Televisions

Samsung’s Series 9 TA950 drew big crowds when it was first unveiled at the 2011 CES. A hybrid 32in Freeview HD 3D TV and PC monitor, it’s a leading-edge screen for your desktop that offers all the functions of the brand’s high-end LED TVs. The design is inspired, with a panel that’s effectively suspended above its pedestal via a swooping right-hand bracket. This tilts backwards for a relaxed viewing position. Slimline 7W stereo speakers fire forwards from the front of the super-thin pedestal, while inputs are ranged along the rear. Just as on the brand’s regular TVs, the TA950 sports Samsung’s Smart Hub apps and IPTV portal, home to the BBC iPlayer YouTube, LOVEFiLM and the new and exclusive Explore 3D content channel.

Earlier this year, Toshiba announced a slew of upmarket 3D-ready TVs. Dressed in togas, and liberally invoking the god Bacchus, the brand’s senior executives took over the Italian film set used to make Rome, the BBC/HBO co-production, and proclaimed that a legion of advanced tellyboxes brandishing the banner of its new Toshiba Places online portal, would march on the combined rival armies.

Samsung doesn’t seem to like plasma very much. Every year, the brand’s marketing focuses almost exclusively on its latest LED TVs, while its plasma models sneak into stores with little or no fanfare.

Panasonic has tried all manner of different TV sizes over the past few years, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find it delivering another size ‘first’ in the form of its debut 55in model.

Sony was an early exponent of net-connected TV. While its rivals were fumbling through the adolescent stages of internet connectivity, the Japanese major already had a mature IPTV portal on the go in the shape of its BRAVIA Internet Video (BIV) service.

LG’s plasma screens have a reputation for unassailable value, but the brand was also first to ink deals with THX and ISF for certification and calibration, and has generally impressed with the finesse of its larger panels.

Ask any AV enthusiast to recommend a plasma TV and they’ll invariably mention Panasonic. The same isn’t always true of LED TVs, though – something the PDP giant will hope to change with its new 2011 range of LED sets.