Hitachi unveils 1.5”-thick plasma

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 7th January 2008
Comments (12) Stumble
Hitachi unveils 1.5”-thick plasma

It's not just supermodels who have to diet, y'know: Hitachi breaks out the SlimFast for plasma displays.

In the ongoing war between LCD and plasma display technologies one of the battlegrounds understood by just about everyone is thickness: nobody wants a return to the days of two-foot deep CRTs. The thinner a display is, the sweeter it looks mounted on a wall just like in the home improvement programs.

Hitachi has obviously been watching said programs, as they have announced a plasma display which is just 38mm thick. The screen is a reasonable 50” diagonal and supports a full HD 1080p resolution for all you Blu-Ray/HD-DVD buffs. Plasma displays of a similar size are currently around the 90mm mark – the Panasonic TH50PHBK is 95mm, as an example.

Expected to hit the streets some early in 2009 the screen is expected to have lost some weight, too: Bill Whalen, director of product development at Hitachi, reckons it'll weigh less than half compared to current plasma displays and claims that “it could be a new category in plasma.”

The fans of plasma are always singing the technology's praises when compared to LCD, but it's no secret that LCD displays have been outselling plasma screens for quite some time. Hitachi is well aware of this little fact and is also working on a svelte LCD due out around the same time and clocking in at a frankly astonishing 19mm. If they manage to get to manufacturing without adding any depth it'll beat the recently announced (though with no release date mentioned) Sharp 52” panel by a single millimetre.

Do you look for anorexic models when shopping for screens, or are you all about the width? Let us know via the forums.
Quote DXR_13KE 7th January 2008, 09:39
aren't plasmas much more expensive than LCDs? they do have better image quality.....
Quote Bionic-Blob 7th January 2008, 10:41
plasmas are cheaper

and the image quality degrades over time (so does LCD i believe, but slower)
Quote docodine 7th January 2008, 12:51
Hah, when I clicked on this article, I expected a really tiny screen.
Quote CJ145 7th January 2008, 12:54
I could care less about the depth 99% of the time. IQ + viewing size > *
Quote woodshop 7th January 2008, 13:14
Quote:
The screen is a reasonable 50” diagonal
LOL my how standards change in such a short time... i remember when the house got a 32" 4:3 and all my friends wanted to come over cause they only had 26" ones .. and it weighed a TON (figuratively)
Quote Firehed 7th January 2008, 14:07
Yeah... 50" is just "reasonable" now? Last I remember, that was pretty freakin' gargantuan.
Quote Veles 7th January 2008, 15:05
103" is the new gargantuan, I saw it in a misco newsletter I got and shat bricks

Plasmas are better than LCDs but they are definitely not cheaper, what degrades as well is just the brightness IIRC, it degrades quicker than an LCD, but it's also a hell of a lot brighter than an LCD pretty much always be brighter than an LCD. Still, I don't really see the point, nothing compared to a 3mm OLED screen :D Damn I can't wait for some new proper tech to come, LCD and Plasma have always been half assed ways of making a flatscreen until they can figure out how to do it properly.
Quote salesman 7th January 2008, 15:05
yeah give me an 82" 4k display
Quote Drexial 7th January 2008, 15:28
Can someone tell me honestly what is so amazing about plasma? I find the color reproduction to be horrible, the glossy screen obnoxious, the overly bright colors painful to watch. I honestly thought the only reason people bought plasma is because up until about two years ago they were bigger than LCDs.

About the only plus I see is that it isn't back lit, so they work well in brighter rooms. But then your going to get glare off the screen anyway cause of the glossy coating, so whats it matter.
Quote Veles 7th January 2008, 16:23
It's got a much better contrast ratio than a LCD, that's one of the main problems with LCDs, even on very good ones the blacks can look grey. I found the colours to look very good as well, maybe the plasmas you saw were setup wrong and had an awful input. That's one of the main problems with shops, you go in because it's always better to actually see a telly than to rely on the stats, but the always have such crappy stuff playing on them that makes the screens look awful
Quote Drexial 8th January 2008, 15:28
I used to work at an electronics store and I used to try and set them up as best I could. But even with most plasmas they aren't really black, they are a greenish color, some times gray. But I've never been impressed at all. The contrast is about the only thing i see as a point against the LCDs. But most have improved so well its not noticeable, especially with LED back lighting coming around.
Quote Veles 8th January 2008, 16:51
Depends what inputs you have as well, but TBH I agree, they are better, but worth the price difference? I don't think so.
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