flat-panel

The flat-panel TV you buy in 2016 will almost certainly be a smart TV embedded with access to the Internet, says Gartner.

Production of flat-panel smart TVs will shoot up from 69 million this year to 108 million next year and 198 million in 2016.

So, what exactly is a smart TV?

Gartner defines it as one that lets you access and search the Internet for videos and other items. Such a TV may or may not come with its own dedicated Web browser, but it does provide an app store that lets you install a range of different apps. … Read more

First off, congrats to Rick S. of Wylie, Texas, for winning two LittleBits starter kits in last week's giveaway.

Now, how does a free 40-inch TV sound? Not bad, eh? This week, we're giving away a Samsung LN40D550, an entry-level non-LED TV that CNET reviewers say stands tall among budget TVs for its deep black levels, ample shadow detail, uniform screen, and stylish looks.

Note that this particular set has been lightly used during our review process, which also means you're getting a TV that's been touched by the very hands of CNET's David Katzmaier and/or Ty Pendlebury (never, ever clean it).

Normally, a Samsung LN40D550 flat-panel TV costs approximately $575, but you have the chance to get one gratis. How? Well, there are a few rules, so please put down the remote for a moment and read them carefully. There will be a test. … Read more

South Korea's antitrust watchdog has fined six LCD makers $176 million for conspiring to artificially inflate prices for flat-screen monitors.

Samsung Electronics and LG Display were among the companies that colluded from 2001 to 2006 to control the prices of panels for TVs and personal computers, the Fair Trade Commission said. The cartel, which also includes AU Optronics, Chimei Innolux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and HannStar Display, held 200 secret meetings to discuss cutting or suspending production to prevent prices from declining, the FTC said.

"They colluded on minimum prices of panels, pricing policies on each product type, timing … Read more

Most speakers--from the affordable models to state-of-the-art contenders--are box designs. Some are tall, slender boxes, some are tiny cubes or spheres, but they all have some type of cabinet. Unless you're an audiophile, just about every speaker you've ever heard has dome tweeters and cone drivers, so you might conclude that all speakers are made that way. Standing apart from the crowd, Magnepan speakers are slender, flat-panel designs, less than a couple of inches thick. The speakers don't rely on conventional tweeters and woofers; Magnepan speakers' sound-producing elements are proprietary thin-film drivers.

Magnepan's Jim Winey started … Read more

Back in the old days of direct-view and rear-projection TVs, you used to be able to stick a speaker or a component on top of your TV if you didn't have anywhere else to put it (it wasn't necessarily the neatest look, but a lot of people did it).

Thin-screen TVs may have put an end to all that, but with a little help from an accessory like ScreenDeck, you can now add a shelf to the top of your LCD or plasma.

ScreenDeck, which bills itself as "a shelf for your TV things," comes in … Read more

General Electric next week will show off overhead LED light fixtures designed to replace florescent tubes with thin, flat plates of light.

The company tomorrow is expected to announce the line of LED Edge lighting fixtures that can be suspended from ceilings or recessed flush with ceiling tiles. The first of the products, a square troffer fixture design for recessed lighting, will be available by the end of this year. More stylish suspended fixtures are slated for release in the first half of next year.

The four fixtures are built around coin-size LED light sources and a textured optical screen … Read more

The supply chain for thin-film transistor LCDs made in Japan hasn't been majorly affected by last week's earthquake and tsunami, according to recent inventory checks by the research firm DisplaySearch.

DisplaySearch said today that the biggest impact it sees from the earthquake on TFT liquid crystal displays--which are used in a wide range of devices, including televisions, monitors, and smartphones--is the possibility of the disaster to "undermine consumer and business confidence."

That psychological impact is already being witnessed in other markets. According to IHS iSuppli, fear of undersupply in the industry following the earthquake has pushed … Read more

Vizio easily bested its competitors in the LCD TV market in the fourth quarter and for all of 2010.

The company shipped nearly 2.9 million LCD TVs in the U.S. during the fourth quarter, capturing 27.6 percent market share, research firm iSuppli reported today. That figure was a 55.5 percent jump from the same period a year earlier.

Samsung nabbed the No. 2 spot in LCD TV shipments in the fourth quarter, shipping 2.1 million LCD TVs and capturing 20.2 percent of the market. The company's shipments were up 22.4 percent from … Read more

Computer hardware is hot among holiday buyers this season, according to data out yesterday from ComScore.

As online buyers scoop up iPads, e-readers, laptops, and other portable devices, computer hardware is ringing in the holidays as the product category showing the most growth for the season so far, a 25 percent increase compared with last year.

Lower prices on flat-panel TVs is spurring growth in consumer electronics, helping that category grow 22 percent among online buyers over the same period last year, says ComScore. Books and magazines are also proving to be a popular gift item, up 21 percent from … Read more