Your next PC will be the TV ! - Ultra Thin LED TV Screens becomes WI-FI computers as well as Home Cinema Centers !

The borderline between the PC and TV becomes greyer these days as the TV Screens becomes of better picture quality, design and functionalities built into them.

At the same time the Pc’s becomes more and more advanced and can utilize better screens as well.

Several of the TV producers offer screens with internet connections and wireless network options. This will provide the consumers with a huge amount of options.

Science Fiction movies from the 80s and 90s showed us the TV as the hub of information all from ordering food to look at the weather and become a knowledge center. This is today maybe not so far from the reality. The TV set has had a very strong position in the homes of the people, and has acted as the entertainment center for the family. Today this position has been challenged by better and better computers with larger and larger screens, and the option to connect to larger TV screens. The TV sets fights back and has become stronger in the home arena again as it can provide entertainment as well as useful information.

Wireless confusion

Terms like medialink, Internet-TV, Wireless and so on are words the producers are using in their marketing campaigns to reach you as a customer. These expressions can confuse even the most informed person and it is not easy to find out what are these functions provided.

There are today mainly two types of “wireless” screens in the market. The most common type is the screens which are using wireless transfer to connect to your home network and get access to internet and other services.

The other type is screens that use wireless technology for video transfer. It is also possible for a TV screen to have both options built in, both wireless network and wireless video transfer between the screen and the video unit.

The most advanced flat screens today have become so thin that there is hardly room for any contacts on them any longer. At the same time our demands for options to connect increases. The solution to this challenge is to move the TV receiver into a separate unit to enable a as thin as possible screen. You only need a signal cable between the unit and the screen and power to get going. Some producers like Phillips transfers the power and signal in the same cable even.

The most advanced screens from Sony and Panasonic use wireless signal transfer.

Wireless video transfer

A connection between the screen and the receiver is made and the screen on the wall is no more than a monitor with one simple video input.

The TV receiver and all control electronics are all in the separate unit. In some cases the screen will have IR (Infrared) receiver so it can transmit the remote control signals to the unit where all the commands are executed.

The purpose of the wireless transfer is first of all to make a visual elegant and discrete TV screen solution. A minimum of cords makes it easier to create an elegant installation in any type of room and setting. The wireless transmission makes it possible to place the TV receiver away from the screen, and you can have the TV receiver in a cabinet with the blue-ray player and other electronics somewhere as the super thin screen can be installed on the wall as an elegant installation.

To transfer wireless HD-video is no simple task as it requires a high bandwidth and transmission capacity. So far the producers have only succeeded in transferring video signals up to 1920 x 1080i (interlaced) resolution. This is good enough for HD resolution transmissions, but will produce a reduction in quality of pictures produced by a blue-ray player. Video signals from the blue-ray player will require a high bit rate and a resolution of 1920 x 1080p (progressive). 

Today’s wireless models must be able to at least in theory to sacrifice some of the picture quality to achieve design and practical advantages.

Sony KDL-ZX1 is one of the first TV screens on the market with wireless video signal transmission in 1080i quality. The new top model from Panasonic in the Z1-series also use wireless transmission of video, so called WirelessHD.

TV with wireless network

The TV use Wi-Fi technology to connect to the local network. From this the TV can log into internet and offer a series of interactive services as news, weather forecasts and YouTube videos.

When the TV becomes part of your home network it can be used to show your photo collection, show home videos and play music which is stored on your computer.

TV sets with built-in internet has so far limited processing speed and can not be used for heavy duty software like computer games and so on. The functionality is also limited by the commands you can perform via the remote control unit, and that is in most cases say simple navigation through menus.

Some TV sets do not have built-in Wi-Fi though and only offers Ethernet cable connection. But these units usually have a separate USB connection which can be used to connect a USB unit that connects them to the wireless network.

The new 7-series LED TV’s from Samsung has apart from superb picture quality functionalities like Medi@2.0 which boosts internet services (widgets) and streaming of photos, video and music over the network.

PC-TV

Some producers have gone even further and integrated a more or less full blooded PC within the TV set itself. While the TV sets with built-in network limits itself to simple and TV oriented media functions, the PC-TV can be used as a regular PC. The TV will have a built-in operating system like a normal PC has like Windows or similar and is controlled by a mouse and keyboard like a normal PC.

A PC-TV is powerful enough to perform the same tasks as a stationary or laptop PC can do. The difference is that you can surf on the internet , perform document handling, gaming and watch video on a much larger and better screen than you can from the normal PC.

Panasonic offers the web function called CAST on several of its latest models. The CAST function gives access to Youtube, news, weather forecast and video services from online partners of Panasonic.

The PC-TV from Crea is one of the first TV sets on the market with an integrated PC in it. Crea Kronos has a built-in Intel Atom Processor, 80 Gb hard disk, 1GB RAM and Windows Vista Operating system which is controlled by mouse and keyboard. To ensure optimal picture quality the PC is connected through one of the HDMI inputs which eases video and movie transmissions. 

Where does the border go?

The border between the PC and TV is not as clear as it was just some few years back. Both units begin to be capable of doing what the other is doing. Lots of the same tasks can be done in either one of them. The difference between the PC and TV is easiest described by the expressions "lean backward". The PC is most suited to tasks that require you to lean forward like work, word processing, e-mail, and search for information. As when it comes to entertainment like movies and TV shows, you will most likely lean backwards in the coach or a good chair and rater use the remote control to seek the entertainment you wish to indulge yourself into.