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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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

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The Wall Street Journal: Pioneer Corp. said it will receive 2.5 billion yen ($25.8 / €19.7 million ) of fresh capital from business partner Honda Motor Co. in the first of a series of fundraising steps planned by the electronics maker to finance its overhaul.

Pioneer, a maker of car navigation systems and electronics products, said it plans to issue new shares to Honda by the end of June and use the money from the Tokyo-based auto maker to develop new car electronics products.

With losses mounting, Pioneer has decided to exit the flat-panel television business and concentrate on electronics for the auto industry.

Pioneer is also preparing to apply for a government cash injection under newly approved measures in Japan’s economic stimulus program.

Under a medium-term business plan also announced Tuesday, Pioneer said it will need to raise around 40 billion yen, but details for other financing deals aren’t set yet.

In the latest deal with Honda, the auto maker will pay 170 yen for each of the 14.7 million new Pioneer shares to be issued. Honda will have a 6.54% stake in Pioneer, becoming the second largest shareholder after Sharp Corp.

Sharp’s stake in the electronics maker will decline to 13.35% from 14.28% after the new share issue. Pioneer’s reform plans over the next three fiscal years through March 2012 include closing nine of 30 group companies undertaking production in Japan and overseas and shrinking capacity at six others.

It is also laying off 5,800 full-time employees and 4,000 contract-based workers from this year. At the end of December 2008, Pioneer had 36,925 full-time employees. It will also reduce the total number of directors and executive officers this year to 19 from 25.

Pioneer expects a restructuring charge of 47 billion yen in this fiscal year ending March 2010, but it expects its reform measures to reduce fixed costs by 50 billion yen in this fiscal year and a further 85 billion yen in the following year.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, Pioneer forecast a net loss of 129 billion yen, slightly narrower than a 130 billion yen loss estimated in mid-February. It will report full-year results May 13. The company also projected a net loss of 83 billion yen for this fiscal year. It expects to return to the black in the fiscal year ending March 2011 with a net profit of eight billion yen.

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ZDNet (Robin Harris): Blu-ray’s problem is simple: Blu-ray’s crisper picture isn’t enough for recession-whacked consumers. Yet the demo I saw last week in Las Vegas was something else: beautifully detailed and very watchable high def 3D.

That’s a change you’d pay for.

Panasonic is pushing hard.
The demo at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters trade show was one of many 3D announcements and products. But it was the most important because in our consumer-driven economy it is the home theater, not the movie theater, that will make or break the latest 3D push.

I’ve played with a number of 3D displays over the years and the Panasonic blew the rest away. Other than some distortion when a leg or arm got too close the camera, the picture was the closest thing to real live I’ve seen on a display.

The big win: 3D sports. You can really see where the ball is on the field. It may not get rid of all those “from this angle” replays, but fans will love seeing how close a receiver’s fingers are to the ball. Panasonic is pushing the industry to settle on standards for 3D so the market can move forward. They promise that their 3D plasma screens won’t cost much more than current designs. A 58″ 480 Hz – meaning 240 Hz for each eye, double most LCD refresh rates – plasma is available today for $3500.

What about those bulky glasses?
The LCD shutter glasses need some work for eyeglass wearers. The wireless ones are about $80 retail, while wired ones – much lighter – are about $25. With the picture quality they give most people will be fine with them.

A bigger issue for some is that not many projectors are 3D compatible and most of those that are are DLP, which typically don’t give much placement flexibility. A 58″ plasma is nice, but I really like my 10′ screen.

The Storage Bits take
HD 3D needs Blu-ray’s capacity and bandwidth. The big question is whether the consumer electronics industry can get behind a single 3D standard and persuade people to buy.

As the fight between HD DVD and Blu-ray showed the engineers can lose sight of the bigger picture: consumer acceptance. The networks, producers, cable and satellite providers as well as set vendors need to cooperate. If they don’t consumers will stay away.

The movie companies are doing good 3D, especially with 3D animation, but more production needs to be done. How about next year’s Superbowl in 3D? That could put 3D – and Blu-ray – over the top.

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EngadgetHD: China’s alternative to Blu-ray finally has some hardware to show off, with players from TCL and Shinco making their debut this week.

Priced at less than 2,000 yuan (€223) they’re reportedly 40% cheaper than the competition, and while the promised support from Warner Bros. has yet to materialize it plans to release 100 movies on the CBHD format by the end of the year.

That’s about all the machine translation could help us make out beyond the usual promise of lower licensing fees for Chinese manufacturers.

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DisplaySearch: Samsung has more than 50 models listed on their US web site, including their latest LED TVs. In order to understand this Samsung’s LED TV positioning in their LCD TV product line, we made a comparison table, shown below.

From the specifications and suggested prices, we can make some interesting points:

• In terms of product sizes and pricing, the B6 and B7 series LED TVs are closer to the A7 and A8 series LCD TVs than they are to the A6/B6 and A7. For example, LED B6 has 40”, 46” and 55”; LCD A7 40”, 46” and 52”. The price gap is similar ($400-500) for the same size comparison.
• The B6 and B7 series LED TVs are likely to eventually replace the A7 and A8 series, which use CCFL backlights. Samsung hopes that consumers find the advantages of LED TVs are enough that they can increase the suggested price, which would help Samsung increase revenues on high-end models. Samsung is likely to adopt LED backlights for all their high-end models and keep CCFL for entry- and mid-levels; LED TV is equivalent to high-end LCD TV in Samsung’s product line.
• The B6 and B7 series LED TVs adopted edge lighting instead of the direct lighting used in the premium A9 series. Edge lighting enables lower costs, but it does not support local dimming. Probably only high-end customers notice or value the difference. Many consumers will be glad to own any LED TV, and they may have no idea of the difference between edge and direct lighting. Another benefit is that edge lighting can enable slimmer design, which is a difference that all consumers can notice.
• After intensively promoting frame rate conversion in 2008, Samsung is using LED backlight as the next feature to enable improved picture quality. If this strategy works, Samsung can drive higher revenues from the high-end models now, and extend LED backlights to mid-level products in the future. So, it’s reasonable to expect there will be lower level B5 series LED TVs ranging from 32” to 46” or even 55”.
• For those consumers who value picture quality, Samsung will promote the B6 series 40” LED TV UN40B6000 ($2,299). For those who think applications are more critical and interesting, Samsung will offer the B6 series 46” LCD TV LN46B650 ($2,099) with DLNA. For consumers that feel size does matter, the 52” LCD TV LN52B610 is available at the same price, trading internet connectivity for larger screen size.

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EngdagetHD: Still believe in the potential of BD-Live? Sony does, exec David Bishop called this the “Pong” stage of development in the technology during an industry demo yesterday on its lot.

Apparently wanting to get some fresh eyes on BD-Live after some glitchy releases and underwhelming features, Sony, Disney and others are still trying to find different ways to work BD-Live into their discs, and new wireless capable players like Samsung’s 2009 models mighty see more people going online.

We’ve seen live directors chats, games, story databases and other twists, but at the moment we’re not as optimistic about where BD-Live is headed in 2009 and beyond.

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Guardian: The animal welfare group Peta is pursuing Samsung over a viral video featuring a flock of sheep covered with LED lights being herded into an array of clever patterns on a Welsh hillside.

Peta has called on In-Soo Kim, Samsung’s European chief, to remove the ad from the internet because the company should have known better than to “scare sheep half to death … for some passing amusement”.

An accompanying letter reveals that Tesco has asked suppliers not to use sheep dogs to herd sheep because it “stresses” them out. Peta also claims to have research showing that sheep “perform nearly as well as pigs on IQ tests” and have “demonstrated problem solving abilities”.

Perhaps, given the time, the sheep could have made the Samsung ad for themselves? Chunks of the viral were created digitally – although the Viral Factory, which made the ad, is keeping tight-lipped over which bits. “These guys are champion sheep herders, they are the cream of the cream,” said a source close to the project. “There is no way they would harm any of the animals.”

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