At their Global Road Show, held in New York, Samsung showed off several technologies. Samsung is spending $5.2 billion for R&D this year, about 9% of their 2005 projected income. That’s quite a bit. But it seems to be paying off. They showed off the world’s largest DLP HD RPTV, at 71″. The largest LCD at 82″, the largest plasma at 102″, and the largest OLED display at 40″. Interesting to see all those different sizes for the differing technologies. The also showed off a Blu-ray player with a built-in HD tuner.

TWICE - Samsung Unveils New Products At Global Road Show (free subscription)

tom’s hardware guide has a very interesting article discussing the reasons behind their move to support HD-DVD over Blu-ray. There were six main reasons. Two of these I couldn’t care less about: iHD vs BDJ (who cares about either?), and being able to copy a disc to your hard drive (keeping DRM in place). Two were technologies Blu-ray couldn’t demonstrate that HD-DVD did: high capacity (!!) and hybrid discs. Both of these were things that Blu-ray couldn’t show, but will eventually support. The last two are low production costs and low disc replication costs. Personally, I think these will come down for Blu-ray, and will become a non-issue. But there you have it.

tom’s hardware - Blu-ray support a last minute switch, Microsoft says

In an ironic twist, MSN Money (owned by Microsoft) has an article that basically states that Microsoft and Intel’s backing are no big thing. The big factor for the success of either format is studio support. And Microsoft and Intel’s support for HD-DVD may sway studios away from HD-DVD, because PC’s are where all the copying takes place.

Unfortunately, the title of the MSN Money article says that Blu-ray is Sony’s “DVD format”. Not!

MSN Money - Sony defends its Blu-ray DVD format

Sharp is shipping its largest professional monitor, the 45″ LCD model PN-455. At 1920 x 1080 resolution, it fits HDTV perfectly.

Sharp’s LCD monitor line has several proprietary technologies and features that ensure unparalleled image quality for a professional presentation of information, data and images. The line has anti-glare and low-reflection properties enabling Sharp monitors to be placed in brighter areas where other screens might appear washed out. Higher contrast lets viewers discern details they might otherwise miss, particularly when viewing darker content. The 170-degree viewing angles help the monitor display a crisp picture that can be seen from virtually anywhere in the room.

The PN-455 has an MSRP of $9,595.

Creative Mac - Sharp Ships PN-455 45” Pro HD LCD For Digital Signage