Panasonic pumped out its UniPhier SoC for worldwide digital TVs earlier this year, and now Fujitsu is hitting back with its MB86H70. The digital HDTV SoC (system-on-chip) boasts an inbuilt video processing engine, support for Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution and a multi-decoder that decodes both MPEG-2 and H.264 video compression formats. The chip is actually designed for digital TVs receiving HD broadcasts in Europe, and supposedly, the LSI will enable TV manufacturers to "improve their design efficiencies with regard to picture quality settings." Look for samples to start shipping without your knowledge in mid-October.

Yeah, we've certainly seen Sigma Designs pick up partners for WiMedia-based UWB HD streaming before, but this go 'round it's managed to solicit the help of Fujitsu. Apparently, the duo is planning to showcase its wireless HDAV technology at CES, which was designed to transport HD content over ultra-wideband and rely on Fujitsu's H.264-compliant codec. The setup can purportedly transmit signals at distances of up to ten meters, and will combine Fujitsu's MB86H51 codec with Sigma Designs' SMP8634 Secure Media Processor decoder and UWB Windeo chipset. Granted, we've witnessed similar songs / dances before, but here's to hoping one of these wireless concoctions actually takes off in 2008.

The rough-and-tumble economics of the display business claimed another victim today, as Fujitsu announced that it will exit the market in March. We hadn't seen a lot from the company's Aviamo line of plasmas since they first debuted in 2006, and it looks like there's a reason -- according to the short press release issued by Fujitsu today, "the pricing and profitability of this segment has compressed beyond the point which our company could realize a satisfactory return on investment." Hmmm, that explains why it spun off Shinoda Plasma a while back, no? Fujitsu says it will continue to sell displays in Japan and provide service and support to customers for the foreseeable future, but that what it really wants to do is paint "concentrate...on our core business of heating and ventilation equipment." You keep living that dream, guys.

[Thanks, Bruce S.]

Shinoda Plasma, a venture company spun from Fujitsu, was busy demonstrating a unique 43-inch panel at CEATEC that sports a pixel pitch of three-millimeters and is currently in prototype form. Reportedly, the device is made of "plasma tubes aligned and sandwiched between film-form electrodes," and it is based on the "same light-emitting theory as existing PDP technology." A boon to this, however, is its ability to be made much slimmer and lighter than current alternatives, as the flexible panel on stage was said to be one-millimeter thick and weigh just 1.76-pounds. Check out more pictorial delight after the jump.

Just as Philips had tunnel vision with remotes, Fujitsu seemed quite content with focusing almost entirely on its array of HDTVs. Notably, the style factor was unusually high at this locale, and while they did seem a tad out of place, a few beefy projectors (like the LFP-D711WB) were doing their best to look good. Judge for yourself, the pictures are right down there.

If you'll recall, Fujitsu's unsightly TEO HTPC was first seen way back in January, and while the newest iteration most certainly steps it up in the hardware department, the aesthetics are still sorely lacking. Nevertheless, the TEO90X/D sports a 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 processor, 2GB of RAM, a half terabyte of HDD space, integrated multicard reader (SD / Memory Stick / xD support), WiFi, FireWire, gigabit Ethernet, audio in / out, and of course, a Blu-ray writer. Furthermore, you'll find an optical digital audio output, HDCP-compliant HDMI / DVI connectors, an ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics set (um, weak?), digital TV tuner, and Vista Home Premium runnin' the show. Slated to hit Japan here shortly, the TEO90X/D is priced at ¥265,000 ($2,282).

[Via AkihabaraNews]

We'll admit, Fujitsu's latest Super Frontech Vision LD is most certainly not cut out for your living room, but regardless of the paltry 512 x 288 pixel resolution, any single screen that measures 231-inches is worthy of our attention. This widescreen behemoth was designed to garner lots of looks from potential customers, and features a LED panel, 5,000 cd/m2 brightness, DVI input, and a requirement to stand five-meters away before you can make our what's being displayed. Of course, we'd highly recommend that any interested marketers have one profitable item to sell, as this bad boy will run you around ¥63 million ($529,326) before delivery and installation.

[Via Digital-Lifestyles]

Fujitsu is still keeping it big, with revisions to its Plasmavision line of 55-inch and 63-inch plasma sets. The P55XHA51WSb and P63XHA51WSb have added a second HDMI input since last year's models, and boosted the contrast up to 3000:1, while keeping the remaining specs the same as before. On the bright side, prices have been lowered to £4,495 ($8,885 US) and £6,495 ($12,839 US), so if you're not turned off by the 720p resolution or the higher-than-normal pricing, grab these up.

Okay, so maybe this report is crammed with hopes and dreams of a momentous comeback, but in all reality, we just don't envision this happening with market pressures as they are. Although Sony threatened to make an exit from the plasma market for a good while before actually pulling the proverbial cord, it seems that there's now a glimmer of hope that it'll bring those Sony-branded PDPs back. DigiTimes has it that Sony is "considering" its options and is currently in talks with Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display (FHP); interesting, Sony Taiwan said that it "had not received any notice about such a plan," and doubted this would go down due to a Samsung / Sony joint-venture S-LCD plant hitting volume production later this year. Granted, Sony has been known to bicker over the plummeting flat-panel prices, but could be looking for a way to effectively (and profitably) add to those record setting sales even more. Whatever the case, we're sure that potential plasma buyers wouldn't mind the added competition, but until this gets beyond the rumor mill, we're not looking over our shoulder in anticipation.

We first looked at Fujitsu's Aviamo line of 1080p HDTVs at CEDIA last year and they are back at CES, this time with prices and shipping dates. Aside from those changes, these three HDTVs are still among the best looking we've seen. Fujitsu is referring to this as its luxury line, featuring a somewhat unique design with a very clean front that lends itself to the high end installations these screens are destined for. Another premium feature is Fujitsu's AVM III image processing, enabling scaling of all lower-res sources to 1080p, a 24p/30p mode for film based sources, advanced color management and contour correction to reduce jaggies. The 65-inch P65FT00AUB plasma should be shipping in the around the end of February, with an MSRP of $17,999 followed by the 37-inch P37FT05AUB at $4,999. The 50-inch P50FT00AUB plasma model (also shown) will be a second quarter release but doesn't have a pricetag yet. These are true HDTVs, with ATSC/QAM tuners and on screen program guides with tunerless models to follow shortly. Dual HDMI 1.1 connections -- no HDMI-CEC here, but IEEE1394 and RS-232 are included -- round out the feature list, check out the gallery for more of these HDTVs' sharp angled features.

Walking around the floor of CEDIA is overwhelming. That is the best word for it but when you find something that takes your breath away, it is all worth it and Fujitsu made our day with their AVIAMO line. This line of 50 and 65-inch plasmas join forces with a 37-inch 1080p LCD to create the best looking flat-panels at the show. We truly believe it. Plus, they overall look of the bezel is void of manufacturing bragging that oh so many makes are doing. The are just two logos on the bottom left: one for TV Guide and the other for a sound mode; logos on the top are on a removable sticker. The speakers are actually part of the stand but the boys over at Fujitsu have made up their mind if they are going to produce 'em; we vote yes. Fujitsu have always been at the top of the plasma game but oh man, these are something special. The 65-inch should be available towards the end of the year for a price of $20K. The smaller ones are still up in the air for production runs but more info should be available at CES in January. We can't wait.

More pics that just don't do the plasmas justice after the jump.

Fujitsu Hitatchi Plasma Display Corporation is going to keep rolling out their new plasmas, including two that are 1080p (1920x1080), and one not-1080p (1280x1080). The 50-inch HD panel based on their ALIS technology we've covered before with its oddly shaped pixels and resolutions, but great image processing and brightness, features a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, brightness of 1300cd/m2 and should begin production in October. The 1920x1080 50-inch plasma is their first to use single-scan technology (one chip for image processing instead of several) at that resolution, plus the same ALIS processing with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio and 1100cd/m2 brightness, but will not go into production until March 2007. The 60-inch plasma brings all 2-million pixels and a new e-ALIS processing system to help smooth fast moving images on the big screen, it has a lower contrast ratio of only 5000:1 and a brightness of 1000cd/m2. No word on price or possible US availability just yet.

[Via Impress]

Remember that Hitachi 1024x1080 plasma panel that threw a lot of people for a loop a few weeks ago? Fujitsu is using that same panel in their new A4 series plasmas. This panel allows for a dramatic lower energy use and a higher resolution with a total pixel count of nearly 1.105 million! This panel scales the vertical resolution down a bit with the goal of a more uniform picture and the horizontal gets scaled up a bit with the same thing in mind. Anyways, check out this thread for more details about the resolution. The plasma also has a very high brightness of 1400cd/m2 (42-inch model). The set of course has proprietary picture this and proprietary control that to give you that notorious Fujitsu picture.