Sick of hearing that phrase yet? I know I am, but I digress. Most major manufacturers are debuting HDTVs that are super thin. How thin you ask? The most impressive display I had the pleasure of laying my geeky eyes upon is Hitachi’s Ultra Thin 1.5 series.
Hitachi says these new HDTVs are not for the average consumer, but rather the "luxury consumer." Hitachi even claims the frame on the display has a "subtle bevel to present the picture as if it were a work of art." Clearly, lots of work went in to designing these new displays. And I must say, I'm a hard critic, but you have to give credit where credit is due. And Hitachi certainly deserves praise for their new line of thin HDTVs.
The displays will be available in Hitachi's Director's Series, V Series and S Series. The Director's Series and V Series will feature one HDMI 1.3 and one RGB input with audio input. The S Series will have a built in ATSC/NTSC tuner, three HDMI 1.3 ports and two component inputs. Each series will have three sizes; a 32-inch, 37-inch and 42-inch model. The 37-inch and 42-inch displays feature 1080p (1920x1080) and 120Hz refresh rate. The 32-inch unit (in each series) is 720p with a resolution of 1366x768.
These models debuted in Japan a month ago and will be hitting retailers here in the states around March or April of 2008. No price has been set yet, but I would certainly expect a premium on these TVs. What does this mean to you? Time to craigslist your 'old' HDTV and go shopping. Or not. . .
