Other Tech

Three years ago, Sound & Vision staged the first of its HDTV technology face-offs when we put a 37-inch Samsung plasma alongside a like-sized Sharp LCD, tuned them to the hilt, then fed them the same programs to see which was king of the HDTV hill ("Plasma vs. LCD," February/March 2005).

It's the talk of the Strip.

Everyone at CES who's had the privilege of witnessing Pioneer Electronic's future generation Kuro plasma in action wants to tell someone. That's because it's been like no other experience they've had while watching TV.

What is cooler than Dr. Evil's sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads? Nothing. Stupid question. But what's the second coolest thing to use laser beams? That would be Mitsubishi's new Laser TV, which had its worldwide unveiling last night at the 53rd floor of the Palms hotel in the Moon Nightclub.

Want to show your photos on your new HDTV? Great idea, but it's not as easy as it sounds - your digital camera doesn't store files the way HDTVs display them. Here's advice and tools to help you streamline the HD slide show process.

Day 4

TV is rooted in the same concept as movies: Capture and display a sequence of still images fast enough, and the eye perceives smooth motion rather than a succession of individual pictures. Historically, however, TV has handled this process somewhat differently from movies. A TV image, or frame, is a grid of individual picture elements (pixels), arranged in rows and columns.

The best TV ever? There have been rumblings ever since Pioneer's 50-inch Elite Kuro plasma set first came out that it might deserve that honor. And there was little to dissuade S&V's Rob Sabin, Al Griffin, and Michael Trei of that notion when they checked it out in a head-to-head comparison with Samsung's LED-backlit 52-inch LCD TV (which also won an Editors' Choice Award).