New Technologies to Drive TV Sales – DisplaySearch TV Market Research claims that 2009 was a good year for the overall flat panel TV market, with total units sold rising worldwide by over 32%. LCD TV average prices fell 24% from 2008. DisplaySearch forecasts for 2010 sales of 228 million units. Volume-weighted average prices are expected to fall about 5% for LCD TVs this year and about 10% for plasma TVs. Plasma TV unit shipments are expected to rise about 6% in 2010 to just over 15 million units, aided by the introduction of 3D plasma TVs. The LCD outlook is 180 million units for the year, driven in part by the expansion of LED backlit models. The over-100Hz frame-rate segment has jumped more than 50% in larger screen sizes.
SIM2 Has LED Video Projector – SIM2 has introduced their Grand Cinema MICO 50 projector, with 3 high-powered LEDS instead of the traditional projector lamp, the latest DLP chipset, advanced video processing and a new light engine. The three LEDs direct light into the projector’s optics without going thru an ordinary projector’s color wheel. An 8-bit-per=channel high-speed current driver balances the light intensity from the three LED modules, precisely matching the projector’s light output to the incoming video signal. Texas Instruments’ latest Darkchip4 DLP chipset and DynamicBlack technology delivers full HD images with a contrast ratio of 100,000:1. The projector can de-interlace and scale both standard and HD signals, reproducing them in full HD resolution. Life of the LED modules is estimatred at 30,000 hours; a liquid-cooling system reduces operatin noise. Two different lens options are available: short-throw or long-throw, and it has motorised lens shift capability in both vertical and horizontal directions. The Grand Cinema MICO 50 is $30,000.
Keep Children’s Ears Safe With Earmuffs – Audiologists say that safeguards to the hearing of young ears have become more important in our world of increasing loud noises. Noise that is potentially dangerous to an adult is even more dangerous to children. A young child’s ear canal is much smaller and shorter than an adult’s, and as a result a child might perceive a sound as 20 dB louder than an adult will. Due to the shorter ear canal, dangerous noise levels in the high frequencies can be more serious. Even if concertgoers know about damage from loud music or sounds, few children wear protective gear in noisy environments such as sporting events, parades, fireworks, or around high-dB motorized sport vehicles. And adults can escape from uncomfortable loud noise, but babies are stuck with their parents or in a stroller and can’t get away. Limiting a child’s exposure to noise is a matter of common sense. Earplugs are not appropriate for several reasons. Protective earmuffs with foam-filled ear cups are one solution in noisy environments.
Google Working on Internet TV with Intel, Sony & Logitech – Google Inc. has partnerships with Intel, Sony and Logitech International to bring Net software to TVs. The Google TV project uses Intel chips, and Switzerland’s Logitech has developed a keyboard operating as a remote control. An analyst at Parks Associates said “It’s a sign of the legitimacy of Internet connectivity moving well beyond the PC and mobile spaces, which Google has tackled already.” More than one-quarter of TVs purchased in the U.S. currently are capable of linking to the Internet thru a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection. Such TVs allow users to watch YouTube videos, view online photo albums, play games and stream movies from Netflix. Rovi (formerly Macrovision) has a program called TotalGuide, which is designed to let consumers navigate all Internet content on their TVs. An Intel VP observed, “Many things are going to happen to make TVs an Internet device, a computing device.”
