NEC kicks out 40- / 46-inch MULTEOS LCD HDTVs

Although NEC would rather your CEO order a few of its new MULTEOS LCDs to impress those big shots coming in to seal the deal(s), these "business" displays wouldn't look half bad in any living room / home theater. These Series 2 displays both feature "full HD" (read: 1,920 x 1,080 resolution) panels, HDMI, DVI, "high efficiency" backlights, VESA mount compatibility, screen savers, automatic video input detection, 450 cd/m2 brightness, 18-millisecond response time (there's your "business" sign), and a 178-degree viewing angle. The 40-inch M40 boasts a 1200:1 contrast ratio, while the 46-inch M46 touts just 1000:1, and both units rock a sleek, sexy silver bezel to compliment the black expanse. While both screens should hit the Japanese market on January 31st, the "little" fellow will run you just ¥672,000 ($5,820), while the larger sibling will demand ¥924,000 ($8,002).

[Via Impress]

[bran @ Dec 10th 2006 1:13AM]

Those seem ridiculously expensive considering the unimpressive specs. Am I missing something? That's a big fat *yawn on those sets.

[David @ Dec 10th 2006 2:14AM]

18 millisecond refresh? Are they using two year old technology?

[Ryan @ Dec 10th 2006 12:02PM]

Why is it that there has been a factory pumping out 30" LCD panels with a resolution of 2560x1600 for about two years now WHICH are selling for $1500USD right now and no one seems to be able to produce a sub-50" LCD that can do a measly 1920x1080?

NEC, you have failed! Even if your calling it a "business" model.

[Ian @ Dec 10th 2006 6:06PM]

It's quoted wrong. The response time according to the NEC site is 16ms or 8ms gray to gray. That's still hella expensive though.

[Max @ Dec 10th 2006 7:32PM]

The design looks very much like (as much as a copy) to the Loewe Individual products which are very popular high-end models in Europe: www.loewe.de

[Andrew @ Dec 11th 2006 7:28AM]

Besides the "business" features like screen saver and automatic input detect, what makes this unit better than, say, the Westinghouse LVM-42W2? With an 8ms response time and 550 cd/m2 brightness level on the Westinghouse, I don't see why there would be a ~$4000 advantage to the NEC unit.

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/details.aspx?itemnum=44#VALUE

[John @ Dec 11th 2006 3:56PM]

Response time specs have been gamed for years. Just look a a "2ms" desktop LCD and you will see all sorts of artifacts. Most companies quote grey to grey times, that's how they get down to 8ms. However some other shades can be upwards of 30ms. You need to look at a 3-D plot of response times across all colors to really compare panels. More importantly is the type of processors used. All low end displays use off the shelf processors which can slow things down enough to make response times a non factor. Scaling capability is only one of many atributes that can't be faked and contributes to the high return rate of HD displays. I have seen these displays at several trade shows and MSRPs will be closer to $2,500 and $3,500.