Philips’ prototype 100-inch LCD panel
Plasma TVs are not going to be the only big screens pushing the size barrier, as evidenced last week when Philips unveiled a prototype 100-inch (245cm) HD LCD TV at the Berlin IFA 2006 consumer electronics show.
While the Panasonic plasma that CNET.com.au saw at the CEDIA show at the Gold Coast in July still boasts a bigger screen size by 3 inches, the Philips LCD touts the company’s Ambilight Full Surround four-sided lighting technology.
Philips also unveiled its first Blu-ray disc player, the BDP9000 at the show. While it is capable of high-definition video playback in full 1080p glory, thankfully the BDP9000 is backward-compatible with older disc formats. It also features an advanced Java-enabled browser interface for ease of use and set-up.
Philips’ first Blu-ray player, the DBP9000
Samsung is scheduled to launch its Blu-ray player, BD-P1000 before Christmas and Panasonic plans to have its king-size plasma in Australia in early 2007, but Philips would not comment on the expected local availability of either its 100-inch LCD or Blu-ray player.