Philips Eco TV
A green HDTV? Philips’ 42PFL5603D makes a case with power consumption less than 100 watts—comparable screens use at least twice that amount—when the 1080p set automatically dims the backlight in darker scenes. It saves money as it enhances black level.
How much money will it save in electricity? Probably not much in a year, but Philips will also attract the green crowd by using lead-free components and little mercury. To complete the green package, Philips ships the HDTV in a box made from recycled materials.
Mitsubishi LaserTV
This could become the year’s biggest HDTV development if Mitsubishi finally delivers sets that use lasers to fire up the screens with twice the colour of today’s HDTVs. Enhanced colour, depth of field, clarity and extraordinary brightness with a high contrast ratio could produce the best picture quality ever seen on an HDTV.
Not so cool: These are clunky rear-projection sets, not sparkling, thin, flat panels.
Mitsubishi, after promising the sets would arrive late last year, now says they’ll reach stores sometime this year. (No prices or screen sizes announced.)
Sony XEL-1 OLED
A new year and new set of letters. For 2008, it’s OLED—as in Organic Light Emitting Diode or, just among friends, pronounced “Oh-Led.” The XEL-1, with its 11-inch screen, is among the year’s least impressive HDTVs physically. And its cost, $2,500, guarantees this will rank among the year’s slowest sellers.
But its extreme design—the panel is 3 millimeters deep, about the thickness of three credit cards—and predictions of deep black levels, high contrast ratios and rapid response times could alter HDTV’s future.
Unlike LCD technology, an OLED’s chemical-compound layers between two charged electrodes do not require backlighting. By providing their own light, they produce more brightness with less power. So far, they’ve been showing up mostly in cell phones, MP3 players and other portable devices with tiny screens. But there’s no evidence that Sony can produce these screens in larger sizes and larger quantities.
JVC’s No-Remote Control LCD
The HDTV meets The Clapper with technology that uses snap, clap and gesture recognition instead of a remote. That’s right, turn the TV on and off, change volume or channel and scroll through the menu aerobically. And what happens when you cheer during the Super Bowl and suddenly you’re watching Giada De Laurentiis salivate over a truffle?
