The change in range is due to the chunk of spectrum being used (5GHz for WHDI and anywhere from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz for UWB). UWB is a low-power, short-range broadcast because it has to play nice with the other protocols found on the wide breadth of spectrum it calls home. (For better or worse, Monster's wireless HD kit is wireless up until the point it needs to use your home's coax wiring to gain whole-house coverage).

WHDI, however, is camped out in a chunk of unlicensed 5GHz spectrum just like 802.11n Wi-Fi, meaning it must be able to tolerate the reasonable levels of interference only from other devices that use the same frequencies, and can broadcast at higher power levels than UWB—enough for a range of "over 100 feet." WirelessHD, a third major spec also funded by Samsung and Sony, plus Panasonic, Toshiba, LG and NEC, uses the 60GHz band, and apparently has problems unless the transmitter and receiver are within line-of-sight.

Components will be paired through menu systems using a pass-key, like Bluetooth. The spectrum can hold around six streams of 1080p video at a time, although real-world interference may vary. A likely scenario would be streaming from a WHDI cable box or Blu-ray player downstairs to 3 TVs throughout your house while still having room for HD gaming in the den.

The fact that a few heavies like Panasonic are still notably missing could mean another standards battle is on the horizon. While WirelessHD already claims a published 1.0 spec, and Monster's UWB product should be out by the fall, the WHDI spec is due to be finalized at the end of the year, with products hopefully popping up in time for CES '09. Stay tuned until then—as one format war ends, another begins.

The WASP website states “the effects of the compressed gas not only cause overinflation during ascent when used underwater, but also freezes all tissues and organs surrounding the point of injection on land or at sea.” It's like a freeze ray out of a superhero movie... Only it's real, and thus infinitely scarier. Somebody hold me. [UK Daily Mail via Technabob]

With too much inventory and not enough demand, the HDTV makers are cutting prices yet again to clear out stock. After these guys finish slashing, you can expect other bigwigs like Pioneer, LG and Sony to follow suit. So before you shell out for that sweet new LCD or plasma set, make sure you're not overpaying and check out the chart of everything we know so far. [HD Guru]

*Note: The following are "minimum advertised prices". Street pricing, or what they actually charge in store after sales, etc., is usually much less.

The set has a contrast ratio of 10000:1 and a 20mm thick display panel. It requires about 30% less power than regular LCD TVs and gets its juice from one of Sharp's triple-junction thin-film solar cell modules. The modules are about the same size as the television's screen.

Sharp plans to market the LCD and the energy system as a pair and says that its product could be a hit with both people living off the grid and environmentally-conscious consumers. The company will be exhibiting this, and other energy-saving technologies, at the G8 summit on Monday. [Physorg]

SHARP To Offer Ultra-thin LCD TV with Wireless HDTV Link by AMIMON

AMIMON's WHDI Technology Enables High Quality and Robust Wireless Uncompressed HDTV Link to Sharp's New X-Series LCD TVs

Santa Clara, Calif. and Osaka, Japan - April 30, 2008 - AMIMON Inc., an emerging leader in semiconductor technology for wireless high-definition (HD) video, has partnered with leading LCD TV manufacturer Sharp Corporation to offer a wireless HDTV link for the new X-Series ultra-thin LCD TVs. AMIMON's WHDI™ technology, capable of delivering uncompressed HD video streams wirelessly, will simplify the installation of Sharp's ultra-thin LCD TVs by eliminating the need for an audio/video cable between the TV panel and the separate tuner unit.

AMIMON's WHDI technology uses a unique video-modem approach to deliver wirelessly uncompressed HDTV. With a range of over 100 feet (30 m), through multiple walls and with latency of less than one millisecond, WHDI technology offers universal wireless whole-home HD connectivity with quality equivalent to that achieved with HDMI.

"WHDI is becoming the technology of choice for wireless HDTV," said Dr. Yoav Nissan-Cohen Chairman and CEO of AMIMON Inc. "With AMIMON's WHDI technology, consumers can enjoy wireless ultra-thin TV displays that are easy to install and easy on the eyes."

Sharp's new X-series models, which come in 37-, 42- and 46-inch screen sizes and are only 3.44 cm thick (at their thinnest part), go on sale in Japan in March. This series adopts a discrete component configuration that separates the display section from the tuner section, and these two sections can be connected with a cable or by using an optional wireless video transmitter unit that employs AMIMON's WHDI technology.

About Sharp Corporation

Sharp Corporation is a worldwide developer of innovative products and core technologies that play a key role in shaping the future of electronics. As a leader in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and digital technologies, Sharp offers one of the broadest and most advanced lines of consumer electronics, information products and electronic components, while also creating new network businesses.

Sharp Corporation employs about 58,900 people in the world (as of December 31, 2007) and recorded consolidated annual sales of 3,127,771 million yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. For more information, please visit Sharp's Web site at http://sharp-world.com/index.html.

About AMIMON

AMIMON is a fabless semiconductor company pioneering wireless uncompressed high-definition video for universal connectivity among CE video devices. AMIMON's uncompressed Wireless High-definition Interface (WHDI™) enables HDTV manufactures to offer consumers wireless flat panel displays that can interface wirelessly to all HD video sources throughout the home at a quality equivalent to that achieved with wired interfaces such as HDMI™.

The company is headquartered in Herzlia, Israel, with offices in Santa Clara, Calif., USA, Tokyo Japan and Seoul Korea. More information is available at www.AMIMON.com.

WHDI is a trademark of AMIMON, Ltd. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are those of their respective holders.

The diminutive device measures just 3.3 x 7.4 x 1.0 inches, packs in a QWERTY keyboard and weighs just one pound. It's configured to use Japan's PHS system for phone calling, apparently coming with an external Bluetooth phone device that'll let you place calls over the PHS network. It also appears to have a built-in one-seg TV tuner, and memory expansion through a microSD slot.

It's Japan-only for now, due to that PHS system, and costs around $1,280. [Akihabaranews via Av Watch]

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Seems to make sense, considering that Sharp's had the lead in big LCD making, based on the 108-inch champ from last year's CES. This affects you in a few ways: Sony LCDs have long worked with Samsung on their LCD panels. By comparison, Samsung has traditionally been behind in response times, contrast and black levels. But in the past lots of Sharp LCDs in bigger sizes have blotchy backlighting. Maybe the 10th generation factory Sharp is working on, reported to be the biggest in the world, will have eliminated all of these issues by the time it goes online in 2010. [Reuters]

While these Big Four gained ground—often by keeping profit margins slim and exploring cheaper manufacturing—other well-regarded brands like Sharp, Philips and Hitachi fell back. The strongest competition in LCD came from Vizio and Polaroid, but many other brands clamored like barbarians at the gate.

DisplaySearch's charts with market share number are just below, but first answer this simple question:

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[DisplaySearch]

Anyone who's ever tried to "install" a 50 inch plasma or LCD all by themselves (GUILTY!!) knows that this here is wonderful news, and not too far off. Many of these TVs will be shipping in 2008 and some in 2009. By and large, the buzz is that, before we get to the next wave of TV technology, there will be some nice improvements in the current stuff. TV manufacturers, my back and my little pinky finger thank you!

Sharp claims a 15,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (900:1 absolute) for these LCDs, and a 450 cd/m2 brightness with double-speed 120 Hz refresh rate and 176 degree viewing angle. A proprietary 12-bit processor, designed to give smooth tone variations, handles the color processing. The system has 3 HDMI inputs along with analog and digital tuners. It has a thin-profile 8-speaker soundsystem integrated in the chassis, with a 1-bit digital amplifier.

Putting about 10 pounds of electronics in the separate tuner box means that the 46 inch model weighs only about 48 pounds, which will be great for your back if you hang it. It will be available in Japan this March for ¥350,000 ($3,290) for the LC-B-37XJ1, ¥430,000 ($4,050) for the LC-B-42XJ1, and ¥480,000 ($4,510) for the big LC-B-46XJ1. [AV Watch]

Aquos Net won't change the world, but as a prototype of what's to come in the industry, it's pretty freakin' cool.

Overheard from exec: "it adds about $200 to price of TV." Ouch.

So we're sitting right next to all the presenting execs, and a few are grilling another as to how bright he set one of the (new) SE94 LCDs. Another suit came up and double checked the settings.

Now we're getting started...

I'm eating a Granny Smith apple. I'm not crazy about these things. Then again, Red Delicious can be overkill on the sugar. Honeycrisps are more my cup of tea. (They're just talking about the success of LCD technology and their projections for its growth over the next few years).

TVs
65" Prototype LCD
We mislabeled that Sharp prototype we've been scoping out for the one we saw at IFA—the specs are the same, but this one is 65"—a little larger than the old (52-inch?) version. It's also ever so slightly thicker, a little over an inch, as opposed to the .9" IFA model. But it's pretty much the same thing, this time unveiled to American eyes.

OLED
"Sharp recognizes OLED technology...but there are two major reasons it won't replace LCDs..."
- Short Lifespans
- Small Sizes
So for now, they're staying out of the business.

Aquos Net

- Brings "widgets" to TVs. Custom web content, realtime customer support.
- works via ethernet
- NASDAQ, WeatherBug, comics, etc

Aquos Advantage Live
- Works with Aquos Net
- Connects user to customer service through TV
- User manual and FAQs on here

PLC adapter

- No ethernet, Power Line Communications
- Works around ethernet homes
- Models with up to 4 ports

SE94-Series
- 1080p
- Aquos Net
- 27,000:1 contrast
- 120 Hz
- 46, 52, 65"
- 4MS Response

Some other models, too. But Aquos Net on some models is the big news to take home from this conference.

Sharp Blu-ray BD-HP50U
- Supports 1.1 spec, 1.3 HDMI
- Remote syncs power with TV

"Sharp Audio"
They skimmed over these, but there you go.

Well, that's a wrap. Aquos Net TV widgets look interesting, but avoiding OLED technology because of small screen size and short life—two things we must disagree with—seems like a lame excuse for Sharp. That's all until the next press conference.

The slim design was made possible through the use of a new JVC-developed slim panel backlight unit and power supply substrate, or chassis. The new slim LCD panel backlight unit is 40 percent smaller in depth and bezel width compared to a conventional LCD backlight, measuring just 0.79 inches (20mm) deep and 0.51 inches (13mm) wide. In addition, the unit weighs only 26.4 lbs (12kg) and consumes a mere 145W (see diagram 1).

Efforts to reduce the depth of an LCD panel backlight result in uneven hot spots appearing on the LCD screen surfaces because CCFL light sources are brought closer to the liquid crystal panel (see diagram 2). To overcome this problem, either light-diffusing plates are applied or more CCFL tubes are used. But the former approach can result in lower brightness, while the latter approach can be costly and increases power consumption.

JVC's display engineering team succeeded in developing a new, slimmer backlight unit by optimizing the light-diffusing plates and light-reflection sheets, as well as improving its overall composition. This provided uniform light-diffusion at all the corners and edges without the addition of more CCFL tubes, while maintaining adequate luminance to ensure that the screen always remains bright (see diagrams 3 and 4).

JVC also developed a slimmer yet efficient power-supply substrate and employed a direct-mount configuration for it on the LCD panel backlight unit with a fan-less heat dissipation system to further reduce power consumption.

Both models will be VESA compliant for easy wall mounting, but JVC will also offer its own mounting solution - a wall mount designed to position the slim TV closer to the wall than does a standard mount.

The new JVC super-slim LT-42SL89 and LT-46SL89 will be available in early summer. Prices will be announced at that time.

A year later, Sharp's still working on launch plans as the set stands to be unseated as the world's biggest flat-panel display in little more than a week.

Then there was Warner's much ballyhooed, allegedly format-war-ending Total HD disc that crams HD DVD and Blu-ray onto one shiny piece of plastic. Status? Vapor. It got delayed until 2008 halfway into 2007, and then was basically shitcanned as the format trench war squeaks along into yet another year. So many promises, so many broken hearts. [IT World via /.]

Available in black and white as well as hot pink, the M61SH has support for a microSD card, and will be available in Japan from next month. [Impress]

Vizio was the steaming turd of the study, with its GV47FHDTV scoring both the 400-line static res and the shabby-as-hell 360-line motion res.

The plasmas did the best on the test. The two Panasonics tested (50PZ700 and 50PZ750) scored full 1080 when still, and 880 when moving. A Samsung plasma (FPT5084) got high marks with 1080 static and 830 motion res. (Note: the test Merson used originated with a consortium of plasma makers—Advanced PDP Development Center—so plasma scoring higher is no big surprise.)

The LCDs that fared best on this resolution test were from Sharp, with 1080p static and 600 lines in motion, almost across the board. An LG model also scored 600 in motion, while Sony and Samsung LCDs scored in the high 500s.

For more detailed analysis and a look at Merson's chart, hit the Home Theater Magazine article. [Home Theater]

The new cells will require 1/100th of the silicon traditionally used in typical solar cells. The new cell type standard is in direct response to the limited global abundance of silicon. The market for solar chips continues to grow at around 30% per year, but so do costs for materials. As a result, Sharp has just posted financial losses for the current term. The new cells, it is hoped, shall be a more economically viable, whilst simultaneously being able to meet demand. [Dailytech]