interactive posts - CES 2008

January 6, 2008 2:00 PM PST

Samsung's interactive LCDs provide recipes but not firmware updates

by David Katzmaier

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Samsung's interactive LCD includes an Ethernet port

(Credit: Samsung)

Ever been watching a football game and wonder exactly how to prepare tonight's pot roast? With Samsung's new lineup of LCD HDTVs, "interactive content such as cooking recipes, children's entertainment, HD artwork and more" along with "customizable RSS feeds, capturing the latest news, weather, sports and more" can be displayed (and more?) on the big screen, courtesy of 1GB of internal flash memory, a built-in wired Ethernet connection (no wireless capability), and an optional (price TBD) Digital Media Adapter that interfaces with the Internet and network-attached PCs in your house.

That's all great, although as always we prefer a wireless laptop in the living room. But what we and many of the denizens of AVS forum would really like to see is the capability to upgrade the firmware via Ethernet, obviating all those calls to clueless customer service reps necessitated by multiple firmware versions (see here and here). According to Samsung, unfortunately, Ethernet-delivered firmware updates won't be possible on these models.

The LNA750R series, the highest-end LCDs Samsung announced at the show, includes four screen sizes: the 40-inch LN40A750R, the 46-inch LN46A750R, the 52-inch LN52A750R and the massive 65-inch LN65A750R. Each interactive set also offers the same 120Hz processing found on the 2007 LN-T71F series, such as the LN-T4671F, as well as Samsung's so-called Touch of Color (TOC) bezel, which adds a bit of red pizazz to the edge of the panel, if the company's stock artwork seen above is any indication.

The LNA750R models will be available in March, and Samsung didn't announce pricing by press time.

Samsung LNA750R key features (direct from the press release)