CES 2008: NEC to Show Yet Another Curved Monitor

Remember the ultra-wide, curved and extremely expensive gaming monitor from the Alienware / Dell joint venture we have told you about? It was one of the biggest attraction points at the Consumer Electronics Show, since the next-gen Eee PC went missing and people usually got fed up with iPods and the like.

As striking as it may seem, the huge DLP display has a brother to feature the same size and specifications as Alienware's. It is one of NEC's creations and is being quietly shown off. The CRVD-42DWX+ display is a 2880x900 (double WXGA+) panel with a contrast ratio of 10000:1. It is curved' too, in order to cover the user's visual field and give them the wrap-around immersive feeling.

The NEC CRVD-42DWX+ monitor is also comprised of four welded panels. The welding points between the screens leave the same milky image distortion that we have talked about in the Alienware's product, so it would have been pretty difficult to figure out which is what. Luckily for us, there's a logo at the bottom that reads NEC and Alienware, respectively.

The two displays look exactly the same: their image flaws where the four panels are merged, their bulky aspect and the same washed-out black plastic frame could easily trick us into thinking that the two models are one and the same. It would be normal to ask ourselves why did we notice the Alienware model and miss the NEC one.

First of all, the Alienware booth is swarming with people buzzing around the display, while NEC chose to silently advertise their model (if advertising can be done silently). Secondly, the Dell/Alienware monster is emanating the brand-new Crysis through all its (substantial amount of) pixels, while the CRVD-42DWX+ model from NEC is running some faint car simulator game. It seems that the image sells the display, and not the other way around.

One more striking resemblance: neither of the companies have disclosed the estimative price per unit or/and the public availability through the retailers' stores.