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Wireless TV appears well on way into American homes

By BILL HUSTED
Cox Newspapers

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

ATLANTA -- "What's new with technology?" people invariably ask.

It's clear they expect to hear about some revolutionary technology that makes the Vulcan mind meld seem as ordinary as cornflakes.

They're often disappointed when I say most new stuff is evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Computer chips get faster, TVs get fancier, and computers get smaller and cheaper.

There are a couple of ways to safely predict the future:

(1) Pick a date so far in advance that no one will remember you were wrong or (2) find technologies that are fairly new and gaining traction but are too expensive at the moment to be commonplace.

I'll take that second, safer option and talk about a couple of television technologies that truly do represent the future.

While nothing is certain in technology, there's an excellent chance you'll be using one or both within the next four or five years.

Wireless TV

In my home at least, this would be an enormous hit -- a TV that can be put anywhere without any wired connections to antenna, satellite or cable. My wife hates unsightly wires. And it's sure not a far-out notion when you consider most of us have been using computers wirelessly for years.

There are already wireless TVs on the market. While prices will come down, a 50-inch set that you can order today is priced at just $1,500. Here's ordering information for the Samsung FPT5094W: http://tinyurl.com/nkl77v.

If you want to see how prices have dropped, check out this glowing review from 2004 of a 15-inch wireless set that was selling for about the same price as the 50-inch set is today: http://tinyurl.com/l3qjeq.

Here's how sets like this work: Just like your cordless phone at home, a wired base station transmits the signal wirelessly to the TV. The claimed range is 26 feet.

You'll be seeing plenty of competition in this category within the next year or so. And it's probably smart to wait, unless you simply quiver at the thought of one-upping your neighbors. But the advantages are strong. Think how nice it would be to wall mount a set and not worry about hiding cables.

Keep in mind that a wired connection offers less chance of something going wrong. But for those who need or want to place a TV in a location where wires offer a problem, it's a golden solution.

LED HDTV

Those initials have been popping up on review sites and in the press for a while now. It's probably the hottest television technology going.

These sets use tiny LEDs (light emitting diodes) as the internal light source. That does a couple of nifty things. Sets using LEDs can be super slim, which makes them excellent choices for hanging on a wall like a picture. LED sets also remedy a disadvantage LCD sets have had compared to plasma TVs.

Plasma TVs have been the clear winner when it comes to producing pure blacks on the screen. LED sets do them just as well or better.

Here's my take: The advantages are real but it's too early to make the jump. Prices are high and there's almost a certainty the LED technology will be refined over the next few years.

You can read an excellent New York Times blog item that debunks some of the more optimistic claims: http://tinyurl.com/mlby47.

For those who want a basic education in the technology, check out this page: http://tinyurl.com/n2wzoa.

OK, I'll put my crystal ball up and turn on my now ancient HDTV, which is not all that slim and has countless wires and cables hanging from its back. The future will wait until I fill a few more jars with my spare change.