ShinodaPlasma
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Shinoda's giant curved plasma weighs less than your father's first laptop
We've been keeping an eye on Shinoda Plasma's curved PTA (plasma tube array) technology since 2007. What started as a single 43-inch prototype grew to 125-inches in 2008. Now, Shinoda is showing off a 145-inch diagonal prototype consisting of six PTA panels stitched together in a 2-meter x 3-meter matrix. The 960 x 720 pixel resolution might not impress you until you consider the weight: just 7.2-kg (15.8-pounds) thanks to the slim PTA panels measuring just 1-mm thick. Impressive compared to 108-inch LCDs that weigh in at 196-kg (430-pounds) and the original Osborne 1 "laptop" that weighed 24.5-pounds. With any luck, these giant displays will be commercialized for signage so we can all simulate crushing motions with two hands.
Shinoda's 125-inch curved plasma to hit assembly lines by May, all 7.9-pounds of it
As showcase displays push to 150-inches and beyond, we won't blame you if you missed Shinoda's surprisingly lightweight (7.9-pounds) 125-inch curved plasma when it was first unveiled back in May. Especially since it manages a rather paltry 960 x 360 pixels from that trio of joined, 1-meter wide (1-mm thin!) flexible plasma panels. The fact that it's going production in April/May of next year is certainly notable, even if the first applications will be limited to digital signage. Baby steps, right?
Shinoda Plasma prepping 142-inch 720p "PTA" display for next year
It's never easy keeping track of the largest HDTV out there, and then there's all that display technology bickering to be done -- do outdoor LED displays count, or how about rear projection? Today's "largest" flavor of the week is this new 142-inch Plasma Tube Array from Shinoda Plasma. The good news is that this plasma-based bad boy boasts a 720p resolution, 1,000 nits of brightness and a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. The bad news is that the asking price is "several tens of million yen" (a few hundred thousand dollars), and the 3 x 2 meter display is composed of 1 x 1 meter squares that are slapped together on site. That cuts down shipping shipping costs, but means you're not going to get a seamless picture -- which is fine for most commercial applications that this thing is primarily built for, but does nothing for our Super Bowl plans. The display will start shipping in small quantities in 2008, with about 200 total planned for production.
