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$90,000 103in HDTV

Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon Apr 16, 2007 07:34 AM
from the just-a-little-excessive dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Found this review of Panasonic's 103in plasma. Not only is the screen itself massive, but the price tag comes close to $100,000! I guess if you can afford a room big enough to house it, you can afford the TV. "
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  • Commercial Products (Score:4, Informative)

    by redelm (54142) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:38AM (#18749087) Homepage
    This mostly looks like a commercial product for a convention hall or stadium. There are much bigger ones, usually based on discrete RGB LEDs. One local store has one about 15' (180") diagonal.

    • Convention Hall: maybe. Stadium, no.
      At 2:1 aspect ratio this comes in right around 8' X 4'. Not for big events.
      (a 103" diagonal is *very different from a 180)
      • Hey, you can always put them together in a grid style, to make them do wahtever you want.
        Most of the time when you go to a concert, thats what the large back screens are. If they are the RGB LED, they are individual panels that are about 4'*4' wide. If you can get signal to each of the screens, then you can make the array act any way you want.

        OSRAM is a manufacturer of light-bulbs, for the entertainment industry. They are releasing a super-bright LED this summer. Its supposed to be 1000 Lumens, which is th
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      What a waste.

      You could buy a Texas instruments DLP projector (the types you'll find in new digital movie theaters) for that price, not to mention the size of the screen would be capable of being much larger than 103"..
  • by Devil's BSD (562630) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:42AM (#18749119) Homepage
    Really, at that price, getting a $20,000 projector and setting up a rear projection screen system would be better. I mean, you could use the $70,000 saved to buy a handful of Blu-Ray(TM) DVD's!
    • by thegrassyknowl (762218) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:51AM (#18749199)

      I mean, you could use the $70,000 saved to buy a handful of Blu-Ray(TM) DVD's!

      Yeah, you could probably get one or two HD-DVDs and then get the change sued off you by the MPAA For watching them.

      I gotta say I like it - not so much because it's big and HD, but because it's unwieldy and thief-proof. Just imagine the poor schmuck who tries to steal it. Score one for Panasonic finally making a common-thief-proof TV. If this baby goes missing you can track down all the professional riggers and crane operators and find it in no time!

      • Well, obviously, such a huge display MUST be used for illegal public presentations of these movies. The good folks at the MPAA certainly can't allow THAT. Have we learned NOTHING from the noble efforts [respectcopyrights.org] of these fine people?
      • I gotta say I like it - not so much because it's big and HD, but because it's unwieldy and thief-proof.

        Don't count on it. A friend works in the big screen business, typically supplying kit for conference centres, office meeting rooms, public buildings, that sort of thing. A couple of years back, they installed a pretty huge screen, something like 15' IIRC. They finished work late one evening, and when they went in the following morning to set up some software to use it, someone had literally lifted the

      • I don't think any thief could steal a 36 inch CRT. Those things are heavy. Maybe if he brought a friend or 3. Still it's not something that is really worth their time, even if they do figure out a way to lift it.
        • Or shown up with a white van, a dolly, a clipboard, and a jumpsiut with a nametag on it.

          Campus police actually held the doors open and helped the guy load it in the van....
  • no speakers (Score:5, Funny)

    by maharg (182366) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:42AM (#18749121) Homepage Journal
    50 grand and it doesn't even come with speakers ? pah !

    Audio output power: N/A (line outs only)
  • The reviewer doesn't seem to mention whether he got to keep it or not...
    • Not sure about this TV, but some manufacturers seem to think that less than x% dead pixels means that it isn't defective. With a screen that large, it could have about 1000 dead pixels before it would even qualify. That's assuming it has more pixels than your standard 40 inch HDTV. Which I would hope so, lest those pixels be very huge.
      • Re:Dead Pixel! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by tverbeek (457094) on Monday April 16 2007, @08:49AM (#18749689) Homepage
        HDTV data only goes up to 1920x1080. Any more pixels than that and you're not adding anything to the picture quality, just duplicating or averaging existing data. A screen this large is simply overkill. Heck, you can get the same visual effect by sitting closer to your 40-inch screen.
  • by plasmacutter (901737) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:44AM (#18749135) Journal
    seriously, the plasma market is starting to remind me of the travel channel's luxury home shows ("more and more americans are buying homes like these".. yeah right)

    how about a bridge in the gap between teeny tiny (and way too expensive for that size), and "OMG XBOX HUEG" (and out of reach of the average person).

    the "cheap" models at walmart start at 900 and go up from there, and if you actually want color fidelity youre looking at a minimum 1500.

    how long have these flat tvs been on the market? i seem to remember them advertised 8 years ago, so where the heck are the AFFORDABLE ones!
    • seriously, the plasma market is starting to remind me of the travel channel's luxury home shows ("more and more americans are buying homes like these".. yeah right)


      And we thought the rest of the world hated us because of our freedoms. It turns out they actually believe the BS the media tells us is the American Way of Life.
    • by Colin Smith (2679) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:57AM (#18749245)
      They just wait for inflation to catch up.

       
    • I can't answer that, but I can guarantee you this: In less than five years, there will be at least one sob story in the media about a poor family struggling to get by, which receives some form of welfare, and which happens to own one of these things.

      Hell, we already have a story [ajc.com] (firstborn) about a family making $48,000/year in rural Georgia with a $327 monthly car payment on a car much newer than mine, qualifying for health care assistance.
  • The installers were testing the machine when their union mandated coffee break came up. By the time they punched their clock and returned to work, the test image of "PANASONIC" has been burnt in. So very sad....
  • when you go to radio shack, and for $19.95, you get a can of paint and some sort of gadget. you go home, stick the gadget to the wall (your interface), then paint a rectangular area on the wall next to the gadget. the paint consists of self-aligning chemicals that when dry, creates a television

    it really isn't far fetched nanotechnology, the requisite advances in semiconducting polymers means the concept is not that far off. since they already have electronic paper, liquid crystals displays are well established, and OLEDs are coming on the scene now, technologies getting close to the "paint your own tv" concept, chemically and technically at least, i really don't think this concept is that far off

    think about it: at the factory where they make OLEDs/ liquid crystal displays/ electronic paper, there is a fabrication process. that fabrication process merely assembles the requisite pixels into a proper grid. someone, somewhere, will make this process automatic, like crystallization/ polymerization, so all you need is for it to "dry" after applying it to a flat surface
  • It's hard for me to understand why anyone would actually shell out the ridiculously high sticker price for this thing considering that you can have a really excellent 103" front projection apparatus for no more than $20,000, and if you shop right or are willing to forego 1080p you can do it for under $10,000. Sure, you have to design the room it's placed in such that you reduce or even eliminate ambient light for optimum viewing contrast, but given how much you save from not getting the "My God, It's Full o

  • 220Kg? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gelfling (6534) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:49AM (#18749191) Homepage Journal
    Wow you can't hang that on a wall, unless you have a wall that can hang a refrigerator.

    Also, my 46" throws off a noticeable amount of heat. This unit might need some custom ventilation.
  • by UserChrisCanter4 (464072) * on Monday April 16 2007, @07:53AM (#18749213)
    a couple of things to remember here:
    1) $90,000 is the price after currency conversion and VAT (UK's 17.5% "Sales tax"). Without VAT, the TV is $78,000 in a pure currency converted price.
    2) This is only the price with a currency change. Some products don't fluctuate much, but many things are ridiculously expensive in the UK when compared against the same product in the US. Judging by the pricing on the UK Top Gear, for example, cars are often $10K-$15K more for the same product. Computers are a little more reasonable, but you can still find a huge difference. The 30GB iPod (US $250), for example, is $355 US dollars at today's rate.

    It is refreshing to see a jumbo plasma TV that isn't a low-res, corporate boardroom model, though. I only wonder how much juice this thing sucks down.
    • 1) $90,000 is the price after currency conversion and VAT (UK's 17.5% "Sales tax"). Without VAT, the TV is $78,000 in a pure currency converted price.
      Oh, that settles it then -- I'm going out to get one right now, I'll pay for it out of petty cash.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      It is refreshing to see a jumbo plasma TV that isn't a low-res, corporate boardroom model, though.

      You think it isn't low-res? I was quite depressed when I saw how few pixels they'd given it. At 103", 1920x1080 equates to a rather paltry 22dpi. I just don't understand why large screens can't at least have the same resolution as a decent monitor. I mean, I'm not expecting a 103" screen with 100dpi. But just being able to match, say, the number of pixels found on a Dell 30" monitor would be nice...

      • You think it isn't low-res? I was quite depressed when I saw how few pixels they'd given it. At 103", 1920x1080 equates to a rather paltry 22dpi.

        The would have added that CSI miracle-zoom-in technology that would make a higher pixel resolution a sensible option, but the royalties were too high.

    • How about these Premier League footballers they refer to... Can they compete with our U.S. NFL footballers, or they more along the lines of NFL Europe footballers?
  • by Nerdfest (867930) on Monday April 16 2007, @07:53AM (#18749215)
    I can sympathize: Comic [penny-arcade.com]
  • ..the remote control is the size and weight of a Volkswagen Beetle, so you'll want to do a few weeks of strength training in preparation for the inevitable fight over it.
  • by Bazman (4849) on Monday April 16 2007, @08:01AM (#18749283) Journal
    Risin' above the city, blocking out the noonday sun
    It dwarfs the mighty redwoods and it towers over everyone
    I still remember when that delivery truck came down our block
    What a lucky guy, I hear he got the last one in stock
    And the neighbors are just green
    They say, That's the biggest screen we've ever seen!

    It's Frank's 2000" TV (Frank's 2000" TV)
    Everbody come and see(Frank's 2000" TV)
    Frank's 2000" TV (Frank's 2000" TV)

      ( Weird Al Yankovic of course, http://www.whatarethelyrics.com/WEIRDALYANKOVIC/Fr anks2000.html [whatarethelyrics.com] )
    • by Megane (129182) on Monday April 16 2007, @09:44AM (#18750361)

      Quick math on Frank's TV: if it's 4:3, 2000 inch diagonal would be 1200 inches (100 feet) high. Widescreen 16:9 would be 720 inches, or 60 feet.

      Basically, Frank's TV is the size of a drive-in theatre screen.

      This post has been a public service of the Federal Useless Consumer Knowledge Statistics Department

  • That would be a nice replacement for my window.
  • Power Consumption (Score:4, Informative)

    by frostilicus2 (889524) on Monday April 16 2007, @08:05AM (#18749315)
    If you were wondering (this is Slashdot, after all), according to the manufacturers specs [panasonic.co.uk], this beast consumes 1500W (!) of power. Any ideas what a comparable CRT would consume?
  • Priceless? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Jugalator (259273) on Monday April 16 2007, @08:14AM (#18749367) Journal
    1. 103" HDTV Plasma: $90,000
    2. Ferrari car: $1,000,000
    3. Watching aftermath from a too frantic Wii car game: Priceless.
  • Sure it's great to have a big image, but if it's still 1920x1200, the quality is no better than my 24" screen on my pc. I'll be impressed when the pixels size remains the same and they add more of them to make the screen bigger. Also, where's my 300dpi lcd screens?
  • Japanese price (Score:4, Informative)

    by MZGuy (538887) on Monday April 16 2007, @08:32AM (#18749543)
    I saw a Panasonic 103" 1080P TV when I was in Japan in the end of March. According to the price tag it was named TH-103PZ600, and cost 5,600,000 Yen, which would be about 47000 USD. I have a photo of the price tag right here [flickr.com] if you want to look for yourself. With that kind of outrageous difference in price, I'd go get it from Japan if I were in the market for that TV.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      "With that kind of outrageous difference in price, I'd go get it from Japan if I were in the market for that TV."

      Not to rain on your parade, but this may not be entirely practical with a 103" Television. I can foresee a whole host of problems that the mega-rich which this is marketed towards, may rather want to pay $40000 to avoid. I assume the US price, like the UK price, also comes with a whole team of professional installers, cranes and the like.

      From the review the television is 220 kilograms or 350 kg i
  • by centauricw (950113) on Monday April 16 2007, @09:02AM (#18749827)
    Plasma screens are only rated for 3600 hours of viewing time before they deteriorate below spec and the manufacture won't replace the glass. Based on this, we computed that you loose $0.41 a minute watching this set.
  • by llZENll (545605) on Monday April 16 2007, @09:35AM (#18750261)
    1) Buy a 50" plasma and sit closer!

    2) Buy 4 42" plasmas for each person in your family so everyone can sit closer.
  • I've seen one of these in person and played around with it a bit, so I guess I'm pretty much obliged to comment...

    Yes, it is ridiculously huge, just bit over 2.6 metres from corner to corner.

    It's also not a TV, it's just a monitor. From what I was told it takes both VGA and DVI inputs, and it has an RS232 port for controlling brightness etc.

    HD looks great on it, the colours are good, and you can easily view it from almost 90 degrees to the side without any real loss of color or contrast. Then again, you really have to be at least 3 or 4 metres away from it to be able to see the whole image comfortably.

    There are 12 (yes, twelve!) fans on the back of it to provide cooling, which I guess you need every bit you can get of, considering the monitor uses 1500 watts when in use.

    I think their target market is high-end home cinemas, but at that price and at that power usage, I would think an HD projector would be more economical. The monitor is useful in daylight though, you can't really say that for most projectors.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Area Man, is that you? [theonion.com]

      I mean seriously. You came all the way to an online forum, clicked on a link to a story about TVs, and took the time to post a comment about how you don't watch TV. ?!?!?