Sony BRAVIA KDL-55HX925 3D LED TV

The Sony BRAVIA KDL-55HX925 is, surprisingly, the smallest model in the company’s top range of LED-backlit LCD televisions. Despite being a 55in panel it’s dwarfed by the gargantuan 65in KDL-65HX925, which hasn’t been released yet but will command a price tag even higher than the 55in’s $4499.

The BRAVIA KDL-55HX925 has every feature Sony has built into its 2011 range of LED TVs, so gadget geeks will be spoilt, but the HX925’s glossy design — attractive and stylish though it is — means it is not appropriate for watching in a bright room. Read more »

Toshiba 46SL417U LED HDTV Review: An All-Around Average TV

Toshiba Consumer Electronics Toshiba 46″ SL417U LED HDTV, 120Hz 46SL417U Review, by Yardena Arar July 26, 2011

Samsung Smart TVs to make life smarter

Samsung Series 8 LED TV review

If we had one gripe with the Samsung Series 8, it would be that its price is too high and the screen sizes on offer are limited. The Series 8 plasma looks almost as good, is a bit cheaper and offers larger screen sizes. Considered on its own, the Samsung Series 8 is one of the best LED TVs we’ve seen.

The Series 8 is Samsung’s top-tier LED TV, with all the features of lesser TVs like the Series 7 and Series 6 as well as boosts to picture quality and video processing. If you can afford to pay for it it’s an excellent TV with no crippling flaws — the few problems are mainly restricted to the TV’s Web features. However, its Series 8 plasma rival has almost equal picture quality and offers larger screen sizes.

Samsung Series 8 3D LED TV: Design

The Series 8 looks just like its Series 8 plasma sibling, apart from a much thinner bezel around its 55in screen. The 5mm thick chromed bezel blends into the space behind the television, so in a dimly-lit room the Series 8’s screen stands out. It’s a very modern-looking TV — times have changed since chunky piano black LCD TVs dominated the market two years ago. The Loewe-esque four-legged stand is a feature we have liked on Samsung’s TVs since 2010, so we’re happy to see the trend continuing here.

At 29.7mm thick the Series 8 is a reasonably slim TV. It’s not as stunning as the Series 9 LED TV from 2010, which was thinner than a pencil, but we think the Series 8 would look great mounted against a wall with Samsung’s thin picture-frame wall mount.

The Samsung Series 8 is bundled with a novel remote control, which has a standard remote control layout on one side and a QWERTY tactile keyboard on the other. The QWERTY keyboard makes entering Web addresses or router passwords much easier than the traditional remote control keypad, and we like its inclusion even though we think it’ll get minimal day-to-day use. We did have some trouble getting used to flipping it over when a text-friendly prompt came up, and we found we had to be within a few metres of the TV to use it. Read more »

Building on its success in LED-backlight TVs

Vizio, a leading supplier of LED-backlit LCD HDTVs, announced it will enter the LED lighting market with a series of replacement lamps using LEDs supplied by Epistar and Seoul Semiconductor.

Vizio’s LED lamps are recyclable, and feature a glass-free design to prohibit shattering. The LED lamps are designed to give off a warm hue of light, reminiscent of a natural source. The LEDs product line (see table) will feature triple the lifespan of compact fluorescent bulbs, with up to 25,000 hours of usage. Vizio plans to enter the market in late Q4 of this year.

Vizio high-efficiency LED lighting product collection

Vizio’s partners in the LED lighting space include Epistar and Seoul Semiconductor, two of the world’s top-ten suppliers of LED lighting. “This is a natural progression for Vizio beyond consumer electronics. We look forward to Vizio applying its innovation, marketing and distribution channels to save American consumers even more with its new line of LED lighting,” said Donald Leo, Vice President of Seoul Semiconductor.

“Vizio’s expansion into the LED lighting market stands to challenge the convention in the same way that it has had in the flat-panel television market,” said B.J. Lee, Chairman of Epistar.

As North America’s largest shipper of LED-backlit HDTVs, Vizio realized a 2000% growth in total shipments year over year, with over 2 million units shipped in 2010. From 2009 – 2010, the company’s contribution to energy savings (based on power consumption of 2009 vs. 2010 Vizio HDTV models at an estimated savings of 280,000 MWh/yr) could be viewed as equivalent to the energy needed to power the city of Las Vegas for more than a year.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the residential sector general service light (A19 type) bulb purchase rate of LEDs will increase approximately 300% between 2010 and 2015 to 100 million units.

LED driver IC sales in future

LED driver IC sales will reach nearly $3.5 billion in 2015 from nearly $2 billion in 2010, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%, according to Mountain View, CA-based market research firm Strategies Unlimited.

These are among the findings in Strategies Unlimited’s new report “LED Driver ICs – 2011.” Sales for LCD backlights will dominate through the period, with growth from edge-lit TVs and monitors. LED lighting applications will be the “next big thing” for LED drivers and driver ICs, beginning with LED replacement bulbs, as a response to improvements in technology and the phase-out of incandescent bulbs. Read more »

A cheap 24in Full HD LED TV with good picture quality

Grundig’s Vanto GLED2407HDC LED TV is reasonably priced for a small-screen TV, and has good picture quality as well as a slim design and good energy efficiency. Unless you have a pressing need for the Internet features offered by new TVs from big brands like Samsung and Sony, we can’t see any reason not to buy this TV if you’re looking for a small screen in the bedroom or office.

Grundig Vanto GLED2407HDC LED TV: Design, features and power

The materials the Grundig Vanto GLED2407HDC are constructed of feel slightly cheap — the plastic bezel around the screen is a bit tacky and easily picks up fingerprints, for example, and the base of the TV’s stand is a simple square of glass — but the TV is solid and doesn’t feel flimsy when standing. The stand swivels over a small range. Read more »

LG Electronics launched the DM50D 3D-capable monitor

In another innovative move, Korean manufacturer LG Electronics has launched the DM50D 3D-capable monitor which comes with a built-in digital TV tuner. The monitor/HDTV hybrid features the company’s passive Cinema 3D technology, and will appeal to those who dislike the idea of having to wear active-shutter 3D glasses which can be relatively cumbersome. LG’s Cinema 3D displays use polarized 3D glasses that are lighter, more comfortable to wear, and do not require synchronisation, charging nor batteries.

The LG DM50D offers high refresh rates, and as such has been certified as “Flicker Free” – an added bonus because it places less strain on the eyes of users looking to enjoy 3D gaming and viewing. Viewers will also purportedly benefit from reduced crosstalk artefacts when watching extra-dimensional content, which is important to keep eye fatigue to a minimum. For four-eyed folks a clip-on style is available, which can simply be attached onto standard prescription lenses. Si-hwan Park, vice president of the monitor division at LG’s Home Entertainment Company, said that the company had carried out research which revealed that many people are not happy about wearing the more cumbersome 3D glasses, while some have concerns about their health when using these glasses.

The monitor itself features 2D-to-3D conversion capability, which will work automatically with games, and regardless of whether it is hooked up to a PC. LED backlight technology and HDMI connectivity will come as standard. Users will also be able to watch videos from a flash drive without the need to boot up the computer thanks to the USB Quick View feature of the DM50D.

The new offering from LG effectively provides consumers with a cross between a PC monitor and a personal 3D TV. Surprisingly, the Seoul-based corporation remains coy on the actual screen size, but judging from the model number it could be either 50 inches or 50 centimetres (20 inches), with the latter being more likely given that the 3-dimensional television/monitor is meant to “fit easily on a desktop”. The LG DM50D is scheduled to hit the shelves in Europe from July before being rolled out on a global basis.

benefits of switching to LEDs following the March nuclear disaster

If Japan replaced all of its 1.6 billion light bulbs with LED varieties, the country would save the annual electricity output of 13 nuclear reactors.

So says the Institute of Energy Economics, a research group overseen by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

IEE analyzed the benefits of switching to LEDs following the March nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Meltdowns prompted the country to abandon expansion of a nuclear industry that has provided 30% of Japan’s electricity with 54 reactors – 35 of which remain shut for safety.

IEE’s findings surfaced this week in the Mainichi Daily News.

“Promoting the introduction of LED lights will serve as energy-saving measures that have immediate effects and sustainability,” the Tokyo-based online paper quotes an IEE representative as saying.

LED light bulbs use only about 10%-to-20% of the power consumed by incandescent light bulbs, and about 60% of fluorescents, including common energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. IEE figured that Japanese homes, offices and manufacturing sites use some 1.6 billion bulbs, annually eating up 150.6 billion kWh of electricity.

If people replace those with LED bulbs, the country would cut annual consumption by 92.2 billion kWh, to 58.4 billion kWh, according to IEE. It says that’s the equivalent of 13 nuclear reactors, a quarter of the country’s total.

Cost is a challenge. As we’ve noted before, LED bulbs in the U.S. can have retail prices of $40. If you have, say, 40 bulbs in your house, you’d pay $1600 to replace them all at once.

IEE tallied the bill for 1.6 billion bulbs in Japan at ¥15.7 trillion ($194 billion). However, the upfront cost provides long-term savings not only in electricity bills, but also in longevity. Manufacturers say LED bulbs can last for 25 years, although it will take a quarter of a century to find out if that’s true.

Another knock on LEDs, especially for home users, is that lighting designers and architects note that they lack the warmth of incandescent bulbs. But the good news from Japan – 70% of the 1.6 billion bulbs in Japan are fluorescent, to which many people would prefer LEDs for glow.

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 LED TV

The Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 is an upgrade from last year’s HX800, which won our Editor’s Choice award for its combination of excellent picture quality and useful BRAVIA Internet Video service. The HX820 expands on the HX800’s setup with a new design, some new Web features and improvements to picture quality. However, the competition from LG and Samsung is stronger in 2011, and we think that while the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 still excels in some areas, other brands can offer equal or better features.

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820: Design and setup

The Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 looks more attractive than last year’s model thanks to a seamless fascia, using a single sheet of glass along the front panel with no bulky bezel. It’s very reflective glass, which means you’ll need to make sure to position the TV where no direct light sources are hitting it — otherwise you’ll be distracted by reflections and will have to turn the screen brightness up to compensate. It’s an annoying inclusion that limits the locations the HX820 can be placed in a house.

The Sony BRAVIA HX820 has inbuilt Wi-Fi, which meant we didn’t need to run an Ethernet cable to it to enable Internet features. Another feature that’s now integrated is the HX820’s 3D transmitter — in last year’s HX800 the 3D transmitter and glasses had to be purchased separately, driving up the cost for anyone who wanted to watch a couple of 3D movies. Two pairs of 3D glasses are included with the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820.

If you’re planning to use an older video input like component or composite with the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820, note that the TV uses a break-out box to hold some of these connectors. If you’re wall-mounting the TV, the break-out box is another piece of cable you’ll need to hide. All the other connectors you’d expect like HDMI, Ethernet and USB are built into the side and base of the HX820’s rear panel.

We hooked the BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 up to a Sony BDP-S380 Blu-ray player, a TiVo HD PVR, and a Apple MacBook Pro notebook to test picture quality from a range of input sources.

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820: Picture quality

The BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 uses a dynamic LED back-light arranged around the TV’s edge, but there’s no local dimming to vary brightness in different screen areas. Nonetheless the Sony BRAVIA HX820 is able to achieve very deep black levels, soundly beating the Samsung Series 8 plasma when it came to overall blacks. Our Terminator: Salvation and The Dark Knight test Blu-ray discs looked cinematic and delivered rich blacks.

Once you’ve adjusted the Sony BRAVIA HX820 to the room it’s in, it is well-suited to watching movies or any other video. The HX820’s picture processing is of a very high standard and makes high quality video like Full HD Blu-ray video look clean, extremely detailed and almost perfectly vibrant. The screen does take a fair amount of adjustment, though — the default Vivid mode blows out highlights and over-saturates colours. We opted for the Cinema preset but further lowered saturation and brightness, as well as turning off various picture enhancements like the Clear White setting. You also have to sit right in front of the TV to get the best picture — colours wash out and blacks brighten as you move towards the HX820’s sides.

The Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 cleans up low resolution video very well. Streaming content off ABC iView was almost free of compression artifacts, and DVD video was similarly clean and detailed. Noise reduction also works wonders on free-to-air digital TV, which only struggles during scenes of fast motion.

3D video is leaps and bounds ahead of Sony’s efforts from last year. Cross-talk is almost non-existant with good 3D content — we used Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and a few 3D ocean documentaries. The 3D effect is generally realistic and does offer a noticeable amount of extra depth. The 3D effect does become less prevalent as you move to the sides of the screen. We found it best on proper 3D content, but Sony has also included a 2D-to-3D mode on the BRAVIA KDL-46HX820.

The Sony BRAVIA HX820 handles on-screen motion well for the most part, although 24p Blu-ray video can occasionally look slightly jerky depending on the video being played. We opted to keep the TV’s MotionFlow setting on Smooth for TV and streaming video, but Blu-ray movies looked better with it disabled.

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820: Internet features

All of the features from 2010’s BRAVIA HX800 are still in the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820 — iView is a perennial favourite. These BRAVIA Internet Video services are of a high standard and the BRAVIA HX820 generally makes them look great, so their inclusion broadens the amount of content available to any TV watcher.

Some new features have been included, like a Web browser, as well as Facebook and Twitter access. However, we didn’t like them too much — controlling the Web browser is a difficult exercise with the keypad of the Sony remote control, and logging into Facebook and Twitter becomes a slight hassle. Both Samsung and LG have strong browsing features built into their TVs, and Sony’s effort pales in comparison. LG’s remote control is a Wii-like pointer, and Samsung’s premium TVs come with a full QWERTY keyboard on the back of the remote.

Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX820: Conclusion

The Sony BRAVIA HX820 is a high quality television when considered on its own merits — it’s got an excellent picture and a wide range of extra features built in. While the video-on-demand services are great, with the only thing missing a direct movie streaming option, other Web features are mediocre. There’s no app interface for users to choose their own content, and the Web browser is eclipsed by Samsung’s (which makes use of a QWERTY keyboard remote) and LG’s (which uses a ‘magic motion’ pointer).

While the Sony BRAVIA HX820 has some strong competition that should also be considered, we do have to applaud Sony for positioning its 2011 TVs at a reasonable price — the BRAVIA HX820 is a full $700 cheaper than the Samsung Series 8 LED that it competes with. The HX820 has great picture quality due to excellent video processing and reasonable Web features.