We only have a few more days left until the festivities truly kick off at CES 2012 in Las Vegas, but LG has already tipped its hand with a press release promising the “world’s largest” OLED panel for the show. We’ve seen smaller screens from LG before and it had already promised a 55-inch OLED HDTV for mid-2012, so this news is just another sign the company is ready to take its technology mainstream. LG’s tech uses white OLEDs overlaid with colors, which it claims makes for a lower error rate and clearer “ultra-definition” screen, with more colors than standard LCDs. Check after the break for one more promo pic of LG’s super skinny 5mm prototype, we’ll get a better look at it (and the inevitable competition from Korean rival Samsung) at the company’s booth January 9th.

LG’s FPR 3DTVs already featured lighter, cheaper passive 3D glasses than their active shutter competition, but next year the company will push its advantage even further with these new models. The three options available include the F310 (at right, above) which it says weighs 20 percent less than last year’s default and are curved more for a better fit, the F320 (left) clip-on design for glasses-wearers and Alain Mikli-designed (the guy who made Kanye’s shutter shades, among other high-end eyeglasses) F360 half-rim frames (middle). It also rolled out a press release trumpeting new Smart TV features for 2012, but beyond the updated remote and confirmation of Intel WiDi integration, it’s pretty short on details. We’re not seeing any Google TV tie-ins here, LG is focusing on its homegrown ecosystem which it says now offers 1,200 apps. There’s no word on pricing for the glasses, but after this and announcing a 55-inch OLED prototype, I’m sure we’ll see more stuff from the South Korean giant.

A Chinese company throwing French around in its product names? Right, that’s Lenovo for you. Oddities aside, it looks as if the LePhone will soon have LeCompany — Lenovo will be pushing out its first smart TV in the first quarter of 2012. The simply-titled LeTV will be an internet-connected display, but outside of that, hardly anything else is being made public. There are no launch regions specified, nor a screen size. We’re presuming it’ll attempt to tie into the greater “Lenovo Cloud,” which will purportedly be similar to services already offered by the likes of Apple and Google, though users will be granted access to 200GB at first. Can’t imagine too many folks opting for a Lenovo desktop, laptop, smartphone and television, but hey — ecosystems are indeed all the rage these days.

SOURCE via Wall Street Journal

We’ve officially entered the silly season of pre-CES rumors, so take this with a grain of salt, but the Wall Street Journal reports Sony has approached “several big media companies” about distributing their channels over the internet. This comes on the heels of its report on comments by CEO Howard Stringer about significant R&D efforts going into a “different kind of TV”, and the four screen strategy Sony would like to implement. According to the report, Sony’s idea is to offer small bundles of channels over the internet to its TVs, Blu-ray players, and the PS3. Still, cutting deals with companies like CBS, that doesn’t want to jeopardize its cable and satellite TV-based revenue, could be difficult. As for the competition, similar rumors about Microsoft turned into an effort that mostly works with partners like Comcast, U-verse, and FiOS, while Google is also pursuing a route of adding to, but not necessarily replacing, cable TV. Sony has positioned itself well, adding IPTV services including sports to the PS3 and live TV tuning capability, and its tested the waters of going over the top before, but so far whether it will actually pursue this new plan is unknown.

SOURCE via Wall Street Journal

Sony denies a recall but admits that there have been reports of overheating. Sony has confirmed issues with several models of its Sony Bravia TV line, but contrary to early reports, insists that it’s not issuing a product recall affecting 1.6 million television sets. In an announcement posted to its television and projectors support pages, the company said it is beginning a free inspection and repair program following reports of over-heating components in its TVs.

“We have recently become aware of a potential issue affecting a very limited number of BRAVIA LCD TV models, which have been available for purchase in Europe since June 2007,” the company said. “The issue came to our attention through reports in Japan that a limited number of products might contain a component affected by a quality issue, which in a rare number of cases might over-heat and ignite inside the television and possibly result in the melting of the upper casing of the television.”

Sony says that there has yet to be any reports of injury or further damages. Still, if you purchased your Sony Bravia TV in Europe post-2007, you might want to check out the model number and consider getting it inspected. The following models are affected:

KDL-40D3400, KDL-40D3500, KDL-40D3550, KDL-40D3660, KDL-40V3000, KDL-40W3000, KDL-40X3000, KDL-40X3500.

If you own one of the products listed, you should contact your nearest Service Centre to arrange an inspection of the TV.

SOURCE via Sony

Sometimes gigabytes aren’t enough. With movies going Full HD and 3D and stuff these days, you have to start talking terabytes. That’s the case with Toshiba’s new Regza Server, more numerically known as the DBR-M190. The just-announced home media server boasts 5TB of storage, enough for 15 days of MPEG4AVC-compressed digital TV — from six different channels. Of course, that “server” in the name means you’ll be able to stream captured content as well. The sad news? “You” means only Japanese consumers. But if you’re one of the chosen many, this media-slinging behemoth will cost you 200,000 yen, or around $2,600.

SOURCE via Toshiba

The never-ending battle between active and polarizing 3D alternatives still isn’t anywhere near its impossible-to-determine finale, but it’s pretty clear that LG’s intent on supporting the latter. Those who aren’t fazed by losing resolution so long as batteries aren’t required in their 3D glasses should be elated to hear of the outfit’s latest Cinema 3D sets, with the 32-inch 32LW5700, 42-inch 42LW5700 and 47-inch 47LW5700 pushing three-dee down to smaller scale displays. We’ve never been particularly fond of the 3D effect on bedroom-sized panels, but those looking for something a bit less gargantuan may beg to differ. The trio will support USB HDD recording, an integrated tuner, and of course, the inclusion of an IPS panel should make both 2D and 3D images alike look downright ravishing. Those fine to settle for the way we’ve always watched TV can opt for the 2D-only 47LZ9600 (47-inch) / 55LZ9600 (55-inch), both clocking in at 8.8mm thick and offering a native 1080p resolution, a built-in TV tuner and support for USB recording. The whole lot is expected to hit Japan later this month, with other dignified nations to surely follow suit shortly.

SOURCE via LG

Usually when we hear the name “ARM,” it means technology used for tablets and smartphones. But on Wednesday ARM said that its technology is now being used in Panasonic Corporation’s just-announced UniPhier (short for Universal Platform for High-quality Image Enhancing Revolution) MN2WS0220 System on Chip (SoC).

According to ARM, these SoCs will be installed in Internet Connected Digital “Smart” TVs and consist of ARM’s dual-core Cortex-A9 MPCore processor design typically running at up to 1.4 GHz, ARM CoreLink NIC-301 Network Interconnect and the ARM Cortex-A9 POP for Low Power (LP) process. Panasonic’s high-quality audio-visual processing technology will also be incorporated into the chip as well as a high performance 3D graphics engine possibly based on ARM’s Mali GPU technology. Read more…

3D TV is the in thing these days, and luxury brand Bang & Olufsen is not going to miss out this chance to milk some cash from those filthy rich. Bang & Olufsen today introduced its first 3D TV, the all-new BeoVision 4-85 plasma TV.

Bang & Olufsen claims that this Plasma 3D TV is revolutionary as it provides the best picture experience of any plasma screen on the market with its Full HD picture, razor sharp details, rich-lifelike colors and smooth movement of objects on the screen, or so they say. In addition, the BeoVision 4-85 also features a patented Bang & Olufsen Automatic Color Management technology, which counters the effects of age, as it delivers exceptional picture quality, ensuring the same high level of performance year after year without degradation, which affects plasma TVs.

The Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 4-85 comes equipped with a dedicated centre loudspeaker, the BeoLab 10, which would be the most important thing in this package. This high quality speaker adopts the patented Bang & Olufsen Acoustic Lens technology, which disperses sound at a 180 degree angle throughout an entire area. Additionally, the BeoLab 10 also spreads the sound equally and horizontally from the centre channel, allowing the viewers to get all the nuances from the film dialogue, regardless of where they are sitting in the room.

The new BeoVision 4-85 Plasma TV is available in June 2011 cheaply for $85,000.

SOURCE via Bang & Olufsen

Check out this brand new electronic windscreen from Samsung. Here’s Samsung’s new 75-inch 3D HDTV called the D9500, for those that must have everything new and exciting, since 3D is dancing on hotplates now.

Taking away LG’s 72-inch LZ9700 crown, this is the world’s largest LED-backlit 3D LCD HDTV. Looks like Samsung is also serious about LG rubbing its nose.

The 240Hz display will also come with the usual Smart TV features, garnished by a QWERTY flip remote for your web-browsing and SNS needs on that large screen. Of course, being the ‘world’s number 1’ means that it ain’t cheap. Oddly enough, only an ex-factory price of a whooping ₩19,000,000 ($17,600) is quoted here, so customers will have to pay a bit more than that during the pre-sales at the end of the month.

SOURCE via Akihabaranews