Say hello to the brightest LCD panel entering mass production - Samsung's 70-inch super bright digital information display will be burning out retinas near you next year. Taking local dimming LED backlighting to a new application, it features 200,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,000nit (cd/m2) brightness -- as much as four times brighter than the HDTV on your wall and topping the previous 1,500nit champ -- more than capable of displaying information or advertisements in bright sunlight or dim environments. The 1080p panel already nabbed a CES Innovation Award earlier today and will be sampled (in Las Vegas, surely) before the year is out, but you may want to grab some shades now just in case.

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]

Yeah, 70-inch LCDs may still make one swoon, but they're far from revolutionary. Still, Planar's managing to teach an aging dog new ways to be important by labeling its upcoming m70L the "first full-featured commercial-grade, high-definition 70-inch LCD monitor." A proud member of the m-Series lineup (pictured), this unit is entirely more comfortable in control rooms and fashion stores than in anyone's home theater, but still, it's a pretty impressive beast on paper. Reportedly, you'll find 178-degree viewing angles, 1,500:1 contrast ratio, a full 1080p resolution, 600 nits of brightness and HD-SDI connectivity. Also of note, this thing was built to run 'round the clock, but also boasts an integrated timer for scheduling events (source switching, on / off, etc.), landscape or portrait orientation support and compatibility with VESA mounts. The only real rub, however, is the price, and considering the $30,000 sticker it'll be rockin' when it lands next month, we'd say you're better off elsewhere.

[Via DigiTimes]

Samsung has lifted the curtain just a bit higher, revealing two new LCDs it will be showing at CES. The 1080p, 120hz refresh rate 70-inch LCD shown previously at IMID 2006 will make the trip, as well as a 52-inch model slated to begin production on the company's 8th-generation manufacturing line later this year. Here's hoping for a demo connecting one of these displays to an HDMI-1.3 equipped, 1080p24 frame rate displaying slimline $500 second generation Blu-ray player in the next few days.

We've drooled enough over this beast of an LCD, and had a small fit when we found out it would make it further than an expo floor, but now we're hearing actual dates, and that's always good news. While the spec list hasn't changed (or not that we're aware of, anyway), this beauty has moved up from "the first half of 2007" to "February" of next year. Additionally, versions sporting full 1080p support will be out "by March," and will fall under its second 7G lineup, which should be able to pump out "one million 70-inch LCD TV panels annually." Unfortunately, we still have no idea just how enormous the pricetag on this behemoth will be, but rest assured, we'll keep you updated on the progress.

Just when we found the perfect spot to put the Sharp 65-inch LC-65D90U LCD, Samsung has announced their 70-inch LCD will be available to consumers during the first half of 2007. Sporting a full 1080p resolution, 2000:1 contrast ratio, sub-8ms reponse time and 120hz refresh rate, Samsung thinks it will compete will with similar large plasma HDTVs. While LG still has the crown of the biggest LCD we've heard about, this will be the biggest one actually available. It will be shown publicly for the first time on the 23rd at the International Meeting on Information Displays (IMID) 2006 in Korea, which is exactly far off enough to get a plane ticket, fly across the Pacific and check it out before you order one.