There are two big television breakthroughs being brought to the mainstream market this year – OLED and Ultra High Definition. The former has huge advantages in color and black levels while the latter kicks the resolution up significantly.  Early adopters have had a bit of a quandary up until now, since the two were mutually exclusive.  Sony is planning to change that.

There are two big television breakthroughs being brought to the mainstream market this year – OLED and Ultra High Definition. The former has huge advantages in color and black levels while the latter kicks the resolution up significantly.  Early adopters have had a bit of a quandary up until now, since the two were mutually exclusive.  Sony is planning to change that.

While others shift their focus to ridiculously large 4K sets, Panasonic is sticking with the stuff that got them where they are.  The company is set to release plasmas and LCDs, all sitting at 65 inches and below.  While last year that wouldn't have been much of a surprise, that sets them apart at this year's CES.

The folks at Samsung have found a way to take some of the attention away from UHDTVs, at least for a bit. They're boasting that at CES next week, we'll see a TV with a brand new shape. From the promotional video and picture, it looks like a 16:9 turned 90 degrees, but even more interesting is that it appears to be semi-transparent.

The NPD Group – as they are wont to do – has put together a survey of Smart TV owners and come to an interesting conclusion.  Most Smart TV owners don't use their Smart TVs.  In fact, according to their data, only half of these sets are connected to the internet.  The rest are used in the exact same way they would be without the extra features.