TVs

As an electronics mega-retailer, Best Buy isn't normally interested in anything but moving huge quantities of TVs, computers and appliances out of its gaping doors. But the Houston St. location in Manhattan did something unexpected last night: it approvingly looked the other way while video artist Borna Sammak took over every single HDTV in the store for to display his latest work.

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Researchers at the University of York's Department of Chemistry propose that instead of just tossing old LCD screens, we recycle them for medical purposes. Polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA), a component used as a coating on the glass surfaces of all LCD panels, can also (as it happens) help in the process of regrowing tissue and regenerating body parts. It could even be used to help target specific parts of the body for drug delivery in pills.

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How could a technology be failing if it performs better and costs less than its competitor? That's probably what plasma TV makers keep asking themselves, and one we're been thinking about since both Pioneer and Vizio pulled out of the business last month. So we asked a few folks in the biz for their thoughts.

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It's no wonder that many Americans are still confused about the conversion from analog to digital TV service, which began yesterday and is due to wrap up on June 12. Even the news media is confused. For example, an AP article on the transition included the following bit of misinformation:

In addition, many households will find that they need new antennas. Digital signals generally come in better than analog ones, but they are not received well by some older antennas.

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At long last -- and after we jealously watched Sharp's debut in Japan last year -- wireless high-def TVs have come to the States. LG's 55-inch LHX LCD television features a separate "media box" that sources like cable boxes and Blu-ray players plug into. (Other products from Sony and Geffen are add-on units.) The box beams digital video and audio to the one-inch-thick TV using 60-gigahertz technology from SiBeam called WirelessHD.

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Last week Netflix quietly introduced HD to its streaming Internet service. Netflix didn't make a big stir about flipping the HD switch, though, and it's easy to understand why. (As company spokesman Steve Swasey said, "For now, the HD offering is more of a stake in the ground.")

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Hmmm...What's this? Looks like a Web-based remote control for your TV. We happened upon this randomly today, and it raises lots of interesting questions. The URL sonyathome.com brings up a Web page that sure looks like it belongs to Pioneer Electronics -- what with the big "Pioneer" badge in the corner and an email function that sends a message from "elite@pioneer.com" ("Elite" is Pioneer's premium brand of A/V gear).

Is Pioneer developing software for Sony? Is Pioneer merging with Sony? Seems unlikely, since Pioneer just formally announced a joint venture to get plasma panels from Panasonic, and already have a deal to get LCDs from Sharp. But then again, Sony also gets LCDs from Sharp. Hmmm.

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Hitachi, which already sells the world’s thinnest HDTV, has no plans to stop slimming. This week the company announced a product roadmap that calls for sliming its LCDs from 1.5 inches today to three quarters of an inch in 2009 and to 0.6 inches somewhere between 2010 and 2012.

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