HDTVs

There was a brief period when I was in college when the movie studios began offering letterboxed movies on VHS. In those pre-DVD dark ages, I would routinely have to explain to my friends why the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen meant we were watching the entire movie. Fast forward a couple of decades and my TV has gotten wider, but most of the time I'm still watching a letterboxed movie because most movies are being made at an even wider aspect ratio. Cinema wide 21:9 displays were intended to provide the ultimate full-screen experience for videophiles with a screen wide enough to more closely match the proportions of the local multiplex screen. No one was under the illusion that these ultra-wide TVs would appeal to more than a small segment of the market, but according to Philips, that segment is too small to support mass production at all. As a result, Philips has discontinued their line of Cinema 21:9 TVs.

Philips's first TV using the 21:9 aspect ratio was launched in 2009, featuring a 56-inch display. Predictably, super-widescreen units have not sold as well as more conventional 16:9 TVs, with the company noting in a statement that "the demand for this screen size is not any more on par with what we regard as basic requirement for mass production."

The Verge

There are a few other manufacturers still showing some support for the 21:9 screen ratio, as evidenced by LG's recent announcement of a 29-inch 21:9 monitor. Admittedly, the LG EA93 is aimed at the desktop rather than the living room, but given that the difference between most computer monitors and small TVs these days is an integrated tuner, I'm sure it won't take some enterprising soul long to put LG's new display to work on their HTPC.

The EA93 is a 29-inch 21:9 aspect ratio ultrawidescreen (2560 x 1080) display with a thin bezel designed to immerse the viewer in the content. It can handle a 4-way split screen and connections via DVI Dual Link, DisplayPort, or HDMI with MHL support. 

Engadget

Samsung was showing off a 55" OLED TV at CES this year. At the time, Samsung was not giving any release dates, but they were aiming for the second half of the year. Well, Samsung still isn't giving a date, but evidently folks in the UK are going to be getting Samsung's OLED beauty this spring. Samsung also isn't giving any prices, though one can assume that it will be lofty. The TV is expected to ship with the full range of Smart TV features and with Samsung's new active 3D technology. It will be interesting to see if Samsung is able to gain some traction this year with their new big screen OLED TVs given how anticipated the technology has been in this size range.

A recent piece of news stemming from CNET claims that Samsung is preparing to ship its highly-anticipated flagship 55-inch 'Super' OLED HDTV this Spring. Unfortunately, the release will be limited to those lucky few residents in the United Kingdom with plenty of saved-up cash ready to expend.

Fudzilla

All right, guys! It's time to take a detour into Apple rumor land. I've expressed my reservations before about devoting too much virtual ink to the rumors swirling around Apple's plans to become a television manufacturer, but the USA Today has put together an extensive write-up based on claims made by a former employee and information from a wide variety of industry folks that is probably a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in what Apple might have up it's sleeve.

There are three main points here to pay attention to. First, there is the suggestion that Apple is looking at building a 42" or larger television. This info is in sharp contrast to the information that Digitimes reported about 32" and 37" televisions, and honestly makes more sense for a home theater. It also leads to the second interesting point: an analyst at DisplaySearch, a company that tracks the television supply chain, is indicating there is no evidence in said supply chain that Apple has ordered panels, which would mean that the iTV is still quite a ways off.

Finally, the third interesting point concerns Apple having trouble signing content providers up for an a-la-carte distribution plan. This last point reminds me of the similar rumors we heard concerning Google TV before its release, but in this case I fail to see how it would cast a pall over the product as it did for Google TV. Apple already has a strong content distribution channel with iTunes and doesn't really need to compete with Netflix and Hulu when Apple can already serve up their apps on any device. Does the idea of 42+" iTV get you excited enough to hold off on other TVs just in case this tech unicorn makes it out of the stable?

But a major roadblock for Apple along the way has been securing content needed to make an iTV succeed. The problems Apple is having securing content deals were described in an interview with a person who worked in the Apple TV group and verified by two television industry sources. All declined to be identified because of the confidential nature of the talks.

USA Today

Seven LCD panel manufacturers, including heavy-hitters such as Samsung, Sharp, and Hitachi, have reached a settlement that will see them paying out $553 million in response to price fixing allegations made in class action lawsuits brought by eight state attorney generals. The companies allegedly conspired to keep panel prices inflated from 1999 to 2006 with monthly meetings among executives to avoid oversupply pressures on pricing. Evidently the manufacturers are still planning on fighting the charges despite agreeing to the settlement, though it seems that settling the matter here would be preferable to the federal government deciding to get involved given that the LCD cabal has pretty much already owned up to their misdeeds in a Korean investigation. Sharp in particular should know that tangling with the Justice Department will likely be more expensive given they were part of a 2008 Justice Department investigation for LCD panel price fixing that spread a $585 million fine across just three companies. If these 7 companies, which reportedly produce 80% of the world's LCD panels, have to start competing on price, any chance that the companies that represent the other 20% will survive?

Seven Asia-based tech companies including Samsung, Hitachi, and Sharp have agreed to pay out $553 million as part of an agreement to settle claims that they conspired over eight years to fix prices for liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, the New York attorney general announced Tuesday.