LCD TVs on a diet: Super-slim tellies hit Japan

By Michael Kanellos on 04 October 2007, 10:26am

Crave US: Sharp, Hitachi and JVC are taking the bulk out of large LCD televisions.

All three manufacturers are showing off LCD TVs at the Ceatec show in Japan this week with panels that are less than 25mm thick. The TV stand and the electronics add bulk, but the electronics can be put in the base of the stand or in a unit that connects to the TV wirelessly.

Hitachi had the thinnest. It showed off a 37-inch TV with a panel that measured only 19mm thick. Sharp showed off a 52-inch TV with a 20mm-thick panel. A typical thin LCD panel on the market today is around 50mm thick, according to Hitachi.

JVC's was the thickest of the three at 22mm, but the company also pointed out it will be selling its thin LCD TVs as early as spring 2008. The sets will start at 42 inches and get larger from there. Hitachi won't release its TV until 2009. Sharp has been vague about when it might launch its thin LCD.

All three manufacturers are being teasingly mysterious about how they accomplished their respective feats. Hitachi says it's the light source it's putting in the TV, although it won't say what the light source is. JVC is using a fluorescent light source, not LEDs, but it won't get more specific than that.

Everyone is also tweaking the performance of their TVs in other ways. JVC, for instance, showed off a technology for reducing image noise in LCD TVs. Software in the TV creates a 3D simulation of incoming images, then tweaks the 2D image it will display, using data from the 3D simulation to make a more accurate image.

Hitachi, meanwhile, said it will be making plenty of news at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The company wants to move upmarket in TVs by emphasising, among other factors, industrial design. -Michael Kanellos