We're tempted to chalk this one up to miscommunication, but something just reeks of wrongdoing. As the story goes, one particular winner of a Charter Father's Day contest was promised a 65-inch HDTV as well as free Charter services for an entire year. The only requirement was to pay sales tax on the winnings -- fair enough, right? After receiving a phone call and email confirmation from the carrier, the winning dad sat down with his jubilant daughter and unsuccessfully tried to fax in his W-9. Afterwards, he decided to mail it in, and after a bit of rigmarole, a Charter associate contacted him with news that it couldn't deliver the promised set; instead, it would "try" to get him a 42-incher, though a 19-inch TV was likely in his future. After a few more days of nothing, a box arrived at his door "large enough to hold a 19-inch television," which the "winner" promptly refused. Can't make this stuff up, folks.

[Image courtesy of ZMETravel]

The downturn in the housing market is producing some interesting cross-marketing promotions. Well-heeled jet-setters moving into NYC's SoHo Renwick luxury condos when it opens in 2009 will be greeted by Bang & Olufsen gear, including a BeoVision 8 32-inch LCD TV, BeoSound 4 audio player and a BeoLab 4000 speaker. For sure, luxury space comes at a premium price in SoHo, so we can understand the desire of residents to own a compact system. And with the Renwick's all-glass exterior, the super-bright output of an LCD display also makes sense. Top it all off with B&O's famous design, and you've got a system that's a good fit for the target demographic. Sure, it's not the most bang-for-your-buck setup, but we don't really expect that Renwick residents will be counting pennies anyways -- prices for the units start at $975,000 for a one-bedroom unit. For that price, couldn't they toss in a larger 1080p set?

It may seem like everything is DivX compatible these days, but surprisingly it's taken until now for the official stamp to find its way onto a TV in Japan. byd:sign just popped out this 19-inch LCD HDTV w/ DVD player, making it the first one to carry the logo guaranteeing interoperability with all manner of video content. Available in black or white, the DC-1902DW series is a 1440x900 res, 500:1 contrast ratio screen that also get its media via a USB 2.0 port, SD / MMC / Memory Stick slot or the usual combo of HDMI inputs and digital/analog tuners. byd:sign CEO Katsumi Iizuka doesn't plan for this to be the last, so those Naruto RAWs you've been downloading should go direct to many HDTVs pretty soon.

Just a few months back, we had the fortune of reviewing one of Samsung's 650 Series Touch of Color LCDs ourselves, and now CNET has taken a look at the higher priced (and more decked out) 750 Series sibling. The 46-inch LN46A750 adds in a few swank extras including support for DLNA servers, network streaming and interactive news / stocks / weather feeds, but unfortunately, those novel extras come at a steep cost. In essence, reviewers were plenty contented with the picture quality (save for a few artifacts when dejudder modes were on), and the unique features were certainly swell for those who care, but critics couldn't wholeheartedly recommend paying the asking price for the small boost in features. Tap the read link to see if you agree.

If you're a lazy ass consumer (the very best kind), bent on pulling a device out of the box, plugging it into a wall, and never messing with another bit of "setup" again, you're certainly not alone. In fact, most folks never lift a finger to calibrate their displays, plug better speakers in, or place those speakers in actually advantageous spots. To that end, Mitsubishi is debuting its new LT-46149 and LT-52149 LCDs with integrated 16-speaker sound projectors. Similar to the sound bars offered up by many home audio manufacturers, the "Integrated Sound Projector" (iSP) is designed to bounce sound off walls and around the room to give the illusion of surround sound. The perk of TV integration is an easy to use room configuration on-screen tool to specify your room's dimensions, couch placement and preferred sweet spot size. At the end of the day, your sound is all coming from one spot, so directionality isn't going to quite match a for-realsie surround sound setup, and the system we listened to was a little sharp in the high end, but it's certainly a unique and appealing offering from Mitsu to the everyman TV watcher. The TV itself is CableCard ready, can support sound over HDMI and PCM inputs, and offers Mitsu's 120Hz film dejuddering -- that rather awkwardly makes your favorite films look like they were shot by a TV news crew. The 46-inch and 52-inch LCDs will sell for $3,299 and $3,699, respectively.

Ever notice that all the hot-on-OLED firms, um, aren't named Sharp? Yeah, we've seen intentions to plow full speed ahead into OLED development from Panasonic, Sony (obviously), LG and a host of others, yet Sharp seems quite content with rocking the world with its LCDs. During a brief chat with TechRadar, the outfit's Miyuki Nakayama was quoted as saying that "LCD isn't mature yet, [as] there is still a lot to come in the future," specifically noting that LCD resolutions could be jacked to 4K2K. Better still, when pushed to comment on the OLED bandwagon (and more specifically, Sharp's decision to stand aside), he stated that "organic EL screens aren't a threat to LCD and they won't be for at least another decade." The reason? "The screens don't last long and they can't easily be made bigger." In all honesty, we can see Sharp's point -- after all, it makes LCDs for quite a few applications not named HDTV. Still, some pretty bold words, no?

Not that 70-inch LCD HDTVs are anything new, but a "fully waterproof" one just might be. Have a look at MarineAV's LCD70: a 1080p behemoth that features a 1,500:1 contrast ratio, 600 cd/m2 brightness, 8-millisecond response time, 178-degree viewing angles, a slew of inputs and VESA mount compatibility. We're told that the panel is actually a Samsung, which leads us to believe that MarineAV simply snapped up a few of these bad boys and added the water protection itself. Worth the £27,995.95 ($54,664) asking price? Depends on your perspective, we'd imagine.

[Via CNET]

By the press release, it's officially official -- Pioneer has made good on its promise to get serious about LCDs, even though its intentions to bring out a 46-inch class display this year remain murky. Europe will see three new Kuro-branded LCDs: the KRL-32V and KRL-37V models (32-, 37-inch sizes, respectively) in August, and a 46-inch KRL-46V which still has a nebulous "later in the year" date. All models include a high-contrast filter up front, three HDMI ports and 100Hz processing (count on 120Hz if when released in the USA). No pricing has been announced, so we'll be curious to see what sort of markup is slapped on the Sharp-sourced panel. More interesting, of course, will be the picture quality -- have Pioneer elves worked any magic into the electronics, and will the LCD's black levels measure up to the Kuro name?

Can't say we've ever heard of DX Antenna, but nevertheless, it's breaking ground in the LCD TV arena by introducing its 32-inch LVW-322. Specs wise, you're looking at a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel, 400 cd/m2 brightness, 1,500:1 contrast ratio, an 8-millisecond response time, 176-degree viewing angles, twin 10-watt speakers and analog / digital TV tuners. You'll also find a pair of HDMI inputs to complement the usual composite / S-Video / composite / VGA sockets, and there's even an optical audio jack and an Ethernet port to round things out. Expect this one to land in Japan next month for ¥100,000 ($928).

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Well, what have we here? A trio of newcomers from "North America's fastest growing brand of flat-panel HDTVs," that's what. Kicking things off in the all new XVT Series is the 42-inch SV420XVT and 47-inch SV47XVT LCD HDTVs, both of which feature 1080p panels, VIZIO's Smooth Motion technology (120Hz), a 6,500:1 contrast ratio and the usual complement of ports including four HDMI 1.3 sockets. Next up we've got the 50-inch VP505XVT, a 1080p plasma with Silicon Optix's famed REON HQV processing engine. Furthermore, this one packs an integrated digital TV tuner (with ClearQAM support), a dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and SRS Labs' TruSurround XT audio processing technology. The new trio is all set to ship next month for $1,499.99, $1,899.99 and $1,699.99, and of course, you'll find 'em perched at Circuit City, Sears and your favorite Club retailer. [Warning: PDF read link]

We'd generally assume this was just some kind of sick joke, but given Uniden's history of cranking out kid-lovin', themed LCD TVs, we're being forced to accept the fact that this here unit is indeed real. The TL19TX1 is all set to launch next month in black or white and feature a 19-inch 1,440 x 810 resolution display, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, integrated digital TV tuner, twin 3-watt speakers, HDMI / component / composite inputs and enough Hello Kitty branding to make the average guy gag. Over in Japan, the unit will be selling for ¥69,800 ($647), but who knows how much it'll cost for you to import it. And yes, you'll be importing one for your little angel.

[Via CrunchGear]

Dust those cobwebs out and strain that memory, won't you? Surely you haven't forgotten about JVC's pair of "world's thinnest" LCD HDTVs; after all, they were just announced at CES. Whatever the case, the 42-inch LT-42SL89 and 46-inch LT-46SL89 HDTVs are both proud members of the outfit's Procision series and boast a cabinet that "across most of its width measures a mere 1.5-inches, with a maximum depth of just 2.9-inches at the panel's center." Of course, each set also includes a TV tuner, three HDMI inputs, two component jacks and one S-Video / VGA port to complement the USB picture viewer, illuminated remote and touch-sensitive buttons on the front panel. Both super-slim units will hit retail stores next month for $1,899.99 and $2,399.99, respectively.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

While those of us here in America puff our chests out each time we waltz by that LCD-equipped centralpark Connection refrigerator, folks in the UK can get extra prideful courtesy of John Lewis. Although the integrated coffee machine, electric oven, steam oven and 19-inch HD-ready LCD TV can all be purchased separately, they're being (smartly) marketed together to create the "ultimate kitchen combo." The whole shebang will run you £2,246 ($4,363), and not surprisingly, it's the £699 ($1,358) tele that's likely to bring in the most profit. Meat-heads will agree to anything with pixels though, right?

[Via CNET]

Ever get the feeling most people couldn't tell if their HDTV is working correctly (much less actually watching high definition content)? Apparently that's changing on a massive scale, as DigiTimes cites unnamed industry sources saying the refund on cheap LCDs has risen recently. More discerning customers have higher standards for picture quality -- just ask your cable company -- increasing the refund rate for LCD TVs to 25-30%. Obviously, most of our readers are the kind of people who whip out the calibration tool and start testing as soon as a new TV arrives, but if the masses are picking up on previously unnoticed issues, hopefully standards for quality -- even at the low end of the price scale, will rise to match.

Money's tight these days, we get that. But we also get that your aging CRT is in dire need of replacing, and Westinghouse's sub-$2,500 TX-52F480S looks mighty fine on paper for the price. Thankfully, the cats over at UltimateAVmag were able to secure the 52-inch LCD HDTV for a review, and it proved to be quite the value overall. Yeah, you'll have to deal with quirks like HDMI 1.2 ports and a complete lack of 120Hz processing, but color reproduction, black level, and shadow detail -- you know, the important stuff -- were all deemed "excellent." It is noted that this set won't blow away any higher priced units, but potentially more importantly, reviewers felt that those on a budget would be thoroughly pleased with what this unit brings to the table.