LAS VEGAS -- Plasma screens just keep getting bigger, and Panasonic today showed the prototype of a new 150-in. plasma display that the company says is the largest flat-panel display in the world.
Measuring 11 ft. wide, the Panasonic Life Screen is the size of nine 50-in. plasma screens, said Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of Panasonic AVC Networks Co., during a keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show here.
The TV screen displays images at a resolution of 2160 by 4096 pixels, four times the resolution of Panasonic's current high-definition plasma screens, which display images at a 1080-by-1920-pixel resolution, Sakamoto said.
View more stories from 2008 International CES The 150-in. panel is designed for digital cinema and promotional installations. Sakamoto did not say when the screen will be delivered. In developing the product, Panasonic was encouraged by the sales of 3,000 units of 103-in. plasma TVs, more than the company expected, Sakamoto said.
The executive also showed a prototype 50-in. plasma high-definition, thin TV. The display is 0.97 in. thick and weighs around 48 lb., half the weight of current high-definition TV models in similar sizes, Sakamoto said. The lighter weight makes installation and wall-mounting of the screen easier.
No shipping date for the 50-in. screen was announced.
Panasonic is also making an effort to reduce the power consumption of plasma displays, Sakamoto said, and the new designs include circuitry that cuts energy consumption by as much as half.
Panasonic says its 150-in. plasma TV is the biggest yet.