Philips DesignLine PDL-8908 re-imagines TV design
TV manufacturers could be forgiven for thinking consumers all want the same thing from a new TV: maximum screen, mininum bezel and a stand to stand it on. Philips, though, wants to offer a genuine alternative – and today has announced the DesignLine PDL-8908.
As is apparent from the pictures, the DesignLine TV is unconventional in the extreme. The front of the TV is one seamless, square sheet of glass in 'gradient' black – the aim is to create an impression of lightness and transparency. Consequently this is a television without stand or visible frame, one that (when it's turned off) appears to be a smooth sheet of glass (one that flows from opaque to transparent) leaning against a wall.
Switch it on, and the top half of that big sheet of glass is revealed to be a 46in or 55in TV. Three-sided Ambilight XL only adds to the 'floating' impression by projecting light that matches the colour of the on-screen content onto the wall behind.
The TV itself is a Full HD, active-3D affair, and features Philips' 1400Hz Perfect Motion technology in a drive for ultimate motion sharpness. The PDL-8908 is also a platform for Philips' newly reinvigorated interest in Smart TV applications: it features Catch-Up TV, access to online video stores, internet browser, online apps and USB recording.
Wi-Fi is integrated, connectivity is plentiful, remote control is handled via keyboard and pointer, and there's a provision for two-player full-screen gaming.
The DesignLine PDL-8908 goes on sale in the second quarter of 2013, priced at £2000 for the 46in model and £2800 for the 55in.
Comments
I really like the look of the Phillips [I will pass on the Tosh] but in the UK particularly and probably many other overcrowded countries, how many of us have a spare bit of floor to 5feet high[?] wall that isn't already taken up. At least with wall mounted panels you can put it above an unused fireplace or seldom used sofa. Great front on look in a large open plan living space but for the rest of us???
...And not at all like the Toshiba Wall TV concept, demonstrated at the CEATEC show in Japan five years ago, as I reported in this blog
Well it looks very good indeed, very B&O[?].
But for most homes, a sheet of glass on the floor, proped up against a wall. What about the effect of kids playing, reasonable size dogs joining in. Never mind vacuum cleaners etc. Still perhaps such chic environs don't get dust or other things on their floors.