Displays & Projectors - Page 74

HP has just announced its new DreamColor Z32x monitor, a new professional-grade 31.5-inch 4K monitor. What makes the new HP display stand out is that it features an IPS-based display pumping out 3840x2160, or 4K.

The new HP DreamColor Z32x not only features the IPS-based 4K panel, it does so with 10-bit color. We have HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4, as well as a full-sized DisplayPort 1.2 and miniDP 1.2 port. HP has provided an integrated USB 3.0 hub with fast-charging support for mobile devices, such as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge from Samsung.

HP has also provided picture-in-picture mode that allows owners of the DreamColor Z32x to view feeds from each of the four display inputs, simultaneously. Wrapping up the specs side of things, there's 1000:1 static / 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast, an 8ms gray-to-gray response time, and a weight of 23.5 pounds. HP hasn't announced any pricing, but we can be pretty sure it will not be on the cheap side.

Curved panels are all the rage right now with Samsung staying on top of the market trend by preparing three new curved PC monitors starting at $299, which will be released later this month.

Starting with the largest 31.5-inch model, we have a 1920x1080 resolution (all three have a Full HD resolution), which is disappointing on the 31.5-inch display. The 31.5-inch curved Full HD monitor will include a 3000mm curve radius and $599 price. The smaller 27-inch panel will have a 4000mm curved radius and $399 price while the 24-inch model will rock a $299 price.

All three curved displays will run at the 1920x1080 resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate, but gamers will have to be careful of all three monitors as they have a 4ms response time.

While 4K isn't exactly mainstream, LG has started talking about 8K and that "the world is turning to 8K". In a press release, the company has teased that 8K is coming, and it'll be here in the coming years.

When the BBC took control of broadcasting the 2012 olympics, they said "Since 8K resolution is the highest resolution that the human eye is capable of seeing, it will put an end to the resolution discussion,' predicting that 'ultimately, 8K images will overtake the market". 8K sees a huge 7680x4320 resolution, pumping out four times the pixels that 4K offers, and 16 times what 1080p provides at 1920x1080.

LG has announced that it has "expanded the UHD lineup and is showing off diverse range of screen sizes with super-high resolution displays such as 8K". The South Korean giant showed off its 98-inch 8K UHD display at CES 2015 earlier this year, but are teasing that they will be making "great strides" into the super-high resolution display era.

Sony has just unveiled its new line of Bravia TVs, with a mix of 4K and 1080p sets that are sure to impress. One of the stand outs from this is the new X9000C from Sony, a new 4K TV that is just 4.9mm thick.

The new X9000C is just 4.9mm thick, making it thinner than most of the smartphones on the market. This gave Sony the huge headline of "the world's thinnest 4K LCD TV" which I'm sure it's going to use to its advantage. Sony's Creative Center Toyko Senior Director, Daisuke Shiono, the X9000C series uses the "Floating Style" suspension design. The company has also stuck to its "seamless" design concept, as you can see in the image above.

Sony's new TV is powered by its own 4K image processing chip: X1. Sony's X1 processor uses elite light-control technology that can "let the audience see the chiaroscuro more significant picture, as if the reality of light and dark portions of the visual effects".

Netflix has said that the third season of House of Cards was filmed at 6K, even though it streams at a maximum of 4K to its own video streaming service.

The master copies that Netflix has of the third season were provided in 4K, but the company is having the production house store huge 6K masters as an archive. This means we might see a 6K release of House of Cards, and other content in the future. The 6K master copies are absolutely huge, weighing in at 5.5TB per episode, compared to the 4K episodes which are 2.5TB each.

With 4K TV adoption still not ramping up, it would be nice to see Netflix offer these 6K episodes in the future. Especially as we shift past 4K, and into the world of 8K and beyond.

GDC 2015 - NVIDIA has announced the latest Shield, designed for your living room. The new Shield is "incredibly thin" which has Ethernet, USB connectivity, HDMI, and more.

The new NVIDIA Shield is the world's first 4K-capable Android TV, with 4K decoding and H.265 and 10-bit video processing. The video on the NVIDIA Shield is "absolutely gorgeous" according to CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. The new NVIDIA Shield is capable of 4K at 60FPS, not 4K at 30Hz on most other devices. This is thanks to the incredible Tegra X1 processor inside of the Shield, something NVIDIA unveiled at CES earlier this year. We have 256 GPU cores, 3GB of RAM, and more. That's twice the power of the Xbox 360, with 1/5 the amount of power required.

NVIDIA also announced a beautiful remote to go along with the Shield, with just a few buttons on the front of it for simplicity. There's bi-directional Bluetooth, with voice control and a microphone on the top of it. A one-click, one-touch voice search button is also baked onto it. There's a Bluetooth receiver inside, so you can plug in your headphones directly into the remote, which is a very nice touch.

VESA has just announced the latest version of its Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.4a specification, which is the successor to version 1.4 which was introduced close to two years ago now. The new 1.4a revision is capable of an insane 8K resolution in laptops, which is 7680x4320.

The new eDP 1.4a standard features a new Display Stream Compression (DSC) standard (1.1), and enhanced segmented panel display architecture. On top of that, some other magic is sprinkled inside of the new display standard, which will allow OEMs to create Ultra HD panels for embedded applications, with support for up to 7680x4320, or 8K*4K. eDP 1.4a is capable of 8.1GB/sec per late, where the GPU-to-display interface is split in two, or even four screen segments. This provides a maximum link bandwidth of up to 32.4GB/sec, which will allow for 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz with 10-bit color.

Now, I'm sure you're why... why mobile/laptops? Well, VR. That's why. We're being teased the future of mobile and laptop displays, with a huge 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz, which is exactly where VR needs to go. Oculus VR is probably rubbing their hands with glee, so we're going to reach out to them now and see if they have anything to say about this news.

Ideum has launched a new line of smart tables that will run either Windows or Android operating systems, and users can switch between the operating systems easily. The Duet smart tables are available in 42 and 46-inch models, and they support a standard 1080p resolution. The tables support up to 60 simultaneous touch points in Windows 8, and 12 touchpoints with Android. The table itself is built with aircraft aluminum and cold rolled steel, and the screen has an anti-glare coating.

The tabletop is only 2.4 inches thick and has a slim bezel on top. Internally the table features two independent computers that run different operating systems, and users can switch via a hardware or software switch on the table. For Android use the table sports a 2.0Ghz Rockchip RK3288 with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage to power KitKat 4.4.

The table runs two different processors for Windows 8, depending upon the size of the table. A 3.2Ghz i5-4570R with onboard graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD, powers the 42 inch version. The 46-inch version is powered by a 3.5Ghz i7-4710 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, but also employs a beefy NVIDIA GTX 760 CPU.

CES 2015 - It wasn't too long ago when 3DTVs were generating a lot of attention from consumers and hardware manufacturers - but that buzz quickly died down in favor of 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) and curved displays.

Samsung announced its SUHDs, while Sony, LG Electronics, and other companies dive into the UHD market.

Some TV manufacturers began rejecting 3DTVs at CES 2013 and CES 2014, such as Vizio and Panasonic, with wasted time and resources invested into 3D research. There is still great appeal for 3D technology among PC users - and gaming - but it doesn't look like TV manufacturers are going to waste their time.

CES 2015 - Still undecided if curved monitor technology is for you? Philips is here to tease you too - unveiling their 34" 12:9 panoramic Curved UltraWide LCD display at CES 2015.

Said to help "envelop users who seek a natural media viewing experience", this screen offers top notch color accuracy, UltraWide Quad HD 3440 x 1440 resolution, a pair of 7 W DTS stereo speakers built-in and a narrow bezel to wrap up an overall sleek design.

Supporting a 60Hz refresh rate with a 5ms SmartResponse time, Philips' new offering uses an AH-IPS LCD panel to display and has a 178 degree viewing angle. A cool and mostly-overlooked feature of this monitor is the ability to use MultiView technology, meaning you can connect two devices to the display at any given time and use them both simultaneously - giving you a feel somewhat like split screen multiplayer gaming on a console.