Tegra iFixit has done it again. The good folks at iFixit took a brand new Zune HD and had a close look inside. There are many pictures in the teardown but I will share with one of a few that really interest me as a display geek. The picture showing NVIDIA’s Tegra processor shows that it was manufactured in Korea. You can also see that the Zune HD, like almost everything else electronic, was assembled in China. I would like to see this change: just as biodiversity is important to the well being of biological organisms, manufacturing diversity is important to the well being of the electronics industry. But I digress; back to Tegra.

720p HD This little chip enables the Zune HD to be very capable when it comes to displaying and outputing video. The Tegra is a low-power graphics processor that can process HD video and graphics for the GUI. As you may have already seen the Zune HD’s GUI is very attractive but also quite responsive. One major feature of the Zune HD is its ability to output 720p HD video via the HDMI connection. In addition to incorporating Tegra, there are many other technologies that makes me think Microsoft may have jumped passed the hardware capabilities of the iPod touch. By a mile.

You can find more information on Microsoft’s Zune HD site. Source: iFixit

Cheaper US$329 is no more: you can get the 160GB Apple TV for just $229. And Apple got rid of the 40GB version. A lot of people want the Apple TV to pack in a lot more features like DVR, a Netflix capability, or even the ability to watch Hulu on it. But I’m not one of them. (more…)

EVA’s InterView is a dual LCD display you can flip. It sports two 17-inch LCDs with a 1440 x 900 resolution, each. The unique feature of the InterView is that you can flip the LCD over. Want in on the flip action? It’ll cost you US$640. Of course you can use the dual 17-inch as a single display with a 2880 x 900 resolution. But you shouldn’t. If you’re expecting a seamless experience you’re not going to get it. Look closely at the big fat bezel in the middle. You should only use the InterView in dual window mode. So forget about using this has your ultra-wide gaming monitor.

Source: Engadget

Top Product (Google translated from Dutch to English): The VooDoo Envy 133 is a slim and sexy 13.3-inch notebook PC sporting a carbon fiber with custom micro-weave design. Now HP seems to be working on a slightly larger version.

The rumor has it according to Top Product that VooDoo (or HP?) is working on the Envy 15, a slightly larger Envy 133. It will probably be called either the Envy 154 or the Envy 156 depending on the size of the LCD but what is for certain is that it will look… different.

I don’t think so; I think it will be aluminum, just like Apple’s MacBook Pro. The keyboard will be different from the Envy 133 too and be more like Apple’s MacBook Pro. The LCD? The same thing: more like Apple’s MacBook Pro. Will it be ultra-thin? Probably about as thick as Apple’s MacBook Pro. You think I’m making this up? Take a look at the picture.

The Envy 15 should be quite the performer if the rumors pan out: 1.6 GHz Intel Core i7 720QM CPU, 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 GPU and a unique Night Vision Webcam with IR LEDs.

Back Online Corning announced that it has repaired its damaged LCD glass plant in Japan that was damaged due to an earthquake last month. The company estimated the revenue impact of the damaged plant of about US$22 million. On a calendar basis, demand for LCD glass is stronger in the second half. The reason being that demand for LCD goods such as LCD TVs, LCD monitors, notebook PCs, netbooks, etc. are strongest in the fourth quarter. The entire LCD supply chain is preparing for a strong fourth quarter and the LCD glass supply disruption in Japan didn’t help, but how big was the impact to the overall supply chain?

Co-Location There are only two major LCD panel manufacturers in Japan: Sharp and IPS Alpha. Although Sharp is ahead of its competitors in terms of LCD fabrication plant generation at 10 the overall glass area input capacity is small… [private] relative to giants like LG Display, Samsung, AU Optronics (AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO). IPS Alpha is also quite small in terms of glass usage. Corning’s Japan-based LCD glass supply disruption would have certainly impacted Sharp and IPS Alpha but would have had minimal impact on the four largest LCD suppliers. Co-location of LCD glass manufacturing began with G6 (Gen. 6) TFT LCD fabs as the size of the LCD glass substrates made it difficult and costly to transport over long distances. A large portion of LCD glass demand is supplied locally in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. [/private]

Source: The Inquirer

You can now buy the U2410 on Dell’s online store for US$599. Sounds kind of expensive until you realize what the U2410 really is. It is a 24-inch LCD monitor sporting a 1920 x 1200 resolution, 178/178 viewing angles, a response time of 6ms, a 1000:1 contrast ratio with a 96% Adobe RGB or 100% sRGB color gamut. You can also connect many video sources to the U2410 via DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, component, composite and VGA. And the most important feature, at least for me, is that the TFT LCD panel is of the IPS variety. IPS stands for In-Plane Switching and is a wide-viewing technology that is used by brands like Dell, Apple, NEC, etc. to target color professionals. With very wide viewing angles (178/178) and very small color shifts (due to low contrast shifts) an IPS LCD monitor is a must if you need accurate color. But the problem has been price: IPS LCD monitors are quite expensive. Well, not the U2410: you can grab an IPS LCD monitor for just US$599. But maybe there is a reason why it is a bit cheaper. (more…)

I wrote about Stantum‘s touch technology a couple of times before (Resistive That’s Better Than Capacitive, Notes: DisplaySearch Emerging Display Technologies Conference), but this was the first time I had the opportunity to see it myself. I was quite impressed with what Stantum has accomplished using resistive technology to offer a multitouch solution. I think RIM should talk to these guys for their next version of Storm.

I’ll be on the All Sports Talk Radio.com show tonight at 8pm PDT doing the TECH TALK segment. This is a live sports talk radio show that discuss various sports related topics such as the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, UFC, etc. The topic will be, “Choosing The Best TV for Sports”. Call in (1-347-215-9970) and ask me all your questions. My friend Sung Song Sdog co-hosts the radio show and will be giving out a whole bunch of gift cards, a New Era Cap and a lot of other goodies too.

Hot Hardware, cnet, Engadget: That’s Codemaster’s GRID being played by a really lucky guy on 6 LCD monitors. ATI’s Radeon Eyefinity lets you connect up to 6 displays with a single graphics card via DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, etc. The GPU running the show is based on 40nm technology, features 2 billion transistors and has the capacity for 2.5 trillion calculations per second.

You can configure the 6 displays as one massive screen or 6 individual ones. By connecting six 30-inch monitors in a 3 x 2 matrix you get a resolution of 7680 x 3200 for a total of 24.576 megapixels. The maximum capability of the Eyefinity is 268 megapixels.

Acer, Dell, HP, MSI and Toshiba are already working on equipping Eyefinity into their notebooks. CrossFire support will be coming in the future but will require at least a single DisplayPort connection. I guess DisplayPort is the future at least if you want an ATI multi-monitor solution. According to AMD, Eyefinity approaches eye-definition optical clarity that seem optically real to the human eye. All looks good, but there is one glaring problem.

If you look at the awesome 3 x 2 setup in the picture at the beginning of this post, the two vertical bezels in the middle make for a not-so-seamless look. This must change for the better if we expect multiple monitor setups to work as a single display. Can we move to a bezel-free display in the near future? Samsung seems to think so.

During DisplaySearch’s Digital Signage Conference 2009 that was held in San Jose, CA, the company promised zero bezel LCDs in the future. Thanks Paul for the tip!

Photo source: TrustedReviews

A fast netbook? I’d like to see it to believe it. Acer is claiming that its Ferrari One is that fast netbook. The Ferrari One sports a 11.6-inch LCD with a 1366 x 768 resolution and is powered by AMD’s new Congo platform that combines a 1.2GHz Athlon X2 L310 CPU and ATI‘s Radeon 3200 GPU. Connectivity options include WiFi, Bluetooth, VGA and an additional XPG port for external graphics. Ship date is October 22 and the price is a hefty £435 (about US$724). (more…)

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