“Smart TV” is even more common than ever this year among the TVs of 2012, and as always, content is king. With that in mind we present the chart above, summarizing the various major apps available from most major TV manufacturers this year. As you can see, pretty much everything has Netflix, and the differences …

Samsung’s Smart Hub now is now the content king. Sarah Tew/CNET The one major streaming service heretofore absent from Samsung’s TVs, Amazon Instant, is now available. Today Samsung announced that the popular video service is available for immediate, free download to all 2012 Samsung Smart TVs. The Amazon Instant catalog includes more than 140,000 movies and commercial-free TV shows at …

You might not have the privilege of being able to pay something like $10,000 for a shiny new OLED TV this year after all. According to DisplaySearch, a display industry analysis firm, problems with manufacturing will keep both LG and Samsung from releasing their 55-inch OLED TVs in 2012. “Samsung and LG recently scrapped their plans to mass-produce 55-inch OLED …

CNET’s phone screen measurement setup involves a high-end spectroradiometer and industry-standard software. The two top dogs in the smartphone world right now are the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. My doughty CNET colleagues have thoroughly reviewed and compared each one, but so far we hadn’t actually sat down to measure the performance of their screens. Until now. I …

Vizio’s 60-inch E601i-A3 sells for $999. Is it too early to think about holiday shopping? Not if you’re a TV maker like Vizio. We recently reviewed two impressive, high-value Vizio TVs, the 32-inch E320i-A0 and the 47- and 55-inch M3D0KD series, but the company is just getting warmed up. Today it announced a slew of new big-screen TVs, highlighted by …

This year the gap between the picture quality of the best LED/LCD TVs and the best plasma TVs has grown wider than ever. Unless you’re interested in overspending for buying a Sharp Elite, there’s no 2012 LED TV that can come close to the picture quality of even midlevel plasmas like the Panasonic TC-PST50 and Samsung PNE6500. But maybe you’re …

Updated August 16, 2012: We think a matte-screen finish offers the best picture quality in rooms where you can’t control ambient light. Most TVs are fine in normal lighting situations, and some glossy screens are better than others. But if you watch TV a lot in a very bright room, or have to place the set where its screen can’t …

After the 2010 World Cup, major sporting events broadcast in 3D have been few and far between. NBC and Panasonic aim to change that by offering a new dedicated channel delivering a massive 242 hours of coverage in the third dimension. More important, chances are you’ll actually have access to it. NBC says the channel will be available to nearly …

Maybe you don’t care how many features a TV has. Maybe you just want to see the coolest design going. Maybe all you want is the best bang for your buck, or the best picture regardless of cost. Lucky for you, CNET’s reviews have subratings. All of our TV reviews are rated according to four criteria — Design, Features, Picture …

The Panasonic TC-P50ST50 won our Editors’ Choice award for plasma TVs. Sarah Tew/CNET June means school is out of session and report cards are making their way to parents’ hands — and hopefully refrigerator doors. This year’s class of TVs has had its share of star pupils as well as clowns so far. Editors’ Choice The Panasonic TC-PST50 successfully fended …