There’s a lot more to buying an HDTV than its dimensions. Some technical articles go on at length about LCD deficiencies such as price, color gamut, black level, motion blur, even power consumption in this green-conscious era. However, few attributes seem to capture the public’s interest (and understanding) as size. Yes, size matters. Big is beautiful, and thin is in. This week’s news captures announcements on both of these fronts from Sharp (thin) and Planar (big).

John DiLoreto
Analyst and Editor for
Insight Media

On Thursday, Sharp unveiled a new line of yet thinner LCD TVs that are just 1.35 inches thick. The new Aquos X series eclipses the 1.7-inch thickness of recent products from Hitachi as the thinnest LCD TVs commercially available. These TVs are clearly targeted at décor-conscious consumers with such features as an optional wireless link from the screen to the video source.

According to the Nikkei Business Daily, the X Series TVs will be launched March 1 in Japan in 37-, 42- and 46-inch models at prices expected to range from $3,300 to $4,500.

On the large side of things, domestic specialty display manufacturer Planar announced a ruggedized 70-inch LCD monitor. It’s not the first LCD this size. That credit goes to Samsung and Sony, both of whom sell a 70-inch flat panel for around $26K. In fact, Samsung has introduced an 82-inch model, which boasts an ultra high-definition resolution of 3840 x 2160.

The new Planar m70L claims to be the first high-definition commercial display of its size designed for industrial applications such as control rooms, video walls and digital signage.

However at CES, Samsung introduced a 70-inch LCD designed for digital signage that was named a 2008 CES Innovations Honoree, selling for $30K, the same price as the Planar display. We wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same panel that Planar is selling.

The Planar model includes such high-end professional features as built-in power management and automatic ambient backlight control, broad video source compatibility and resistance to image quality degradation to address the challenges associated with 24-hour operation in unpredictable environments. The bright (600-nit) display can also be used in either portrait or landscape orientation.

Planar will be unveiling the m70L at Integrated Systems Europe in Amsterdam, this month, and it will be available in February.

We’ve come to take it for granted that there is always something brewing on the flat-panel display front. But for all the things that we write about, we can’t get away from the obvious - that size matters…whether thin, or big.

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