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TV Set Doubles as a Mirror
Bill Kendrick writes "New Scientist reports there's a new wide-screen LCD from Philips which becomes a mirror when you turn it off. Now I just need that holographic fireplace..." Sorry - a dupe from June
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Static electricity and something ummm...something about positive negative attracting.
An duplicate story (from last June).
6 20 1
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/12/222
Perhaps if the editors paused for reflection...
Raisinettes are my raison d'etre
www.dimplex.com
They claim to have a patent on the holographic fireplace. I don't see why something like this couldn't be made.
I also though of the recent "geek retro future" version of monster house where they made a a giant fireplace with stainless stell remote controlled opening doors and mounted a Plasma screen above it. Tres cool.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
The electrons hitting the phosphors on the back of your screen cause the image to appear. They also tend to generate a large static imbalance (ie, anode/cathode, +/-). While the screen is charged with these excess electrons, lighter objects are attracted, just as you'd get with the rubbing your hair with balloon trick. Someone who understands more physics than I do can probably do a better job of explaining exactly what is happening.
TV set which doubles up as a mirror
09:45 29 February 04
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
A TV set that becomes a mirror at the flick of a switch will go on sale in the UK in March.
The 2500 MiraVision system from Philips of the Netherlands is made up of a 58-centimetre wide-screen LCD that is covered with a thin semi-reflective sheet, mounted in a picture frame.
When the screen is switched on, anyone standing in front of it sees only the picture. With the television switched off, the surface behaves like an ordinary mirror.
MiraVision can even be both things at once. Anyone wanting to watch TV while brushing their hair or fixing their make-up can switch to "picture in mirror" mode, which displays a small image in the corner of the frame.
The screen can also be wired to a PC and used as an outsize monitor. Philips hopes eventually to make a waterproof version for use in bathrooms.
~dank
Further to the answers already here, static electricity is indeed why the paper sticks.
The reason that your screen charges up is because at the back of your set there's a bloody great electron gun (three if you have a colour TV) firing countless electrons at the back of the screen, which are deflected with a magnetic field in a neat pattern that creates the image.
Electrons are negatively charged and over time they cause a charge to build up on the screen.
As an offtopic point, the electrons hit the phosphors on the screen, or pass very close to them which causes them to glow, which is how a TV works. The electrons already present in the phosphor atoms change energy states, which releases light of a characteristic colour (either red, green or blue in the case of a TV).
The article says you can have PIP to use it as a mirror and still watch TV. Also, they are working on a waterproof one for the bathroom.
Actually, if it was a regular CRT and not a flat panel display, the convex mirror WOULD make you look fatter!
=Smidge=
Don't worry, USA has that feature too.
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I believe that it is the coil that surrounds the tube. If it's not secured properly to the tube itself, parts of the coil can oscillate, which causes the sound.
I guess "they don't make them like they used to" is true.
mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN
What they're not telling you is that it's a two-way mirror.
Actually, if it was a two-way mirror, it would reflect on either side of the glass. What you're thinking of is a one-way mirror, the kind they have between interrogation rooms and the adjacent viewing rooms.
I know Philips is watching us. They've been watching us since 1984.
It is the coil that surrounds the tube as this is often driven with a signal of frequency 15.734 kHz (US) and 15.634 kHz (UK). This is the "Horizontal Scan Frequency". ( got this information information from here )
This is right on the edge of human limits, some can hear it, some cannot. When I was a kid, I used to be able to sense that a TV was on, and couldn't understand how I could do it. Don't seem to be able to do it these days though.
Increasing this scan frequency by upping your refresh rate on the monitor should get rid of this annoyance if the monitor can do it - putting the scan freq well beyond your hearing ( here in the UK you can get 100Hz TVs that you will not hear. Presume you can get 120Hz NTSC ones ?)