Westinghouse’s first move of CES was to unveil a wireless HDTV. Hitachi struck back today with an innovation of its own: ultra-thin LCD and plasma HDTVs for the American market. Hitachi’s ultra thin LCD and plasma HDTVs are just 1.5 inches deep.
Hitachi’s Ultra Thin plasma display panel (PDP) is a mere 1.5 inches in depth, shaving more than one-third of the thickness off of today’s comparable plasma displays. The Ultra Thin LCDs are the same depth.
The Hitachi Ultra Thin 1.5 series has been available in Japan since December and will be available for U.S. consumers in Q2 2008.
The new Ultra Thin Displays will be available as HDTV Monitors in the Director’s Series and V Series, with 1 HDMI (1.3) and 1 RGB D-Sub15 input with audio input. The S series will consist of the HDTV Monitor plus a separate Audio Video Center that includes an ATSC/NTSC tuner, 3HDMI(1.3) and 2 Component inputs. The Audio Video Center will also be sold separately. Pricing will be announced during CES.
Initially offered in three screen sizes (32-inch, 37-inch and 42-inch), the 1.5-inch displays have Hitachi’s translucent “crystal frame” surrounding the picture. A complimentary inner radius is visible through the semi-transparent frame, enhancing the impression of precision and feather lightweight. The frame has a subtle bevel to present the picture “as if it were a work of art.”
By implementing In Plane Switching (IPS) LCD technology and External Electrode Fluorescent Lamp (EEFL) technologies, Hitachi has achieved a vertical and horizontal viewing angle of 178 degrees while maintaining natural colors and brightness on the sets’ full 1080p display. Advanced capabilities include Deep Color with HDMI. The sets are light, too: the 32-inch HDTV Monitor weighs just over 24 lbs.
Movies flash 24 images per second, yet Hitachi’s new line transmits 60 frames per second. To compensate, HDTVs often use a conversion technique called “2:3 pull-down” to make the 24 frames of film fit the television’s faster 60 frames — with the side effect being some stuttering and “judder.â€? In its new Ultra Thin line, Hitachi has implemented proprietary technology that accurately and automatically eliminates the jerky “judderâ€? motion by creating interpolated frames based on the original film images, then displaying them at 120Hz. For video content, motion interpolation and Flexible Black Data Insertion are utilized to display 120 images per second.
