Panasonic's gigantic 150-inch plasma is official!
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jan 7th 2008 12:56PM
posted Jan 7th 2008 12:56PM
Although we got to see some pics of this beast under wraps, there's nothing like seeing it in person. The gigantic HDTV was unveiled at Panasonic's keynote today, with at least one surprise, this sucker is 4k! That's right, it is 4x 1080p, which we're sure looks awesome, but oh my where will the content will come from? Regardless, we have no doubt this thing will look sensational upconverting your 1080p HD movies.
That screen could fit a life-size baby elephant!
"where would the content come from"
answer - 4 2.5 inch CCD cameras with pixel-shifting technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4320p
The eighteen-minute uncompressed UHDV footage in the NHK demonstration consisted of 3.492 terabytes of data, with each minute requiring 194 gigabytes. In this format, an uncompressed two-hour full length UHDV movie would require 23.28 terabytes of data storage. However, using current MPEG-2 compression technologies, a UHDF video signal with a format of four times the width and four times the height of the current 1080p HDTV standard would require 16 times the bitrate, or 6 GB per minute, with a two-hour feature film requiring 720 GB.
I can has one?
4x1080p is just rediulous :\ still rockin' 420i
420? you mean 480?
He couldn't afford the other 60 pixels.
^hAHA
"upconverting your 1080p HD movies" - something just sounds so sacrilegious about that statement...
not to mention that it would be 480p - not 420i
I have a 70" 1080P TV. I'm ready for the next step... my entire wall being viewable!
JeffnLA: "I have a 70" 1080P TV. I'm ready for the next step... my entire wall being viewable!"
Forget what I said in the above post to boe. Are you looking to adopt?
I understand completely! I can't understand people who say oh that 50" in a 12' room is as big as I'll ever need - people have me install HT equipment all the time and I always have to struggle to get them to go 10" more. Within a few months they always say - "I should have gotten a larger set"
You guys suck we have a 42" (yes, FORTY TWO) plasma in our living room, and my mom says it's too big!! She wants to get something smaller!
I'm stoked they are working on HUGE screens. I'd be very happy if they used some of that technology to create a reasonbly priced 80" screen for those of us ready to upgrade from our 60-65" screens.
boe: "...upgrade from our 60-65" screens."
Are you looking to adopt?
Josef,
I'm not looking to adopt but friends are always welcome to come over and watch a movie - please bring your own date.
My 65" TV is about 6 years old- RPTV - mits - still looks fantastic (I tweaked it quite a bit) but I'd be happy to upgrade if there was something I could afford that looked at good in an 80" model. I didn't get the 72" RPTV because at the time the 65" looked much better. They've long since stopped making my type of TV but if you read the forums for only about $2,500 (back then now much less) it has one of the best pictures available but it is rather bulky. To get a great projector that compares in quality, I'd need about 30K - I've looked at a lot but most just don't look great to me. An 80" plasma could potentially look good and still be in a price range I could force myself to accept. If there was a decent 80" I could shuffle my old 65" into my bedroom and replace my old CRT. Little goes to waste at my place - everything eventually moves from the living room to the bedroom when I upgrade. My friends, family and the salvation army are usually happy to take whatever gets upgraded from the bedroom.
please how much will it cost me I NEED ONE
when i saw 4k, i was like....."i'm leaving the office for the day."
then i got what they meant and was like...."yeah, nevermind on that."
in my head, i was hoping PRICE MISTAKE, but in reality, i was fearing the elec bills. :)
ds
if it's size your after and you have any sort of moderatly light-controlled environment, why not go front projection?
i use a panasonic pt-ax100u (yeah it's 720 and not 1080) projector in my living room (custom built diy screen with some instructrions from the internets) and i get more than acceptable results with lights on or the shades open. oh yeah, it's also rockin at 110".
any decent plasma or lcd i was looking at cost just as much as the projector and definitately wouldn't have the coolness factor. on the downside, hosting all the superbowl/bcs/world series, etc, etc parties gets expensive! =)
I've got a video projector and 120" screen in my livingroom as well.
BEST
INVESTMENT
EVER!
Connected to my SageTV HTPC and using my WHS box for Storage gives me more entertainment possibilities than I can shake a stick at! (And at 120", that's a big stick!)
"this sucker is 4k! That's right, it is 4x 1080p"
mean.
Holy mother of jebis!!!
what would the height and width of such a tv like this be?
its 150 inches, and a ratio of 16:10; use pythagoris!
Wow. You know that thing is gonna cost $50K.
That'd be a bargain considering they want 80k for their 100" 720p version.
Be sure to figure in the construction costs associated with installation of this baby... I'm sure most of us would have to knock out a wall to get this in the house!!!
Uh, considering how much that would cost, you build a new house AROUND the TV, duh.
That is the sexiest thing I have ever seen up to date.
You must get out more.
no.
I want to see 7.5' tall, and this thing is only 6.5' before including the bezel.
It looks nice, but I won't be impressed until they show off 20-50 inch 4k displays for the home.
Isn't 4K = 4096x2160?
At least according to the info I have.
Perfect for showing your megapixel photos and REALLY expanded SD or even HD video. Awesome.
Hold up.
I just had a thought: If they put 4 tuners in this thing, next fall I could watch four football games at 75" 1080p (or 70" with a little gap between them) at the SAME TIME :D
the mind runs wild with possibilities.
Oh, the multitasking potential. Super Bowl, Call of Duty on my 360, Blu-Ray movie, and my PC each getting a quarter of the screen. I'm pretty sure I'd hit some sort of happiness limit at that point.
... but will it blend? That is the question!
i hope not. then again if you even have a blender that big you need to kill yourself.
ha
Interesting as a novelty I guess, but beyond that, a non-event IMO.
The closest you'd ever want to sit to a 52" set is 8-9 ft... and that's pushing it. Any set larger than that simply means you have to sit further away. Sure, lots of folks have larger rooms to do this, but what are you going to do... intentionally place your couch 30' away from a 150" plasma? Anything closer would be as stupid as having to settle for the front row seats after showing up late for a movie except with the added risk of retinal damage.
Point is, bigger is better (as any honest woman will tell you), but only up to a certain threshold. After that it's just plain painful :)
Actually THX recommends a viewing distance of 1.5-1.75x the diagonal. So you'd only need to be about 19' back, which is very doable for a lot of people. Especially those that could afford this TV. :-)
Wow... How heavy is this thing? and how are you gonna get it through the front door?
Where there's a will, there's a way.
If you can afford this, you can probably afford to just build a house around it.
You can probably only fit it through double doors house or take it through the back if you have a glass slide door.
lol it weighs about 500 lbs. DAAAAYYYAM!!!!! it can also fit through a door that is more than 6ft. high. DAAAAYYAM!!!!
You actually save money in the long run as this will heat your entire house.
(While taking up half the capacity of the power grid)
yeah, unless you live in Florida and it never gets under 60
Distance completely depends on your peripheral vision - that is why they have to fit for glasses. Don't believe that nonsense about the correct viewing distance that they tell you. Try for yourself - don't trust anyone who says one size fits all. Does everyone sit the same distance from their monitor on their PC - I don't think so.
is it energy star compliant...
This will go great with Toshiba's portable nuclear reactor you're going to need to power that behemoth of a TV
Fellas,
We are forgeting the most important question. When will porn come out in 4K? Brings a whole new meaning to POV.
(sorry, couldn't resist)
A valid question but I'll give what I believe to be a valid answer. While there are some nice projectors out there, the only ones I really like tend to go for about $30K - out of my price range. I also don't have my own house - I spend too much on electronics :) Further more most projectors make enough noise that if I did install one I'd have it in rear room or in a sound case which would take up too much space as I have low ceilings - I certainly don't have the floor space to put it there. So I doubt my apartment manager would be keen on my mounting a projector and running wires through the ceiling and walls.
There are a lot of great options for people with the space for projectors - just none that are right for me.
Your post reads like the wrong answer on a multiple choice reading comprehension test.
That said, I want a 4K laptop with a 17" screen.
That TV is bigger than my Manhattan studio apartment.
I thought the same thing, guess I'm just spoiled by my projector which cost me far less and still looks great.
I'm certain it would fit into my basement, anyone want to go help me steal it from CES? I don't think anyone would notice as we drove through the desert with that hanging out the back of the pickup.
That's a good price!
You are going to need a titanium wall mount just to keep it on the wall.
Titanium and steel actually have similar strengths, but titanium is much lighter, which isn't of that much importance with wall mounts < /anal>
Anyways.
I'm actually not all that impressed with this screen, given that it is probably just a one off; 4 75" panels bolted onto a rather large backlight. they might sell some to businesses, but for this size screen at home, a projector makes infinitely more sence.
Panasonic is another one of those corporations who thinks it's innovative.
Yes they are just as innovative as every other corportation that Overseas Outsources THEIR employees.
I should know because my entire division,
THE PANASONIC NATIONAL DIAGNOSTIC CENTER that used to be located in Langhorne (suburban Philadelphia) PA. was sold to The ITC GROUP INC of Newtown, PA and subsequently our jobs were outsourced to MANILA.
I will never buy another PANASONIC as long as I live and neither should you!
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but how much energy does this gadget consume? I only ask because the polar ice caps are melting at an unprecedented rate, polar bears and other wildlife are disappaering due to global warming, and if we don't stop consuming energy at our current rate, we will shortly do such damage to our environment that it will NEVER recover.
Along with user more efficient lightbulbs, and not using plastic bags when we shop, one thing we can all do to help is not invest in unnecessary technologies that are blatantly wasteful in their energy use.
And one thing sites like this could do is start being a bit more responsible toward our planet and our children, and include in technology reviews just how much energy products consume.
I thought I had a big Plasma with my Panny 103" that I had installed last year. I must get one of these. My wall still makes the 103" look small.
C'mon peeps, It's only 5" thick (give or take)... just wheel 'er right thru the front door (assuming your door is over 6.5 ft high... The trick is if you have to make a 90 turn down the hallway! And forget about the basement... unless its a walkout!