Jan 06
[CES 2014] Are curved displays the way of the future? Or are they simply a novel piece of technology for now that shows off what companies are able to achieve for the sake of it? Well regardless what you think of it, they are still pretty damn impressive and come CES 2014, LG will be showing off an Ultra HD curved OLED television of the 77-inch variety. Sporting the 77EC9800 model number, LG is is boasting that this is the world’s largest Ultra HD OLED television available in the market right now and with a price tag of an eye-watering $29,999, it is definitely out of the reach of many customers who might otherwise have a better use for $30k. (more…)
LG EC9800 77-inch Ultra HD Curved OLED TV original content from Ubergizmo. 
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[CES 2014] Imagine if you could have one device that bundled together a 4.1 channel home theater speaker system, a Blu-ray player and smart TV functionality all into one. The LG LAB540W SoundPlate does just that. With its pedestal like low profile design and minimalist appearance, the SoundPlate offers a variety of features and numerous streaming options that allows users to upgrade their viewing and listening experience in a number of ways. Its actually one of the thinnest home cinema systems out there, measuring just 39.5mm in height. It has been designed to primarily be placed underneath a TV, though it would be comfortable on a TV stand, rack or shelving system as well. It comes with a wireless subwoofer unit which can be played anywhere the user wants. 
[CES 2014] It was expected that LG would make OLED TV related announcements at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and the company has definitely come through. Today it unveiled the 55 inch Gallery OLED EA8800 TV which also houses a 100W, 2.2 channel sound system within its “Paper Slim” design. Apart from the company’s Smart TV platform, the Gallery OLED also features LG’s proprietary WEGB OLED picture technology. Working together with LG’s High Dynamic Range system, the EA8800 touts refined picture quality and improved contrast ratio. 
[CES 2014] It wasn’t a complete secret that LG wanted to use Web OS in its TVs, at least to begin with, but the company has now made it official: Web OS will take LG smart TVs to the next level. This is not the Web OS that you may have known from the Palm days. LG might be using the core code, but it has revisited the user interface (UI) and the user experience (UX) design to make it truly shine on the big screen. LG wants to “make TV simple again” and it we love the idea because it is the one thing that TVs have always been good at. Is it possible to make a Smart TV simple? Maybe. 
[CES 2014] Vizio, the folks behind reasonably priced TVs that offer plenty of bang for your hard earned buck, has just announced that they will be offering the P-Series which is touted to be the “most complete Ultra HD solution”, where it will boast of advanced picture quality, powerful performance and a beautifully simple Ultra HD experience that will hopefully deliver what consumers would like to see in a Smart TV. Just what kind of hardware does the P-Series TV come with? For starters, it will feature advanced local dimming technology, a backlight that consists of 64 Active LED Zones, HEVC Codec for Ultra HD streaming and Vizio’s V6 six-core processor which will combine a quad-core GPU and dual-core CPU. This calls for an unparalleled performance as well as maximum speed, and you can choose from 50″, 55″, 60″, 65″and 70″ screen sizes depending on your budget.
[CES 2014] Not content to turn up the heat in the 55” 1080p TV space, Toshiba is charging full-steam in the high-end 4K HDTV segment. Currently reserved to a small group of enthusiast, it is nonetheless the place where each manufacturer is going to introduce its best technology with the hope to trickle it down going forward. Toshiba is bringing its best display technology with a 10-bit color engine driving is 4K TV panel. 
[CES 2014] At CES 2014, Toshiba is positioning itself to “win in the long-term” as the company puts it, and while it is not an easy thing to do, Toshiba’s new TV line up does have some very interesting features. The L7400 is a 55-inch model which is one of the best-selling sizes on the American market. In terms of image quality, this television has a full array of LED lights which should translate into fine-grain intensity control and ultimately better contrast and luminosity control. We will have to take a closer look, but keep in mind that trade shows are not exactly the best place to judge image quality, and the video demos are often super-contrasted with over-saturated colors. The specs however look pretty good. 
[CES 2014] Netgear’s AC750 WiFi extender is the new addition to the growing line of WiFi AC offering from the company, and it comes with a twist: with a simple LED light system, the AC750 can tell the user where the optimum position is in the order to get the best ratio between range/distance and signal quality. It seems to do this by running a simple analysis of signal strength which will tell the user not to place it too far from the router. The idea is to get as close as the range limit of the router as possible, while not going too far and lose the signal. It seems trivial, but without those light indicators, you would probably waste a lot of time with trial/errors and benchmarks.
[CES 2014] I’m not sure why, but the “baby monitor” function seems to be getting a boost at CES. I have seen a couple of new twists on this otherwise well-known “need”, but I have to admit that I didn’t see it coming when D-Link told me that they were integrating a temperature sensor in their D-Link DCS-825L WiFi Baby Camera. If you just look at the specifications, this is really the main difference between this product and other home surveillance competitors like Samsung. However, a closer inspection reveals important user-interface details like the Lullabies playback which makes the 825L truly dedicated to baby surveillance and dare I say, communications. 
[CES 2014] With ever greater storage capacity at hand, the home and small business video recording market is growing steadily but remains largely untapped when compared to more established markets like routers or even network attached storage. The D-Link Network Video Recorder (NVR) DNR-312L has been designed to be relatively easy to setup since D-Link develops the IP (Internet Protocol) cameras and the video recorder itself. 
