September 14 - Aside from Pioneer’s Kuro line and some great-looking new plasmas from Panasonic, Hitachi, and Fujitsu—including a growing number of 1920×1080 models—most flat-panel manufacturers were emphasizing LCD TVs, citing stronger consumer demand and expectations of stunning growth in that market.

One of the biggest trends was actually very small—screens with super-thin bezels around them, allowing larger screens to fit in smaller spaces. Toshiba claimed to have the world’s thinnest at less than 1 inch (above), though Sharp and Mitsubishi LCDs sported very thin bezels as well.

Another trend was nearly ubiquitous among LCD TVs at the show—120Hz operation. What does this mean? Well, video is normally delivered and displayed at 60 frames per second, which is technically abbreviated 60Hz. The new LCD TVs double that frame rate to 120Hz. Some create new frames to fit between the real ones—a technique called “interpolation�—while others insert a black or darkened frame between the actual frames in the signal.

This is supposed to greatly reduce the motion blur that is endemic to LCDs, and the split-screen demos we saw (60Hz on one side, 120Hz on the other) were convincing. However, most companies were showing horizontal motion only, which is the easiest to deal with. JVC, Samsung, and Sony were showing more realistic content with motion in various directions, which was often less dramatic in its effect. Expect to see a lot of “120Hz� LCD TVs in stores this holiday season.

Samsung demonstrated another fascinating LCD technology: LED backlighting. Instead of a conventional fluorescent light behind the LCD panel, this approach uses LEDs. Besides having a much longer life than conventional lamps, LEDs can be used to independently control the brightness of different parts of the screen—sort of a super-sophisticated dynamic contrast. LED backlighting is featured in Samsung’s 81 series of LCD TVs, which have screens measuring 40, 46, 52, and 57 inches. Prices range from $3000 to $8000.

On a related note, Samsung had one more LED card up its sleeve: the LN-T7093, a 70-inch LCD panel with LED backlighting. This monster should be available in December for a mere $40,000. Where’s my checkbook?

 More from CEDIA 2007

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