Hottest LCD Screens

Attractive pricing, aggressive marketing and newer technolgies have made LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) hottest bestsellers in the consumer electronics market.

In fact, falling LCD prices have made it the the top choice for consumers wanting to buy a TV. The makers too seem to be leaving no stone unturned to cash on the booming market with latest models and technologies.

Ultra-thin, Big, Budget, Green -- you have them all and much more in LCD screens. From Sony to Samsung to our very own Videocon have launched an array of LCD TVs across range and technologies. Here's a peep into the latest trends scorching the LCD market.

Ultra-thin
Japanese electronics giant Sony recently showed off an ultra-slim 40-inch Bravia ZX1 LCD TV which measures a bare 9.9mm at its slimmest point. The LCD TV has a wireless connection which Sony calls Bravia 1080 Wireless to carry the audio-visual signal from a separate Media Receiver to the screen in real time.

Unlike the conventional screens which use CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) backlighting, the Bravia ZX1 is illuminated from the sides by LED arrays. The LCD is coupled with a separate Media Receiver which enables TV signal cables and inputs from other devices such as Blu-ray Disc players or PLAYSTATION3 to connect to the Media Receiver.

The Media Receiver has an integral MPEG4 AVC-HD2 tuner as well as DVB-T and DVB-C3 digital broadcast and cable tuners. This means users can access free-to-air HDTV as well as standard digital broadcasts.

Sony's ultra-thin LCD boasts of Motionflow 100Hz with IB Reduction, which increases the frame rate of the TV picture to 100 fps (100Hz) by inserting additional frames to the picture. Image Blur Reduction (IB Reduction) sharpens up each frame.

The LCD TV supports 4 HDMI inputs (1 x Display; 3 x Media Receiver) allowing it to connect to an audio-visual system. The LCD TV has a Picture Frame mode which means when the screen is not in use, it can display images, either those pre-loaded into the Media Receiver, or through USB.

Big screen
This year LCD rivals Sharp and Samsung showed off their largest LCD TVs at the Consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.

Japanese giant Sharp displayed its 108-inches larger than life LCD, the Korean major Samsung showed a giant 82-inches HD LCD TV. Though Sharp unveiled its 108-inch LCD TV last year, the TV went on sale this year around June.

Samsung's big telly boast of a quad HD technology that gives a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels -- four times the resolution of current high definition TVs. The TV also has a 120Hz screen refresh rate and a LED backlight for improved contrast ratio and black levels.

Sharp 108-inch LCD also has Full HD 1080p resolution and measures 93.9 by 52.9 by 107.8 (diagonally) inches in size. The TV features company's Advanced Super View LCD Panel.

The LCD boasts of 6.21 million pixels (1,920 x 1,080 x RGB) and a TFT active-matrix drive system. For inputs it comes with 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), DVI-I connectors, two composite video inputs and one S-Video input.

The TV weighs 195 kgs and consumes approximately 1.1 kilowatts.

Green LCD
The Japanese giant Sharp maybe boasting of its largest LCD display, but is not shying away from its Green initiatives.

The company recently unveiled a prototype of a 26-inch LCD Aquos TV, which is solely powered by solar energy.

The eco-friendly TV uses less than a third of the energy required by conventional LCDs. The LCD uses a triple-junction thin-film solar cell battery to power the TV.

Intrestingily, Sharp is not the only one going Green, Toshiba too is pursuing its Green goals. The company recently announced a new range of LCD TVs which will have eco-friendly components.

Toshiba's new LCD model 42XV515D will reduce the amount of backlights required, courtesy ‘advanced brightness control’ technology.

The technology sips less power and will help reduce power bill.

Sharpest LCD
Sony recently showcased what it claims world's fastest LCD TV frame rate 200Hz BRAVIA Z4500.

Equipped with Motionflow 200Hz system, the LCD TV promises smooth motion clarity for video games, action films, sports and so.

The Motionflow 200Hz system calculates three additional frames for every original, upping the frame rate from 50 to 200 per second. The LCD also has a image enhancement technology called IB Reduction (Image Blur Reduction) which boosts the sharpness of the final picture by improving the original, frame by frame, before it is processed by Motionflow 200Hz.

The LCD has high screen dynamic contrast ratio of 80,000:1 which further boosts up the picture quality.

Available in 40, 46 and 52 inches, the LCD is set to hit Europe by December end.

Budget screens
As they say, small is big. The LCD TV market is rapidly seeing stronger-than-expected demand for small-size sets as consumers switch to sleeker TVs from bulky tubes at ever-faster rates.

Korean electronics major LG's CEO said that the company is witnessing strong demand for 26-inch or smaller TVs. Sony too plans to target the market for smaller-flat screens.

Obviously this does not mean we will not see new technologies and designs entering the market. In fact, almost all top electronics manufactures plan to invest in order to strengthen their LCD TV portfolio.

Sony Corp recently said that it will invest about $17 billion in key businesses and technologies over the next three years as it aims for the top spot in the LCD TV market.

Samsung and Sony also plan to jointly build a new, larger LCD production line that could cost $3 billion to $4 billion.

Samsung plans to start construction of the new line next year for possible production from the third quarter of 2010. The company reportedly will use the largest-ever glass substrates in the new production line.

The new glass standard, called 11th-generation would be larger than the 10th-generation one to be used in Sharp Corp's plant.

Super skinny
Electronics maker Philips this year in August demoed a super-skinny 8mm prototype 32-inch LCD TV.

The ultra-thin design comes from the expertise in optical design and backlighting technology. The thin design is achieved by reducing the thickness of the light guide plate from standard 25mm to just 1mm.

The light guide is illuminated from top to bottom with high power LED lights.

Fred Boekhorst, senior vice president Philips Research said that model weighs about 5kgs making it very flexible.

The company claims that they are using the same LCD panel they currently use, but the thinness is achieved by using ultra thin LED backlighting. The model uses two thin strips of LumiLEDs – 30 on top and 30 at the bottom.