60 Hertz vs. 120 Hertz

Many of you have probably already seen the new Televisions advertising 120Hz. Even though the number is double that of the previous televisions playing at 60Hz does it really make it twice as good?

A quick explanation of Hertz is the refresh rate at which the screen reconstructs the image per second or better known as frames per second (fps). So a television with 60 Hertz can display 60 different images per second. A television with 120 Hertz can display 120 different images per second.

The problem with such high framerate per second is that television broadcasts at only 30 frames per second. So with a 60Hz refresh rate it will simply repeat the image twice every second and with 120Hz it will repeat the image 4 times every second. So assuming you have to completely identical tv's, one playing at 120Hz and one playing at 60hz, you will not be able to tell a difference.

The difference between 120Hz and 60Hz comes when watching a movie. A movie is only shot at 24 frames per second compared to a video shot at 30 frame per second. A video has no problem being converted because it can simply be doubled, but a movie cannot just double because it would be 48fps and not 60fps. So they have to use a 3:2 pulldown. In a nutshell, 3:2 pulldown is an algorithm that displays some of the frames 3 times and some of them twice in order to map the film's 24 fps to 30 fps. With the 3:2 pulldown motion artifacts are introduced in fast moving scenes. With 120Hz though they can completely skip this element because 24fps goes evenly into 120hz 5 times. So essentially you are seeing each frame 5 times per second and it can completely phase out the 3:2 pulldown all together. For a more in depth article about the 3:2 pulldown visit: http://www.dvdfile.com

Dell Releasing New23-inch SP2309 LCD Monitor

Dell is coming out with another impressive monitor. The new power house monitor is called the SP2309. So far only the specs and the price have been revealed on Dell’s website, but no word on a release date yet. The specs on the LCD monitor are amazing for a 23inch monitor. It comes with 2048 x 1152 native resolution, 80,000 to 1 contrast ratio, 98% color gamut, 2 millisecond response rate, and a 2 megapixel camera. It also comes with the normal VGA / DVI / HDMI inputs.

Retail price on the monitor is $379.

Television Prices drop 22 percent in September 2008 compared to September 2007

With the holiday closing in fast it is no surprise that tv prices are dropping, but according to a recent survey by display search television prices are dropping a whole lot faster. According to the survey television prices in September dropped an incredible 22 percent. That’s almost a fourth of the cost gone in a total of one year!

The drop sounds a little too good to be true if you ask me. The survey said that the greatest drop came in 52 inch LCDs, with an average drop of 30 percent worldwide since last September. The lowest drop came in 20 inch LCDs, with an average drop of only 4 percent in the North American region. North Americas drop rate was a little below average with a drop rate of 16 percent.

Hopefully with this news combined with the amazing holiday sales and the economic uncertainties we you will be able to finally afford that giant big screen tv you have always dreamed of having.

Samsung Releases New Series 9 LCD Televisions

The new Series 9 is Samsungs new flagship line of televisions. They are literally the best LCD Televisions you can buy. The series includes a 46 inch model that costs currently $2,899.99 on Amazon and a 55 inch model for $4,229.95 on Amazon. The technical names are Samsung LN55A950 and Samsung LN46A950. So what makes these televisions so special anyway? Well here is a quick look at the specs:

Native Full HD (1080p, 1920 x 1080) resolution
4ms response time
120Hz refresh rate
LED-backlit technology that makes the darkest blacks ever for a LCD
A said contrast ratio of 2,000,000 to 1
4 HDMI ports
Energy Stat compliance

The series nine also comes with all the features you expect out of a television at this price. You can basically plug anything into it and it has a bunch of features to let you stream movies from your computer onto it. The real story here though is this new back-lit technology that allows such amazing contrast ratios. Pretty much what the new back-lit technology does is on a normal LCD you constantly have the back LED’s bleeding through the blacks so you are not able to get a great contrast ratio or true black. With the back-lit technology though, the television is able to turn off the LED’s in certain areas so that you can receive true blacks. It’s a really nice feature and is the main selling point of the television. The television also looks great and it is said to be really sturdy so you wont have to worry about your new $4000 TV falling if someone accidently bumps into it. Overall the TV is a great Plasma TV alternative and is a must buy if you want the best picture possible.

Bought A LCD? Don’t Let Techie Talk Freak You Out

Here is what those statistics, numbers, and specs mean on the side of the box
Color Gamut
Your eyes can see a huge array of colors and depths compared to a computer or a TV. A color gamut is the different colors that can be seen on a TV or computer. The standard range of the color gamut for LCD displays is 72 percent, but many recent innovations in technology have allowed displays to produce up to 100%. Basically, the higher the color gamut range, the more colors your display will be able to accurately create.

Color Depth
An LCD's color depth defines the number of levels that each primary color can render:

An 8-bit panel, the red, green, and blue colors can each render 256 times, for a total of over 16.7 million possible color combinations.

With 6-bit LCD panels, which are becoming increasingly more common, the red, green, and blue colors can each render only 64 times, making a total of 262,144 colors.

In order to compensate for this huge gap between the 8-bit and 6-bit panels, manufacturers use techniques such as dithering and frame-rate control to claim up to 16.7 million colors on their LCD, making it hard to distinguish between an 8-bit or 6-bit display.

Backlight
Most desktop LCD monitors use backlights made of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL). However, the use of LEDs for backlights is growing. LED backlights use a grid of either white or mixed red, blue, and green to create the backlight. LED backlights Display brighter more defined colors but are more expensive than their CCFL counterparts.

Inputs
Ideally LCD displays should come with at least one DVI port, which is the current standard for LCD displays. However, newer and better digital interfaces, such as HDMI and DisplayPort, are becoming available. HDMI or DisplayPort offer greater bandwidth than DVI, which can be crucial to LCD displays looking to hold a resolution higher than 1920x1200

HDCP
This basically means that if your LCD display doesn't support HCDP (High Definition Copy Protection), you won't be able to watch HD DVD or Blue-ray movies in full resolution.

Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratios are all hype from the manufacturers who each use a different standard for testing, so there is little to no basis for comparison. Because of this manufacturers have also taken to reporting dynamic contrast ratio's as much higher and seeming more impressive than standard contrast ratio's.

Pixel Response Time
Pixel response time is how long a pixel takes to change from one color to the next. As pixel response times improve, the clearer and sharper your video will be as motion occurs.

For more information click here

Keep Your Screen Clean Without Harming Your Monitor

Moshi's new screen cleaner is by far the safest way to clean your screen. The product is called neato and it is a screen cleaner that utilizes advanced microfiber technology. It comes in two parts, with one part for wiping dust and the other part for lifting away fingerprints and grease. According to Moshi's website"its effectiveness lies in the fact that neato is comprised of Terahedron, known for its superior cleaning capabilities and microfiber filaments that will not scratch your display."

The screen cleaner works just like your cleaning towel for your classes except its about 10 times better and does not require you to use any solvents that might damage your screen's anti-reflective coating. Neato also comes with a sticky side that allows it to be stuck on the back of your monitor that way you don't loose it. You can purchase Neato here for only $16 or to learn more about the product visit Moshi's website product page here.

Best Television for $400

Buying a new television to me is like shopping for a car. There are so many brands and types out there that it can seem very over whelming. The fact is you can make shopping for a TV a very easy and enjoyable experience if you do it right. For starters I would never ever recommend going to somewhere like best buy and buying the first TV that you see is on sale. If something is on sale it is usually not a good thing because more than likely the television is crap and is not selling well so they are forced to cut prices in order to increase demand. So remember when looking for a TV always start with the internet and not with Best Buy or Walmart.

Well now that we have that cleared up lets get back to what this article is about. Buying a budget television, in this cause a $400 Television. Why $400 well that is the budget that I now have to buy my moms next new TV. We thought it was finally time to upgrade from our 5 year old Panasonic TV in the living room and try to upgrade to something a little bigger and better. I first started looking for my new television at the website amazon.com. Now on Amazon there is a lot of TV’s, 1,995 to be exact, but you can reduce the amount of choices pretty quickly by putting in your price and display size. After going through a few televisions I could quickly saw that my budget was going to turn into a big problem. For $400 there is literally no flat panels or HD TV’s over the size of 22” that are any good. So after looking a while I found the Samsung LN22A650. This new Samsung is most likely the best 22” Flat Panel with 720p that I can get right now. The price is exactly $400 with free shipping, how perfect is that? The only problem is of course it is only 22 inches big, which is a really big problem because our current television is 30 inches. Also the seating distance from our television is approximately 6 feet and the recommended size is at a minimum of 26 inches for 6 feet.






So now I had to look in the complete opposite direction for my television. Instead of going to for high quality 720P HD Flat Panel TV’s I decided to look for a dying type of television the CRT/Tube TV’s. I really did not want to settle with old technology, but my budget left me no choice, there is simply no way you can buy a big flat panel TV for $400 in today’s market. So now I decided to look for some CRT/Tube televisions. There was one big problem though, CRT/Tube televisions are almost impossible to find today. On Amazon.com there is 1,046 Flat-Panel TV’s, but only 48 CRT/Tube TV’s, seriously only 48! Same thing if you check any stores websites. BestBuy has 4, Circuit City has 1, and Walmart has 7 CRT/Tube televisions. I seriously felt like I was shopping for an antique, I really believe no company makes CRT/Tube televisions anymore. I finally decided to try the only place I knew would be filled with old CRT/Tube televisions and that was Ebay. I am not a big fan of Ebay because I like to know I am buying my product from a reliable source, but I knew this would be the only place where I could find the best deals on old CRT/Tube televisions. Going to Ebay was definitely the best choice because it brought up more than enough results to satisfy me. There was a total of 298 Standard CRT’s listed and also 1,734 Not Specified TV’s. Currently I am still looking on Ebay for the right television, but if you are in the market for a big TV for around $400 it looks like Ebay CRT/Tube televisions are the way to go. Just make sure to do your research first and you should be fine. If you are looking for a $400 television for your bedroom though I would have to recommend the Samsung LN22A650 Flat Panel HD 720P television. A 22 inch screen will be more than big enough for a small viewing distance in a place like the bedroom.

As always there is never the perfect television for everybody. The right TV for me might not be the right TV for you. Just remember always shop around and make sure to keep in mind a few key things, your budget, viewing distance, and trusted name brands.