Posted on 01/07/2007 4:52:08 PM PST by wagglebee
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp. introduced on Sunday a 108-inch LCD television, which it says is the largest of its kind.
The announcement, made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, came just hours after Korean rival LG Electronics Inc. said it had developed a 100-inch LCD TV.
Sharp said the new TV would be available in mid-2007 but did not give pricing details.
LCD, or liquid crystal display, is a popular type of flat-panel display technology that consumers have been snapping up over the past year, and high-tech TVs are one of the most important categories at this year's CES.
The Consumer Electronics Association expects wholesale LCD sales to jump 50 percent to $12 billion in 2007 from about $8 billion in 2006. By contrast, plasma TV sales are seen rising to $6 billion in 2007 from $5.7 billion.
However, LCD units typically cost more than plasma TVs, and therefore have been sold in smaller-screen sizes. LCD displays are most often sold as personal computer monitors.
"Cleary LCD TV is now the undisputed best flat-panel screen technology ... with far higher resolution than plasma," said Toshihiko Fujimoto, president and chairman of Sharp Electronics Corp.
A 108-inch TV is more proof of concept than a product intended for actual home use.
I can see a panel like that being used in airports.
THat's nothing compared to "Frank's 2000 inch TV"
Even still the problem with LCD is that if you aren't looking straight at it the picture starts getting distorted.
there is another problem with this TV: the price one would have to pay for it vs. the quality of the trash programming available for it.
I've got a 50 inch TV, it's not even hooked up to cable, all I do is watch DVDs on it.
Not with the newer panels. Heck, I've got a Sharp TV--26'', couple of years old (though the model may be three or four years old.) Its viewing angle and picture quality is excellent.
Sharp is second only to Samsung in terms of quality and technology. Samsung gets the edge simply because they recently figured out a way to remove the LCD's color wheel, simultaneously increasing color vibrancy and reducing response times.
> The problem with a TV this big is that it will need
> to be in a very long room to be watched comfortably.
If "2 picture diagonals" is the recommended distance
for HD material on a 16:9 display, that's 18 feet.
> A 108-inch TV is more proof of concept than a
> product intended for actual home use.
A concept that was proved with two other 100+ inch
LCDs a year ago. Every Hollywood star will, of
course, have to have one.
> I can see a panel like that being used in airports.
Conference rooms, trade shows, small auditoriums,
perhaps a new class of micro-theatres if theatrical
exhibition survives.
Gonna be hugely expensive to ship safely.
I've got a 50 inch Samsung and it was worth every penny, especially with Bose surround sound speakers.
... Bose?!
Not on the TV, mounted on the walls and ceiling. But if you've got a better suggestion, I'm going to be building a new home in a few months and would certainly install something different if it's better.
Oh boy, a home jumbotron.
Thanks, I'll check them out. I'm planning to spend about $50K on a home theater with sound proof walls, etc.
$50K? Wow. Can I come over sometime? :)
I've got to get the contractor to "hide" the true cost from my wife!
"""The problem with a TV this big is that it will need to be in a very long room to be watched comfortably."""
It would be perfect for the multi million dollar HGTV prize house. :-)
At that size, even 1080p HD is going to look a little funny. Some future "Blu-Ray Ultra" terabyte DVD technology will need to be developed to support screens that size with 10,000 X 8,000 pixels. ;)
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