LG announced today the launch of their SL 9000 television range.  The SL 9000s are incredibly thin (29.3mm), 100Hz, full HD, LCD TVs with 248 LEDs around the edge of the screen providing the backlighting.   42 and 47” Screen sizes will be available and should be in shops sometime in October.

The killer feature on these new TVs though is their ability to playback DIVX and DIVX HD files from USB drives of up to 1TB – including files in the common .MKV format.

They are described by LG as borderless as there’s no protruding bezel around the screen.  Layers of film give the televisions a smooth flat anti glare and anti scratch front panel that goes right to the edges of the TV.

Picture quality is suitably impressive when watching HD content whether through the HDMI connector or via the USB port.  Having not seen any SD content I can’t comment on its quality.

An “eco” function uses up to 40% less power compared to a similar sized LCD TV by varying the brightness level.  This can be carried out manually or automatically based on ambient light levels.

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As promised, here is the second part of our Q&A Session with Sony. Thanks once again to Tim and Nicola for taking part, it was instructive!

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We recently had the chance to ask Sony some questions about their TV range. Fielding the questions were Tim Page, Senior technology marketing manager and Nicola Plump, Product manager for the Bravia range.

The answers were quite long so we’ll be presenting them in two posts, starting with this one.

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Various sources today reported that Sky are going to be launching a 3D channel next year.

Running on an existing Sky+HD box, the new channel will need a “3D Ready” TV set. That should be fun – We’ve seen technology demonstrations and Hyundai have a set for sale in Japan but so far I‘ve seen no announcements from anybody regarding the UK so I’d expect some news on that front nearer the time.

In a slightly less exciting (but possibly more relevant) announcement Sky also promised a video on demand for Sky+HD owners. Fun times ahead!

[via MediaWeek]

Here’s a chance you don’t get every day – We’ve arranged an interview with some of the top people in Sony’s TV division and we thought it would be more interesting if you submitted the questions. So if there’s anything you ever wanted to ask Sony about their TV technology, product range or future plans now’s your chance!

Your victims are:

Tim Page – Senior Technology Marketing Manager. Tim spends a lot of time hopping between tradeshows showcasing TV and Blu-Ray technology and has also advised on Sony products in the last two Bond movies. If there’s a question about technology, he’s your guy.

Nicola Plump – Product Manager for the BRAVIA range. Nicola will be fielding questions regarding the new WE5 and associated technologies.

We’ll be submitting the questions to Tim and Nicola next week, so you’ve got a week to work out what you want to ask.

Send your questions to [email protected].

Some of us can remember the original Sony Walkman – a revolution in it’s day but the world has moved on since then and Sony were slow to jump on the MP3 bandwagon, letting a certain Cupertino based company steal the show.

The “Walkman” brand has been used on various devices since then (most commonly phones) but the new X series marks Sony’s most recent attempt to get back into the portable music player business. Read on to see what we think…

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As I mentioned in our write-up LG have let us give a 42” LF7700 away to one lucky reader… and it all starts today!

The competition is simple: Over the next 7 days we’ll attach a picture like the one below to some random posts. Each picture will contain one letter – at the end of the competition, tell us the word they spell out to be entered into the draw.

The winner will be selected at random from all the correct entries received.

Here’s the first letter to get things started. Best way not to miss a clue is to subscribe via email or RSS to keep up to date with the others!

The small print

1. The prize includes delivery to a mainland UK address and set-up by an LG trainer.
2. The competition is only open to residents of the UK.
3. We will ask the winner to participate in some subsequent publicity, which will be featured here and on the official LG blog.

Sony have just announced their upgrade of the wireless / streaming / MP3 compatible / do-anything-with-your-music range in the form of the “GigaJuke” lineup.

The core of the system is based around an enclosed hard drive to store your music, together with an amplifier and speakers.

The complete package (pictured) is the “NAS-SC500PK” which includes a 160GB hard drive, amp and player. The unit is Wifi/ethernet enabled to pick up music from your network and comes with built in “Gracenotes” music recognition software so any CD you copy over should be automatically labelled and tagged.

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I’ve been living with a brand new 42” LF7700 for the past couple of weeks courtesy of LG and it’s time to give my thoughts – so here we go!

First Impressions

Electronics styling goes through phases just like any other fashion but I’m pleased that black is back – chrome and gold never appealed to me. The LG sticks to this simple formula with a contemporary high gloss black frame surrounding the panel. Speakers are discretely tucked away in the bottom bezel. Yes, the high gloss finish shows fingerprints – well, nothing’s perfect!

Setup – what can I say? Plug in, attach aerial and let the TV do it’s thing. All channels found and ordered automatically just like it should be.

A tabletop swivel stand is included in the package – hopefully this is becoming a standard feature but it wasn’t that long ago when manufacturers expected you to pay extra for the stand.

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As regular readers will know I picked up an Arena at an LG event 5 weeks ago. First impressions were good but I promised to write a full review when I’d spent some time with the phone. I’ve used the Arena in place of my Sony Ericsson W980 and now it’s time to tell you what I think of it. This is one feature packed phone and so I’ll limit myself to talking about the highs and lows of the phone rather than get bogged down in too much detail. The full specification and feature list can be found here.

Touch screen and User Interface

The S-Class User Interface is one of the Arena’s major selling points but is it any good? LG have done a great job with the touch screen UI and it’s almost as precise and responsive as the iPod Touch which is high praise indeed. Yes the rotating cube is a bit gimmicky but it does at least give easy access to the four shortcut screens and can also be used to impress you mates down the pub.

The screen is bright and clear but in common with most colour screens it can be difficult to use in bright sunlight. Touch the status bar at the top of the phone screen and a neat shortcut menu drops down giving instant access to: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Alarm, Music Player, Calendar items and Phone Profile functions.

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