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 1.1-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!
Yeah, I'm licking my chops, but, "wont be getting one of these bad boys any time soon". My day will come though.
Technology Rules,
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