TV Articles

LG's Cinema Screen TVs get real thin, feature-packed

LAS VEGAS--Apart from the Swiss Army knife that is LG's new Magic Motion remote, the company's next best trick is its thin-bezelled range of televisions under the banner Cinema Screen.

The LED-based TVs all offer bezels under 5mm in width. There's a war on, it's no longer whose TV is biggest, but who can get their frames thinnest for that nearly all-picture look. Samsung fired the first salvo last year and we loved it, giving the UND8000 a "10" in Design by virtue of its 0.2-inch bezel. It's no coincidence that LG'… Read more

LG's Dual Play gets serious with split-screen gaming

LG wants to bring the joy of split screen gaming back--minus the cheating that inevitably goes with it--with its Dual Play technology.

Split-screen gaming has enabled players to compete against each other on the same machine since the early days of consoles, popularized by games such as the original "Goldeneye."

LG's passive Dual Play mode, available on 2012 TVs with passive 3D, enables two people to play on the same screen and is presumably compatible with any console game that includes a top-bottom split screen. With LG's Dual Play enabled and the special Dual Play glasses, … Read more

Toshiba to ship glasses-free 3D TV to U.S. in early 2012 (exclusive)

Toshiba has confirmed to CNET that it plans to make a glasses-free 3D TV available to buyers in the U.S. sometime during the first quarter of 2012.

The set would be the first of its kind for the North American market, although Toshiba already has 55-inch glasses-free 3D TVs available for sale in Germany (the 55LZ2) and Japan (the 55X3). Both went on sale in December and retail for more than $10,000 in their home currencies.

A Toshiba representative told CNET that the U.S. version would be similar to those versions, but he couldn't provide additional … Read more

Harman Kardon's sound bar goes for $800

Harman Kardon's SB 16 established that the company could charge a premium for its sound bar ($600), but actually back it up with superior performance.

Harman is upping the ante even further with the SB 30, the company's newest sound bar selling for a whopping $800. From the outside, you don't seem to get much more for your money, with it featuring a similar exterior design to the SB 16 and a wireless subwoofer. But inside, the SB 30 is packed with drivers, including six 2-inch woofers and seven 1-inch tweeters. Harman is also touting its dual … Read more

LG announces its first Google TVs

LG announced that its first Google TV models will be available later this year with a mix of Google technology and the Korean company's own 3D and Web-friendly features.

LG announced two new LCD models, the LMG860 and LMG620, which will both be available in 47-inch and 55-inch versions.

Both ranges feature LG's Cinema 3D technology which features inexpensive passive glasses. The TVs will include a 2D-to-3D conversion mode if you tire of your copy of "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D.

The LG Smart TV with Google TV feature's LG's own Smart TV interface … Read more

Pioneer's networked audio players do high-res, AirPlay

Some might say "audiophile" and "digital music" shouldn't be used in the same sentence, but Pioneer is hoping they're wrong.

Pioneer released two new networked audio players yesterday aimed at the audiophile crowd, the N-30 and N-50. The two players feature Pioneer's Elite branding and have a sturdy-looking component-style design, including a 2.5-inch color display that shows cover art and artist/track information.

File-format support should please digital audiophiles: 192khz/24-bit FLAC and WAV support, plus MP3, WMA, AAC and Ogg Vorbis. Both AirPlay and DLNA are supported, which means you'll … Read more

Samsung's Blu-ray home theater systems get tubes, cloud DVD storage

Samsung's audio announcements yesterday included an innovative sound bar and tube-based iPod speakers, the company also rolled out its new line-up of all-in-one Blu-ray home theater systems.

Two new systems were announced, the HT-E6730W and HT-E5500W, both with a similar set of core features, including built-in 3D Blu-ray, hybrid vacuum tube amplifiers, built-in Wi-Fi, and Samsung Apps.

The higher end HT-E6730W is a 5.1 home theater system features two tall-boy front speaker, while the HT-E5500W has smaller, bookshelf front speakers. The press release mentions that the HT-E5500W has two HDMI inputs and an iPod dock; it's … Read more

Roku's Streaming Stick shrinks the Roku box into a dongle

I've called the Roku LT "tiny," but it's about to look downright chunky.

Roku announced the Streaming Stick this morning, which essentially squeezes all the functionality of a typical Roku box (including Wi-Fi, processor, and memory) into a a device that looks like a USB flash drive. It doesn't require an additional power cable or a separate remote, instead allowing you to use your TV's standard remote to navigate Roku's software. Roku's platform currently supports over 400 channels, including Netflix, Amazon Instant, Pandora, MLB.TV, HBO Go, MOG, and Rdio.

Roku sees … Read more

New Samsung audio docks support both iPhone and Galaxy S

Samsung will unveil a new line of AirPlay audio docks at CES that are the first to support both the Samsung Galaxy S family and the iPhone.

The flagship DA-E750 features compatibility with both Samsung and Apple devices, including iPads, with what Samsung describes as "dual docking structure. Wireless connectivity is catered for with AirPlay, AllShare for Samsung Galaxy, and Bluetooth. A USB port is also provided with support for MP3, WMA, and WAV.

The DA-E750 will feature Samsung's proprietary 100-watt hybrid vacuum tube amplifier and a 2.1 speaker system.

Meanwhile, the 40-watt DA-E670 features AllShare, Airplay, … Read more

Could LG's new 55-inch OLED be the best TV ever?

LG is expected to release the "world's largest" 55-inch OLED TV in 2012 that features four colors instead of the three-color RGB standard and promises better off-axis viewing than competitors.

Where Sharp added a yellow pixel to its Quattron technology, LG has added a white pixel to its OLED (organic light emitting diode) panel for a "brighter picture".

In terms of image quality, Sharp offers some stiff competition to the OLED, with its Elite Pro receiving a deeply impressive 9.5 rating from David Katzmaier last month

Traditionally, OLED offers higher contrast than both LCD … Read more