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HotHardware: DLP-based 3D HDTVs have been around for years now, but those weren’t these fancy new advanced sets that were showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Now, Samsung is claiming to be the first to mass product 3D TV panels, ones that use “3D Active Glasses” technology.

The move marks a bold new step in the march towards making 3D a household mainstay, and it shows that even TV makers are on the bandwagon.

The company began producing LED and LCD compatible panels for 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch full-HD 3D TVs using ‘3D Active Glasses’ this month, employing Samsung’s exclusive true 240Hz technology.

The displays are able to showcase 3D and 2D content in Full HD, and the company has reduced the response time of its LCD and LED panels by 20 percent to less than four milliseconds, eliminating any interference between left and right eye images.

There’s no exact plan for release (at least not yet), but we’d guess that some of these sets will be on the market as early as this year.

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CNet: Here at CES 2010, Samsung has announced it will be creating its own app store, but unlike its rivals, who offer applications on mobile phones, the Korean giant intends to supply apps that work across phones, computers, Blu-ray players, home-cinema systems and even TVs.

The Samsung Apps feature — essentially an evolution of the company’s Internet@TV concept — will ship on the vast majority of Samsung tellies with screens 40 inches and above, starting with the 55-inch LED 9000 series.

With these, users will be able to search and download applications even while watching TV. Some apps wil be bundled with the sets, some will become available for download over the sets’ integrated Wi-Fi free of charge from this spring, while paid-for apps will start to arrive in the summer.

Currently, Samsung says the style of applications will be pretty diverse. Some will provide basic information like up-to-date weather, sports fixtures and results, picture viewing through the likes of Picasa, plus services such as BBC iPlayer and Twitter.

Several apps will allow interaction betwen your Samsung mobile phone and your Samsung TV. In one example, the company said consumers would be able to play virtual poker using the television as the table, and their handsets to view cards and control the game.

Crucially, Samsung is making its app store an open platform, which should encourage third-party developers to create a decent number of apps and help ensure the system doesn’t become a relic any time soon. Keep your eyes on CNET UK over the coming weeks when we’ll bring you a more in-depth look at the best of these apps and the TVs they’ll feature on.

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Electronista: Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its 2010 lineup of four Blu-ray players along with new Blu-ray Home Theater systems.

The flagship Blu-Ray player includes the BD-C6900 that features built-in 3D playback and supports the new 3D Blu-ray standard, while the BD-C7500 offers what Samsung claims is the slimmest Blu-ray player in a new “nature-inspired” contemporary form factor; the BD-C6500 combines performance and speed along with affordability and the entry-level BD-C5500 delivers an eco design.

All of its players support Internet@TV, providing access to a wide range of online content.

The ultraslim BD-C7500 weighs is a mere 1.1 inches and has a “nature-inspired” wood design coated with jewel-like gloss that is designed to be wall-mounted, placed on a 25-degree angle stand or placed flat.

According to the company, the BD-C7500 features improved disc load and boot up times, while the 1080p playback reproduces movie images at 24 fps without need for up-conversion.

The BD-C6900 boasts support for 3D content and enhanced with multi-channel HD surround sound; it is compatible with the company’s new line-up of 3D HDTVs and recently ratified 3D Blu-ray standard.

The BD-C6900 features a slim design and a transparent cover that allows the consumer to see the disk spin as it plays. The step-up BD-C6500 offers fast 15-second disc load and 15-second boot-up time as well as features enhanced Blu-ray disc playback using Samsung’s Adaptive Servo Technology (AST). All of this is packaged in a slim and sleek design.

The entry-level BD-C5500 has improved energy efficiency by using new technologies such as loader duty control, low voltage spindle motor, and analog video detect — all of which contribute to a reduced power consumption of 13W during disc playback and just 0.1W in stand-by mode.

The company also claimed that the players are all compliant to the more stringent EnergyStar 4.0 guidelines and said that all models from the step-up BD-C6500 and above include built-in Wi-Fi support and an expanded selection of content and applications.

Finally, the affordable BD-C5500 is Wi-Fi ready — through a separate purchase of Wi-Fi USB dongle — and allows consumers to surf the content of DLNA devices or Internet@TV.

Samsung also unveiled its next-generation Blu-ray Home Theater Systems that feature new amplifier, DLNA connectivity and BD Live Profile 2.0 support: the HT-C6730W, the HT-C7530W and the HT-C6500.

All three models introduce a new retro, no-grill speaker design and Samsung’s newly-introduced immersive Crystal Amplifier Pro technology, which it says ensures accurate sound reproduction and minimal noise interference. Samsung’s new Home Theater systems now have access to the same upgraded Internet@TV service, featuring Samsung Apps — its new service that provides an expanded selection of content and applications from content and service providers, such as Accedo Broadband, AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, Blockbuster, Fashion TV, Netflix, Picasa, Pandora, Rovi, Travel Channel, Twitter, USA TODAY, and Vudu.

In addition, the HT-C6730W and HT-C6500 will have built-in WiFi connectivity while the HT-C7530W will support Wi-Fi through the included wireless dongle. Each of the new models feature Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) connectivity for sharing content with other electronic devices on the network..

The flagship 1330-watt HT-C6730W, designed for the ultimate home theater aficionado, offers 7.1-channel surround sound using a new built-in digital signal processor (DSP) that allows for more realistic vertical 3D surround sound experience. It also supports 1080p video playback (for both Blu-ray discs and standard DVDs), Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio high-definition audio formats.

The system includes eight speakers; a wide center channel speaker, a large subwoofer, two tower speakers and four surround speakers, including wireless rear satellite speakers. It is available in a dark black, high gloss finish. Meanwhile, the 5.1-channel Samsung HT-C7530W offers a “nature-inspired” Touch of Color (ToC) design with a wood-grain texture; it is encased in a “luxurious” translucent material, according to the company.

It includes two tall satellite speakers, 2 wireless rear speakers, a center unit and an active subwoofer. The entry-level, but compact 1000-watt HT-C6500 is designed for smaller spaces and also features built-in Wi-Fi, 1GB of built-in storage, 5.1 channel surround sound and advanced auto sound calibration in a compact form factor.

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Bloomberg: Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest maker of liquid-crystal display televisions, sued Sharp Corp. in a U.S. court, escalating a trade battle over LCD-TVs and other electronics.The patent-infringement lawsuit was filed Dec. 2 in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, similar to a complaint Samsung filed against Sharp with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington. The lawsuit seeks cash compensation for what Samsung contends is infringement of three patents.

Both cases involve patents related to the way LCD screens portray the black and white portion of images, minimizing the effects of static electricity and improving the image quality. The ITC case seeks to ban imports of Sharp televisions and other LCD devices, while the civil suit asks a court to force Sharp to pay damages for past infringement.

“Samsung and Sharp have many patents related to LCD technology so these kinds of lawsuits will continue to occur as long as they make TVs,” said Kim Yoo Jin, an analyst at Taurus Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. “They could settle, but it may take a long time for that to happen.”

The companies have been fighting for more than two years over LCD technology, and each filed earlier requests to the ITC to ban the other’s televisions from the U.S. The latest legal fight targets Sharp’s Aquos HDTVs made in Mexico.

Chris Loncto, a spokesman for Sharp, said the company had no comment on the latest dispute.

Top Spot

Samsung rose 0.5 percent to 763,000 won as of 10:51 a.m. in Seoul trading, while Sharp rose 0.4 percent to 1,074 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Samsung retook the top spot in U.S. sales of LCD TVs in the third quarter, with almost 17 percent of the market, according to market researcher iSuppli Corp. of El Segundo, California. Sharp doesn’t rank among the top five.

Both companies have joint manufacturing ventures with Sony Corp., which battles Samsung for the title of world’s largest maker of TVs and is ranked fifth by iSuppli in LCD TV sales in the U.S. The ITC complaint doesn’t seek to block any Sony products, nor is Tokyo-based Sony a party in either case.

Last month, the ITC said certain LCD TVs and computer monitors made by Samsung that infringe Sharp patents should be banned from the U.S. That decision is being reviewed by President Barack Obama. Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung has said it will be able to work around the Sharp patents to ensure any ban doesn’t interfere with its sales.

Infringe Patent

Because of a case brought by Samsung that’s currently on appeal, Osaka-based Sharp isn’t allowed to import Sharp LCD televisions, including those sold under the Aquos name, that infringe a Samsung patent for an LCD with a wider viewing angle.

Sharp has continued to sell its televisions overseas, saying it changed its products to avoid using the Samsung invention.

In a filing with the ITC on Dec. 1, Samsung contended the Sharp LCD panels in the altered Aquos and other TVs continue to infringe the patent and asked the commission to find that Sharp is violating the order to stop imports that use the Samsung technology.

Sharp’s redesigned LCD television models still infringe patents, Samsung said in the filing. The Korean company said Sharp should be forced to pay $100,000 for every day it violates the earlier order.

The civil case is Samsung Electronics Co. v. Sharp Corp., 09cv920, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Wilmington.

The new ITC case is In the Matter of Liquid Crystal Display Devices, Complaint 2698, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington). The Sharp case against Samsung is In the Matter of Certain Liquid Crystal Display Modules, 337-634, and the earlier Samsung case is In the Matter of Certain Liquid Crystal Display Devices and Products Containing Same, 337-631, both ITC.

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Engadget: The US International Trade Commission already ruled in June of this year that Sharp had infringed on one patent held by Samsung, but it’s now back with another ruling that finds Samsung violated no less than four LCD-related patents held by Sharp.

Once again, the ITC has also barred Samsung from selling the infringing LCDs in the US (still not clear on exactly what’s affected), but Samsung seems more than ready to comply with the ruling, saying that there will be “no impact on our business and our ability to meet market demand.”

For its part, Sharp simply says that the ruling has “made it clear that ITC has consistently supported Sharp’s claim that LCD products of Samsung violated Sharp’s patents” — Samsung, meanwhile, says it has no plans to negotiate with Sharp on the issue, so let’s just hope its workaround is more than a quick fix.

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Electronista: Apple in two years has pushed the iPhone up to 2.5 percent of the entire cellphone market, Strategy Analytics estimates.

The company has roughly doubled its share from a year ago and now has half the share of established firms Motorola and Sony Ericsson, which have remained flat at five percent.

Some of the gain is likely to have come at Nokia’s expense, as it shrank to 37 percent share, its lowest since the start of 2007.

Samsung was the largest winner in the phone market and climbed to 21 percent, or second place, after shipping 16 percent more phones than it did a year ago.

LG despite its recent smartphone push has just 11 percent of the total market. The gains made by Apple and Samsung are predictive of what the analyst group sees as the first genuine year-over-year increase in phone sales since the worldwide economic crisis began.

It expects sales in the entire phone industry to climb three percent to reach 300 million phones. The increase would be a reflection a recovering financial climate and may also be helped by a return to form for companies like Motorola, whose Droid may be its first strong-selling device since the RAZR.

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Bloomberg: Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s biggest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, said profit tripled to a quarterly record as the global economic recovery spurred a rebound in prices.Third-quarter net income jumped to 3.72 trillion won ($3.1 billion) from 1.22 trillion won a year earlier, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. Sales, including those of overseas affiliates, increased 19 percent.

Samsung forecast a “solid” fourth quarter, echoing comments by No. 1 chipmaker Intel Corp., and said it plans to boost capital spending on semiconductors and displays next year to more than 8.5 trillion won. Profit growth may be undermined as the South Korean won rebounds from its plunge during the global financial crisis.

“The company will continue posting solid earnings next year, and the semiconductor business will be the key driver,” said Lee Jin Woo, a fund manager at KTB Asset Management Co. in Seoul, which oversees $8.4 billion in assets. “As Intel and other chipmakers forecast, I see strong PC demand.”

The stock rose 0.7 percent to close at 723,000 won on the Korea Exchange, while the benchmark Kospi stock index fell 0.3 percent. The stock has advanced 60 percent this year.

Samsung, the world’s second largest chipmaker after Intel, was expected to report net income of 3.58 trillion won, according to the median estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Revenue was in line with analysts’ estimates.

Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, almost tripled to 4.23 trillion won, compared with the 4.08 trillion won median estimate in the analyst survey.

Fourth-quarter profit may be lower than the third because of the appreciating won and increased marketing spending, Samsung said. Net income during the three months ending Dec. 31 will probably be about 3 trillion won, compared with a loss year earlier, according to a separate survey of analysts.

“We continue to believe its earnings momentum will peak in the third quarter and trend down,” J.J. Park, an analyst at JPMorgan, wrote in an Oct. 6 report.

Profit at Samsung’s semiconductor division jumped sixfold to 1.15 trillion won, exceeding analysts’ estimates, on higher prices after industrywide production cuts helped ease a glut.

Samsung, the world’s largest maker of computer-memory chips, said last month the market’s on the mend after a three-year slump. The $18.4 billion industry is set for a recovery that may last two years, according to Morgan Stanley.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc., second only to Samsung in global computer-memory production, last week reported its first quarterly profit in two years and said the personal-computer market is rebounding faster than expected.

Intel this month forecast sales that topped estimates, and Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini reiterated that the PC industry may grow this year.

The price of the benchmark dynamic random access memory chip, which temporarily holds data and helps computer processors run multiple programs simultaneously, has more than tripled this year after falling 62 percent in 2008, according to Dramexchange Technology Inc., operator of Asia’s biggest spot market for semiconductors.

Flat-Screen TVs

Income at the liquid-crystal-display business doubled to 1.01 trillion won after panel prices rose, driven by higher demand for flat-screen TVs. Analysts in the survey projected LCD profit of 1 trillion won.

Global LCD TV shipments will rise 24 percent to 130 million sets this year and 19 percent in 2010, according to Austin, Texas-based researcher DisplaySearch in September.

Samsung’s digital media division, which makes TVs, posted a profit of about 940 billion won, compared with a loss a year earlier, as the company increased sales of more expensive models using light-emitting diodes as screen backlights. That compares with the 908 billion won median estimate in the analyst survey.

Samsung, the world’s largest maker of TVs, increased its share of the global market to 23 percent at the end of June from 21.5 percent three months earlier, according to DisplaySearch. LG Electronics Inc. was the second-biggest maker by revenue with a 13.7 percent share, followed by Sony Corp. with 11.8 percent.

Panel Prices

LG Display Co., the world’s second-largest LCD maker, this month forecast panel prices will fall and the industry may face a “slight” oversupply.

Prices of most panels used in computer monitors, notebooks and TVs fell between 1 percent and 4 percent in the second half of this month compared with the first half, Taipei-based researcher WitsView Technology Corp. said last week.

Samsung’s operating income from telecommunications rose 23 percent to 1.03 trillion won after shipments of mobile phones rose 16 percent to a record 60.2 million handsets. That compares with the 1 trillion won median estimate in the analyst survey.

Samsung introduced touch-screen models and will sell its first U.S. device based on Google Inc.’s Android operating system through Sprint Nextel Corp. on Nov. 1.

LG Electronics, the world’s third-largest maker of mobile phones after Nokia Oyj and Samsung, last week said its third- quarter handset shipments rose to a record 31.6 million units.

Samsung said it plans to increase capital spending on chips to more than 5.5 trillion won next year, compared with 4 trillion won in 2009, and boost spending for LCDs by 50 percent to 3 trillion won, paving the way for an earnings recovery at equipment makers.

Tokyo Electron Ltd., the world’s second-largest maker of semiconductor equipment, today raised its annual revenue forecast 13 percent and said a rebound in prices is encouraging chipmakers to boost spending.

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BBC: The giant South Korean company Samsung Electronics has said it will invest more than $4bn (£2.4bn) to cut emissions from its plants.

The company also said it wants to develop more energy-efficient products. It said it hoped that by the year 2013, the greenhouse gas emissions from its manufacturing facilities will be reduced by 50%.

It also wants to develop its range of more energy-efficient products, such as new refrigerators and air conditioners.

The company’s green initiative follows the South Korean government’s plan to pursue an environmentally friendly agenda. South Korea is the world’s tenth biggest producer of greenhouse gases and has vowed to spend $84 bn over the next five years on improving energy efficiency and reducing pollution. A

nalysts believe that combined efforts between the public and private sectors would help boost economic growth as well as reducing greenhouse gases.

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Yahoo: Never mind the lousy economy: Flat-panel TVs are still flying off the shelves in the U.S. and Canada. Sales of new flat-panel TVs totaled 7.8 million in the first three months of the year, an increase of 17 percent from the same period in 2008, research firm iSuppli.

Sales had declined in the fourth quarter from the year before, and the industry was expecting to see that trend continue into this year. Sales are still declining overseas, but North American consumers seem to have a special love for big sets and are going against the flow.

ISuppli’s vice president of displays, Joe Abelson, attributed the increase to “cocooning.” People who have cut back on travel and other spending still find the money to improve their home entertainment setup, he said.

Consumers are looking for cheaper sets, and they’re more likely to go to cheaper stores. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. nearly matched Best Buy Co.’s sales volume, iSuppli said. Samsung Electronics Co. remained the largest seller of flat panels in the U.S. market. Value brand Vizio Inc. overtook Sony Corp. in the No. 2 slot.

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Engadget: Pioneer’s decision to axe the Kuro earlier this year set off a wave of gloomy predictions about the future of plasma, but we’ve never really bought into it — and it sounds like the product planners at LG, Samsung, and Panasonic haven’t either.

HD Guru asked reps from each company for their thoughts on the state of the plasma market, and the responses were pretty similar across the board: plasma remains the connoisseur’s choice overall, and it still makes up just about half of 50-inch and bigger sales.

Of course, that means that plasma’s niche is shrinking and moving higher-end while LCDs more or less take over the rest of HDTV market, but until something like OLED develops into a true competitor we think plasma’s around for a while.

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Electronista: Samsung recently announced some specs of what looks like the 8-series plasma HDTV first shown at CES. The 50-inch 850 PAVV is just 1.14 inches (29mm) thick and houses the tuner.

Samsung says it’s also 40 percent more energy efficient and, at about 57lbs, 20 percent lighter than the corresponding previous-generation model.

The TV has 1080p resolution and has DLNA support. Along with the necessary software and USB 2.0 ports, this allows users to watch DivX videos, view photos or play MP3 audio files from external drives or flash memory sticks.

These features are expected to carry over to a 58-inch plasma model Samsung is also readying, though no specifics other than that it is 50 percent slimmer than the previous-generation TV and weighs about 80lbs.

Pricing or a release date for either model is likewise unknown. Samsung does not currently offer any 8-series plasma HDTVs in North America, and it is unknown if these set will be the first to come to the market.

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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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