Philips enters 3D realm

Philips has paraded its new system at IFA 2007 in Berlin which is capable of displaying images in 3D glory on a wall-mounted display. This monstrous 132″ display was made possible courtesy of nine Philips 42″ 3D displays in a 3 by 3 grid, utilizing Philips’ very own WOWvx 3D technology that brings realistic images to the viewer without the need for those dorky-looking glasses. Since individual WOWvx displays cost around 12 grand each, having nine of these in one array would bring the price tag into the world of 6 digits, making it out of reach for most people.

Sony’s video download cards revealed?

The Wall Street Journal — citing “people familiar with the situation” — claims that Sony is poised to enter video-downloading services whole-hog. Think Go!PSP, only extended with new “products and services to let users download television shows and movies” to Sony’s sweet, suite of PS3s, PSPs, and Bravia televisions “similar to the way” people use the Apple ecosystem. Go!PS3, Go!Bravia, Go!Rolly? Sure, why not. Unfortunately, the WSJ piece doesn’t provide any dates or any real details to speak of. Regardless, none of this comes as a surprise what with PS3s doubling as DVRs in Europe, video-capable Walkmans finally released in the US, and the looming shutdown of Sony’s ATRAC-based Connect music services. Hell, Stringer already ceded portable music dominance to Apple back at the June shareholders meeting in Tokyo where he noted that Sony has “worked very hard to catch up so that in the age of video we will not suffer as much as we did in audio.” We’ll see. Hey Howie (sorry, Sir Howie), we hear NBC could use a new on-line storefront soon. You know, quick-wins and all.

Toshiba’s DPF7XSE seven-inch Digiframe

 

Not satisfied with just unleashing a pair of HD DVD players for the European crowd, Toshiba has now announced a forthcoming digital photo frame for the same set that does a whole lot more than shuffle through old photo albums. The DPF7XSE boasts a seven-inch 800 x 480 resolution panel, dual one-watt stereo speakers, SD / MMC / CF / Memory Stick support, USB 2.0 connectivity, and 256MB of built-in storage space. Most notable, however, is the supported format list, which includes JPEG, MP3, WMA, MPEG4, and DivX. Currently, Tosh hasn’t released details surrounding a price for the fall-bound frame, but users picking this one will reportedly find an infrared remote and USB cable bundled in.

Hands-off with the Philips Aurea

Yeah, this thing is pretty hot. Sure, it helps that Philips commissioned its very own art film to showcase the new Aurea Ambilight TV, but we’re pretty sure this unit would be just as at home showing of Saturday morning cartoons or lighting up the home shopping channel. You know you want one.

Philips’ new PVD1075 10.2-inch portable DVB-T player

Philips’ new PVD1075 10.2-inch portable DVB-T player

OK, it’s not quite a jumbo-tron, but 10.2-inches is seriously infringing on laptop screen territory — and that’s really not a bad thing. Philips’ new PVD1075 DVB-T TV sports all the screen you really need (until the bigger ones come out next year), along with an external antenna and analog tuner. There’s a seven-day Electronic Program Guide for picking your shows wisely, and you can play files off of SD cards if it strikes your fancy, though Philips isn’t forthcoming on codec support. Unfortunately, the 2.5 hours of battery life is hardly enough for that marathon session you were planning of badly dubbed American TV — we know how you Europeans do. No word on price or availability, so we’re going to guess “soon” and “free.

Toshiba’s REGZA Z3500 series of 120Hz LCDs: 57-inches of love for your home network

Like TVs do ya? Then go ahead and block off the next few hours to decipher the machine translated Japanese surrounding Toshiba’s 11 new HDTVs. Of these, the new top of the line REGZA Z3500 series of 37-, 42-, 46-, 52- and 57-inch LCDs are by far the more interesting. Each offers a 120Hz / 10-bit IPS panel with 3x HDMI (1080/60p and 24p) supporting x.v.Color / DeepColor, 2x Firewire, and a whopping 3x Ethernet jacks for surfing the internet (browser built-in) or streaming DLNA and DTCP-IP media from Tosh’s own VARDIA recorders, Qosmio PCs, your local NAS server, and plenty more. Better yet, sling a few disks off the included 2x USB jacks and you’ve got an instant DVR — suuuweet. Prices start at ¥360,000 ($3,123) and run up to ¥950,000 ($8,242) for the biggie 57-incher. We’ll bring you the rest of the new sets a bit later, mkay?