NEC Keeps Showing Its Curves

Shown at CES and again at Macworld, NEC is showing of its double-WXGA 42-inch curved display, using DLP technology to delivery ultra-fast response times, high contrast, and a huge color range.

Although it was a little upstaged at CES by a similar unit from Dell’s in-house boutique computer maker Alienware, NEC continues to turn heads with its forthcoming CRVD-42DWX+ 42-inch curved display at Macworld. Aimed at both the hardcode gaming market as well as video and photo editors, the CRVD-42DWX+ is being developed for NEC by California’s Ostendo, and uses DLP technology and LED lighting to create a display with ultra-fast response time, high contrast, and an enormous color range.

According to NEC, the CRVD-42DWX+ will measure 42.4 inches diagonally, with an overall native resolution of 2,880 by 900 pixels. (That puts the overall dot pitch at about 71 dpi, which is a little big compared to today’s LCD displays&but with this much acreage, we doubt many people will notice.) More significantly (especially to gamers) is the display’s response time: under 0.02 ms. Although fast response is a mainstay of DLP technology, it blows away current LCD displays and holds the promise of zero video artifacting.

The CRVD-42DWX+ also boasts a contrast ration over 10,000:1, claims to represent more than 170 percent of the NTSC color gamut, and offers an overall brightness of 350 nits. The curved nature of the display does cut into viewing angles: users can expect to see what’s happening at angles of about 90° horizontally and 30° vertically.

NEC says the CRVD-42DWX+ should hit retailers in the second half of 2008, although the company has not yet released any pricing information.