New Sony Bravia WE5: More than 50% OFF… on power consumption!

Sony Bravia WE5 Image courtesy of http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1234253950778

Here’s another goody goody from Sony who just launched another cutting-edge LCD HD TV called the Sony Bravia WE5. It is touted to be the world’s first TV using the micro-tubular Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (HCFL) backlight that enables it to save more than 50% in terms of power consumption.

Other energy saving features include the intelligent Presence Sensor which detects whether the viewer has left the room. If he has, the Sony Bravia WE5 powers down further by switching off the picture but maintaining the sounds. This is a pretty clever feature which we could all have used all this time.

Further, since using flat screen TVs as computer monitors is becoming more and more popular, this Bravia model also has a power down feature when it stopps receiving a signal from the computer for a certain amount of time! Neat.

And finally, here’s the kicker— the StandBy mode consumes no power!!! It actually turns itself off but saves the state it is in so that when you turn it back on, you can proceed right where you left off. Pretty handy while watching those online movies or those DVDs. They finally found a way to use flash based technology in our televisions!
This feature is much like the hibernate mode of the Windows OS where you can turn your PC or laptop off while in the middle of doing something but you can continue right where you left off upon turning it back on! I think this feature is pretty cool!

This Bravia model is actually part of a line of Bravias that have been Eco-labeled by the EU. I guess this is the industry’s answer to the EU’s challenge of creating more energy efficient LCD and Plasma TVs or else they will push for the phasing out of the plasma TV.

Other eco-labeled Bravia models: » BRAVIA W5500, BRAVIA E5500, BRAVIA V5500, BRAVIA™ S5500

 

New TV Technology News: Lasers and Coffee

Newest and Future TV Technology

Just when you think that televisions got nowhere else to go, here comes the clever humans who says otherwise. First is the Laser TV which is touted to be the ultimate plasma TV replacement. Laser TV is not just a concept but an existing technology right this very moment but I know of no final product being sold in the market yet, although I’ve been hearing news of its appearances in tech and trade shows that would indicate its debut into the consumers arena is inevitable in the foreseeable future.

A laser TV is basically a rear projection television with lasers being used to project images instead of the power-hungry mercury lamps that are being used by traditional rear projection TVs. Three lasers at the back of the TV, having the colors red, green and blue, combine to produce the colors needed to create the images. The result of this innovation is an increase in the gamut of colors that can be created. Current televisions can only produce 30 to 40% of the colors that human eyes can perceive. With lasers, TVs will be able to create up to 90% of the colors that the eyes can differentiate. That’s definitely rich and would be most stunning indeed. Even the blackest of blacks would be achieved by this technology because lasers basically just turn off when an absence of color is required. The result would be televisions that can display colors at very high fidelity and that is less power consuming. Laser televisions are reported to be 75% more power efficient than conventional plasma televisions.

There are two companies that I know right now that are actively pursuing this technology: Novalux and Mitsubishi.

Television made through Coffee Stains!

The other television technology that’s being enthusiastically eyed by clever humans will come from stuffs most unexpected—coffee!!!

Basically, they discovered that the process whereby coffee stains are created can be used to in electronics that would make televisions thinner, lighter and more power efficient. I’m no coffee drinker but if this is the case, well, hey I’ll have coffee on my TV anytime! The details of this coffee science is still sketchy to me but they’ve tried explaining it in this report on using coffee for the next generation of televisions.

Image courtesy of Softpedia.com

More of the latest TV technology in future posts.