TGDaily: Plasma TVs look set to enter the history books and perhaps remain as a footnote to the chequered history of displays, starting with the cathode ray tube (CRT).

Market research firm Displaysearch said that panel shipments fell for the second straight quarter year on year, even though units grew strongly during 2008.

Plasma sales fell 28 percent in the first quarter of 2009, and 22 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Worryingly for the plasma players, it was not just smaller panels that declined but the great big things such as 42-inch and 50-inch 720p models.

Pioneer is getting out of the market this year, but here are the top five plasma players right now, courtesy of Displaysearch.

Needless to say, some of these players have a foot in both the plasma and LCD TV camps, because this is one of those two horse races which it’s a near certainty that the LCD sector will win.

hitachi lge panasonic pdp pioneer plasma Samsung

NewLaunches: Panasonic has unveiled plans to bring an OLED TV to market in the next 18 - 24 months.

The first TV will be developed in partnership with Toshiba, the 37 incher will be just 1 inch thick. Panasonic is working to extend the lifespan of the panels and has set a target of 50,000 hours which is 20,000 hours more than the current average.

No specific product details have been confirmed by either company, but the pair have acknowledged that they are working together on OLED technology, including high-definition OLED panels. The 37-inch TV is expected to be produced at Panasonic’s new IPS Alpha factory.

BusinessWire: Demand for Internet-enabled televisions is growing rapidly, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

The study, Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only?, found that about half of prospective TV buyers say they are likely to purchase an Internet-connected TV.

The study reveals numerous ways consumers would use an Internet-enabled TV. Nearly half (48 percent) of U.S. online adults would use their web-enabled TV to find out more information on upcoming shows and identify a song that played during the show. Forty-four percent also would use the web to find out more information about the actors featured on-screen.

Having anytime-access to content, and accessing the Internet and television broadcasts together were the top benefits of an Internet-enabled TV, according to consumers. “As we saw at the 2009 International CES, Internet-enabled devices are taking the consumer technology experience to the next level, and nowhere is this more pronounced than with television,” said Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s economist and director of research.

“Consumers want more from their TV experience and marrying traditional television with Internet access is providing the next frontier of the television experience.” The study also found that most adults are already online while watching TV.

Almost a third of online adults (30 percent) say they always or usually surf the Internet while watching television and another third (32 percent) say they sometimes do. Consumers are increasingly willing to shift online activities to the TV. Watching online video has the highest potential conversion rate (62 percent) followed by weather updates (59 percent) and playing online games (57 percent).

“Consumers are already using the Internet while they watch TV. The next frontier is to create a seamless experience bringing the two together,” said DuBravac. “Consumers want a variety of content that they can access anytime. An Internet-enabled TV is perfectly positioned to provide consumers with exactly what they are looking for in their next television experience.”

Internet TV IPTV tv web tv

Gizmag: The majority of the “effects” you get from your surround speakers are quite directional. One of the biggest setbacks with ceiling mount speakers, particularly in a home theater application is that they fire straight down, and for a more even handed surround experience, they tend to be mounted behind the listener too.

The same issues apply to in wall speakers: mounted on a vertical plane, they’re normally close to the ceiling as it is, meaning directional high frequencies won’t fire towards you.

Entering a relatively new area of the market is QPD Speakers with their range of motorized in-ceiling and in-wall speakers that address this issue. Four models are on offer. All are adjustable to a 25, 30, 35, 40 and 50 degree angle, allowing the tweeters to fire directly towards the listening area rather than straight down or across.

The QPD2006 is a 2-way speaker with a 1 inch dome tweeter and 6.5 inch woofer, while the QPD2008 offers an 8 inch woofer and two, 1 inch dome tweeters. Nominal impedance for both speakers is 8 ohms and they share a >90dB sensitivity rating, making them ideal for home theater and multi-room installations. The QPD2006 and QPD2008 require a rectangular and square cut-out (respectively) for installation. If the look of a round speaker in your wall or ceiling is preferable, QPD Speakers offer the QPD2016 and QPD2018 which share much the same specifications as the 2006 and 2008 models.

All QPD motorized speakers are enclosed in their own cabinets, unlike conventional ceiling/wall mount speakers which use the roof or wall cavity as a speaker enclosure. This makes controlling their sound more predictable when planning an installation as the roof/wall cavity are no longer variable factors. So as to cater for automated (AMX, Crestron, C-Bus) type installs, all QPD motorized speaker models offer a remote controlled version for complete system integration. You only need one remote to control all your speakers at once, a further bonus when integrating into custom systems.

qpd speakers

EngadgetHD: Typically devoid of fancy lights, knobs, and switches, amplifiers typically don’t get a lot of marketing hype; heck, most people who own a receiver aren’t even aware of the amplifier section.

Bang & Olfusen’s Class D ICEpower switching amplifiers wrinkle that a bit — the compact footprint, light weight, energy efficiency and impressive specs are enough to make the newer technology marketable as, well, new.

Sadly, from Audioholics’ examination of many samples, it also looks like the newness stopped there and several manufacturers have slapped crazy price tags on an essentially “reference design” implementation.

There’s plenty of good technical info about the test bench performance of these amps in the link, but with several happy ICEpower users it’s hard to say that the subjective performance is unsatisfactory; the wide price range for essentially the same amp is what’s troubling. If nothing else, let it serve as a cautionary tale of not falling for the latest thing just because it’s the latest thing — when you’re shopping for an amp, take your ears along with your wallet.

amplifier bang & olufsen icepower

CNet: In the yet-to-be-released iTunes 8.2, Blu-ray gets a mention on the ‘About iTunes’ splash screen.

For those not well-versed in the world of Apple computers, Mac machines currently don’t support Blu-ray discs. Although you can install a third-party optical drive in the Mac Pro, you’ll still need to boot into Windows to read Blu-ray media. But, if iTunes is going to allow ripping from these discs, we might finally see Macs and MacBooks with fully integrated Blu-ray support and drives.

Back in October, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs famously called Blu-Ray and its licensing process “a bag of hurt”, implying that it was too expensive and too complicated for Apple to add Blu-ray drives to Macs. Jobs, however, is notorious for downplaying certain technologies right up until the day Apple includes them in a product, as was the case for years with video-playing iPods.

All this is just speculation for now. But, if there is going to be any announcement of Blu-ray support, it’ll probably be at Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, held in San Francisco from 8 to 12 June

Apple Blu ray itunes