LG launches Skinny Frame plasma HDTVs, hates on bezels
By Tim Stevens 
posted February 17th 2010 7:31AM
posted February 17th 2010 7:31AM
posted February 17th 2010 7:31AM
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Spell-check plox.
i dont see anything wrong with that bezel size, this is a tv for god sake! we have seen worse on some revolutionary mobile devices and seen idiotic justifications!
If the picture quality is as good as it is in that picture, then $1,150 for 50inch and 600hz refresh rate is dirt cheap.
@KGB
Silly KGB. Everyone knows that LG articles are about the Asian chicks, not technology.
LG sure knows how to show off a product...by putting something in the picture that makes you totally ignore it.
@Delta I'd buy that for a dollar!!!!
@Delta
"Everyone knows that LG articles are about the Asian chicks..."
Love the third shot w/ her bezels off.
she can take off my bezel anyday
@chnwa3
By Asian standard she isn't even that pretty
@chnwa3 yes but that would cause premature plasma gas leak
mhmm.....skinny frame.......
@Bryce
And does she come with a remote control ?
@endgadget what are you talking about?! she IS the remote control and comes only with the 60 inch version o.o , the buttons are all over her, just need to press her the right way
"but nobody likes beefy bezels, right?"
You are the only people who even remotely give two shits about the bezel around a screen, Engadget. Knock it off.
Is the girl included?
@(Unverified)
only with the 60inch
@(Unverified)
LOL, same here. I am more into that Girl than the TV. Plasma what? "Dam she's cute"...LOL
@(Unverified)
Wrong question dude.
You should be asking "Is the TV included" ?
600hz refresh rates!? Like we'd know the difference LG. Most people don't even have 120hz refresh rates on the flats now.
What was this article about again? I only saw a hot Asian chick there.
@Jban As did everybody else.
Wait, wut? Every day, you have 30+ photos of a gadget from various angles, many of which are similar to others... but when a cute girl starts taking her clothes off, you stop taking pictures? What is wrong with you guys? ;)
Some day, I would like to see a frameless option. Who knows, I might prefer here with her clothes on.
So where are the rest of the shots where she finishes undressing? Don't hold out on us Engadget.
i want to ride that...
Plama-lama-ding-dong
600 hertz refresh on a phosphorus-illuminated display? How long does it take phosphorus to go dark after the UV hits it--a quarter second, a half second? So, lighting it 600 times a second means what--it still takes between a quarter second and a half to return to dark.
@roebling
That made absolutely no sense.
1/600 seconds. Not 1/4.
@roebling How dark do you mean? I tend to readily see phosphorus flicker at 60Hz. Hitting it 10 times more often, presumably with 1/10th the energy per hit, gets a much more stable picture, it doesn't make it persist any longer.
600Hz plasmas have been around for a little bit, Samsung and Panasonic have them. I bought a 600Hz plasma on sale in November.
@JDM
I don't think it's the screen "refresh" like in LCDs, I always see it as subfield drive or something like that. They're similar looking numbers meant to confuse the average consumer.
@roebling
Phosphor, not phosphorus. Not even remotely the same. Phosphorus has nothing to do with plasma, CRT, fluorescent, or any other phosphor-based light source. The names draw from the same ancient Greek word ("morning star"), but the two are completely unrelated.
Phosphors involve illumination by excited noble gas and transition metals. Phosphorus is a nonmetal, non-noble gas chemical element.
Also, 600Hz is not the refresh rate of the display, but the maximum number of illumination pulses per second. It's just meant to put a stop to the "oh you're stuck on 60Hz? My LCD can do 240!" nonsense that idiot salesmen and gullible customers use in specs wars (not realizing their apples-to-oranges mistake).
There is no phosphorus involved in plasma panels, nor is the picture generated by UV light.
@asfdsad
Sorry to reply to myself--but my statement "There is no phosphorus involved in plasma panels" needs clarification.
There are undoubtedly phosphorus compounds contained within the television (in adhesives, glare coatings, glazings, etc.), but they are not the illumination source, is what I should have said.
@asfdsad
Thanks. Phosphorus and phosphors have no connection except for their etymology. Phosphorus glows by chemical reaction (oxidation), it's phosphors, complex combinations of other elements that fluoresce when stimulated.
However, you're mistaken, it seems, when you say there is no phosphor in a gas plasma TV or monitor. Phosphors are the luminescent component of that technology just as they were in CRT's. And, like in CRT's, the phosphors illuminate under stimulation of ultraviolet light.
@(Unverified)
I only pick on the refresh rate because of its significance to the nascent "3D" technology, that which alternates left-eye and right-eye images to synchronized-shutter-glasses-wearing consumers. If the image doesn't clear and change completely between frames, then won't the 3D effect be lost or worse? Phosphor-based imaging is awful, regardless. The picture starts degrading from the moment it's turned on or, if it's exposed to sunlight, then it degrades whether or not it's ever turned on.
@roebling
"However, you're mistaken, it seems, when you say there is no phosphor in a gas plasma TV or monitor"
Again, no phosphorUS. Phosphors do not contain phosphorus. They contain a mix of transition metals and are illuminated by excitation of a noble gas with an electric current.
"And, like in CRT's, the phosphors illuminate under stimulation of ultraviolet light."
No, the illumination source is electron transfer into the argon gas mix within the plasma cell (actually much more like a neon sign than a CRT). COLOR is indeed produced by absorption of UV frequencies and release of visible frequencies in the phosphors, but the image is generated by running an electric current through a grid of argon-mix gas-filled cells. You're right, however, that I was over-generalized in that statement, but I can't think of a way to make that distinction in a brief comment.
A CRT produces visible light by UV stimulation of chemical phosphors--its electron gun does not emit visible light in any meaningful way. A plasma television *does* produce visible light without a UV light source; the phosphor coatings react to the visible and UV light emitted by the argon gas mix only for applying the color filters to the image, not for image generation itself.
The simplest analogy is the neon light. Direct stimulation by an electrical current creates visible light. Adding various phosphor blends allows you to change the color (many of which are UV-sensitive), but doesn't make the *illumination* a result of UV stimulation.
@asfdsad
Wish you'd update/correct/expand on Wikipedia's gas plasma entry, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display.) How are individual pixels addressed--surely the display isn't a grid of gas-filled capsules, 1920 wide by 1080 high.
@roebling
The Wikipedia entry does need quite a bit of work, but gathering appropriate references and citations (the article currently lacks them in spades) will take time.
"How are individual pixels addressed--surely the display isn't a grid of gas-filled capsules, 1920 wide by 1080 high."
In fact it's a grid of about 6.22 million individual cells on a Full HD plasma (1920x1080x3). Each pixel consists of three individual plasma cells (R, G, B), each coated with a complex phosphor blend that reacts to the plasma. The plasma itself is a soup of electrons, giving off visible and UV light as well as conducting direct electrical stimulation of the phosphors.
If you were to remove the phosphor coatings from all the cells, you'd still be able to watch TV--just in a dimmer, bluish monochrome. If you could magically erase the UV emissions entirely, there would still be the visible light and the electron transfer to excite the phosphors, so you'd get some messed up color added in. The UV reactions mainly enhance brightness (the absorption process brings some of the UV light down in wavelength to the visible spectrum, adding to that generated by the plasma gas itself).
In contrast, as you correctly stated about CRTs, the electron gun produces UV photons, and the phosphors themselves are the sole source of visible light and CRTs just wouldn't work at all without UV stimulation.
The phosphor and neon sign articles on Wikipedia actually contain more complete information than the plasma TV one.
You shall be Geisha!
@TikiTeko :)
That chick is giving me the heebie jeebies. She has a real blank stare and weird grin on her face that doesn't go away. Japanese sexbot?
@glamajamma
Ahhhh, the girl is Korean.
I don't like the hair. Oh, wait. Is this article supposed to be about another flat panel display?
@glamajamma
I'm not the only one! I stopped and looked twice to make sure she wasn't a mannequin. I'm still not sure...
It was the possible mannequin theory that made me look twice. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
@glamajamma
That's what I thought!
is this correct?
$1,150 for the 50"
$3,325 for the 60"
that seems awfully cheap for a new 50" plasma...
@Mr Bojangles
I agree, that seems pretty cheap for 50"
what's the girl doing in the picture though, plasma radiation bath?
@Mr Bojangles Currency conversion error, it's actually $1,500.
Thats one good lookin sammich
My TV has a huge bezel, and I've never cared. Typically when I'm watching TV or playing video games, the bezel isn't what I'm looking at.
I want bezel-free. Then just jam them up next to each other in endless ribbons.
Lol. Kinda funny she took off her blouse in the last pic. Is it a photo shoot or a super slow strip show.
@max1001
Yeah, I want to see the next pic in the series!
@max1001
It was actually a super fast strip show, @ 600hz. By the time the photographer had taken the 3rd shot, she was dressed again! :-(