Plasma TV prices aren't dropping as fast as I was hoping for, but maybe with some competition from similar sized LCD screens we'll start seeing lower prices. LG.Philips has begun volume production and shipment of its latest TFT-LCD panel for TV applications-the LC370W01 (pictured), a 37-inch wide display. In addition, the company expects to begin shipping the LC320W01, a 32-inch wide display for TV applications, within a month. Both the 32- and 37-inch wide displays feature LG.Philips LCD's Super-In-Plane Switching (S-IPS) technology, for wider viewing angle and higher color fidelity by minimizing color and gamma shift. In addition, both displays have a quick response time of 8 ms, resolution of 1366 x 768, brightness of 500cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 550:1. Great for playing fast motion video or video games. I don't have any pricing yet, but I don't think we'll see anything below $4k this year... this is one time I'm hoping I'm wrong.

I was snooping around on Pioneer Electronics Broadband website and found out that they have a High Definition DVR, it's called the Voyager 4000 HD-DVR. I'm surprised I didn't hear about this device earlier... I think this website is aimed at cable providers and not the end user. The reason why I think this is because the website says things like this, "Your customers can watch their favorite cable programming in eye-popping, high-definition color and clarity— sports, special events, movies, favorite series—whatever they want, when they want it! The Voyager 4000 HD-DVR’s dual-channel reception capabilities (analog/digital), dual MPEG decoders and hard disk drive provide seamless content storage with DVD-like controls for time-shift capabilities, enabling viewers to store hours of their favorite entertainment directly on the set-top."

Maybe we’ll see a standalone version soon, or one integrated into their HD Plasmas… until then, I guess we’ll just have to wait.

Full Specs

Pioneer Electronics is offering two new digital cable-ready plasma televisions. The 43" diagonal PDP-4345HD and 50" diagonal PDP-5045HD widescreen plasma televisions are the newest in Pioneer's line of PureVision HDTVs. Beginning with these televisions, Pioneer also utilized its expertise in the cable industry to create cable-ready televisions with a unique on-screen user interface known as Passport The PDP-4345HD and PDP-5045HD offer the following Pioneer exclusive technologies:

Pure Drive: Anyone who ever played the "telephone" game knows that the more you pass information back and forth, the more likely it is to distort that information. Pure Drive keeps television signals as pure as possible by eliminating unnecessary conversions between the analog and digital realm. Any analog television signal (analog cable, VCR, etc.) is converted once to digital and then remains in the digital domain. A digital signal (digital cable, DVD, etc.) has no conversion at all. This maintains the purity of the signal going into the plasma display for the purest image quality on screen for the viewer.

Digital Cable Ready with Passport: The cable and consumer electronics industries recently approved standards that make it possible for consumers to get digital cable television in their home without the need for a cable box. Instead, the cable technology, including the QAM tuner, is included in the television itself. When a consumer purchases a digital cable ready television, like the new Pioneer plasma TVs, they simply call their cable company to request a cable card that will activate their television and enable them to get their favorite cable channels. In the case of Pioneer's televisions, the consumer also will have on-screen graphics that display television channel information. These on-screen graphics are based on Pioneer's well-respected Passport on-screen electronic program guide.

Advanced PureCinema(TM): Movie lovers will appreciate Pioneer's Advanced PureCinema, which makes television feel more like a movie theater. Pioneer was the first to introduce advanced film playback using 3:3 film-to-video-conversion by increasing the refresh rate to 72Hz in a plasma display. Previously televisions only offered 3:2 film-to-video-conversion at 60Hz resulting in on screen artifacts, such as uneven motion.

Advanced Continuous Emission II (ACE II): This technology is a cornerstone of the Pioneer plasmas enabling color and contrast that create larger-than-life images. It also enables the Pioneer plasma to display more than one billion colors on screen -- 1,073,741,824 true colors to be exact. Grayscale is also improved with ACE II, which distinguishes 1024 grayscale steps for each of the pixel colors to help keep the blacks truly black and provide finer gradations within the dark areas. Compared to 256 grayscale steps found in many other televisions, Pioneer offers a tremendous advantage in making dimly lit scenes clear and watchable.

HDMI: The High Definition Multimedia Interface found on Pioneer's plasmas not only provides simple one-cable connectivity, but it helps future-proof the investment in plasma with new, proven, technology. HDMI assures that the best video signal is sent from the source (DVD player, video game, etc.) to the television.

Today, both Toshiba (pictured) and Pioneer announced that they will be offering a simple way to archive your old VHS tapes to DVD. The Toshiba D-VR3 will be available in July and combines Toshiba's high quality DVD recorder that uses DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD-R technologies with VHS 4 head Hi-Fi capability. Pioneer's DVR-RT500 is a full-featured combination player/recorder that also offers one-button transfer from VHS to DVD. Along with the high-quality DVD recording capabilities, the DVR-RT500 offers playback for progressive scan DVD, .mp3 and WMA compressed audio formats and a .jpg photo viewer. It also offers one-touch timer recording. The DVR-RT500 will be available in September, both will retail for $499.

That's right, Plasma technology won't be the only 42"+ thin displays on the market. In a few days LG.Philips LCD will showcase its latest TFT-LCD panels for desktop monitors, notebook PCs, LCD TVs, portrait displays, rear-seat automotive entertainment and mobile phone applications during SID 2004 here in Seattle, Wa.

The sampling of LCD's demonstrations includes:
    -- 55-inch Wide LCD prototype for HDTVs
    -- 42-inch Wide XGA+ LCD for HDTVs
    -- 42-inch Wide XGA+ LCD Portrait for Multimedia Displays
    -- 37-inch Wide XGA+ LCD for HDTVs
    -- 32-inch Wide XGA LCD for HDTVs
    -- 30-inch Wide XGA LCD for Desktop Monitors and Multimedia
    -- 30-inch Wide XGA LCD Portrait for Multimedia Displays
    -- 20-inch Wide SXGA+ LCD for Desktop Monitors and Multimedia
    -- 19-inch SXGA for LCD for Desktop Monitors and Multimedia
    -- 17-inch Wide UXGA LCD for Notebook PCs
    -- 15-inch XGA LCD for Notebook PCs

Stuff like this always amaze me, someone actually spent years trying to figure out how they could turn almost any surface into a speaker. Why? Probably because the guys wife didn't like the speakers in their family room. Well, it's done... we have it... Now for the first time you can design your space the way you desire, without any visible speakers. Whole-home audio can now be achieved without even in-wall speaker grills. How? With Induction Dynamics' patented S4X Driver-Control Technology, it expands and contracts in a magnetized environment up to 20,000 times per second. This allows the SolidDrive to convert an audio signal into a powerful vibration that can be transferred into a solid material delivering sound from the entire surface. This technology was invented by the U.S. Navy twenty years ago, Terfenol-D was created to power the next generation of high-powered sonar equipment but recent declassification of Terfenol-D brings its possibilities out of the water and into the audio world. Each 1.43 lbs, 2" x 2" driver can handle up to 100 watts, and has frequency response from 150 Hz. - 5,000 Hz. I haven't had a chance to audition a set, but I called the company and there are a few places here in Seattle that have them... so I know what I'm going to do this weekend! Retail price for a pair is $495, not terrible considering the conversations these speakers can stir up at your next house party.