Samsung had a little mid-year coming out party yesterday as it unveiled a bunch of new flat panels and associated home theater gear. One of these upcoming releases is the new Series 8 850 and Series 8 860 LCD HDTVs, pricing between around $2,700 and $3,500.

Four models make up the Series 8 850 and 860, consisting of two each 45.9- and 52-inch televisions. All units will be available in September and unique features include a slim, narrow bezel with a touch of color around the edges and support for RSS feeds from USA Today. For full details, check out the press release after the jump.

At CES in January I wandered over to the NVIDIA meeting area and spent some time in the little gaming area NVIDIA had set up. Hands down the coolest thing on display was a big screen 3D TV that was being used to play some Need For Speed Pro Street. Trust me 3D rocks so hard for gaming you will want it.

The catch with the system NVIDIA was using is that you had to wear these geeky glasses straight out of the 1980’s to get the 3D effect. Philips announced a new 52-inch 3D monitor today that is auto-stereoscopic meaning you don’t have to wear glasses to view in 3D. Sign me up!

LG put out more detailed information today on some new home theater systems first shown off at CES earlier this year. These include, besides the LHT888, the new LHT874, LHT854, LFD850 and LFA840.

These systems are in the processing of appearing at retail locations such as Best Buy and Circuit City. LG describes them as featuring “distinctive designs” and “advanced technology. We detail the other items in this new line up after the jump.

Sharp has now announced a wireless option to its super-thin X-series LCD displays today. Sharp will incorporate Amimon WHDI (Wireless High Definition Interface) 1080p wireless tech into their thinnest flat panels. This means that you won’t have to connect any cables to your TV, aside from the power cord. All the connectors and tuning paraphernaila are in the set-top box you see in the pic. Wires will be officially out of a job, making your life easier, but making them sad like little emo children.

It’s hitting Japan first and will follow in the U.S. It works at distances of up to 100 feet and can even go through several walls. The only bad part is the cost. The wireless capability will add about $800 to an already-expensive $4,000+ 46-inch Sharp X-Series HDTV. But if you are already dishing out that kind of money, I don’t think it will be a problem.

Samsung today put word out through the lands of tech about the availability of its Series 6 and Series 7 LCD HDTVs. These displays range in size from 19- to 52-inches and pricing from around $480 to $3,500.

The Series 6 displays should mostly be available now, with the Series 7 units come out in May. Samsung’s most touted design features with these displays is its “Touch of Color” which draws from “several artistic inspirations” and features “a hint of red color naturally blended into a semi-transparent piano black bezel.” Excuse us while we go wipe the marketing barf off of ourselves – you can read the rest of the Samsung love fest after the jump.

Westinghouse Digital has reportedly unveiled a new “16-inch, flip-style LCD HDTV.” It is known as the PT-16H610S – pricing is said to be around $330.

The PT-16H610S, first shown off at CES, has a dual hinge design for adjusting the display forward and back or via its height. It has an ATSC/NTSC/ClearQAM tuner and 1080p HDMI, among other HD friendly features.

Mitsubishi earlier this week rolled out the carpet on a variety of new HDTVs for release this year. These new models come in a variety of screen sizes and body configurations and should all begin being available this month in staggered releases.

General details of these new models include what Mitsubishi says is thinner frame and brighter DLP models as well as “ultra thin frame” LCD HDTVs with better sound. There’s also upcoming the first ever laser powered television. If you are curious to learn more, check out the entire press release after the jump.

Sony Europe is treating its consumer base to a new BRAVIA television series which does full 1080p HD and offers an AVC-HD tuner. This series is called the BRAVIA W4000-Series.

The BRAVIA W4000-Series LCDs will reportedly range in size from 32- to 52-inches in screen diameter. You’ll get some reportedly really great images on your television with its BRAVIA ENGINE 2, 10-bit signal processing and 10-bit LCD panel. This will all bring you what Sony says is some 64 times more color.

Consumer electronics company NuVision, which specializes in HDTVs, is out with a line up of 10 new models centered around its Lucidium line of HDTVs. Screen sizes range from 22- to 65-inches, according to Dealerscope, and pricing tops out at around $12,000.

The NuVision Lucidium line are all 1080p compatible. Depending upon the model, features possible across these models include Silicon Optix Realta HQV image processing, dual ATSC tuners, up to four HDMI 1.3 inputs and a new cabinet design.

Sony has just let loose two new and colorful Bravia LCDs towards the lower-end of the Bravia line. The new M1 series sports an array of different colorful frames availble bringing some light fun to the lineup of LCD HDTVs.

The two new models include the 20-inch KDL-20M1 and the 16-inch KDL-16M1 which both have just shy of 180 degree viewing angles at 178 and 1366 x 768 pixel displays. They also both contain 1080p HDMI inputs and the Bravia 2 video engine. The larger of the two houses two 5W speakers and has a 1,200:1 contrast ration while the smaller 16-inch model has a 1,800:1 contrast ratio and two 3W speakers.

JVC offered up earlier this week for consumer consumption some new high definition hard disk camcorders which deliver 1920×1080 recording. These are the JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5, priced at around $1,400 and $1,200 respectively.

The JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5 can record up to 10 hours or 5 hours respectively of “full HD 1920 x 1080 MPEG2 Transport Stream video with MPEG 1 Layer 2 audio.” They use three 1/5-inch CCDs to accomplish this, also featuring an F1.8-F1.9 10x zoom lens and 1080 progressive 60fps HDMI output.

JVC said both camcorders will be available in March. You can get the full details after the jump.

Panasonic announced the DMC-TZ5 as another Lumix camera heading for shelves soon with very similar features to the DMC-FX35 model including a wide-angle lens and high-def video recording. The TZ5 loses a little in megapixels compared the FX35 with 9.1, but gains in just about everything else.

The DMC TZ5 Lumix has a 10x optical zoom, generous 3-inch LCD display and a 28mm wide-angle lens that can get almost twice as much panorama compared to typical lens. It also features Panasonic’s big 5 Intellegent Auto features for automatic adjustments for exposure, scene selection, image stabilization, facial detection of as many as 15 faces and ISO Control to adjust shutter speed for moving images. This model can also record video with 1280 x 720 HD resolution at 30 frames per second with an HD out component cable port.

Panasonic is expecting to have the TZ5 available by the end of March with a retail price of just under $350. More detailed release information below:

Among other cameras Sony released this week it was showing off a new line of colorful W-series Cyber-shots for the consumer crowd. The W-series will price between about $200 and $300.

Models of the W-series will include the 10.1-megapixel DSC-W170 and 8.1-megapixel DSC-W150, both with Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom lenses, and the 8.1-megapixel DSC-W130 models and 7.2-megapixel DSC-W120 units with 4x optical zoom and 2.5 inch LCD screens.

Colors on these models will range from pink to blue to gold and red. Availability is slated for between now and April, again depending upon the model. Check out the full Sony press release after the jump for all the details.

It looks like Sharp just took the lead in the race for the world’s thinnest production LCD television. The AQUOS X series TVs come is 37, 42 and 46-inch models and are an incredibly super-thin 34.4mm (1.35 inches). Part of Sharp’s ability to keep these LCDs so Svelte is attributed to the fact that the tuner and the I/O connections are in a separate box and not inside the actual TV. It’s then connected through a single cable to the television.

Samsung is showing off its new line of LCD monitors this week at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. The 2693HM and 2493HM monitors are part of the new Samsung SyncMaster lineup, providing 1920 x 1200 resolution displays with built-in speakers and a 5ms GTG response time.

The SyncMaster 2493HM is a 24-inch display while the 2693HM is not quite a 26-inch measuring 25.5 inches diagonally. Both monitors have HDMI inputs and feature full 1080p to take advantage of those downloaded HD movies until you get an appliance to transfer them into your living room. The built-in speakers might not provide the same quality that you might get from stand-alones but the space on your desk that’s saved is often worth it.