LG just launched a new line of televisions at CES today. The Infinia line are all LED backlight and feature local-dimming (a must for all LED TV’s). The top end LE9500 has 240 local dimming segments while the LE7500 and LE5500 have 16.

Pricing is not yet available.

There’s no such thing as an LED TV, at least not a mainstream TV you and I would buy at the store. However, Samsung has been advertising their new line of TV’s as “LED TV” and confusing many customers. Flat panel displays are either plasma and LCD. There are more fringe technologies like OLED but in reality at your local electronics store only those two are offered. The reason “LED” is used is because LCD TV’s can be backlit with either CCFL or LED technology.

CCFL, cold cathode fluorescent lamps, are your basic fluorescent lightbulb. They have been used as a LCD backlight for decades. Arriving on the scene two years ago, LED’s are used instead of a CCFL to light up an LCD TV. These LED-backlit TV’s have many advantages, including a bright, consistent backlight, low power consumption and the ability to make LCD’s even thinner than they are.

Causing more confusion are the two LED backlight configurations. Traditionally the LED backlight is behind the screen, lighting the screen from behind also allows a new technique called local dimming. This shuts of LED’s that are behind the black areas of the image, leading to “blacker blacks” which have always been a weak spot for all LCD TV’s. However, a cheaper version of LED backlights have been introduced called “edge lit”. Picture quality is not as good as backlit LED, but edgelit LED TV’s can be made remarkably thin.

Be on the lookout for these types of technologies when buying your new TV. The best LCD picture quality will be from an LED backlit LCD with local dimming.

Sharp has been very quiet on introducing new television models featuring LED backlight technology. First LG debuted theirs, and Samsung and Sony soon followed. Sharp followed with some limited edition models, but nowhere near the full range that their rivals demonstrated over the past 12 months.

Now, Engadget, reports that Sharp has taken the cover off their mainstream LED models. The new E700UN series TV’s come in 52, 46, 40 and 32-inch sizes. Dubbed “AQUOS LED” by Sharp, they make use of an LCD panel called “X-Gen Panel”. There’s no mention about the LED backlighting’s specific implementation – does it mirror LG’s single color (white) backlight LED, or does it ape Sony’s three- and four-color LED backlight technologies?

More details will follow but what’s surprising is the low price of these LED backlight sets. Below are the US MSRP’s:

LC-52LE700UN $2,799.99
LC-46LE700UN $2,199.99
LC-40LE700UN $1,699.99
LC-32LE700UN $1,099.99

A friend called me up recently to ask where to look for a new TV. Here are the two stores that I’ve been using over the last few years:

HDTV
325 Bamburgh Circle. Unit A103
Scarborough. ON
416-498-9233

Golden Electronics
9019 Bayview ave
Thornhill, ON L4B 3M6, Canada
(905) 881-7328

The 24-hour CityNews channel must make an on air admittance to it’s use of photos from a Toronto photographer without giving him credit.

Full story is at Torontoist and the full decision by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Briefly in 2006, the Discovery Channel ran season one of Survivorman. From the first episode I was hooked. The series is about Les Stroud, a Canadian outdoorsman, puts himself in outdoor survival situations and survives on his own. Similarly, Bear Grylis from the UK has a similar survival show called Man vs. Wild.

While both shows so the hosts in survival situations, Survivorman really passes as better entertainment. Bear Grylis runs around while a film crew follow behind him every step. Les Stroud, on the other hand, heads out on his own, packing all his film gear and filming everything during his 7-day ordeal himself. He even makes the music heard throughout each episode.

Survivorman started showing it’s second season on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Check it out!