Mitsubishi laser TV

It's hardly a compliment to be called a lightweight, except if you happen to be a 62-inch rear-projection 1080p laser TV.

Consumer electronics giant Mitsubishi now hopes to combine the inherently large size of a rear-projection unit into a sleeker, lighter-weight product and pack it with enough advanced technology to out-dazzle the rest of the HD pack, although consumers may have to wait a while to see this next-gen version of DLP for themselves.

Since last winter, Mitsubishi has been trickling out details of what it unofficially is calling "Laser TV," citing it as a breakthrough in existing DLP (digital light processing) that it believes will eventually move HDTV one step further to perfection cosmetically and technologically, through the use of colored lasers.

DLP, a registered trademark of Texas Instruments, traditionally uses white-light mercury bulbs. Mitsubishi's new system, instead, uses separate red, green and blue semiconductor lasers in combination with an HD chip, which those who have seen a real-world demo (mostly dealers and Mitsubishi employees) say provides richer and more complex colors and hues, and noticeably more distinct HD clarity and depth-of-field.

Mitsubishi contends that lasers also prompt a more realistic manifestation of "black" than current DLP, plasma, LCD or CRT screens. Lasers purportedly shut off totally when not needed, frame-to-frame, creating a more natural blackness. (In contrast, today's DLP mercury bulbs do not completely blink off, according to Mit-subishi.) Today's DLP units without colored lasers already produce at least 16 million color variations, including 124,000 shades of gray, according to TI.

SOPHISTICATED LIGHT

The key component of non-laser DLP technology is an optical semiconductor (a Digital Micromirror Device or "DLP chip"), invented by TI nearly 20 years ago. It has called the chip "probably the world's most sophisticated light switch," with up to two-million hinge-mounted microscopic mirrors less than one-fifth the width of a human hair.

When the DLP chip is synchronized with a digital video signal, light source and projection lens, its flexible mirrors reflect digital images to a screen. The microscopic mirrors can reflex (blink on and off) a few thousand times per second. Much of TI's proprietary technology will be used with Mitsubishi's Laser TV, but source lighting from mercury bulbs will be replaced by the lasers.
It appears there is only one working Laser TV screen in existence for demo purposes for now; Mitsubishi is hesitant to show it off at trade shows because it still lacks suitable cabinetry and other non-technical aesthetics. A non-working cosmetic sample (see photo) of a 62-inch unit--along with the sole working screen demo--were featured at Mitsubishi's annual line show for dealers at its Huntington Beach, Calif., headquarters in April.

"We did display a working sample that was not in a finished cabinet [to] prove that we could produce a good HD picture in a finished cabinet using our laser technology," said Marty Zanfino, director of product development at Mitsubishi. Zanfino said the 62-inch diagonal screen will boast a depth of only about 10 inches and not require very much framing around the screen because advanced plastics will replace glass components in the rear projector, making the large unit lighter. (Plastics have replaced heavier glass casings in some current DLP products, as well.)
Consequently, he said, today's typical heavy-duty screen frames will not be necessary, and may be no wider than an eighth of an inch. The lighter overall weight will allow for a lower center of gravity; nearly the entire frontage can be devoted to screen surface. Thus, the Laser TV units will occupy a more compact footprint and allow sleeker cosmetic designs that could set the product apart from the rest.

But HDTV is usually about the picture--not weight or even design--and Mitsubishi is confident this is where Laser TV will excel.

"The color gamut is significantly larger because the lasers are so intense," Zanfino said. He compares its optimum video quality as being equal or superior to 35mm film. Zanfino said although prices will not be announced until the product is released, when asked, he acknowledged that Laser TV probably will start off somewhat higher-priced than today's DLP and plasma units: "We'll see, but lasers cost more than mercury bulbs."

Advantages

One major claim of laser advocates is the ability to produce undiluted, perfect colors allowing precise hue mixing. With the color enhancement capable with lasers, up to 90% of the visible spectrum can be displayed.Other improvements that laser advocates claim are bulbs that will never blow out, and increased efficiency by using two-thirds less power than traditional rear projection televisions. Historically, however, lasers have been too bulky and expensive for widespread adoption.
The laser technology advocates claim that the technology will allow displays with a richer, more vibrant color palette than the conventional plasma, LCD or CRT displays.

They also claim the displays will:

be half the weight and cost of Plasma or LCD displays
require around 25% of the power required by Plasma or LCD displays
be very thin like Plasma and LCD displays are today
have a very wide colour gamut
have a 50,000 hour life
maintain full power output for the lifespan of the laser, resulting in a picture that doesn't progressively degrade over time, such as with plasma and LCD technology

Drawbacks

Together with the advantages of laser sources, there are reports that also describe some of the current shortcomings of laser displays,[18] such as the following:
Safety. The high power emitted by the coherent laser sources is inherently dangerous to human vision. Proponents claim that integrating the devices with the needed diffusion filters removes this risk.

Speckle. Due to the narrowband coherent light source, speckle will be an issue at the display. This has also been a problem in laser lighting displays and has been solved through modulation of the light source thus widening the bandwidth and reducing the possibility for coherent interference. Proponents claim that this issue can be minimized by the use of diffusing elements and multiple sources. These, however, may impact display resolution and system cost.

150-inch Panasonic Plasma TV

According to the president of Panasonic, Toshihiro Sakamoto, had one thing that Bill Gates' keynote yesterday lacked: A monstrous 150-inch plasma screen Panasonic calls the Life Screen. In Las Vegas and at CES, nothing counts quite so much as excess, so it looks like Panasonic has bragging rights for this year.

Everything else Sakamoto showed off paled in comparison, but there were still some pretty spiffy demos. Panasonic has a new plasma that's just ONE INCH thick, and consumes half the power of last year's model -- nice.

There was also a spiffy demo of something Panasonic is calling a "Life Wall." Basically you install giant Panasonic displays to cover every inch of a wall in your home. Coupled with face recognition technology and some virtual environment mojo, it turns into an interactive wall you can use to watch video, browse Google Earth, do video chat with your friends, and more.
Oh yeah, and Panasonic has a deal with YouTube to put a special YouTube menu in upcoming Panasonic TVs so you can browse your favorite internet time-waster right from the comfort of your couch. The interface looks similar to Apple TVs, with light text on a black screen.

Below, our detailed blow-by-blow of the press conference, along with more pics of the madness.
The keynote kicks off with a video from Panasonic detailing about how the home is the most part of the community. "For centuries, people have come together as friends and families." It's the HOME. You spend time there, and its connected. We get it! In addition, there are pics showing different interpretations of the home, from a family in an igloo in Alaska to a WASPy family cuddling together on the beach.

The theme of the Panasonic Keynote is the Digital Hearth and Living in High Definition.
Toshihiro Sakamoto, President, Panasonic Networks, comes in to wild applause.
"Today, I'm very happy to say [our former] promises have come to pass and those dreams are now available in your stores at very affordable prices." And yes! Exactly what we predicted in our pre-CES report, that the vision with HD content, supported by other HD enabled electronics.

Announcement: Panasonic will come out with a 32 GB capacity SD card and is working on doubling that, and the newly developed 4GB micro-SD card will get bigger.
It's clear that the Flat panel technology is very critical to the hearth vision, as they want to bring back family time. They wanted to see what would happen if whole families had the top technologies in every category and get an understanding of how people live. So Panasonic gave away a bunch of their best products to a random family and studied them over a period of a few months. Here comes a video of the Benders, from Rutherford , NJ! They're excited, and believe it or not, they enjoy using all free gear.

And here's the Green pitch from Mr. Sakamoto. Panasonic was the first major manufacturer to remove lead from their electronics, he says. They have also identified energy inefficient products, and they want to eliminate those from their entire lineup within 2-plus years. They will also reduce carbon emissions by 300K within a few years.

And finally, the actual gadgets: They will change the people view Television itself! (Think they are exaggerating a bit? That's a big task, I think.)Wait, there's a new Plasma onscreen that will have 50% less power, and look, it's less than ONE INCH thick. That's crazy, and now the crowd is legitimately excited. And now this Kong-sized announcement: A surprise with a 150-Inch Plasma display, which "allows you to reveal the elephant in the room." Mr. Sakamoto, channeling Austin Powers: "Look at this baby!"

It's the "World's Largest Flat Panel," which they call the Life Screen. And it's not just about size, it's about a "new level of image quality." It has 4 times the resolution of their current display, and even though I'm more than 20 feet away, it looks impressive. One caveat with this presentation: They should have used Tatiana the tiger from the San Francisco Zoo, it would definitely raise a hair or two.

Announcement: Panasonic has an exclusive deal with The Beijing Olympics to be the official digital video provider. (Wait, didn't Microsoft just announce the same deal yesterday?) This is interesting. Some of the tech is being used by the athletes to help them out and train them (no details on that though).Line of the night: "That's right, Carlton", uttered by Mr. Sakamoto on his way back after an actor talks about the family plan again.

Announcement: They are going the wireless route all the way within a few years (Sharp is not doing that, if you saw our coverage yesterday.) Wireless, uncompressed HD video. There's no signal interruption, and is the world's first beam steering technology called Home Base. Mr. Sakamoto placed an HD wireless-transmitting camera on top of a Blu-ray player and it started transmitting to the screen immediately with a video that had just been taken by an actress offstage. Not a bad demo.

OCAP (a video protocol) has changed to True-2-Way, which will be rolled out later this year, via interactive cable ready services in the home.Brian Roberts of Comcast goes onstage. It's all about providing choice, he says, and True-2-Way, and open cable architecture, making it easier for different technologies to work together. They call it a breakthrough in consumer choice and technology.

The cable set-top box is built into the TV itself. No wires. And here's another Panasonic business partner: A partnership with YouTube, Picasa, and Panasonic. Panasonic will take advantage of the APIs so you can watch YouTube videos and view Picasa photos on your TV. Panasonic calls it Viera Cast. You'll also be able to beam photos and videos you take with Panasonic cameras and camcorders directly to these Google services.

You Tube will be embedded within a menu in the new Panasonic TVs, and the interface looks very similar to the one from Apple TV (with a black screen, You Tube ratings).
One last technology to introduce today: A video comes on, and it's about James Cameron and his upcoming film Avatar. John Landau talks about using a lot of Panasonic cameras and this secret super panel. He talks about a giant touchscreen he played with and he was able to play with an onscreen piano.

And here's the great innovation: It's called The Life Wall. It's a virtual environment, with a flat-panel display that covers an entire wall. It's also got face recognition technology (and with its size, probably body-recognition). Panasonic also calls it Stay with Me TV, because you can move it your hand and the TV screen will move with you, obviously. Users can interact with Google Earth and many other applications. It's a real-time interactive communication, and basically, Minority Report come to life and brought to the home. Panasonic envisions a future that is all-encompassing, and with that giant screen, well, it could happen.

Panasonic has a history leading the Plasma Display industry, oftentimes running neck to neck with Samsung in the display size arms race. This race to build bigger displays won’t continue forever, in our opinion: at 3.5 meters of diagonal, it becomes a little hard to fit in the average living room, particularly in Europe or Asia :)

Sony Micro TV amazing...

New materials and textures have always inspired us and offered new sensations. It's natural to reach out our hand when trying a product or deciding a purchase. Checking the texture by actually touching something reassures us, subconsciously. That's because on a physical level, we value the lasting impression things make on our senses, how they resonate with us. After technology of all kinds evolved dramatically in the late 20th century, we were surrounded by a rich array of manufactured goods. But in fact, a new product landscape is about to unfold again. Our lives are now filled with things designed for practicality and efficiency, but how things resonate with us emotionally is becoming a priority,

leading us to seek things that satisfy our senses. Times are changing, and the products in our lives must keep pace with our emotional evolution.For this design project, TV sets were chosen as the product category. In 1962, Sony introduced the "micro TV," the world's smallest and lightest portable set at the time. It was the moment transistors redefined television in our lives. There was a drive to make TV sets with a more human touch for personal enjoyment, sets we would develop an affection for and even want to touch. Designers also sought TV sets that were so cute and appealing, people would want to hold them in their hand as they watched. Fast forward to 2007, when TOKYO FIBER set the stage to reexamine TV sets in the context of textiles. This time, it is textiles that may redefine television sets. Introducing fabric in TV design can again change the product landscape and stimulate our senses in entirely new ways. Sets that rest comfortably in the palm of your hand. Sets projecting images that reach you like the song of a little bird by your pillow. They are a form of "senseware"; small, round, and soft reinterpretations of products that feel nice and have character.