By Anika Hillery
Flat panel TVs and hard-drive recording have merged, with LG Electronics releasing a 107 cm LCD (42LC2DR) and 127 cm plasma TV (50PB2DR) with built-in PVR capabilities. Among these is the ability to pause and rewind the program you?re watching, then fast forward through the ads to catch up to real-time. With LG?s continuous record function you can rewind through hours of TV programs (from the one channel) to find the show you missed, or rewind a live broadcast to search and review a specific scene.
Each TV incorporates a high definition tuner and a 250GB internal hard disk that can record and store up to 40 hours of HD digital footage, or 100 hours of standard definition programming. The panels sport 1366 x 768 resolution and LG?s picture enhancing XD video engine which delivers ?improved brightness, colour, contrast, detail and definition is achieved, ultimately delivering crisper images,? according to the company.
The $5,375 LCD PVR has an 8ms response rate, a 178 degree viewing angle and a contrast ratio of 1600:1. The plasma claims 1000 cd/m2 brightness and 10 000:1 contrast ratio, and costs $6,875.
