Gizmodo: wireless plasma

Samsung's Wireless 1080p Plasma Is Almost Ready, But Is It Safe Enough For Hollywood?

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:40:00 EDT

Yesterday, Samsung execs brought us up to speed on their plans for a wireless high-def TV system. On target for September, the 50" and 58" models (FP-T5094 and FP-T5894, respectively) will feature 802.11n for a range up to 300 feet, and will support 1080p wireless video. Bill Dickey, Samsung's plasma TV sales manager, told us that if the sets were 720p, they could be ready sooner, but because Samsung is shooting for 1080p, they have to deal with Hollywood. Dickey says Samsung is "in negotiations" with the major movie studios, and hopes to have their approval of a secure wireless transmission system by June, so Samsung can finish development in time for September.

Dickey's boss said that DRM wasn't the only concern.

Jonas Tanenbaum, VP of flat panel sales and marketing said that he really wants to make sure the system meets the expectations of videophiles, and not just nerds who enjoy hot wireless action. Buying a wireless system should not mean paying more for degraded video, he said. They're not cheap: the cost will be $3,999 for the 50" and $5,199 for the 58", lower than previously suggested but still a $500 premium over their non-wireless brethren, the FP-T5084 shipping in June and the FP-T5884 out in September.

When I joked that if it didn't work, people would toss the $500 base station and just plug their gear directly into the TV, Tanenbaum said that that wasn't an option: the "jack back" on this TV will be barebones. All of the HDMI, component and other A/V inputs will be housed in the base station only. It's wireless or bust.

If you're getting deja vu, it's because there is a 720p version of this, the SPD-50P7HDT (pictured above), is available in Korea; we we told you all about it last August. The US version that I described was announced at CES.

We have our fingers crossed, but we're not holding our breath. Wireless TV has been done, but it hasn't yet been done right. More often than that, it has been promised, but not delivered. Even Samsung, who stands the best chance of making something work this year, has been guilty of premature (press) release. – Wilson Rothman

Wireless Plasma [Gizmodo]

Samsung's Wireless Plasma HDTV Cleans Things Up

Adam Frucci — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 17:00:34 EST

Samsung has announced the details of their upcoming HP-T5894W 58-inch plasma HDTV, notable for the fact that it wirelessly connects to an A/V center. This lets you mount it up on the wall without having to worry about drilling holes and running cables to keep things nice and pretty. We've heard about a similar TV from Samsung, with the notable difference being the previous one came loaded with a built-in hard drive for recording shows. Either that's a separate model that'll come out alongside this one or they dropped the hard drive and changed the name. We'll see

In any case, this one's got 1080p resolution, a very nice 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and 3 HDMI 1.3 ports. The TV connects to the A/V center via a 802.11n connection at 150Mbps and a 300 foot range, which will allow you to keep your TV in a totally separate room as all your components if you so desire. Not that there's any real reason to do that, but just knowing you can is nice. Look for the HP-T5894W to drop in September for $5,699. –Adam Frucci

CES 2007 [Gizmodo]

Samsung Drops Prices on New DLPs, Designs Wireless Plasma

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:53:19 EST

While some people may be getting out of the DLP market, Samsung is trying to rev it up with its new line of DLPs (to be unveiled at CES, of course). The new sets will come in the 50- to 60-inch range and unlike the sets that are out today, will be thinner and wall-mountable, thanks to their 10-inch waist line. Of all the DLPs out there, Samsung's are my favorite, and the fact that they're lowering the price on these new sets (by 30%) makes me like them even more.

Samsung is also working on....

a wireless plasma TV that will be able to receive HD programming from a High-Def DVD player or set top box sans cables. No other details have been announced on the wireless set, but it sounds like Sammy's trying to start something with HP's MediaSmart TVs. – Louis Ramirez

Samsung to Unveil Slimmer Rear-Projection TVs [NYT]