Sony, Sharp, and Hitachi out to cut your LCD power bill

Sony, Sharp, and Hitachi have joined forces with the goal of developing LCD television tech that will have displays sipping less than half the current juice by 2011. A recent CNET study shows that a typical plasma television uses 328 watts of power, whereas the average LCD uses 193 watts. By researching LED backlighting -- which also helps with expanded-range color reproduction -- and other energy-saving technologies, the companies hope to keep the costs of operating an LCD down as the sizes go up. And let there be no mistake, sizes will go up.

[beavertim @ Sep 14th 2007 2:29PM]

Could you provide the link to the CNET study? It is important to note that power consumption in a plasma television is not fixed like that in an LCD. Interestingly, if you watch a horror movie on your Plasma TV, you are likely consuming less power than watching Teletubbies. This is because horror movies are darker.

[Willen @ Sep 14th 2007 9:22PM]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-2.html

Look at the power numbers for the 60+ inch flat panels. Yikes! I wonder how the 103" Panasonic plasma would fare.

[Wesburl @ Sep 14th 2007 2:55PM]

Lol... Size matters...

[Andrew H. @ Sep 14th 2007 3:03PM]

you know what they say about big screens and low power...

[Silverfrog @ Sep 14th 2007 3:03PM]

This article brings up an excellent discussion topic. I wonder how much world-wide energy would be saved if consumers 100% adopted LCD over CRT. I know my Sony trinitron KV30HS420 30" consumes 280 Watts compared to a MUCH larger, Sony KDL-46S3000 46" LCD HDTV which consumes only 150 Watts. So, looking at >50% power reduction for similar size TVs will offer substantial power savings. And, reducing demand on power is where we need to be right now, with foreign oil dependence and rolling blackouts in the US region, due to overload conditions.

[J @ Sep 14th 2007 3:37PM]

I wonder how much world-wide energy would be saved if consumers stopped watching TV? It's not like there's any good programming anyways...

[JamesIsabella @ Sep 14th 2007 5:49PM]

Too right!

[tekdroid @ Sep 15th 2007 5:17AM]

great response. So true.

[WillyG @ Sep 14th 2007 6:52PM]

Heater eats up my power bill :(

[Jkswiss @ Sep 14th 2007 10:15PM]

Just a warning, those 42", 52" flat panels may look small while at Costco or Best Buy but you'd be surprised at how big they actually are once you get em into your house. There is such a thing as too big, especially in a small to medium sized room.

[paccoast2010 @ Sep 15th 2007 1:30AM]

So this BBC article on TV power consumption was right http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6266082.stm (graph at bottom)

I'll look into getting the new Panasonic rear-projection with the LIFI bulb, then.