Saturday’s Hot HDTV Deals

3 great quickie deals for you to carefully consider:

PCConnection.com – How about a great Sony BRAVIA KDL-37M4000 37” 720P LCD HDTV for $649.95 – with free shipping too. One of the better prices we’ve seen on a BRAVIA this size.

Buy.com – Save on a non-big brand: a Nexus 32” Widescreen 720p LCD HDTV for $429.99 with free shipping. Now that’s a deal even some with tight budgets can handle!

Walmart.com – To continue the low price theme, how about an Olevia 37” Class LCD HDTV for $498.00 + if you do In-Store Pickup, get free shipping. Amazing deal on a good size LCD panel, and the brand has had solid reviews so far.

How about those for deals? Check ‘em out – and no need to thank us. It’s our pleasure and our duty at Screen Sleuth.

Opinion: Are you still on waiting on new tech to buy a TV?

We’ve heard lots of developments in the world of HDTV technology of late, from huge Plasmas to bigger LCDs to the introduction of larger OLEDs as soon as next year. So this has us thinking: Are you still waiting to buy your HDTV for this new tech to come to fruition and settle down?

From surveys we’ve seen around the web, the consensus seems to be: wait for OLED to come in decently large sizes, and then go hog wild, with LCD second place and Plasma a distant third place, cementing the fact Plasma is slowly fading from the consumer consciousness.

So what do you think? Leave us a comment here and let us know what you’re waiting for.

Want a HDTV bargain? Check out Vizio, apparently

It seems if you want a bargain yet still want to get in on the HDTV revolution, Vizio is the way to go, according to iSuppli, a leading tracker of tech gear suppliers.

Vizio currently has a sizable 21.6% hunk of the US LCD market (in terms of units shipped) so far in the first quarter, previously 13.8% in the last quarter and they even beat out the popular Samsung to be kings of the LCD kingdom – mostly because they happen to be priced $150-$400 lower than the any competitors. Congrats to Vizio, a company that has shown its values their customer’s dollar and still provides decent quality products too.

We hope they enjoy their time in the limelight, as other companies are starting to slowly catch up, especially Samsung, who is breathing down their necks.

Big TV, Not As Big Of A Price: Panasonic cuts price of their 103″ Plasma TV

In the market for a 103″ Plasma TV for some purpose or another? Panasonic has slashed the price of their TH-103PF10UK  model by $20,000 to a paltry $50,000. How cheap is that?

Two years ago they debuted the huge TV, and in the meantime they’ve taken care of over 6,000 installs of the gargantuan Plasma set, with displays at the Democratic National Convention, NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Beijing Olympics, among other events requiring big imagery.

It can even support being matrixed in a 5 x 5 video wall, if desired – and at a price this cheap, what event wouldn’t consider it? But be warned: they’re prepping a monstrous 150″ model, so they could just be clearing out their inventories to make room. But “settling” for a 103″ isn’t such a terrible thing, we suppose.

3D Visions: The NEC glasses-free 3D LCD to debut next year

It was predicted long ago that 3D would no longer need those dorky multi-colored glasses, and now the Nikkei has learned that NEC is getting ready to debut its glasses-free double-density 3D LCD displays to the market that can display 3D without any need for glasses.

The models will be 12.1-inchers, and will probably end up in arcade games, industrial/CAD design applications or surgery screens when they launch at the beginning of next year, but smaller on the go 3.1″ versions are on the drawing board too, so it’s only a matter of time before this tech is available to everyone, which is good news for all those 3D fanatics out there.

Maybe that overdue 3D revolution is on its way after all.

It Lives: The Shinoda 145″ PTA Plasma TV

Shinoda is known for making some very large plasma tube array TV’s and they’ve been perfecting the technology since 2007 os so. You see, in Japan and Asian territories, Plasma is definitely NOT dead.

What started as a single 43-inch prototype that looked pretty nice grew to a monstrous 125-inches in mid-2008 or so. Now they’ve even topped that number.

Shinoda recently announced a gargantuan 145″ prototype with six PTA panels sewn together in a 2-meter x 3-meter square. The 960 x 720 res might not seem like a big deal, except it isn’t heavy: just 15.8-pounds? Now that is really impressive.

The panels of the plasma screen itself are only 1-mm thick, which set our salivary glands into overdrive. These displays are set to be used mostly for commercial applications for now, but some of this technology could find its way into our home TVs at some point or another.

Element Proof: The Pantel Outdoor 42″ LCD, now with 1080p

Pantel is known for making very durable LCD’s that can handle water, heat or anything else nature can dish up, so they hold a very specialized niche in entertainment, and they’re not resting on their laurels, either. Their 42″ model now has been upgraded to 1080p, albeit at a rather high price tag.

It’s waterproof, snowproof, heatproof and windproof, so you can more or less expose it to anything, and it’ll keep on ticking.

However: The contrast ratio and other specs are pretty much unchanged, but its retail price is now at $4,999, so make sure you really need this mounted close to the hot tub/patio/waterfall or whatever paradise you wish to add TV joy to before plunking down this chunk of change.

Acceptance: Blu-Ray may have finally hit the big time

Mass market acceptance for Blu-Ray format may have been a pipe dream a year ago, but now it may finally be on its way to that elusive goal. NPD’s tracking service found Q1 sales of players up 72 percent over the final quarter of last year, moving over 400,000 units in total. That’s a huge jump, folks. That’s a medium entering mainstream consciousness.

The format’s future was very much in doubt as prices were high, it was battling with HD-DVD as a competing HD disc platform, and players were expensive. That problem seems to be fading as average player prices plummeted from $393 last year to $261 in 2009 so far.

Many reports suggest that player average prices could drop to $200 or less in the next year or so, and when Vizio’s player finally gets here, that could start to tip the scales away from DVD as the dominant platform, albeit slowly. As an HD, 1080p medium, we couldn’t be more excited about that prospect.

Confirmed: 1080p/60 fps production for ESPN and new L.A. studio

And in other television HD firsts: ESPN has confirmed that their new LA studio would be the first capable of “full HD” 1080p production, and now ESPN has confirmed that indeed is the case.

They’re still waiting for additional production equipment coming over the next few months, and current bandwidth wouldn’t be ready for that type of data flow, but its nice to know that studios and stations are taking the HD leap very seriously, and investing big bucks into it.

Here’s some of what ESPN had to say about the setup:

The entire LAPC has been designed to support a full 1080 60P production workflow. Our existing 1080P infrastructure is complete and ready to accept these signals as soon as more production equipment is available from the vendors. Our present timeline for delivery of 1080P equipment will be over the next few months. At that time we plan on completing 1 production control room, supporting facilities (edit, server playout, converters, etc.) and studio cameras. All remaining signals that are not capable for a 1080P output will be upconverted to integrate into the production.

We Like It: 2014 Winter Olympics to be in Full HD

Today it was announced that Russia’s first Winter Games in 2014 will be in Full HD, no widescreen SD or any shortcuts like in the the 2006 Torino Games.

It’s nice to hear that technology will be in place by then to do so. Rumors are also that it will ONLY be in HD, so those without HD access can’t watch it. It will truly be a turning point for the medium, we think, as this event attracts tens of millions of viewers to watch skilled ski folks churn down the slopes.

We believe in the next year or two there will be a number of HD Only type big events like this: boxing matches, big baseball games and national scale events like this one. Then eyes will all turn towards what will undeniably be the future of television.

Plasma’s Dead? Maybe Not: Samsung 850 PAVV edges close to the 1-inch barrier

The plasma industry may be on life support in some way, but Samsung doesn’t seem to care really. They’re still making them, and they’re still pushing the envelope in terms of size and design.

In South Korea, the company just announced its latest Plasmas, the 850 PAVV line. How’s this for a run of cool stats: they’re 40 percent more power saving, 20 percent lighter in terms of weight, and the newest 50″ and 58″ units have DLNA support, a USB 2.0 socket built in, full DivX compatibility and a cool stand (important for some, we suppose).

And the other big deal? The 29 millimeter depth (that’s barely over an inch, folks!). No word on availability or pricing, but you can bet Panasonic will be keeping an eye on this line and where it goes. Plasma may not be quite dead yet.

HD Overload: Tonight’s HD Content (there’s a lot of it)

In more proof that HD is becoming more accepted, tonight’s HD fare is copious and varied, including sports, dramas and comedies (including Red Sox/Yankees baseball where I will root against the Yankees feverishly and House, one of the best shows on TV).

In an age where HD content is at a premium it seems, tonight that certainly is not the case, with 24 different shows being produced and broadcast in HD just tonight (depending on your cable/satellite provider). The only HD show I don’t have personally is the History Channel, and since that was a subject I dreaded in school, it’s no big loss for me really. Dhani will have to tackle the Globe without me.

Take a look here and see what tickles your fancy.

The Sunday Deal-O-Rama

Yet more fabulous deals at Screen Sleuth, coming up:

Dell Home – Yet another great Dell deal; they’ve been on a roll lately. They have the Vizio VOJ370 37” 1080p LCD HDTV for $749.00 – 15% off coupon code “65G7RQ11J?M2LH” (Expires 07/31/2009) = $636.65 with free shipping, which is a really nice deal for a 1080p set of decent size.

6ave.com – Plasma for a song! This place is offering a Samsung PN42A450 42” 720p Widescreen Plasma HDTV for $687.00 – with free shipping too! Amazing deals.

Stay tuned for more great deals in the coming days.

HD News: Time Warner playing major catch-up in HD choice arena

It’s a fact that some cable/satellite systems are falling behind in offering a lot of HD channel choice to their customer base. Time Warner recently added 1 movie channel (MGM HD) and that increases their offerings to ….4 whole channels.

That’s pretty bad, and its one of the things that has held back wide acceptance of HD as a medium (and why the digital transition is so important): cable systems not making it a priority to add more channels and choices, so people can see how much better it is.

And they’re charging $5 a month for those 4 channels! And I thought my 30 HD channels from Comcast for $10 a month was bad…yikes.

Here’s an article that breaks down all the offerings from each satellite and most cable systems. It’s pretty eye-opening.

BD-Live for Blu-Ray: Huge disappointment so far?

Blu-Ray and pure HD 1080p discs were quite a revolution for HD fans, but the interactive BD-Live feature now showing up on a few discs so far has been slow to access and content-starved, and have been overall a disappoinment, it’s safe to say.

The latest Iron Man disc for example took a lot of time to load (even on newer and faster BR players) and wasn’t worth the wait, according to many comments we’ve seen and read. It’s a shame that the BR people aren’t putting more time and work into this feature, as it could really be something to beat the special features of typical DVD’s.

Live HD on-demand new features on the fly and other goodies could really be good, but so far, it hasn’t really materialized like many thought it would. How about you, our readers? Anyone here have BD-Live experiences to share, good or bad?

Maybe it wasn’t such a terrible idea: DTV readiness now at 96+ percent

Sure enough, many folks have gone out and gotten those DTV converters or switched to cable/satellite, as people are wont to do when the pressure is on. People who don’t won’t be able to watch TV anymore, period, starting on June 12 (and sooner for some areas).

Based on the latest statistics, more than 96% of homes are now digital ready in one form or another, which is a nice jump. Now the unready rate stands at 3.1%, which is about 3 million homes or so. Those folks still have another month or so to get ready, so it looks like this date will stick as the final countdown to an all-DTV universe continues.

Let’s cross our fingers and hope no more intervention happens.

Extra: Friday Night Deals

Yet another edition of our deals on Screen Sleuth, so let’s just dive right in and get started:

Dell Home – How about a Vizio VOJ370 37” 1080p LCD HDTV for $749.00 – $50 instant discount = $699.00 with free shipping too. Once again, Dell comes through with another great HDTV deal.

Buy.com – I can tell you from personal experience that LG makes a great TV, and this is a better price than I got. Buy.com is offering the LG Electronics 42LH30 42”LCD Full HDTV for $999.99 with free shipping, which is a fine deal indeed. 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 5ms response time are the top-notch specs.

Take care, HDTV deal lovers and have a great weekend.

Preview: The Philips Ultra-Widescreen 21:9 56″ HDTV

Dutch site Tweakers.net was lucky enough to get a review model of the new 21:9 Philips 56″ super widescreen wonder we covered previously, and it looks mighty good indeed.

Pics include the one we show here, plus some more juicy pics, including Transformers: The Movie showing with no letterbox bars at all. It’s a 2K resolution TV with a 80,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio that (according to the article) is supposed to be super impressive.

For now, no prices or US release has been announced, but after seeing this, we’re crossing our fingers we’ll see it on US soil before too long. Some doubt there would be a market for this TV here; we care to disagree. We’d grab it up, being big movie watchers we are.

Yes, the article is in Dutch; thank heavens for Google translator. Follow this link.

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