1080p Plasmas Galore

Plasma display technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years. Once only available for the ultra-wealthy, you can now purchase a very respectable unit for around $2000. Now that High Definition television has become more mainstream the market for these displays has grown significantly. Last year plasma took a back seat to other display technologies like LCD, DLP, and LCOS when 1080p version of said sets started shipping and plasma 1080p sets were nowhere to be found. However at this years CES almost every plasma panel maker is showing off their 1080p displays.


Hitachi's "modest" 55" 1080p Plasma

The latest 1080p pets from Pioneer, Panasonic, LG, Hitachi, and Samsung were being displayed with sizes ranging from 50" all the way up to 103". One interesting to note is the number of "Worlds Largest" plasma displays we saw on the floor. We saw a 102" sets from LG and Samsung, and a 103" from Panasonic - all claiming to be the worlds largest.


It's the world's largest 102" plasma


...and the world's largest 103" plasma

The sets we saw were stunning to say the least.

Kodak V570 Dual Lens Digital Camera Digital TV Broadcast to Analog Broadcast Converter
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  • Clauzii - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    Also here - to me it actually looks at it started happening after the last WindowsUpdate I had (4days ago - WMF-Fix?)

    Also IE6+XP SP2
  • BladeVenom - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    Screw Blue-ray discs, Sony can keep their DRM, and rootkits. I think I'll get Samsung's "Hyper DVD." Then I'll just wait till HD-DVD is cracked before I switch to a new format.
  • GTMan - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    There is a 0.85" drive with a nearly identically sized drive beside it that is 1.8". Number must be wrong. Also one is 4 GB and the other is 80 GB. Maybe that should have been 8 GB.
  • Tanclearas - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    Ok. What exactly is so great about the iPod interface? I have used it, and many other MP3 players, and fail to see how the iPod interface is so much better than most other players on the market. In fact, I have never understood why people believe the iPod is so different or so much better than a lot of its competitors. It wasn't the first, nor do I think it is "the best". I don't think I've seen any player that I could classify as "the best". Most seem to have all of the appropriate capabilities, with buttons/controls laid out in an effective way.

    The only thing I can say is that I have indeed used some players that had poor designs or build quality. In that regard, the iPod is better than some players out there, but is Apple building some sort of brand loyalty by secretly including some narcotic drug that gets delivered via the ear buds?
  • Questar - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    Define "best".

    I define best as easiest to use, no manual reading required.
  • Tanclearas - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - link

    So buttons labelled with the standard icons for Play, Pause, Stop, Skip Forward, Skip Back, Rewind, Fast Forward, and a jog dial or D-Pad for menu navigation are too complicated for you? I've seen several designs like that. Others try to "copy" Apple's circular layout, and that is where many of the poor models that I mentioned fail. In some of those "copies", they use poor quality buttons, or the buttons are just too small.

    Come to think of it, Apple's touch-sensitive circle is more annoying than helpful.
  • AnnihilatorX - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    SED, LED LCD, OLED, Plasma
    Not mentioning glassesless 3D displays. Too much is going on

    Typo in Last bit:
    "some piece of mind to those still holding on to their older analog sets."

    piece -> peace
  • Aquila76 - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    Rmember when buying a TV was solely size based?
    'I'd like a 32" TV please.'
    'OK, here are some by Samsung, Toshiba, etc.'

    Now it's like trying to choose regular, free-range, organic, etc. at the grocery.
    I JUST WANT TV AND STEAK PEOPLE!!!!
  • oneils - Thursday, January 12, 2006 - link

    Lol! Since I'm the youngest guy in the office, I inevitably get asked all sorts of techie questions. One of my colleagues asked for advice on purchasing an HDTV. I looked at cnet.com's guide to HDTV and was blown away. Where have a I been these past two-three years? I had no idea how many options there were: plasma; edtv; lcd; crt rear projection; lcd rear projection...and probably a couple I am missing.

    I had no idea what to tell him, other than to stick to major brands (sony, samsung, panasonic etc...). I no my way around computers (I build my own rigs), but I only have a 36" CRT SDTV and was completely lost when I ventured into HDTV territory.

  • Aquila76 - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link

    Anybody able to use the forums today? I was able to log in, but when I try to go to any forums I've commented in, I get this (both Firefox and IE):

    Server Error in '/' Application.
    Column 'vchlicensekey' does not belong to table qGetLicenses.
    Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

    Exception Details: System.ArgumentException: Column 'vchlicensekey' does not belong to table qGetLicenses.

    Source Error:

    An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

    Stack Trace:

    [ArgumentException: Column 'vchlicensekey' does not belong to table qGetLicenses.]
    System.Data.DataRow.get_Item(String columnName) +121
    FuseTalk.API.InitialiseKeys() +324
    FuseTalk.API..ctor(String c) +237
    FuseTalkNet.Forum.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +351
    System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e) +0
    System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +67
    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +35
    System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +750


    Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2032; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2032

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