It's probably fair to say, acquiring tickets to the 2012 Olympics is going to be no mean feat. But fear not people, there is another option worth thinking about, courtesy of Sky. Ok, so we know 3D TV in our living rooms is (allegedly) imminent, so this means those clever folk over in Sky Towers are working on a way to bring us the Olympics in 3D action too.

Sky admits 3D TV is unlikely to hit your living room any time soon but is preparing for the move to pop out TV, by starting with a demo, showcasing sports such as football and boxing. And unlike other 3D enabled goggle boxes that require you to wear special gadgety looking glasses, Sky's 3DTV works on a stereoscopic 3D approach. This still requires 3D glasses, but instead, they'll be more akin to a pair of sunglasses (wouldn't it be call if they were Ray Bans?) rather than futuristic looking ones. This also means you'll be able to get the 3D viewing experience from anywhere in the room (and you won't look strange). You will need to buy a new 3D TV, but it should make you feel better to know Sky used an existing HD box and dish during the demo, so you shouldn't have to fork out for expensive upgrades.

We first saw the set at IFA, and now, Philips has released their superlightweight Essence TV on the world. It's a reaction to the number of people terrified of mounting their set on the wall for fear of pulling down the entire house with its weight.

It weighs just 16kg, mainly due to the fact that most of the clever stuff is housed in a separate box. That leaves just one cable, which takes care of power, picture and sound - all your inputs get plugged directly into the box. There's also a levelling bracket included, so it's easy to hang and keep straight.

3D TV is the kind of television viewing experience a lot of wish for, but don't necessarily want to pay for something that's going to make you *face palm* every time you check your bank balance. But why should you be denied the 3D TV experience and miss enjoying your favourite characters come to life? That's the sentiments of IZ3D exactly and the motive behind the company's move to lower the price of its 22-inch switchable 2D/3D monitor from $999 to $317 - not bad huh? They've thrown in three pairs of passive linear polarized glasses too (in layman's terms - 3D glasses). The IZ3D monitor is your low-cost portal to the amazing world of 3D entertainment. So if you've been waiting for the opportunity to get your own 3D experience, here it is.

I was always a little upset and resentful the UK isn't as big a fan of outdoor drive-in cinemas as our American friends (especially as Grease made it look soooo cool), so imagine my excitement levels when I came across this behemoth of a projection screen - I can still barely contain myself. Open Air Cinema is the brains behind this monster screen - that's 16 foot of pure inflatable TV projection. And to prevent it from ruining your movie viewing, it uses an air blower to keep the entire thing going and six straps to ensure it's nicely secured and taut.

Are you familiar with Freesat, that ingenious digital service that scraps monthly subscriptions to pave the way for high definition content for a one off fee? And with high definition programming on offer from the BBC and ITV, as well as digital channels such as E4, it certainly is a good looking package. Well now Freesat+, the pausing, rewinding and recording Freesat HD digital TV service has been unleashed and is available for shoppers to take advantage of under the guise of the Humax Foxsat-HDR. Not only does Freesat+ give you greater control over HD content, it also provides access to a range of standard TV, radio and interactive channels - that's over 140 TV channels and radio stations.

M&S have one hell of a sparkler on their shelves at the moment. This limited edition 19-inch beauty has been given the star treatment with over 500 crystallised Swarovski element crystals to give it a glistening outer coat. Underneath all that bling is an HD ready LCD TV, with an integrated DVD player and Freeview receiver - so no extra boxes necessary.

Expect high definition viewing, Nicam stereo, 500:1 contrast ratio, 8ms response time, and an energy efficient remote control with a full power off button, eradicating the need to waste energy while your TV sits dormant in standby mode. Being limited edition, there are only 1000 available nationwide, which if you do the math, doesn't leave many sets in each store when you think about the plague high level of M&S stores up and down the country. So if it takes your fancy, get you skates on and have £399 ready for payment too.

Marks and Spencer

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There's no point splashing out on a HDTV if the majority of your favourite programs are still broadcast in standard definition (standard definition - pah!). Toshiba has the answer - "Buy another TV". The upscaling ZV to be a bit more specific. As an upscaling TV, the ZV uses a "powerful cell processor algorithm" to transform standard definition into something a little closer to full HD. It also seeks to improve depth and texture and works hard to give you a much sharper picture, which won't result in full HD, but is miles better than bog standard definition.

If you like your telly with added 'wow', you'll be thrilled with the launch of the new Aurea from Philips. More into subtlety? You might want to skip to the post below. It's now better looking, with a smaller frame, as well as better picture processing. But it's the Active Frame you're really interested in, right?

The picture on the screen is replicated in a glow from (a now increased) number of LEDs, with the colour matching the picture on screen. In their words, it "accurately identifies dominant on-screen colours and generates precisely matched ambient lighting both via the Active Frame and independently from all four sides of the screen onto a rear wall". In mine, it's freakin' awesome.

We're pretty keen on Freesat, since it's the only way to get high definition channels for your eyes and on your telly, without having to shell out a monthly subscription fee. And in a couple of weeks, when it launches, you'll be able to record said eye-goodness on their new Humax Foxsat-HDR.

The £299 box has got a dual tuner, with a 320GB hard drive for 80 hours of HD or a mammoth 200 hours of standard def programming. There's your normal pause, rewind and series recording, as well as schedule tracking (for changes to the advertised scheule) and an 8 day EPG.

It's Energy Efficiency Week, so expect more than your weekly dose of eco-friendly gadgets - we're expecting an over abundance of green orientated press releases and emails this week. The first of possibly many, is the Camo LCD TV range from Swedx. First, they claim they're the world's most environmentally friendly LCD TVs, then they tell us they're their most environmentally free products ever. I'm in no position to contest those claims so it would appear this is the most eco friendly LCD in the world.

My dreams of owning an HD projector seems to be getting closer with launch of Sony's HW10. It will be available from the end of October and will cost £1760. Yes, that's still a lot pricier than this mini projector, but then you do get to play in 1080p Full HD, and can opt for a screen size of 40-300 inches.

The annual Philips Simplicity event - the one that always unveils a whole host of fun, exciting and innovative gadgety concepts, that would make the biggest geeks squeal with excitement - is taking place as I type. Susi is currently over there in Moscow, no doubt getting excitable and hands on with everything they have to show - keep your eyes peeled for videos from her. The first thing to catch our eye is these swappable faceplates for Philips' new flat high-gloss white TV - available in 42, 32 and 22-inch models with 30,000:1 contrast ratio, and 1080p resolution on offer for the 42-incher. Fed up of your black bezzle adorning your TV, giving it now sense of style and not reflecting your cerazy personality at all? This appears to be the answer to that gripe.

Sky is a wonderful service. It gives you so many channels and access to a plethora of subjects from gardening, history, to Simpson style antics every Sunday. As the box itself is so celebrated/venerated is seems only fair that it should get s a seasonal makeover, so four designers have created different prints for this much-loved piece of kit. You can choose from Henry Holland, PPQ, Erdem and Julie Verhoeven.

This is 52 inches of sheer dedication to saving energy and being green. Sharp's solar powered LCD not only takes the environment into consideration, but its design is very *very* nice as well (a feature which often goes unnoticed by manufacturers of eco-friendly gadgets). This mammoth sized TV has an LED back light and is almost completely powered by solar energy. The winter months and dark nights might let you down a bit, which probably explains why it's only partly powered by solar energy.

LG's 22-inch LCD W2271TC monitor eradicates the need for extra gadgets and a spaghetti wire mess sprawled across your desk. That's because it features an integrated webcam, with built in microphone and speakers, all of which are concealed underneath its glossy black finish. This makes LGs latest monitor a useful tool for video conferencing and ideal for live video messenger or VoIP calls. 5ms response time, 300 nits brightness, 1,680 x 1,050 high resolution and 170 degree viewing angle is thrown into the package too.

Plasma TVs aren't to everyone's tastes. But LG's 32 inch plasma doesn't care about people who prefer LCDs. It only cares about people who are all about the plasmas. The glossy black PG6000 can be considered the baby of the LG bunch. At only 32 inches it's a diminutive TV when compared to the range of bigger plasmas out there, which have a habit of starting around 42 inches. LG are also very proud at the fact they're the *only* company to offer such a small plasma.

Check out the specs after the jump...

LG are sponsoring London Fashion Week for the third season in a row this year, which they're very excited about. So their beaoooutiful Scarlet LG6100 is all about style and design and being the main center of attention in any room. LG are claiming the 'world's slimmest LCD TV', which isn't exactly true, but at 1.7-inches thick it's pretty skinny.

More information after the jump...

Seriously. Is TV so good that you need have access whilst you're in the tub? Is your life so Cribs-worthy you need to be able to watch TV whilst you're using your heated pool? No, I didn't think so.

Don't tell Sony.

They've created to Bravia XDV-W600, which is neither HD, super thin or pretty to look at. It's waterproof instead. You can keep it three feet under water for half an hour (why?) and you'll get 23 hours of viewing using a combination of its own batteries and some AAs. Sadly, it's so far only available in Japan. Did I say sadly? I meant 'meh'.

[via Gizmodo]

Like that? Read this: Sony's E4000 Bravia comes with free priceless art work

Read any tech site and you'd be forgiven for thinking that you no one was making plain old DVD players any more, preferring to spend the time on Blu-ray. Yes, we're guilty. But LG has put some serious effort into this model.

Looks wise, it's hot (lie it flat or wall mount it, it looks good). Price wise, it's cheap (£130 cheap). Format wise, it works (DivX, Jpeg, MP3 and WMA playback). The advantage of the DivX playback is that you'll be able to play HD movies you've downloaded and burnt onto a normal sized rewritable DVD. There's also a USB input and the ability to upscale your existing DVDs to 1080p.

You can lay your hands on one later in the year. And why would you not? (Oh, and for product searching sake, the official name is DVS450H).

LG

Gary Cutlack writes...

Get ready for this, specification fans - the Philips Flat TV features a 2ms response time and a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1. It does this by a very technically complex fashion to do with an LED LUX system the stops light leaking. I'll let Andy from HDTV explain. He's better at understanding stuff to do with pixels and ratios:

"The LED LUX system comprises of 128 segments of LEDs in 8 rows containing 16 segments. Nine LEDs are assigned to each individual segment, and these can be individually dimmed to precisely control the output of each pixel."