TVs

Samsung tries to woo TV app developers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--App stores have transformed portable devices. Could TVs be next?

Samsung Electronics think so. The Korean company is here pitching Samsung Apps, an application platform and marketplace, to media and content providers, as well as individual third-party developers.

Samsung Apps, as the platform is called, has been rolled out in other countries, but the company came here for its first developer conference, called Free the TV Challenge, to introduce its new software development kit to more than 100 developers in the United States.

Since app stores have become a given for portables--no phone maker would dream of launching a new smartphone today without access to one--Samsung says people want that same experience when flipping through channels from the couch.

"Consumers want and expect choice and control. Not just on the go, not just in front of computer, but in the living room," Eric Anderson, Samsung vice president of content development, told the group gathered in the ballroom of the Fairmont hotel.

Part of Samsung's pitch to developers on Tuesday was that its position in TVs and mobile phones will provide a large enough window for developers. Samsung already sells 45 million TVs a year and 200 mobile phones, so the implication is that if its TV app store takes off, the developers in on the ground floor will have their apps broadcast to a large chunk of TV owning people or people who will buy one in the next few years.

So far, there are 88 apps already available on Samsung's TV platform, but the company says there will be 200 by the end of the year. Samsung has been selling Web-connected TVs with apps from the likes of Yahoo, Netflix, Blockbuster, Facebook, Twitter, and others since 2009. By opening the platform up to third parties, it expects that number to increase exponentially over the next few years. … Read more

How Google TV will make money still up in the air

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Google made a big splash in May announcing its entrance to the TV business, but how the company plans to make money for Google TV and for its content partners is still a bit muddled.

Google TV is the search giant's platform that will allow people to search on their home television to find videos from anywhere on the Web or a channel service provider. At the DisplaySearch TV Ecosystem Conference here Wednesday, Shalini Govil-Pai, the group manager for partnerships at YouTube and Google TV, told attendees that "monetization models are still being discussed. Obviously … Read more

3D at home still a tough sell

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Even if "Piranha 3D" has a modestly successful box-office debut this weekend, it could in the long run do more damage to the hopes of 3D TV makers than good.

The more 3D movies available, the better is what the consumer electronics industry's strongest proponents of 3D would say. After all, the more opportunities to demonstrate the technology to people and sell the 3D Blu-ray copy later is in their interests. But a horror movie starring three-dimensional carnivorous fish, and similarly schlocky uses of the technology could be a setback.

The industry that's … Read more

iPad in a TV evokes the past

We'd heard of all sorts of unusual applications for the iPad, such as a giant calculator, but this is one of the more interesting concoctions so far. Here, we see the famed Apple tablet fitted into a vintage CRT TV-like casing complete with a nostalgic "snow effect" as wallpaper for added realism.

This is the handiwork of Frog Design's creative director Jonas Damon, who assembled the retro wooden enclosure from an iPad dock to recreate an emotional connection to familiar home appliances from his upbringing. You can drop by his blog to read about his other … Read more

Sam's Club to offer Wi-Fi access, mobile app

Sam's Club is hoping that free Wi-Fi access will be one way to lure more buyers into its stores, especially those who are shopping for Wi-Fi TVs.

The warehouse membership club owned by Wal-Mart announced Tuesday that it plans to upgrade its more than 500 U.S. stores with Wi-Fi by November.

Provided by AT&T, the free Wi-Fi will enable shoppers to try out the full features of Wi-Fi-enabled TVs. Customers will be able to check out Facebook, Pandora, and other online services on TVs in the store to get a better sense of how they might … Read more

Report: Global chip sales to reach record levels

Revenue for chipmakers could reach $310 billion this year, helping the industry reach a record in sales growth, according to a report released Tuesday by iSuppli.

Stronger prices and ongoing demand for smartphones and flat-panel TVs will be the two driving forces behind the surge in sales, iSuppli said. The record revenue would represent a gain of 35 percent from 2009, better than expected and higher than iSuppli's May forecast of 31 percent growth.

"The semiconductor market already was in for beefy growth in 2010 because of strong consumer demand for electronic products," Dale Ford, senior vice … Read more

Samsung profit, sales up on TV and chip demand

Samsung reported on Friday a record profit for its second quarter, triggered by a rebound in demand for computer memory chips and by rising sales for LCD TVs.

For the quarter ended June 30, the electronics company earned 4.28 trillion Korean won ($3.6 billion), an 83 percent leap from the 2.33 trillion won it earned in the prior year's second quarter. Operating profits, which are sales minus expenses, also reached record levels, rising 88 percent to hit 5.01 trillion won, while sales grew 17 percent to 37.89 trillion won.

Samsung attributed the strong results … Read more

Samsung takes top spot in LCD TV market

Boosted by growing consumer demand for advanced TVs, Samsung carved out a leading share of the U.S. LCD TV market in the first quarter, according to data released Monday by iSuppli.

For the quarter, the South Korean company shipped 1.1 million LCD TVs. Though that number was down 33 percent from the fourth quarter, Samsung still beat out the overall industry, which saw its shipments drop by 35.8 percent. This difference helped Samsung inch its market share up to 18 percent from 17.3 percent in the previous quarter.

The overall decline in LCD TV shipments is … Read more

LED TVs: 10 things you need to know

Editors' note: Updated June 3, 2010

I've written articles in the past explaining various TV technologies, including the differences between 720p and 1080p and 120Hz and 240Hz LCD TVs. But with Samsung, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers pushing so-called LED TVs these days, it's high time that I--with an assist from our resident video guru, David Katzmaier--sort through all the marketing mumbo jumbo and provide some insight into just what an LED TV is. Here goes.

1. An LED TV is not a new kind of TV.

I appreciate a good marketing ploy as much as the next guy, but an LED TV is just an LCD TV that's backlit with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of standard cold-cathode fluorescent lights (or CCFLs). And though they became well-known last year with Samsung's ultrathin models, LED-backlit LCDs have been on mainstream store shelves since 2007, when Samsung's LN-T4681F debuted.

Unlike plasma and OLED, which are emissive technologies where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a transmissive technology where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit.

2.There are two LED backlight configurations

Initially, LED-based displays like the Samung LN-T4681F were backlit by what's referred to as a "full array" of LEDs behind the LCD, across the back of the panel--just like a standard CCFL backlight. But to create even thinner TVs, engineers needed to eliminate that extra layer of LEDs and move it to the sides of the display. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via "lightguides." These types of TVs are commonly referred to as "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs, and are by far the most common available today.

3. Each configuration may also offer "local dimming."

All current LED-based LCDs with rear-placed, full-array LED backlighting--except the Sharp LC-LE700UN series from 2009--feature a technology called "local dimming." With local dimming, portions of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened independently when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter. For example, the LEDs behind the words in a credit sequence can illuminate while the ones behind the black background remain dim.

Being able to dim portions of the screen helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, and the end result is blacks that appear darker and more realistic. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture--and colors--appear to pop. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. A couple of examples of local dimming done right are Samsung's UNB8500 series and LG's LH8500 series--respectively the best and second-best LCDs we've ever tested.

One downside to local dimming is an effect called "blooming," where brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels.… Read more