TVs set to go

Communication professor Susan Kehoe likes to turn on both the flip-down DVD player and the radio when she drives to see her and her husband Mike’s families in Illinois.

Ms. Kehoe, general manager of George Mason University Television in Fairfax, says her 12- and 7-year-old children use headsets and are entertained by a movie or two while she and her husband listen to the radio.

“There’s no fighting. There’s no crossing over,” says Ms. Kehoe, who holds a doctorate in adult education. “It’s a nice two-hour break, two hours of peace and quiet as we drive there. … It makes a 14-hour drive to Illinois fly.”

The Clifton resident is not alone in wanting digital video disc (DVD) players and TV sets outside of the traditional family room, living room and bedroom settings.

Besides the rear-seat video systems, visible only to back-seat passengers, there are mobile satellite TVs, combined refrigerator-TVs and TVs that double as mirrors when not in use. The way the TV operates differs slightly depending on the application.

“Now that the new technology, especially flat panels, is available, there really is not a lot of limitations where consumers can enjoy a viewing experience,” says Bruce Tripido, director of product marketing for display devices for Sharp Electronics in Mahwah, N.J.

Flat-panel TVs, either liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display panels (PDPs), have more compact electronics, a wider range of screen sizes and higher resolution than traditional TVs, which use cathode ray tube (CRT) devices to display images.

CRTs use an electron beam to paint the incoming video signals. Each time the beam makes a pass across the screen, it lights up phosphor dots located on the inside of a glass tube. The phosphor dots glow red, green or blue, the three primary colors, to create a picture. Plasma also uses phosphorous, but instead of an electron beam, argon, neon and xenon gases make the phosphor dots glow.

Alternatively, LCDs use liquid crystal, which is sandwiched between glass panels and divided into pixels. For every pixel, or dot, on the screen, there are tiny transistors that tell the pixels to turn on or off to show a color. A light source behind the panel shines through the display.

“Most consumers can’t see the technical difference between plasma and LCD,” says Robert Perry, vice president of sales and channel marketing for the consumer electronics business of LG Appliances USA Inc. in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Flat-panel TVs were introduced five to six years ago, Mr. Perry says.

“We’re now entering the second wave of the trend, which is the integration of other products to flat panels,” he says.

Flat panels are being used in automobiles and other applications because they are lighter and thinner than other units and can fit in more compact spaces, Mr. Tripido says.

The panels receive their signals similar to TVs hooked to satellite, cable or electronic devices, such as DVD players or videocassette recorders. In automobiles, the signal for rear-seat video systems, offered as a factory-installed option in many new vehicles and as an after-market product for vehicles without the option, comes from the DVD player. Alternatively, the signal for satellite TV comes from a satellite positioned on top of the vehicle.

“Satellite TV is not available as a factory-installed option,” says Steve Koenig, senior manager of industry analysis for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), an Arlington-based association representing manufacturers and retailers of consumer electronic goods and services. “It’s so new, there are a fraction of vehicles that have this.”

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