advertisement

Ask CNET Asia

Find Products

  • Brand
  • Price
  • TV type
  • Diagonal screen size
  • Filter »

Editors' Top 5s

CNET Features

 
 Print    Email     Bookmark     Share

Laser TV unveiled in Australia

By Jeremy Roche, CNET.com.au
Oct 12, 2006

Optoelectronics manufacturer Arasor and laser specialist Novalux have unveiled a working laser TV prototype in Sydney on Tuesday, a modified 52-inch Mitsubishi WD-52627 using Arasor's optical chips and lasers to drive the display.

Compared to LCD or plasma TVs, the benefits of rear-projection laser televisions are twice the color range reproduction, 75 percent less power usage and half the weight of similar-sized sets, according to Novalux CEO Jean-Michel Pelaprat. For the demonstration, 1080p high-definition video was simultaneously played through the prototype laser TV and a 52-inch Samsung plasma, both featuring 1,920 x 1,080-pixel native resolution displays.


Mitsubishi "Laser TV" (left) and Samsung plasma (right).
(click for more information)
Our impressions of the laser TV were that colors certainly seemed extremely vivid. We did notice some color bleeding between the red and magenta bars in test patterns during the demonstration and a "Rainbow Effect" similar to some DLP rear-projection units. Pelaprat told CNET that the color wheel had been taken out of the prototype TV and that Mitsubishi and other manufacturers will have eliminated this flaw when commercial sets are released. As it is a rear-projection set, the laser TV was much thicker than the Samsung panel, but Novalux expects release units to come down in size to between 100 and 150mm deep.

"Laser televisions will be in shops in time for Christmas 2007," Pelaprat said, but declined to comment on availability in specific markets. Pricing has yet to be confirmed but Novalux estimates a 65-inch model will cost around S$2,950, significantly less than a similar-sized plasma.

Another next-gen flat-panel display technology called SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) is also expected to debut at that time, according to Canon and Toshiba.

Las Vegas is set to become the battleground for the competing technologies with Pelaprat claiming that eight of the top consumer electronics manufacturers will be showcasing laser TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Mitsubishi and Samsung are as yet the only confirmed manufacturers introducing laser technology into televisions, but Novalux is also working with Epson to produce high-definition front projectors.

Similar light engines are also being developed for use in mobile phones, camcorders, PDAs, PCs and car windshield displays.

 

 

    Talkback
There are currently no comments for this story.
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
advertisement