The 2013 CES show in Las Vegas in the flat panel HDTV category was dominated by 4K displays starting at 50-inches and going all the way up to 110 inch screen sizes. There was also a smattering of OLED (more accurately AMOLED) from a couple of manufacturers. OLED sets were shown by Panasonic, Samsung, and LG. How much of both of these display technologies was vaporware, and how much of it will actually come to market is anyone’s guess. My guess is some of the 4K panels will hit the market by year’s end albeit at stratospheric prices, and the 110-inch panels will probably not make it to market in 2013. Let’s take a look at what some of the majors had on display.

For the fifth year in a row now, Value Electronics presented its annual Flat Panel Shootout where I was the keynote speaker. The panel contestants were the Panasonic TC-P65VT50 plasma, the Samsung PN64E8000 plasma, the LG 60PM9700 plasma, the Samsung UN60ES8000 edge lit LED LCD, the Elite PRO-60X5FD full direct array LED backlit LCD, and the Panasonic TC-L47WT50 edge lit LED LCD.

On Thursday April 26^th, Casablanca was shown across the country at select theaters using Digital Cinema grade projectors. I was very excited to catch this event at our local Island 16 theater in Holtsville, New York, which is outfitted with Sony's latest 4K SXRD Digital Cinema projector, which is basically a very large 4K resolution LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) projector. I was expecting a true 4K resolution presentation via a server as my understanding is this film and many others have been archived in the new 4K format. Unfortunately, the source was a 1080p DishNetwork satellite broadcast distributed by Fathom Events.

Pros: Very good calibration features for tweaking and setup. CMS feature works very well to fine tune colors to be very close to the Rec 709 specification. Grayscale and gamma performance are excellent post calibration.

Cons: Off angle viewing is very poor. Black field uniformity is a little splotchy. Cyan tracking below 50% luminance levels skews toward blue similar to the Elite models.

To Buy or Not to Buy: With a street price of well under 3K, and a screen size of 70-inches, this panel has a lot of bang for the buck. A full array LED backlit panel with good black level performance, the LC-70LE735U can be calibrated to a high degree of accuracy, and is capable of producing very good pictures. Hard to beat for the money.

Every year at the annual CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design & Installation Association) Expo, CEDIA bestows their Life Achievement Award on a deserving member of our industry. This year that coveted award went to Don Stewart, one of the partners of Stewart Filmscreen, a leading front and rear projection screen manufacturer.