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Home theater enthusiasts might identify IDT (Integrated Device Technology) with the HQV benchmark and video processor. That division of IDT was sold off to Qualcomm last September. But, that didn't stop us from stopping by IDT's CES suite to understand the reasons and also find out more about the products introduced by them at CES in the CE market.

While application processor manufacturers get a lot of attention for their SoCs, a good CE product needs more than just a good app processor. How many times have we seen a good tablet let down by sub-standard touchscreens or bad audio? It is quite interesting to analyze the mixed-signal ICs behind these technologies. IDT provides multiple mixed-signal solutions for touchscreens, audio codecs, video display controllers and power management solutions.

Capacitive Touch Controllers

Last year, IDT demonstrated the first PureTouch capacitive touch screen controllers, and this CES, they showed off a few design wins.

 

The Hanvon e-Reader (popular in the Chinese market) uses two LSD6107 controllers to provide the two sliders on either side of the e-Ink screen.

This year, IDT launched and demonstrated their next-gen PureTouch single layer multi-touch capacitive touch screen controller. Most capacitive touchscreens are dual layer (for a good overview of the various touch technologies available, refer to this (PDF) short course slides). By using a state machine design rather than a microcontroller, IDT claims both power consumption and cost are reduced compared to other competing solutions.

Display Port Solutions

Display Port is stepping up its game by offering more features necessary for the PC market. With eDP (Embedded Display Port), they are also targeting tablet panels (which are predominantly LVDS based right now).

IDT presented two innovations in this space. The first one invovled timing controllers for the PSR (power self refresh) panels which retain a displayed frame in a local buffer and can put the source driver in low power mode if the screen contents are not changing. Thus, the driver doesn't need to really keep refreshing the display's frame buffer again and again. This is part of the eDP 1.3 specifications and IDT is currently sampling this timing controller.

For desktop displays, IDT was also demonstrating a  member of the IDT PanelPort ViewXpand family, the IDT VMM1400 multi-monitor controller. It allows the user to connect up to four monitors with different resolutions over a single Display Port connection. A three monitor setup with this controller was also on display at the Display Port booth.

In addition, IDT also demonstrated some of their power management solutions (where they are trying to integrate more functionality in order to reduce BOM cost of the system) and advances in the audio codec lineup.

CONGLOMERATE 3M unveiled a 46in projected capacitive touch screen prototype designed to showcase the scalability of touch screen technology. The device is capable of supporting 20 distinct touch points, and this should be expanded to 60 when it enters final production.

The interface is designed to be used by retailers, restaurants and could even make an appearance in the educational environment.  

A typical use case would be in a car showrooms where a customer would use the display to chose the colour of the car or view different interiors, for example. 3M plans to take this into production in 2012, although pricing is unconfirmed. µ

Almost all of us have gone to see a movie in 3D at the theaters at this point. Unlike most 3D designs at home, movie theaters use a passive 3D setup with polarized glasses that enable you to watch 3D without needing expensive, battery powered glasses.

Though the implementation is slightly different, passive 3D technology has started to come to the home as well, and the ViewSonic V3D231 is one of the first computer monitors to use it. Will the advantages of passive 3D outweigh the negatives in a PC environment? Find out as well as how the Viewsonic V3D231 fares in non-3D tasks in our full review.

The big push in movies and displays has been 3D the past few years. In movies it’s ranged from well designed and executed (Avatar) to a gimmick to charge more per ticket (many examples), but for gaming, it has far more direct benefits.

Virtually every game now is rendered in 3D, and so all of the information is there that is needed to show the game in 3D to the user, unlike the fake 2D to 3D conversions that many films use. Running in active 3D also means a panel that works at a true 120Hz, so even your 2D image can benefit. Read on to see how Samsung's S23A750D does in our testing.

MAKER OF IGADGETS Apple’s next generation Ipad tablet will tip up early next year with a super high resolution display.

The cappuccino company is apparently working with component suppliers and an assembler in Asia to get prototype production started on the Ipad 3 in October, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple apparently has lined up orders for pivotal components including chips and displays.

Suppliers have said the screen will be 9.7in, the same as both the Ipad and Ipad 2. The big difference will be the quality of the display, which is said to be 2048×1536 resolution, four times that of the previous 1024×768.

An order of 1.5 million Ipad 3 units for the fourth quarter has been placed with one unknown component supplier and Apple’s suppliers have already shipped a few components for sampling the Ipad 3.

A person at one supplier said, “Suppliers will ramp up production and try to improve the yield rate for the new iPad in the fourth quarter before its official launch in early 2012,”

As for the Iphone 5, well, it’s still just various rumours saying all sorts of things about when it will tip up and what improvements it will bring. The last we heard was that it could be delayed until March of next year instead of arriving next month. µ

MAKER OF IGADGETS Apple’s next generation Ipad tablet will tip up early next year with a super high resolution display.

The cappuccino company is apparently working with component suppliers and an assembler in Asia to get prototype production started on the Ipad 3 in October, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple apparently has lined up orders for pivotal components including chips and displays.

Suppliers have said the screen will be 9.7in, the same as both the Ipad and Ipad 2. The big difference will be the quality of the display, which is said to be 2048×1536 resolution, four times that of the previous 1024×768.

An order of 1.5 million Ipad 3 units for the fourth quarter has been placed with one unknown component supplier and Apple’s suppliers have already shipped a few components for sampling the Ipad 3.

A person at one supplier said, “Suppliers will ramp up production and try to improve the yield rate for the new iPad in the fourth quarter before its official launch in early 2012,”

As for the Iphone 5, well, it’s still just various rumours saying all sorts of things about when it will tip up and what improvements it will bring. The last we heard was that it could be delayed until March of next year instead of arriving next month. µ

Along with today’s MacBook Air and Mac mini updates, Apple has also updated their 27” Cinema Display. The display now goes by a new name: the Apple Thunderbolt Display (ATD). As the name implies, the display now features Intel’s new Thunderbolt interface, which Apple has heavily adopted in all new 2011 Macs. The ATD is world’s first commercially available Thunderbolt display and the second Thunderbolt device, the first one being Promise’s Pegasus enclosure. 

Lets go through the specifications now:

Apple Thunderbolt Display Specifications

Screen size

27"

Resolution

2560×1440

Panel type

In-plane switching (IPS)

Brightness

375 cd/m2

Viewing angles

178°/178°

Contrast ratio

1000:1

Response time

12ms

Cables (built-in)

Thunderbolt, MagSafe

Ports

3x USB 2.0, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, Thunderbolt

Video and audio

FaceTime HD camera with mic, 2.1 speaker system

Dimensions (WxDxH)

25.7" x 8.15" x 19.35"

Weight

23.5lb

Price

9

Essentially, the ATD is just a 27” Cinema Display with Thunderbolt. The screen size is the same, the resolution is the same, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the panel was exactly the same as well. From outside, you can’t see any difference, sans the extra ports. The dimensions are a match. Even the price stays at 9. 

The difference comes when we talk about Thunderbolt and what it brings. The Cinema Display had three cables: Mini DisplayPort, MagSafe (power) and USB 2.0. Thanks to Thunderbolt, mDP and USB 2.0 have been merged into one and there are now only two cables: MagSafe and Thunderbolt.

Laptop-as-a-desktop users rejoice, the Thunderbolt Display features FireWire 800, USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet – all of which are carried over the single Thunderbolt cable. There is also a second Thunderbolt port for daisy-chaining. As Thunderbolt provides up to 10Gb/s per channel, it’s more than adequate for 2560×1440 display and an external RAID box as we mentioned in our Promise Pegasus R6 & Mac Thunderbolt Review. 

 

Example of daisy-chaning 

Apple's Thunderbolt Display really shows us the potential of Thunderbolt by integrating many different interface standards into a single cable. Honestly the only thing that's missing is audio-out on the Thunderbolt Display itself for users who prefer external speakers. 

The biggest, and possibly the only, issue here is USB 2.0 – it feels so outdated considering that nearly all PCs have USB 3.0 now. We probably won't see  USB 3.0 support from Apple until Ivy Bridge brings it natively in 2012. However, even with only USB 2.0, the ATD is a great option for the owners of 2011 Macs with Thunderbolt. Apple will continue to sell the existing 27-inch Cinema Display as the new Thunderbolt Display will not work with machines that don't support Thunderbolt.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display is available from Apple's Online Store with an estimated shipping time of 6-8 weeks. 

KOREAN ELECTRONICS MAKER LG has announced its latest TV and monitor combination display, the M50.

The M50, designed to be both your computer monitor and your TV, is an LED display that will come in four different sizes ranging between 18.5 and 25-inches. The unit is 16.8mm thick and LG claims that it appears to be floating on air by using a combination of transparent plastics, lighting effects and its arc shaped back.

The display is full HD with a 5ms response time and a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio as if that means anything. LG says it has a 170 degree viewing angle. Input connections include DVI, D-sub and HDMI.

Two unimpressive 5W speakers are included and the display has MPEG 1/2/4 and DivX decoders built in. LG have been unable to comment on the price, availability and whether or not the unit has a built-in TV tuner or not. µ

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I've wanted a higher density, more compact alternative to the 30-inch 2560 x 1600 panels that I've seen for the past 6 years. Apple was the first to intrigue me with the 27-inch iMac, however I didn't need another computer, I just wanted a monitor. Earlier this year we reviewed Dell's U2711, a 27-inch CCFL backlit LCD display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution and loved it. 

Recently Apple presented us with an alternative. An LED backlit, 27-inch Cinema Display similar to what's used in the new iMac but without the Mac part. Priced at 9 it's actually 0 cheaper than the Dell, but lacks the input flexibility of the U2711. What Apple does give you is an integrated MagSafe power adapter useful for charging your MacBook Pro in a very sleek package. But how well does it do as a monitor? Read on for our full review.

There’s a new segment in the ever changing LCD display market, one that readers have been asking us to take an in-depth look at for a while now – 120 Hz panels. We’ve been playing with ASUS’ newest display, the VG236H. It's a 120Hz, 1080P, 23" 3D enabled display that joins a small but growing demographic of similarly speced LCD displays.

ASUS's new contender definitely impresses, and at a competitive price point. It was my first experience with a 120Hz LCD and NVIDIA's 3D Vision technology. Despite going in as a cautious skeptic, I'm completely sold on both. Read on for our comprehensive review.