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Sony Bravia XEL

We’ve been waiting years for Sony to release the XEL-1, ever since it showed off its OLED hotness at CES 2007. This particular 11-inch OLED TV has been tempting us with its dinky awesomeness since it was launched in the US in January 2008. OLED TVs promise to be a credible replacement for LCD and plasma in a few years’ …

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JVC super

We saw a handful of exciting new concepts today in the ‘future room’ at the annual JVC gadget get-together in Prague. We know it’s the future because there’s 3D TVs sitting in the corner. We’re a sucker for a super-slim television, and JVC’s super-thin LCD technology impressed us with its svelte profile: it’s just 7mm thick — that’s about a …

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DivX 7: H.264 w00tage and Blu

We’ll admit it, we’ve got a soft spot for DivX. The much-used video codec started as a hack of Microsoft’s proprietary MPEG-4 codec, and was born out of frustration with Microsoft’s video-playback lameness. DivX quickly became an important ingredient of Internet video, but in an HD era, something with a little more power is needed. Oh look, here’s DivX 7. …

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Obama inauguration: Who offered the best Web stream?

Yesterday the US swore in its 44th president to record crowds in Washington DC and rapturous excitement across the globe. Being stuck in the CBS office, we weren’t able to watch TV at our desks, so instead we turned to some of the many streaming services that were offering footage online. It was a huge occasion for Web streaming, but …

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Plasma TVs: Are they really killing the planet?

There’s a been a surge in interest recently about an ‘imminent ban’ on energy-inefficient TVs. Rumours reported by several national newspapers indicate that plasma TVs could be banned under new EU rules on energy efficiency. Of course, with Russell Brand already sacked, the papers need something else to cover their pages and whip up some public outrage. The British press …

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Pioneer announces new plasmas; price increase

(Credit: Pioneer) Pioneer has announced two new plasmas on the same day it’s revealed that its general manager will be leaving and overall pricing will be increasing. Pioneer will be bringing in two new models this January in the form of the full-HD PDP-LX509A and PDP-C509A . The PDP-LX509A is the 50-inch counterpart to the already-released PDP-LX609A Kuro, while the …

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Samsung speakers: The salty sound of the sea

Has Samsung finally lost the plot? We’ve heard about speakers made from paper, Kevlar and even silk, but those materials weren’t good enough for the Korean mega-corp. So it’s gone and dragged some seaweed out of the ocean and made speaker cones with it. The company claims kelp is a perfect material for speakers, because it has a very fast …

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LCD and features rule LG’s roost

LG has unveiled its latest range of televisions in Las Vegas today with a strong emphasis on LCD, with technologies such as OLED and even plasma seemingly relegated to the sidelines. The company launched nine new LCD products today, but only three new plasmas, plus a single 15-inch OLED prototype. Havis Kwon, LG’s executive vice president for LCD TV, told …

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NEC pulls out of retail market

NEC has confirmed it is pulling out of the local retail market in a “strategic restructure” making it the fourth TV manufacturer to pull out of Australia in the past year. “As a result of the restructure, NEC Australia will cease its retail offerings as of 1st March 2009 including white goods, consumer appliances, home entertainment as well as consumer …

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