TVs

Remember Cable Card? It's still around, quietly allowing owners of TiVos and Home Theater PCs, via devices like the HDHomeRun Prime, to get the full complement of cable TV programming without having to use the company-issued DVR or cable box.

At CNET we've tested a few Cable Card products, including TiVos and the now-defunct Moxi DVR. The latter product was still hanging around the CNET offices so I decided to test it out for myself at home.

I called up Verizon (I'm a Fios TV subscriber) last week, told the rep I had a third-party DVR and … Read more

By now you've probably heard about OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes. LG and Samsung both revealed potential models at this year's CES, with the LG winning CNET's Best of CES Award.

Make no mistake, this is the most important advancement in TV technology in more than a decade, and a vast improvement over both LCD and plasma.

Here's why.… Read more

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.

Click through to Samsung's dedicated Web site at www.samsung.com/us/capacitorsettlement/ for the full details, to view the affected TVs or to download a claim form.

… Read more

CNET Reader Dadar asks:

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

Last year in early February we answered the question "Is now the best time to buy a TV?" with a resounding "probably."

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.

… Read more

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.)

The company will … Read more

Updated February 16, 8:45 a.m. ET

A couple of weeks ago a colleague at CNET walked into my office and told me his TV had died.

It was a Samsung LCD from 2008, and according to my colleague--let's call him "Bill" since he said he'd rather not be identified in this story--a quick Google search revealed hundreds of other Samsung TV owners with the same problem. Here's the 2010 story Bill found that "started the whole thing" for him.

Bill told me the TV simply wouldn't turn on despite repeated … Read more