LCD TV

(Content sourced from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/33137/the_origins_and_history_of_lcd_tv.html)

Did you know that LCD TV technology is at least forty years old? Well, sit back and enjoy this brief primer.

LCD TV technology is based on the concept of liquid crystal display, now used as the world's most popular flat-screen technology. An LCD contains a pair of transparent surfaces. Grooves are cut into these and filled with liquid crystal. By use of transistors, electric current is applied to the liquid, thus twisting the crystal in what would become known as the "twisting nematic field effect." The process of twisting and untwisting the crystal blocks light to the given area of the LCD TV display. In effect, the moving crystals are creating the colors moving around on your LCD TV, creating the LCD TV image. And when plasma is replaced with this technology, there are no burn-in problems. Your LCD TV display will stay fresh for years.

The history of LCD TV is a good old American one, showing ingenuity through pioneering spirit. An early LCD TV groundbreaker was George Heilmeier. After earning degrees at B.S. (University of Pennsylvania, Electrical Engineering), Ph.D., M.S.E. and M.A. levels (all Princeton University, Solid State Electronics), Heilmeier went on to RCA to help shape the new LCD TV technology there.

Co-managing with Richard Williams a team of researchers that included Lucian Barton, Joseph Catellano, Joel Goldmacher, Nunzio Luce and Louis Zanoni, Heilmeier assembled disparate technologies into what would become LCD TV under the premise of using liquid crystal materials for display, i.e. what we know as LCD TV. LCD TV itself, however, was felt to be a long way away, and thus RCA's team used the technology for clocks and watches. You can thank Mr. Heilmeier for that bedside alarm clock with the block numbers and annoying alarm beep. And calculators and LCD TV and almost everything digital...

Advancing the LCD TV was James Fergason. A University of Missouri graduate in the early 1960s, Fergason went on to Westinghouse Research Laboratories. The breakthrough for LCD TV came in 1969, though, while Fergason was Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute associate director. Fergason discovered the twisted nematic field effect. This allows for the proto-LCD TV displays of Heilmeier's team to become LCD TV technology of today.

In fact, the LCD TV was first presented to the public by Fergason's team in 1971. Heilmeier went on to various upper-governmental posts. Fergason went on to found his own company and garner some 100 patents related to LCD TV technology. LCD TV has become the cornerstone in the greater $10 billion industry LCD TV technology now represents.

The days of the vacuum tube are over!

Free TV Australia - http://www.freetvaust.com.au

From the web site:

How does digital television offer me better picture quality?

Television programs broadcast in digital provide a picture quality equal to that provided by DVD. Like DVD, digital television also allows broadcasters to provide programs in a widescreen (16:9) picture format, giving a larger and more natural viewing area. This base format of digital television broadcast is called “Standard Definition”.

Digital television also allows broadcasters to select programs in a very high quality picture format comparable to that shown in cinemas. This format is known as “High Definition,” and allows television broadcasters to deliver television programs in cinema quality right to your home.

Standard Definition and High Definition are sometimes abbreviated as “SD” or “SD-TV” and, “HD” or “HD-TV” respectively.

How does digital television offer me improved sound?

Digital television delivers viewers CD-quality stereo sound as standard. Broadcasters may also choose to deliver Dolby Digital™ surround sound with programs such as movies, concerts or drama.

The sound quality of Dolby Digital™ when teamed with a High Definition television program offers viewers, the best possible television viewing experience available today.

How does digital television provide superior reception to my existing analogue television service?

Digital television overcomes one of the basic issues with analogue television reception. Digital and analogue television signals both weaken as they travel away from the television transmitter. An analogue television picture slowly degrades with a weaker signal resulting in a fuzzy or ghosted picture. However, digital television will continue to show the same high quality picture regardless of distance up until the point where the signal can no longer be received.

What will digital television deliver in the future beyond my existing Free to View television programming?

Over time, broadcasters will be able to offer more and more benefits to viewers of digital television including program guides, multi-view and interactive services.

Some broadcasters may offer services such as additional television or radio channels.

Choice - http://www.choice.com.au

From the web site:

Test results for six HD 106cm plasma TVs from $3299 to $6499 and one SD 106 cm plasma TV ($2299) for comparison.

We tested them for:

• Picture quality
• Sound quality
• Ease of use
• Stand-by energy consumption

How are CHOICE tests different? We buy all the products we test - no industry freebies, no government funding. We're non-profit, we don't take ads and our work is funded solely by people like you.

Findings

• The best performing HD TV in this test was one of the least expensive.
• We tested seven 106 cm plasma TVs, six of them with a high-definition (HD) screen and one with a standard definition (SD) screen (the LG). We wanted to see if we could find any noticeable differences between SD and HD screens when watching both SD and HD digital television and DVDs.
• Where you would notice a difference is in a small room. You can sit closer to the high-definition screen without noticing the individual pixels.

Brands tested

• FUJITSU P42HHA51AS
• HUMAX PAU-42THD
• LG 42PC1DV-AA
• LOEWE Xelos A 42
• PANASONIC TH-42PV60A
• PHILIPS 42PF9531/79
• # SAMSUNG PS42D7HD

# Discontinued model. Price and availaibilty check December 2006.