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Gateway is getting into the television business, with the release of a 42-inch Plasma TV/Digital Display.

You can also hook it up to a PC, and Gateway hopes to sell the Plasma TV/Digital Display to businesses for use in conference rooms. But it is primarily a TV, complete with a tuner and plenty of inputs for DVD, VCR, and cable. And while $3000 may seem expensive for a TV, it's cheap for a 42-inch wide-screen plasma display.

Price Tag's Fine Print

The $2999 base price is a bit misleading, however. You must pay at least $149 for delivery ($299 to have it installed). Other options include either a basic or a deluxe Bose home entertainment system complete with DVD player/amplifier, and speakers, and various warranties.

But no matter how you add it up, the Gateway display is a bargain compared to most equivalent screens. For instance, Philips' 42-inch plasma display sells for about $7000. Sharp has also shown 43-inch and 50-inch plasma displays.

"We're doing the same thing in the plasma space that we did with PCs," says Lisa Emard, a Gateway spokesperson. The company is "leveraging our efficient direct model and driving more value to customers."

Big and Flat

Plasma displays are flat screens, typically brighter and sharper than LCD monitors. And because Gateway's plasma display weighs only 68 pounds and is less than 4 inches deep, it is not as bulky as a conventional television of similar screen size.

To bring the picture to the screen, Gateway's display provides a tuner, one component video, one S-video, one coaxial cable, and two composite inputs. Gateway claims that the display is HDTV-compatible, though its native resolution of 852 by 480 can't render a true HDTV image. In other words, you can get the signal, but not the quality. The unit comes with built-in stereo speakers.

Taking a Look

The Plasma TV/Digital Display is on display in Gateway stores, where you can use it to view a special interactive demo DVD. I took a peek at a display at a Gateway store in Berkeley, California. The images on the DVD, which include waterfalls, dolphins, baseball, and computer animation, were vivid and gorgeous.

I brought The Godfather DVD with me to see whether the plasma could handle the rich shadows and subtle colors of Gordon Willis's cinematography. To my surprise, letting customers view another DVD on the store display is against Gateway's policy--the company fears that this practice, common in video stores, may violate copyright laws.

Nevertheless, Gateway granted an exception for PCWorld.com. Unfortunately, The Godfather didn't look anywhere near as impressive as the demo DVD; it showed high contrast with blooming whites. To be fair, the experiment took place under less-than-ideal viewing conditions--the display was facing large store windows, and the contrast may have been poorly adjusted.

Still, one customer was impressed. Bill Trulock of Walnut Creek was researching large gas plasma TVs and was just about ready to buy.

"This is a tremendous breakthrough pricewise," he says. "The rest of the industry will have to match it."

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