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Philips Introduces Mirror TV
UnknowingFool writes "PCWorld.com is reporting that Philips is introducing mirror TV. It is a combination mirror with LCD monitor that will be rolling out to hotels. The screens will be 1280 x 768 resolution and come in 17, 23, and 30 inch sizes. It reminds me of TV PiP where the main part is the mirror and the smaller part is the monitor. Philips hopes to install it in homes later."
so if you mount it above your bed you and your loved one could either watch a porno, or be the porno.
Mike
man if I broke this I would really get 7 years and also out be out $5500.
SCREW FLANDERS
Now you can shave and watch the news. As if running a razor blade over your face was not dangerous enough. =-)
It used to be said that a broken mirror would take 7 years to replace due to cost. Looks like the good old days are back :)
But the mirrors themselves can be larger, with the image appearing as a window within an otherwise conventional mirror.
A teenage girl's dream! TV-Mirror in one!
Davak
I'll be interested in what's on my tv even when its turned off!
Take Care
A1miras
I can sort of understand it used in hotels, where you may not want to waste room space by a monitor, and the monitor is used for some minor task such as weathcr-cheking/orders/etc...
But why would anyone want a monitor in their mirror at home???
"The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
My dreams are coming true... Now, if only there were a way to combine a time machine and a DeLorean.
Technically, this sounds quite cool. I think they are playing tricks with the polarization. (LCDs typically change the polarization of the photons by 90 degrees. A polarizing filter then blocks either the rotated or unrotated photons.) I think the "Mirror LCD" technology can make the polarizing filter reflective, instead of just blocking photons going through. This would give a slightly dark mirror, but satisfactory for bathroom-type purposes. On the other hand, the business people behind this have been, um, watching too much TV. A normal 17" LCD TV runs about $475 and a 17" mirror about $25, so Philips thinks people will pay more than $1000 per square foot for wall space. If wall space was this valuable, wouldn't hotels would hang better paintings?
Here is a mirror!
sulli
RTFJ.
The picture seems to show the TV part as only the lower 1/3 or so of a larger mirror, with the upper 2/3 being a regular mirror. I think that would be strange - you'd basically have a mirror directly above your TV screen. It would also lessen the appearance of saving space - now it's just a mirror on top of a TV (two things), instead of a single thing that changes from a mirror to a TV. I think they'd have more success with a smaller wide-screen framed mirror/TV so that there would be no mirror while the TV was on.
Speaking of the TV being on, would you see your reflection during a dark scene in a movie? How would ambient room light affect this?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
fade into a middle aged man in a bad suit, balding
male-voice-over:feeling down? self-image problems?
man looks himself over, up and down in the mirror.
male-voice-over:You're an unfashionable slob! Look at these attractive people!
male/female models flash around him in a halo of images.
male-voice-over:You look like NONE OF THESE PEOPLE! They are attractive, you on the otherhand, well, frankly are not.
man's face drops, eyes tear up -- he looks dejected and sad, almost suicidal.
male-voice-over:What you need is a week Visit at ZHHA Spa and Resort, a Bottle of Sup-Er-Pretty hair gel, and a Free 30day supply of E-Z-Thin diet tablets. See the Checkout Counter for details!
man turns from mirror, picking up his bags - another person walks around the corner and the male voice over starts again: "feeling down? self-image problems?"
Hmrphm, cause and effect friends... do I *really* need the intrusion of TELEVISION in the mirror, where, formally, I used to be ALONE with myself?
You know, for some odd reason shower radios have been around for years, but shower TVs have been technically possible for a good while but nobody bothered to make it. Why? Because most people don't exactly want a TV in their bathroom, the idea of watching a newscast while naked and showering just doesn't seem appealing to most people.
I expect that people who discover the Mirror TV at their hotels (because this is not a feature the participating hotels will bother to advertise) will be given a feedback card to send to Philips as they leave, and a majority will be returned with the box for "I don't know whether it works well because didn't feel like using it." marked.
How much space does a regular run of the mill cheap 25-30inch crt take up? You have the tv and then you need a big stand to put it on. With this new mirror thing, its all in the wall, flat...out of the way when you don't need it. Redesign the hotel rooms around this new technology and not only do you have more options with what to do with the space in the room, but the rooms could actually be made smaller, yet seem to be bigger due to hiding the tech in wall. The hotel could make an extra couple rooms per floor, I am sure that this fact alone would more than make up for large up front costs.
This is just begging for a computer vision system to render your reflection, but delete the person sneaking up behind you. Then, once they scare the shit out of you, it switches back to mirror mode so the other person shows up again.
"SWEENY!", screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. "325921 SWEENY-37! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. You're not trying. Lower, please. That's better, comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me."
not only can we turn on the tele-mirror and see all of the beautiful people running around doing beautiful people things wearing beautiful people clothes, but we can immediately see how much less beautiful we really look when compared to those idealized images.
then we can watch commercials featuring make-up and creams, clothes and other products that we need so that we can be beautiful too.
reminds me why i don't own a tv anymore...
--Cycon
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Throw in voice recognition and we are there.
"Mirror, mirror... who is the geekiest of them all?"
Add a camera and image processing and it can really get itself into trouble.