Gizmodo: Backlighting

LG Transmissive/Reflective LCD Will Work Just as Well Outdoors as In

John Herrman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:02:50 EST

Transmissive and reflective illumination? Is this somehow exciting? Although they've done their best to make it sound boring, LG is onto something pretty significant here: a display that suits use indoors and out.

LCDs are generally illuminated in one of two ways, either with a backlight, which pumps light through the pixels from the rear, or through reflection, which uses ambient light, ideally natural, to provide contrast. Transmissive screens, as seen in laptops, cell phones and LCD TVs, work well in low-light situations and artificial light, but utterly fail in direct sunlight, where reflective displays thrive.

Both technologies are fairly mature, but to date hadn't been combined in any usable way. LG's Backlight Data Signal Switching Technology will allow users to switch between the indoor and outdoor modes with the press of a button. As an added bonus, switching to the reflective mode reduces LCD power consumption by about 75%. The initial run will be a 14.1in display for notebooks, but there's no reason we shouldn't soon see this in a variety of sizes and applications. [Akihabara]

Sony's Back-Illuminated CMOS Sensor Increases Sensitivity, Reduces Noise Dramatically

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:20:00 EDT

Sony has developed a new CMOS technology that may revolutionize consumer video camcorders and cameras: a 5-megapixel, 60 frames per second back-illuminated sensor. As you can see in this test image, the sensor nearly duplicates light sensitivity while reducing the signal-to-noise ratio. The idea is apparently simple, but it dramatically increases the quality of the picture in low-illumination conditions. How does it work?

As you can see, previous CMOS designs had the photoreceptive diodes behind the transistor layer. The transistor layer allowed some light to go through but reflected some of it, resulting in a lower sensitivity and increased noise.

In the new design, however, most of the photons goes through the on-chip lens and color filter directly into the new photo-diode structure, while the transistor layer sits at the bottom of the sensor. According to Sony, "that achieves a higher sensitivity of +6dB and a lower random noise of -2dB without light by reducing noise, dark current and defect pixels compared to the conventional front-illuminated structure."

Sony is planning on introducing the new technology in their next generation cameras, and hopefully we will see it in other products, especially cellphones. [Sony]

SIM2, Dolby's High Dynamic Range TV: For Quality A-Team Viewing

Kit Eaton — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:41:51 EDT

Hey kids! Mr. T here, tellin' you that watching too much TV is bad for you. But if you're stuck inside, maybe you're sick with a cold or something, then this new TV by Dolby and SIM2 Multimedia might be good. It's got some cool local-dimming LED technology —1,838 of the suckas— that dynamically adjust backlighting for the best picture. They say it's got infinite contrast ratio: no shit! Guess that's the High Dynamic Range part. Has 1920 x 1080 pixels, 46-inch screen and is designed by an Italian-sounding guy. Giorgio Revoldini. Say What? You want to buy it? It's a protoype, sucka. [7 Gadgets]

Solar House Number Display & Mailbox Easy to See at Night

kevinhall2 — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:28:13 EDT

The obviously named Solar House Number Display & Mailbox will not only help guests find your home in the dark, but it keeps your mail and newspaper snug, too. The box drinks in solar rays during the day, and when evening comes, it automatically triggers the LED backlighting, lasting for up to 10 hours. Just use the numbers provided in the package to indicate your house number, mount the thing up, and forget about it–no batteries, and it's water resistant.

Worried about someone walking up and snagging your mail? The mailbox has a lock, though the newspaper just slides into the cubby at the bottom of the unit. Good luck trying to get the paperboy to walk up and slide your newspaper in just for you. The Solar House Number Display & Mailbox costs $128.

Product page [NapaStyle via Uberreview]

Pandigital Updates Digital Picture Frames with a Little LED Backlighting Love

Travis Hudson — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:13:53 EST

Back in October Pendigital's biggest frame was only 9.6 inches. Today they stepped it up huge by updating their line of frames with a 10.4 incher and adding LED backlighting that makes the picture look phenomenal. There is no other easy way to describe this frame other than beautiful. Prices begin at $99. Available in black or cherry as of ... now! (Actually Monday the eighth, but close enough) – Travis Hudson

MacBook Pro Visualization Backlighting

Travis Hudson — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:33:14 EDT

Using a little software tweak a MacBook user was able to get his keyboard backlighting to flicker and dim with the beats of the music from iTunes. All it requires is a visualization plug-in called iSpazz. It can be found here. Neat stuff and surely the ladies will swoon at your disco MacBook. – Travis Hudson

iSpazz [Via Techeblog]