Expect an onslaught of coverage of laser projection HDTVs in a week (or not, if the media covering the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show can buy a clue).
So in today's news rundown I see this headline: LG Hecto 100-Inch Laser TV is Perfect for Doctor Evil's Media Room
This is not the first of the laser TV devices, nor will it be the last. The sets use a scanning laser projection technique developed in 1977 but which apparently had to wait for the German patent to run out before anyone could take it seriously. Heaven forbid that the guy make any money from his idea. The first laser TV may have been the Novalux that appeared in 2006. Then in 2008 Mitsubishi showed a device, which it now sells as the LaserVue rear projector TV. It has a street price of around $3200 in a 75-inch set.
The idea is that the laser apparatus can deliver more colors than any LCD display. The LG version is a front projector that can blow out a 100-inch image from 22-inches away. This is done close range, from what I can tell, to prevent anyone from getting in-between the projector and the screen lest they be chopped in half by the laser beams.
I could be wrong about being chopped in half, but I have to assume the light is not good for the eyes.
Of course, like any new HDTV development, it will be front and center at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a convention that seems to specialize in showing the newest TV sets. Personally, I'd rather wait for these sets to show up at some store.
CES has always been a banal show in this regard. Yes, you get to see a 100-inch LCD set. Then a 120-inch TV the next year, then 150-inch. So what? If you want to see a big TV, get a ticket to a Dallas Cowboys game and ooh and aww over the monster LED screens (also made by Mitsubishi) suspended 90 feet above the field at Cowboys Stadium. There is also a big set at Candlestick Park, home of the World Champion San Francisco Giants.
While I'm not a big fan of CES, which attracts a huge international audience, I do admire the operation behind it—the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)—since it always takes the side of the end users in various disputes over copyright and patents. If it were not for the CEA we might not have the ability to record video off the TV and there would be no DVRs for sure. They do great work, but it does not make the CES mega-show any better.
I was under the impression in the late 1990's that all these shows were going the way of the buggy whip as virtual shows were the future. Instead the CES show has gotten bigger!
What is most weird about it from my perspective is that there are probably 3,000 exhibitors and perhaps 9,000 media (or more). This means three media folks for each exhibitor. Yet the media commonly misses the cool stuff and overlooks a lot. Instead there is repetitious coverage of the same old same old—especially the large TV sets that will always attract a crowd of bewildered gawkers.
In the meantime we will have to suffer through one article after another previewing the show, then a week of excessive show coverage. We'll see where the laser TV fits into the picture when that happens.
You can Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter @therealdvorak.
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Go off-topic with John C. Dvorak.
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