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The New King of Big TV’s Is Queen-Size
Will buying a TV set one day involve choosing between full, queen and king sizes?
Panasonic said that it would begin selling a 103-inch flat-panel plasma television in the United States in time for the holiday season. The TV, about as big as a queen-size bed and, Panasonic says, the largest on the market, will sell for $70,000.
The previous record-holder for the largest flat-screen TV is a 84-inch model, which is sold by several manufacturers.Needless to say, the new Panasonic is expected to be a niche product.
Andrew Nelkin, vice president of the display group at Panasonic Consumer Electronics said “Sales will be limited in scope because of its weight and size”.
The screen’s 90-inch length and 48-inch height makes it equivalent in size to four 50-inch TV’s, the company said. With the frame and speakers, it measures nearly nine feet by six feet. It weighs about 450 pounds and has to be shipped in a box with a specially designed suspension system.
The 103-inch TV will go on sale in Japan in September. Panasonic, whose smallest TV has a 23-inch liquid-crystal display, is the North American unit of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company of Japan. The big set’s screen resolution is 1080p, which amounts to about two million pixels or twice the resolution of the most recent standard for high-definition TVs.
Panasonic said the TV’s would be sold through a small number of custom home-theater installers and built to order. The sets have to be professionally installed because of their size and weight.
A television that size might not be a big hit, but flat-panel screens in general certainly are. Pacific Media Associates, a market analysis firm, forecasts that about 4.4 million flat-panel plasma and liquid-crystal-display TV’s measuring 30 inches or larger will be sold this year, a 69 percent increase over 2005.
Panasonic said that it would begin selling a 103-inch flat-panel plasma television in the United States in time for the holiday season. The TV, about as big as a queen-size bed and, Panasonic says, the largest on the market, will sell for $70,000.
The previous record-holder for the largest flat-screen TV is a 84-inch model, which is sold by several manufacturers.Needless to say, the new Panasonic is expected to be a niche product.
Andrew Nelkin, vice president of the display group at Panasonic Consumer Electronics said “Sales will be limited in scope because of its weight and size”.
The screen’s 90-inch length and 48-inch height makes it equivalent in size to four 50-inch TV’s, the company said. With the frame and speakers, it measures nearly nine feet by six feet. It weighs about 450 pounds and has to be shipped in a box with a specially designed suspension system.
The 103-inch TV will go on sale in Japan in September. Panasonic, whose smallest TV has a 23-inch liquid-crystal display, is the North American unit of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company of Japan. The big set’s screen resolution is 1080p, which amounts to about two million pixels or twice the resolution of the most recent standard for high-definition TVs.
Panasonic said the TV’s would be sold through a small number of custom home-theater installers and built to order. The sets have to be professionally installed because of their size and weight.
A television that size might not be a big hit, but flat-panel screens in general certainly are. Pacific Media Associates, a market analysis firm, forecasts that about 4.4 million flat-panel plasma and liquid-crystal-display TV’s measuring 30 inches or larger will be sold this year, a 69 percent increase over 2005.