LCD Screens Double as Speakers

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC has a story about a company who has developed an LCD screen that can produce sound as well. They claim that the sound quality is quite good, and compare it to average multimedia computer speakers. Also NEC is making and selling computers that use this technology in Japan. Hardware integration like this should make for some interesting appliances in the next few decades."

Obligatory Simpsons quote

[visgoth]

I can see the music!

Yaarggh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yaarggh! First pirate post! Ahoy, here be landlubbers abound!

Eye problems?

[Unknown Poltroon]

Whont having the screen vibrating cause eyestrain?

Appliances

[DaemonGem]

Oh boy, soon my microwave will be playing techno, and my keyboard will be outputting a crummy rendition of Tchaikovsky. I can't wait.
-Dae

Re:That's crazy!

[PseudoThink]

Stereo is accomplished in a single-monitor setup via synesthesia...they watermark the display image with an almost undetectable waveform representation of the second audio channel. Sort of like "joint stereo" in mp3s. But people with two monitors get true stereo. But I might be crazy...

Nice One

[jolyonr]

Great news - because we all know how expensive speakers are and how cheap LCD screens are! Imagine the cost savings... Jolyon

Vibration and delicate electronics...

[Dutchmaan]

...two great tastes that go great together!

A paradox?

[ignoramus]

These screens get thinner, yet they pump up the volume

:P

That would suck..

[grub]

..every time I crank up some Motorhead [imotorhead.com] I'd be picking my display up from the floor.

Re:i don't know what's happening

[Snork Asaurus]

"you can't just casually mention quasi-invisibility cloaks without posting a link"

He did post a link, but he used the <quasi-invisible> tag.

Would it be ironic

[dubbayu_d_40]

If I played Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on such a device?

Or not...

Smooth Fonts?

[GreyPoopon]

So, will the vibrations do pretty much the same thing as anti-aliasing and make all of your fonts look smooth around the edges? ;)

A Moment In History

[teamhasnoi]

Scientist #1: "You got your liquid crystals all over my average multimedia speakers!"

Scientist #2: "Well, you got your electromagnets all over my active matrix organic composite screen prototype!"

*blink blink*

In unison, reeling with implication: "Whooooooooaaa...."

flat???

[wickedj]

"The world is going to be flat going forward," said Mr Williams.

Ahhh... come on, they've been beating into my head that the world was round since elementary school, how do they expect me change my thinking now?!?!

That's nothing

[MoeMoe]

Hearing through visual devices is cool but seeing through audio devices is cooler!
If you want something really cool try this:

Get this [slashdot.org] (right click link >Save As), look through your headphone jack in your cdrom, click extracted file at the same time. Enjoy! *Attention Mods* File was checked virus free, please imagine what could happen before rating.

Re:Obligatory Simpsons quote

[mattsucks]

DAMMIT!!! Every time I see a story that will let me show off my l33t Simpson's-quoting sk1lz, someone beats me to it!!! Don't you people ever sleep???

Noisy LCDs

[Glass of Water]

Now, if anyone can tell me how to get my LCD to STOP making noises, that I'd pay you for.

Re:That's crazy!

[djdole]

"I'd love to hear a wav file or something of how it sounds" Reminds me of a request I got from a friend. *hands me a VHS tape* "Can ya record me a few episodes of Blahblahblah on HD-TV? I wanna see the diffrence." ....nope...not gonna work.

Re:WTF are you talking about?

[Honig the Apothecary]

I modded it funny...but I have a weird sense of humor.

Re:That's crazy!

[Junior J. Junior III]

Multimedia is so 1995....

Or, if you're a Mac or Amiga user, so 1988...

Re:That's nothing

[Torqued]

I can do this with LSD.. why do I need to buy expensive hardware

Why does it have to be on the screen?

[djdole]

If they can place this membrane on the screen, they should open up to placing this membrane on other things....
...Toilet seats, window glass (windshield?), coffee cups, sneakers?.

Then again...maybe not.
I fear the day my cubicle talks to me.

Re:Image integrity?

[Entropy_ah]

The screen will likely require a midrange/woofer to reproduce the full spectrum of sound.

No dude, they'll just build the woofer into your keyboard. Though I fear it will turn into some kind of high-tech ouija board when you crank up the Dr. Dre.

Re:That's crazy!

[MrNemesis]

And in order to get 6.1 channel sound, you'd need to carry around an entire room with one of these screens making up each wall/floor/plane surface.

Sorry, I'm just not going to carry around an entire room to get 6.1 sound on my laptop. Although a room made of LCD screens would be good.

P.S. I'm joking.

Re:That's crazy!

[CriX]

Yeah, but consumers might pay for enhanced sound quality. I don't know how these LCD speakers are supposed to work, but just the idea of a 15 inch wide speaker equals one very important thing missing from laptop sound: BASS!

How sweet would it be to hear a nice deep, sub-woofer quality bass coming from a laptop? Very nice indeed.

Re:Obligatory Simpsons quote

[rograndom]

Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me.

Re:Obligatory Simpsons quote

[syle]

Don't you people ever sleep???

"Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a Viking!" - Ralph

Re:The answer is... it doesn't.

[the_pooh_experience]

It says its SoundVU technology distributes frequencies evenly across a room, producing what audio buffs call a universal "sweet spot".

Well thank goodness for this technology. I have been waiting for a product that will allow me to bother everyone in the room while playing video games.

New Font Features

[limekiller4]

Screw font anti-aliasing. Just shake the screen a little. Looks smoother already.

I like it.

Re:light music?

[inaeldi]

I think he was talking about that little green on light. Those things are a bitch to replace, I'd be worried to.