Choosing the best TV of CES 2011 shortlist is no easy task: you couldn’t move in the Las Vegas Convention Center last week without walking into a 3D display, or an Android tablet. Still, we managed to step far enough back to see the wood from the trees – or TVs – and select our picks. See what they are right here.
Samsung D7900
The Samsung D7900 LED TV has restored our faith in gogglebox cobblers. For a while, we were starting to worry that all they were bothered about was 3D (when there’s nothing to watch) and internet TV (and doing it badly). But the 46-inch Samsung D7900 LED backlit 3D TV is elegantly subtle, and gives the most stunning impression of an edge to edge screen we’ve ever seen, thanks to a bezel that drops away at a seriously sharp angle. Unfortunately, Samsung has no plans to release it in the UK, but we’re hopeful the design will trickle through eventually.
Sharp Aquos LE935
Sharp stole the show with its 2D Quattron tellies last year, courtesy of a fourth pixel for better colour reproduction, and this time it followed up with an absolutely epic 70-inch, 3D version, the Sharp Aquos LE935, which has Wi-Fi built in. It’s so huge it probably won’t fit in your living room, but so gorgeous you’d probably knock a hole in the wall to try.
LG glasses free 3D portable TV
Sure, it doesn’t have a name, but we have a feeling this machine is going to be a whole lot more satisfying for watching 3D movies on the go than the Nintendo 3DS (Which will also offer this feature), as like Ninty’s gaming handheld, it doesn’t require silly spectacles to give you an impression of depth.
Samsung asymmetric TV
If the Samsung D7900 is beautifully subtle, this model is its spectacular opposite. This LED backlit 3D TV on show is all about the design, not the display, with a slick aluminium stand and support on just one size. We’d like to think it’ll challenge you to only watch movies better than the TV itself. Certainly the best TV for looks when powered off, but is that the point of a telly?
ViewSonic Boxee TV
We liked the Boxee Box but we didn’t really fancy stumping up £200 for the versatile media streamer and IPTV box. So ViewSonic did us one better and stuffed Boxee’s software into a TV for us instead. This 46-inch 1080p model goes on sale before July, and comes with Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections – a 42-inch model is also planned. This could be a dark horse candidate for best TV of 2011, simply by outsourcing the web TV side of things to a team who knows how it should be done.
