What's the next big thing in the fast-changing HDTV market? I'm in Denver this week at a trade show called CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installers Association) to find out. Much of the focus is on pricey gear that needs to be custom-installed by a dealer, but manufacturers usually give us a glimpse of key trends and new products likely to make their way into the mainstream next year.
Here are a few things I expect to see:
LCD's 120Hz technology jumps to 240Hz
In the LCD TV arena, 120Hz technology—which essentially doubles the TV's frame rate to help reduce motion blur—has become a popular new feature. I expect to see several leading manufacturers, including Sony and Samsung, showcase new TVs with 240Hz technology, presumably with the belief that if doubling the frame rate is great, quadrupling it will be spectacular.
Sony has said it will offer two 240Hz models—the 46-inch KDL-46W1 and 40-inch KDL-40W1 in Japan by the end of the year. Based on my conversion of the price in yens, those sets will sell for about $3,700 and $2,700, respectively, but there's no word yet on arrival here in the U.S. At a recent European trade show called IFA, Samsung showed a prototype set that won't arrive for a few more years.
LCD sets get even thinner
It seems no one keeps the bragging rights to the world's thinnest TV for very long. Hitachi made that claim earlier this year with a 1.5-inch-deep set—accomplished in part by moving the TV's tuner into a separate module—and then JVC joined the stakes by claiming its TV was the thinnest with a built-in tuner. Here at CEDIA I'm looking for Sony's KDL-40ZX1, an LED-based set that's just 9.9 millimeters thick. (I'd post a photo of this set in profile, but I'm afraid it would look like a vertical line on the page.) I'll be on the lookout for other really thin sets, possibly from Pioneer, which has shown an even thinner plasma TV prototype.
Lower-cost 1080p front projectors
Before the show even opened, Sanyo threw down the gauntlet in the front projector TV category by announcing the first sub-$2,000 1080p front projector. Called the PLV-Z700 (Click on image above for a closer look), the model will be available in October at a manufacturer's suggested price of $1,995. Based on its specs, it's not a stripped-down, bare-bones model. It's a 3LCD-based unit with a flexible lens shift, a new variable iris, and Sanyo's "3D" color management system. This projector will definitely be on my radar.
I don't expect other manufacturers to idly sit by. At the IFA show, Epson—which makes our current top-rated front projector, the $3,000 Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 UB (both links available to subscribers)—showed off three new models, including a lower-priced one. Panasonic, BenQ, and Optoma also play in the lower end, and could respond with a new model in this price range, although Optoma appears to have skipped the show this year.
LEDS become more mainstream
2009 could be the year that LEDs become more prevalent in flat-panel TV and front projectors. I'll be looking for new LCDs with LED backlighting from Samsung and Sony, which have already offered LED-lit models, and seeing which other major brands (LG, JVC, Hitachi, or Philips?) will be dipping their toes into the LED waters next year.
Also, at IFA a company called Delta Electronics showed what it called the world's first LED-powered Full HD front projector for the consumer market. The DLP-based projector replaces the traditional color wheel, lamp and shutter of a traditional projector, which should help reduce or eliminate the rainbow effect common to some DLP models. Apparently the real trick is being able to sync the LED operation with the DLP technology's DMD (Digital Micromirror Device), the array of tiny mirrors that's the heart of the DLP system.
LED technology is promising for several reasons, including long life (about ten times that of traditional bulbs), a wider color gamut, better energy efficiency, and the lack of mercury.
Stay tuned for more reports as I tour the show to see new technologies in action. And if you're already starting to think about upgrading to a new flat-panel TV, here's one more reason: I expect to see quad HD, or TVs with high-definition resolutions four times that of current 1080p displays.
—James K. Willcox
