The World's Thinnest TVs
First they got flat, then they got big, and now, with nowhere else to go, TVs are getting thin, thin, thin! At least that's the trend we're extracting from all of the ultra-slim TVs on display at CEATEC, the annual Japanese consumer electronics show we're currently checking out in Tokyo. Take a look at the above-pictured Hitachi super-flat 32-inch LCD-TV prototype, which, at just .72-inches thick, makes the average flat-panel TV look like huge slab of thickly-cut meat (or something like that). After all, .72-inches thick is more like a cell phone than a TV, in terms of thickness.
But Hitachi, which unveiled its super-thin prototype to the public today for the first time, isn't alone in the ultra-flat-panel game. Thin LCD TVs are also on display from Sharp (52-inch TV that's .78-inches thick), JVC (42-inch TV that's only 1.4-inches thick, pictured, right), and even Fujitsu, which can only mean one thing: That even flatter panels are on their way to your local Best-Buy-Circuit-City-Fry's within the next five years. You can even throw Sony's groundbreaking 22-inch Organic Panel, a .12-inch thin portable display that uses OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode Technology). Though shown in prototype form at places like CES, the Organic Panel in its more-or-less ready-to-ship version is being shown here in Tokyo for the first time. And it's actually coming out, in Japan, anyway: The set will be in stores on December 1st for around $2500, which is a lot for a 22-inch TV. That said, we are blown away by the rich colors and crisp, 1,000,000-to-1 contrast ratio that the OLED screen brings to this widescreen wonder. The Little flexible arm that lets you adjust the screen's position is a nice detail, too, in that nifty, Sony-gadget way.
We took a bunch of pictures, but since we wanted to show you some other TVs in this post, check out Engadget's gallery on the Sony Organic Panel.
Now, does the new you-can-never-be-too-thin TV trend mean you should wait before you buy that flat-panel? Not at all -- all the TVs we mentioned are prototypes, so we don't know when they'll actually come out for real. (Regardless, when they come out, they will be pricey). Only the Sony Organic Panel is actually coming out in Japan-only, and it's expensive.
It's likely some of these TVs will be the star of the CES Show come January, but the earliest any of these models (other than the Sony) come out would be late next year, so we're betting it'll be a good half-decade before these are even remotely affordable for the rest of us.
In the meantime, we're gonna keep dreamin' about 'em!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Graham Jones said 3:13AM on 1-17-2009
These TV sets look fantastic. I want one.
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Neil Ball said 3:16AM on 1-17-2009
I want one of these.
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http://www.digitaldirect.co.uk
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mike freeman said 3:36PM on 10-02-2007
i had a statistics professor, dr. brown, at the ohio state university, who told our class in 1973, if the car changed our society by 10-fold, then the computer will change things by 100,00-fold. he told us we hadn't begun to see what computers will mean to us.....he was right, wasn't he?
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mike said 10:35AM on 10-03-2007
First!
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Charles Carter said 4:32PM on 10-02-2007
In the 1980s ,I made the obversation tht I thought that one day they would have TV screens so thin you would be able to hang them on wall. Everyone said there was no way to make afunctional TV tube that thin. I expressed my confidence in our scientists to come up with a new technology to enable that. I relly didn't think thew would do it near assoon as they have. If they ever come up with an ambient temperature super-conductor look out. The technology leap will resemble the advent of the micro chip. They will come up with one that will be functional in the colds of space first which will be significant.
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Stacey said 4:38PM on 10-02-2007
Great! Forget about curing cancer or AIDS, Build a thinner TV! What imbeciles!!!
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BlogPassion said 5:01PM on 10-02-2007
The televisions are really nice and contemporary. Beautiful.
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jojo said 5:19PM on 10-02-2007
any need??????????
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G.L. said 7:04PM on 10-02-2007
The thin T.V.s are super cool and all,but the only negative side to them is that their slim-line design makes them a piece of cake to steal for a thief wanting to make a fast get-a-way.
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JUSTSAYNO said 7:31PM on 10-02-2007
Went you can roll it up than talk to me.
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USox said 8:10PM on 10-02-2007
"Stacey says:
Great! Forget about curing cancer or AIDS, Build a thinner TV! What imbeciles!!!"
Whos the imbicile Stacy?
These technolgy beds CREATE the technologies we eventually use to make Cures and stuff.
You just called YOURSELF an imbicile... really.
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yazoh said 8:15PM on 10-02-2007
nice. But what about the remote? Does this mean that the people on the tv are thinner too. It really comes down to one thing size does matter at least that is what she said.
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robb said 8:27PM on 10-02-2007
You can most definitely hang these bastards on the wall EASILY, which is more than what you can about their obese cousins wanna-be-wall-hanging-units we have in our living rooms currently!
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DAN said 9:30PM on 10-02-2007
ONLY A SUCKER OR SOMEONE WITH MORE MONEY THAN BRAINS WILL BUY THE FIRST ONES ON THE MARKET
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bob said 11:19PM on 10-02-2007
gotta die of something,probably not from a thin tv.don'tcha think or do ya
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Richard P. Gunion said 1:18AM on 10-03-2007
Probably the thin TV's have good color. I just hope they are lighter than tube and plasma sets right now. It would make moving a lot easier. Last time I hauled a 26 inch tube set up to our condo I nearly broke my back.
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performance said 1:21AM on 10-03-2007
samsung has an lcd screen 0.82 mm thick.
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Me said 1:41AM on 10-03-2007
I'm an electronics junky, but I just can't get excited about an even thinner TV. My plasma still amazes me and I'm thrilled that for once, there's something new (possibly) coming out and I'm not drooling over it.
At this point, I still sit with my mouth hanging open everytime I watch a DVD on my TV - so for once, I'm content - but don't tell my husband...I don't want him to get used to it.
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Joe C. said 2:39AM on 10-03-2007
What's the big deal? I'm looking at my laptop's 17" LCD screen right now and it's not even 1/2" thick. How hard can it be to make a 32" screen that thin?
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Kelly James said 4:32AM on 10-03-2007
Another imbecile here to tell you... SO WHAT....
AND technology will NEVER cure cancer. They can't even cure the common cold. Modern medicine only wants more expensive gizmos and by the way have you noticed that more and more NEW
drugs are causing terrible problems and lawsuits.
The SAFE drugs were put here by NATURE, they are illegal because big PHARMY can't make dough that way. Man will never surpass the natural plant derived drugs. But NO.... that is too........... simple......and too........ INEXPENSIVE.
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