Hasta La Gadget!

Sony might have beaten LG to the punch in the 84-inch 4K TV wars with its XBR-84X900 pre-orders, but you’ve got to be on the field to win — and the first to show up for battle is LG’s 84LM9600, which is officially on sale and in stores as of today. Anyone who can find a retailer carrying the Ultra High-Definition LCD can drop $19,999 to get what will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of the room, even if there’s hardly any content to fully exploit those six million extra pixels. LG does have a $5,000 price advantage over the Sony 4K set shipping next month, although we won’t kid ourselves here. Anyone who can see themselves spending five digits on bleeding-edge TV technology is either wealthy enough not to mind or busy explaining to the family why home refinancing is totally worth it.

Continue reading LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG

LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Electronics has reported its earnings for Q3 2012, notching its third straight quarter of positive income with a net profit of 157 billion won ($138.57 million) and “solid” performances from its home theater and mobile businesses. Revenue is down from the same period last year, but seeing as it’s actually making money this time around it’s probably still reason to celebrate. On the mobile side of the aisle it reports an operating profit of $19.42 million with slightly higher sales than Q2, mostly thanks to those LTE smartphones it’s been rolling out. Its home entertainment biz noted a rise in LCD sales, with 3D TVs and LED-lit models growing from last quarter in most markets. Looking towards the future it’s obviously going all-in on the Optimus G (although our interests run towards the Nexus G that should debut next week), and also looks for its Ultra HD television to raise its standing as a premium brand. Check the press release after the break and PDF linked below for more numbers if that’s your thing.

Continue reading LG records a ‘solid’ $138.57 million net profit for Q3, keeps the positive trend going

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, LG

LG records a ‘solid’ $138.57 million net profit for Q3, keeps the positive trend going originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve spent all of this effort launching an All-3D channel, it’s probably wise to ensure you’ve got enough content to keep your schedules full. That’s why 3net founders Sony, Discovery and IMAX are teaming up to launch 3net Studios, with facilities opening in California and Maryland. The new business will be used to bring together the best and brightest minds in stereoscopic media to produce footage for the channel. It’ll begin announcing the first projects in the next few weeks, but unless there’s space for a 3D version of Dan Harmon’s Community, we won’t be listening.

Continue reading Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eager to get your hands on a top-of-the-line set without shelling out five figures for a super-slick 55-inch OLED? Sony’s Bravia HX950 may have caught your eye, with its Intelligent Peak LED Backlight that’s said to deliver “the best contrast Sony has to offer.” According to representatives at IFA (who don’t always tend to offer the most consistent specifications), the full-array system includes 196 individual zones, letting the television adjust backlighting on a more granular level, resulting in brighter whites and deeper blacks. We caught up with both the 55- and 65-inch flavors of Sony’s HX950 at the company’s booth, where several demo stations were arranged to highlight the backlighting, along with features called 3D Super-Resolution, Internet Video Super Resolution and HD Super Resolution. All of the side-by-side demonstrations provided noticeable improvements, though all three Super Resolution settings may be a tad too sharp for some viewers.

The set itself is as gorgeous as you’d expect for a flagship model, with a black glossy bezel and a narrow design that’s sufficiently svelte without stepping into ultra-thin territory. The specially designed glass panel does indeed help to reduce glare, as we experienced in the visually congested IFA booth. Perhaps most interesting is the price — €2,999 (about $3,800) for the 55-inch model, and €4,999 (about $6,300) for the 65 incher — a steep drop from the 650,000 yen (about $8,270) the HDTV is commanding in Japan. We weren’t able to confirm US availability or pricing, which will likely come in below the European tag, but reps did quote a November 1st ship date, which seems to be in line with the November 10th date we heard for Japan earlier this week. You’ll have but two months to wait before adding this monster to your collection, but you can snag a look today in our gallery below and hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video)

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it might not be as huge as the Super Hi Vision panel lingering in the same darkened theater, Panasonic’s new 103-inch demonstration display has the ability to offer up a 3D view to five different viewers — as long as they’re in the right visual sweet spot. The effect is subtle, natural, although colors felt little bit muted compared to the 145-inch prototype, with the demo videos drawing us in to its demo reel, rather than pushing out an image. The plasma display panel prototype is also glasses-free, with the 4K2K screen able to push out enough pixels to offer these multiple viewing angles. Again, there’s no substitute for being there yourself.

Filed under: Displays, HD

Panasonic’s 103-inch glasses-less 3D plasma panel arrives at IFA (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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