January 8, 2007 - Sharp introduced its latest products against the backdrop of a 108-inch LCD HDTV - the world's largest. No price (or model) was given for the prototype, but expect it to exceed your budget if and when the gargantuan panel makes it to production.
Recently, one of my clients had a bit of bad luck - his property was struck by lightning. You might think that's uncommon, but it was the second time in 3 years his house had been hit. Last time, the only damage was to the windows and satellite dish next to the tree that exploded.
Some interesting info at Sony's press event included an update on PS3's shipping and availability. They're still selling fast, but the good news is enough quantity is getting out that you might be able to get one without being injured or paying thousands on Ebay.
Sony had prototypes of two new standalone Blu-ray players that will hit stores in 2007. No real pricing or delivery dates were offered, but both players were dubbed as <I>Sapphire</I>. You'd expect these players to be lower cost models to compete with Toshiba's $500-$600 HD DVD players, but since the 70" LCD weighs in at over $30K, who knows?!
Sony never does anything small at CES, and wowed the gathered press with a introduction and demonstration of a 70" BRAVIA LCD flat panel- the KDL-70XBR3. Yep- a 70" LCD flat panel.
Among the many treasures on display at Sony's CES booth were several prototypes of flat panel displays based on Organic LED- or OLED. The model shown above was 26" diagonal, and there were several models on display that were sized appropriately for portable Blu-ray players or personal media players.
Panasonic showed their huge 103 inch plasma again but now it’s actually for sale. More interesting to most people was the complete line of 1080p plasmas at 42, 50, 58, and 65 inches. These new panels are claimed to be nearly burn-in proof and offer a lifespan (to half brightness) of 60,000 hours or 27 years at 6 hours per day. The previous silver styling has been replaced by solid black. Panasonic, totally committed to plasma in larger sizes, will soon have the ability to make 11.5 million panels per year. Below 37 inches, LCD will continue to prevail.
