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BIG IN JAPAN?
Listed under: Comments
Published: Friday, July 09, 2010
So that's it for another four years. With the biggest spectacle in sport nearly wrapped up, we have already sent most of its star players home for an early bath, among them more damp squibs than you'd find in a leaky-roofed dynamite factory at the height of the monsoon season.
However, while the misfiring Rooney, Ronaldo, Kaka and Messi may have failed to ignite the tournament, the former pair saving their best touches for the ill-fated and misjudged Nike advertisement thrust at us at every break, there were plenty of moments of skill for the football purist to savour.
It's just a shame that most of them came from a German team, whose performances on the pitch were sufficient to wipe the smirks off our faces, even when faced with their management team's comedic, matching sports-casual outfits.
While there are a couple of games to play at the time of writing in order to determine the outright winners on the pitch, for the electronics industry, the champion off it should be more clear. It has to be the 3DTV, Sony's enormous advertising spend ensuring that barely a moment went by without news of its arrival blazing its way across every advertising hoarding around every pitch. With high-definition also widely in use for the first time at a World Cup, you could not only witness the beads of sweat fly as you were subjected to yet another unnecessarily slow, up-close-and-personal replay of a defensive header, you could find yourself flinching in an effort to avoid them, such was the realism.
Japan über alles
Back on the pitch, it is Germany who, against the odds, look most likely to prove themselves “über alles” for a forth time, a position Japan has long held when it comes to manufacturing the kit to watch games on. This in mind, it should prove little surprise that Japanese firms have been leading the pack when it comes to inventiveness in the 3D sphere.
Panasonic were first out of the blocks and have already released two 3D plasmas aimed at the home market and a Blu-ray player to accompany them. It was the most famed of Japan's consumer electronics marques, Sony, who were next to cut their teeth, handing us several Bravia options to push in the run up to, and throughout, the World Cup. Rather than resting on their laurels, Panasonic have been looking to keep the momentum up, with the launch of three ultra-large, full HD 3D professional plasma displays, the most sizeable of which, the TH-152UX1, offers 152-inches of immersing images. With 4,096 x 2,160 lines of resolution and an industry-highest 5 million:1 native contrast ratio to clap your eyes on, these have to be the ultimate solution for the home cinema installation market. Never mind the iPad, with these in your arsenal you'll be able to turn homes into an IMAX!
Sharp will be the next Japanese major to take a bow this summer, as they launch their own 3D-capable LCD TVs at the end of July. With an entirely new, proprietary, four-colour LCD panel technology which adds yellow to the conventional red, blue and green (RGB) primary colours woven in, Sharp's options come with the promise of superior imagery. We can but wait and see.
Also in on the act are Mitsubishi, whose laser-based 3DTVs are available in sizes ranging from 60- to 82-inches, bringing some of the most sizeable 3D images around to market at a surprisingly affordable price point. These LaserVue DLP TVs might not share the sleek look of their costlier cousins, but they'll definitely do the job. Moreover, in using only 50% of the energy of a comparable flat-panel TV, they should prove a hit with the energy conscious too.
It isn't just the TV market which 3D technology is shaking up, however. Though Toshiba will be adding 3D options to its Regza range this summer, it is the firm's Satellite A665 laptop which should truly excite, its 15.6-inch LCD display and Blu-ray disc drive capable of delivering 3D images from your upper thighs to your glasses-clad eyes for the first time.
With so many of Japan's big guns already in on the action and looking to expand the opportunities this exciting new technology affords us, one question remains: who will prove the most successful? It could be Panasonic, it could prove Sony, but I'm sure you already know where the smart money lies – with Samsung.
Samsung have successfully consolidated their position as the world's most popular consumer electronics brand, having snatched the crown from Sony almost half a decade ago. Much like those Germans, this freshly energised dark horse rose up against the odds and has been doing remarkably well ever since, humbling more highly rated teams along the way. It is for this reason that, from next month, we'll turn our attention from what is Big in Japan, to what is growing truly enormous across the water in South Korea...
It's just a shame that most of them came from a German team, whose performances on the pitch were sufficient to wipe the smirks off our faces, even when faced with their management team's comedic, matching sports-casual outfits.
While there are a couple of games to play at the time of writing in order to determine the outright winners on the pitch, for the electronics industry, the champion off it should be more clear. It has to be the 3DTV, Sony's enormous advertising spend ensuring that barely a moment went by without news of its arrival blazing its way across every advertising hoarding around every pitch. With high-definition also widely in use for the first time at a World Cup, you could not only witness the beads of sweat fly as you were subjected to yet another unnecessarily slow, up-close-and-personal replay of a defensive header, you could find yourself flinching in an effort to avoid them, such was the realism.
Japan über alles
Back on the pitch, it is Germany who, against the odds, look most likely to prove themselves “über alles” for a forth time, a position Japan has long held when it comes to manufacturing the kit to watch games on. This in mind, it should prove little surprise that Japanese firms have been leading the pack when it comes to inventiveness in the 3D sphere.
Panasonic were first out of the blocks and have already released two 3D plasmas aimed at the home market and a Blu-ray player to accompany them. It was the most famed of Japan's consumer electronics marques, Sony, who were next to cut their teeth, handing us several Bravia options to push in the run up to, and throughout, the World Cup. Rather than resting on their laurels, Panasonic have been looking to keep the momentum up, with the launch of three ultra-large, full HD 3D professional plasma displays, the most sizeable of which, the TH-152UX1, offers 152-inches of immersing images. With 4,096 x 2,160 lines of resolution and an industry-highest 5 million:1 native contrast ratio to clap your eyes on, these have to be the ultimate solution for the home cinema installation market. Never mind the iPad, with these in your arsenal you'll be able to turn homes into an IMAX!
Sharp will be the next Japanese major to take a bow this summer, as they launch their own 3D-capable LCD TVs at the end of July. With an entirely new, proprietary, four-colour LCD panel technology which adds yellow to the conventional red, blue and green (RGB) primary colours woven in, Sharp's options come with the promise of superior imagery. We can but wait and see.
Also in on the act are Mitsubishi, whose laser-based 3DTVs are available in sizes ranging from 60- to 82-inches, bringing some of the most sizeable 3D images around to market at a surprisingly affordable price point. These LaserVue DLP TVs might not share the sleek look of their costlier cousins, but they'll definitely do the job. Moreover, in using only 50% of the energy of a comparable flat-panel TV, they should prove a hit with the energy conscious too.
It isn't just the TV market which 3D technology is shaking up, however. Though Toshiba will be adding 3D options to its Regza range this summer, it is the firm's Satellite A665 laptop which should truly excite, its 15.6-inch LCD display and Blu-ray disc drive capable of delivering 3D images from your upper thighs to your glasses-clad eyes for the first time.
With so many of Japan's big guns already in on the action and looking to expand the opportunities this exciting new technology affords us, one question remains: who will prove the most successful? It could be Panasonic, it could prove Sony, but I'm sure you already know where the smart money lies – with Samsung.
Samsung have successfully consolidated their position as the world's most popular consumer electronics brand, having snatched the crown from Sony almost half a decade ago. Much like those Germans, this freshly energised dark horse rose up against the odds and has been doing remarkably well ever since, humbling more highly rated teams along the way. It is for this reason that, from next month, we'll turn our attention from what is Big in Japan, to what is growing truly enormous across the water in South Korea...
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