‘4K’ TV is lead gadget at show

LG, Panasonic unveil ultra-HD

Panasonic’s Vic Carlson introduces the new Ultra-HD television during a news conference Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Panasonic’s Vic Carlson introduces the new Ultra-HD television during a news conference Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

— LG unveiled a 55-inch TV that sports “ultrahigh-definition” resolution on Monday, kicking off what is likely to be a tide of products using the latest super clear format at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show.

The gadget show, the biggest trade show in the Americas, is taking place at The Las Vegas Convention Center this week. It’s a place for technology companies to showcase the television sets, computers and other products they plan.

LG’s new TV is the smallest in a 2013 lineup that includes 65-inch and 84-inch versions. But the smaller size - and smaller price tag - begins the parade of TV makers that are seeking to bring ultrahigh definition to the masses.

Also known as “4K,” ultrahigh-definition screens are 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels tall, or more than 8 million in all. The higher resolution will let TV screens get larger without degrading picture quality, though initially the price tag will limit those sets to technology’s early adopters.

photo

AP

“Reptar,” a robotic snake, is one of 17 possible creations available in the new Lego Mindstorms EV3 platform that will have the ability to communicate with iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches through Bluetooth wireless connections.

LG said the 55-inch and 65-inch versions will be available later this year inthe U.S. No price was announced, but it will be less than $10,000. The 84-inch version that went on sale late last year cost $20,000.

Panasonic also introduced a new ultra-HD television on Monday.

There won’t likely be a mainstream standard for getting native ultra-HD movies and TV shows to the screen either by disc or broadcast for a few years.

LG Electronics Inc. said these new TVs will have upscaling technology that takes images of lesser quality and renders them in high detail.

Along with the lineup of higher-resolution TVs, LG unveiled a new Magic Remote, which acts like a wand that is sensitive to motion and is used to navigate onscreen menus. LG said the new model responds better to natural speech and can be controlled with a single finger rather than “very tiring arm gestures.” It also lets you change the channels by writing numbers in the air.

Also at the gadget show, rival Sharp Corp. introduced two super-clear TVs and one ultra-HD computer monitor. The 32-inch monitor uses Sharp’s IGZO technology, based on a semiconductor material called indium gallium zinc oxide. The monitor, planned for sale in February, responds to 10 points of contact at once - one for each finger.

Lego’s latest incarnation of the Mindstorms robotics kit was also announced Monday.

The new $350 Mindstorms EV3 kit will have the ability to talk to iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches through Bluetooth wireless connections. That means Lego builders can use the devices as remote controls for their robots, or create simple programs that are then sent to the robots to control their actions.

Remote control was already possible with Android smart phones and the most recent Mindstorms kit, the NXT. Apple devices didn’t work because the “brain” of the kit - a juice-box-sized electronic brick - lacked a chip that would identify the Lego gadget to Apple devices.

Also new in the Mindstorms EV3 kit is a “two eyed” infrared sensor that can pick up signals from a small infrared remote and locate it. In the kit, Lego includes the blueprints for a snake robot that uses its eyes to sense if someone is close to its head, in which case it strikes.

Business, Pages 21 on 01/08/2013