LAS VEGAS -- Samsung Electronics has announced a range of big-screen, flat-panel televisions that make use of some of the latest advances in display panel technology, including what the company says is the world's largest commercial plasma display panel TV, the 80-inch HPR8072.
The sets, including the HPR8072, are scheduled to be shown at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show here this week. The company says the new models offer improvements in screen size and picture quality. All offer high-definition resolution, and some take advantage of new backlight technologies that, the company says, produce a picture with richer, fuller colors than previous sets.
Samsung and fellow South Korean electronics maker LG Electronics have been locked in a 'mine is bigger than yours' PDP television competition for over a year and are regularly besting each other with bigger screens. LG has led Samsung since November, when it launched a 71-inch model in South Korea.
To win in this race is somewhat symbolic--the sets end up costing so much money that few people can afford them. Samsung's provisional price for the 80-inch HPR8072 is $40,000 while the recently launched 71-inch LG model, some parts of which are coated with 24-carat gold paint and which ships with a digital tuner and audio system, costs around $75,000.
Large LCD TVs
Relatively more affordable, although still expensive, are several other Samsung TV offerings. In terms of screen size, two sets stand out:
The LNR570D has a 57-inch screen and that makes it, according to Samsung, the largest consumer LCD-based high-definition television in the market. It will be available in June and will cost around $16,000. The second set is the HLR5688W 67-inch projection TV. Samsung says it's the largest set available based on Texas Instruments' DLP projection screen and also the first DLP set to offer a progressive scan display with 1080 lines resolution. It will go on sale in February and will cost around $5,000.
Several other models serve to highlight some recent advances in the flat-panel display space. In the early stages of the flat-panel market, much attention was paid to screen size. But now sets are available at sizes to satisfy almost everybody, so more work is going into improving the picture quality.
One area where this work is taking place is the backlight. As its name suggests, a backlight sits behind an LCD panel and provides light, which is projected though the panel to make it easily visible to users. By improving the quality and uniformity of the light the displayed image can be improved.
Samsung's LNR460D 46-inch LCD set uses light emitting diodes for its backlight and the result is a much richer picture. The set can produce colors equivalent to 105 percent of the National Television Standards Committee standard compared to 72 percent for an average LCD panel, said Samsung. The set is scheduled to go on sale in May and will cost around $13,000.
The set is similar to a television announced in August last year by Sony. Its Qualia 005 TV uses a 46-inch panel from Samsung and also an LED backlight.
Another Approach to Backlighting
A second LCD set, the 40-inch LNR409D, uses a flat fluorescent lamp backlight unit developed by Samsung Corning. The display is flat and provides a uniform light across its entire surface, said Samsung. The set is scheduled to go on sale in May and will cost around $6000.
The set will be one of the first to feature a display produced on a new production line that has been jointly built by Samsung and Sony. The two formed a joint venture, S-LCD, and have invested $2.1 billion in the factory in Tangjung, South Korea. It will enter commercial production shortly and supply LCD panels to both companies.
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