with overpriced models.
A few generations later, the TVee Model 25 faces a much different set of competitors: tons of cheap sound bars that are good enough if you just want something that sounds better than your TV. That's essentially the rub with the TVee Model 25, which is an all-around decent sound bar with better-than-average sound quality (and some design flaws), but its $350 street price seems out of sync with the market.… Read more
Now the answer is closer to "probably not." This year I haven't seen the same kinds of drastic post-holiday price drops as TV makers sell off their 2011 stock to make room for 2012 TVs. Most of best prices for 2011 seemed to have came around Black Friday and the holidays, and those fire sales mean some 2011 TVs are already sold out completely.
That said, there are still a few great deals to be had if you're looking to scoop up a 2011 TV now. No matter what, you'll definitely save a few hundred or more over the 2012 models, and most of the time the picture quality is just as good.
Even if I do end up proclaiming the Panasonic ST50 much better than the already excellent ST30, for example, you should still take solace in saving $500 or more over the ST50's list price. If that sounds like small consolation, then do yourself a favor and wait until the 2012 reviews are out and, if you can, until prices begin to fall in earnest again next November.
The following five TVs are listed in descending order of bang-for-buck, and unless otherwise noted, prices are current at Amazon as of press time. To qualify for this list the TV had to have earned a "6" or higher in picture quality from a CNET review last year.
After months of court wrangles with Apple, Samsung still can't resist poking the bear by launching its 2012 range on March 6, the day before Apple's much-rumored iPad 3 announcement.
Samsung will officially launch its range of 2012 televisions at an event in New York and is expected provide more details on one of the most impressive entrants at this year's CES, the 55-inch "Super OLED" TV. (Update: Samsung tells us the OLED TV won't be announced at that event; availability is still said to be the second half of 2012.)
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