If you’re a fan of LCD TVs, then you owe a gentleman by the name of George H. Heilmeier your eternal thanks. Back in 1964 when he was working in the laboratories at RCA, Heilmeier discovered the ability to switch colours in liquid crystals through the application of electrical current. This discovery allowed a clear liquid crystal substance to turn milky, and was the first Liquid Crystal Display.

But a milky colour is a long way from the Full HD LCD TVs we see today. Heilmeier’s LCD technology used something known as “Dynamic Scattering Mode” to align the liquid crystals, yet this technique required lots of energy and was limited in its scope. In 1970, Hoffman-LaRoche in Switzerland filed for a patent for the “Twisted Nematic Field Effect”, which didn’t require a flowing current to work, making it much more attractive a display technology. It was this development that saw LCD make its way into the first digital watches in the ’70s.

In the 1980s, LCD made its way into computer monitors. The fact that it was a “thin” technology made it especially suited for this purpose, although the technology’s slow refresh rate meant that it struggled with moving images, like scrolling text. In 1988, Sharp took LCD to the next level by launching a 14-inch LCD TV, although it still battled with refresh rate issues and the subsequent difficulties with movement on screen.

When it came time to expand into the larger screen sizes, in the late 1990s and early this decade, LCD struggled to compete with plasma. It had the benefit of brighter backlighting and lower power consumption, but the bigger screens made the refresh rate issue even more noticeable. However, as this decade proceeded, developments such as improved refresh rates and the introduction of 100Hz saw the technology not only catch up to plasma, but overtake it.

Nowadays, you’re much more likely to purchase an LCD than any other display technology. Not bad for something that started out turning clear liquid to a milky substance, huh?

History of TV is Giz AU’s month-long look back at the development of the world-changing medium and its influence on our daily lives.

As you would expect, Baird’s first colour TV transmission was of the mechanical variety, using a trio of Nipkow discs with each a different primary colour. 10 years later, Baird was at it again with the world’s first colour broadcast.

But it wasn’t until the 1940s that colour TV became a real focus for the medium. In 1940, US TV network CBS began experimenting with colour-enabled electro-mechanical systems. Because these displays weren’t viewable on the black and white TVs in American’s homes, the demonstrations were restricted to employees and limited press.

In 1944, John Logie Baird continued to place his mark on the development of TV by giving the first demonstration of a fully electronic picture tube, and in 1947 RCA showed off the first fully electronic colour TV.

But as with any new technology, you need to have the content to back up the hardware. It wasn’t until 1950 that CBS started showing regular colour broadcasts, with an hour of programming every Saturday. But it was a case of not enough hardware, with a lack of compatible TV sets meaning that CBS decided to stop broadcasting colour in 1951.

In 1954, RCA released the CT-100 colour television, which was the turning point for colour, despite limited sales, average performance and a high price. By 1959, NBC – which was owned by RCA – had increased its colour broadcast offering so dramatically that in 1965 almost all their primetime schedule was broadcast in colour.

History of TV is Giz AU’s month-long look back at the development of the world-changing medium and its influence on our daily lives.

During the initial setup, a female voice walks you through the typical configuration of your home theatre. And once you’re all set up, you can actually give the remote verbal commands like “Turn on DVD”—a command that’s customisable in itself, as it can be programmed to activate just the DVD player or every component associated with the DVD player.

The Talking Remote is definitely at least 50% novelty, but I could see it as a nice compromise to handing a technaphobe a full-blown Logitech Harmony. The Talking Remote will be available late this year for an undisclosed price.

While it’s still surely a mediocre HD camcorder (I mean, it’s $US120), the EZ209HD is smaller than its predecessors, ditching the SD slot to save space with up to 16GB of MicroSD, while still fitting a larger, 2-inch LCD screen.

Recording up to two hours of video on a single charge, the EZ209HD supports HD, SD and 60fps shooting. Plus it takes 8MP stills and includes HDMI out for direct-to-TV viewing of your footage. All-in-all, the new Small Wonder appears to be much nicer than older models—though you’ll have to wait until spring to buy one.

Also, if you are at the show, the RCA/Audiovox booth will be giving away 4,000 of these camcorders. You pick up a little stuffed dog at their booth. If it’s marked with a (star?) you win.

RCA FLAT ANTENNA LINE EXPANDS TO REACH MORE VIEWERS WITH AMPLIFIED AND SMART ANTENNA OPTIONS

High End Model Responds to Electronic Commands from Converter Boxes Equipped with Smart Antenna CEA-909 Interface

Indianapolis, September 17, 2008 – With antenna sales booming because of the nation’s transition to all-digital full-power TV broadcasting, Audiovox Accessories Corporation is expanding its assortment of patented RCA Flat Multi-Directional Digital TV Antenna products to include models featuring removable amplifiers, new discrete sizes and the Smart Antenna control interface for improved reception. Created in the company’s radio-frequency design laboratories near Indianapolis, four new flat antenna designs are now reaching retail stores to complement an initial RCA Flat Multi-Directional Digital TV Antenna model shipped in early summer. [Click here to download photo]

The new RCA Flat antenna line is designed to solve the two biggest reception problems consumers will face with existing antennas in the market: “multipath” problems created by receiving signals bouncing from multiple locations and effective management of over-saturated signals from typical antenna amplifiers.

“Our new line is the result of an 18-month development effort to improve antenna reception of notoriously finicky digital TV signals, which are either perfectly received and tuned by a TV or converter box, or the signals break up and make TV unwatchable,” said Lou Lenzi, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Audiovox Accessories Corporation. “Viewers need to make sure their home over-the-air Digital TV setup includes an antenna designed to best receive the new signals that broadcasters are now sending. Our Flat Antenna lineup has an antenna for every situation.”

In addition to the highly acclaimed 10″x 11″ RCA ANT1500 Flat Multi-Directional Digital TV Antenna, which is now widely available at mass merchant and electronics stores nationwide, Audiovox has started retail shipments of the RCA ANT1400, a smaller 8″x 9″ flat model. The ANT1400 incorporates the same patented technology that makes it possible to reshape the traditional VHF dipole “rabbit ears” into a compact, wide frequency range VHF/UHF rectangular design. The ANT1400 has a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Smart Antenna Shipping Now

Urban areas pose some of the most difficult areas for Digital TV reception, with signals bouncing off buildings and other obstacles between the transmitter and receiver. To address these “multipath” problems and issues with weak signals, Audiovox is introducing the RCA Smart Indoor Antenna (Model ANT2000) designed to meet Smart Antenna specification CEA-909. The Smart Indoor Antenna relies on a special set-top converter box interface for precise reception. The viewer simply tunes to the desired channel and the specially-equipped converter box electronically commands the ANT2000 to activate the appropriate elements inside the antenna best for ideal reception of that particular channel. Converter boxes with the Smart Antenna interface are now widely available throughout the U.S. and the ANT2000 is the perfect complement for precise reception. The ANT2000 has a suggested retail price of $US99.99.

Amplified Options

Amplified signals may help with reception of distant broadcasts, or in areas where terrain makes it difficult to receive TV. Additionally, a frequent problem with poor reception is too much signal, overloading the tuner in the Digital TV set or converter box. However, with removable amplifiers, viewers can test to see which components are best for their invididual home. [Click here to download photo]

Both the amplified RCA ANT1450 (8″x9″) and the larger amplified RCA ANT1550 (10″ x 11″) antennas offer viewers the flexibility of a removable low-noise signal amplifier to boost weak signals and improve reception in most situations. The RCA ANT1450 has a suggested retail price of $US44.99, while the RCA ANT1550 has a suggested retail price of $US79.99.

Designed to blend in with any room décor, the new RCA Flat Multi-Directional Antenna products can be placed flat next to a TV and most can be hung on a wall. The Smart Indoor Antenna is designed to work horizontally.

In addition to receiving pristine uncompressed digital TV signals, over-the-air reception offers consumers local broadcasting multicast channels not available via cable or satellite. In some markets, an over-the-air antenna and digital TV receiver will be the viewer’s only option for receiving vital weather, traffic, and news information.

And with the Digital TV transition now entering its final months, millions of viewers are now making important decisions about how to stay tuned to their favourite channels once analogue TV broadcasting comes to an end in February. In addition to buying a new digital TV or converter box, viewers may also need to think about updating their over-the-air antenna as well.

A new RCA Antenna website – www.StayTuned2tv.com – now gives consumers an easy reference for selecting the proper antenna during the digital TV transition. The site includes easy-to-understand answers to common questions and links to popular digital TV destinations such as AntennaWeb.org and other industry and government websites.

“No motors, no noise and no moving parts to wear out,” just computer-designed “electronic memories”… fabulous, especially since I remember hunkering down before our old TV to swirl the dial. My Dad used to get me to change the channels, as a kind of intelligent remote control. Nowadays my cat brushes past the touch-controls on my flat-screen LCD TV and does that job for me. [Paleofuture via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Ever since the world caught wind of the Pure Digital Flip cam’s success, super-cheap digital pocket camcorders have sprouted up everywhere. With everyone and their mother trying to become the next Lil Show Stoppa or Soulja Girl, people need a cheap and easy way to capture those magic moments. I tested six of these cams—from Creative, RCA/Audiovox, DXG and Pure Digital—all US$180 or less. Here are samples of all of their videos in various conditions, and an overall look at how they stack up:

RCA Small Wonder EZ200: The EZ200 is all over the map. After seeing the nice quality of the EZ210’s daylight video, I was shocked to see how grainy and slow the EZ200’s daylight footage was—it looked like an old-fashioned home film camera. Also, the flip out screen is hokey to me, but it’s great for people who like to look at themselves while lipsynching to Mr. Roboto. Complaints aside, I was pleasantly surprised that the EZ200 took halfway decent low-light video. That plus the cheap price and expandable memory make this one a reasonable bet for a starter cam.

Flip Mino: The Mino is thin, has a great look and feel, and captures excellent video, but it’s not the winner for a few reasons. Most importantly, it has a narrower-angled lens than just about every other camera in the test—I couldn’t get my whole couch into the shot no matter how I tried. Also, the sound wasn’t very good. Finally, this week I’m on the other side of the neverending rechargeable vs. AA debate, and between the Li-ion battery and non-upgradeable memory, the Mino is a little too closed for my tastes. However, if you’re looking purely for video quality, Mino is a no brainer.

And the winner is…

Flip Ultra: Yes, the first is still the best, and there are good reasons why so many companies want to capture its success: The Ultra works, and it works well. Low light video is great, the camera feels good in your hand, and it’s so simple that you could probably train your cat to record their own cute videos with it. The small screen is a drawback, but it captures a good chunk of space. The Ultra is the best value of the bunch when you consider the criteria, remaining the Cadillac of cheap pocket camcorders.

[Special thanks to the singers and dancers, who asked to be known as Rocko Money and Inter Minetti!!]

The Flip has been dominating the dizzy-cam market since its release, fending off the first-gen Small Wonder and the cheaper, better-spec’d Vado from Creative. The camera has been essentially unchanged for about a year now, though rumours abound about a new Flip Mino, which looks significantly more compact than its older brothers.

When it comes to mini-camcorders, the name of the game seems to be simplicity over anything else, so it remains to be seen if the comparatively long feature list of the Small Wonders will be a boon or a burden. The MyLife, the Pocket and the Traveler will be out this summer for US$90, US$100 and US$150, respectively. [CNet]

Shooting/Editing by Eric Sheline.