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Here is the entire article for those that can't get into the NYT site:
Hugh
April 3, 2006
Mitsubishi Harnesses Colored Lasers to Produce New-Generation Lightweight
HDTV
By MICHEL MARRIOTT
As if shopping for new flat-panel, high-definition television is not hard
enough, Mitsubishi is scheduled to announce this week that it has developed
commercial television that uses colored lasers to display bright, deep
images on large, thin, lightweight screens - surpassing images seen on
film.
The television sets, which Mitsubishi is calling the first of their kind,
are expected to reach stores sometime late next year.
At the heart of the first generation of this new television is an existing
rear-projection technology called digital light processing. In the past,
this technology, developed by Texas Instruments, used white-light mercury
lamps as the television's light source. With laser television, separate
red,
green and blue lasers are used in conjunction with an HDTV chip, said Frank
DeMartin, vice president for marketing and product development at
Mitsubishi.
He and Mitsubishi engineers said this provided a new look in large-screen
units, signaling a move to lighter, slimmer profiles for rear-projection
television. In terms of performance, Mr. DeMartin said, laser television
promises a greater range and intensity of colors. He said the new sets
would
be made with compact, sculptured cabinets and remain relatively light
because the screens would be advanced plastics rather than the glass common
in plasma television flat-panel units.
The screens will be so lightweight that the need for frames will be
significantly lessened, Mr. DeMartin added. This will give the television a
cleaner, practically all-screen look.
Its lighter weight, about half that of plasma models with comparable screen
sizes, will also have a smaller footprint, he said. For example, a 50-inch
plasma or L.C.D. television requires stands up to 17 inches deep to rest
securely, Mr. DeMartin said.
Laser television technology is not new. For years, engineers have
experimented in laboratories and research centers, seeking to illuminate
television images with lasers. But the most optimistic outlook had been for
laser television to be available in two to three years. Power and costs
were
barriers to bringing the technology to the marketplace.
But Marty Zanfino, the director of product development for Mitsubishi, said
those issues had been resolved, resulting in large-screen laser television
that is expected to be competitively priced with plasma television in sizes
of 52 inches and larger.
Mr. DeMartin said laser television would use about a third the power of
conventional, large-screen models that depend on high-power lamps. In such
television, he said, the lamps are required to be on at full power whenever
the sets that use them are on. But Mitsubishi's new lasers, which are based
in semiconductors, turn on and off when needed. For example, Mr. DeMartin
said, when black is required in an image - still a challenge for some
plasma-based television - the laser switches off.
These solid-state lasers, he added, will greatly outlast lamps. As a light
source, he said, they are practically "permanent," meaning that the lasers
should last for the set's lifetime.
A 52-inch model of the Mitsubishi laser television is scheduled to be
demonstrated when the company shows its new lines on Friday in Huntington
Beach, Calif. Mitsubishi is showing the new product at a time consumers are
expressing interest in high-definition, flat-panel units.
Industry statistics show that consumers in the United States are buying
large display television at twice the pace they did three years ago.
Mitsubishi executives said Americans were buying five million
high-definition television units a year, urged on by increased
high-definition programming, the move to high-definition video consoles
from
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, and high-definition DVD players coming to
market.
But unlike old technologies based on the cathode-ray tube, or C.R.T., which
remained basically unchanged for decades, flat-panel television is
continuing to evolve rapidly.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Toshiba and Canon
demonstrated their jointly developed S.E.D. (surface-conduction
electron-emitter display) televisions, new flat-screen units that
essentially combine the best of C.R.T. emitter technology with digital
flat-panel technology. The two companies recently postponed their
introduction until next year.
"It's a story of complexity," Ted Schadler, a Forrester Research analyst,
said of the dizzying array of choices prospective buyers face. He said
there
were more technologies, more shapes and sizes and more competing
manufacturers' agendas.
While he said the S.E.D. and laser television technologies had
"characteristics that are extremely interesting," he warned that consumers
and retailers were going to have to do their homework as the flat-panel
choices grew more complex.
"Television used to be very, very simple," he said. "You bought a big one
or
a small one that was black and white or color."
That has all changed, Mr. Schadler said. "Now we've got complexity like
buying real estate or buying a car or something," he said. "It's just
gotten
tremendously complicated."
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Here is the entire article for those that can't get into the NYT site:
Hugh
April 3, 2006
Mitsubishi Harnesses Colored Lasers to Produce New-Generation Lightweight
HDTV
By MICHEL MARRIOTT
As if shopping for new flat-panel, high-definition television is not hard
enough, Mitsubishi is scheduled to announce this week that it has developed
commercial television that uses colored lasers to display bright, deep
images on large, thin, lightweight screens - surpassing images seen on
film.
The television sets, which Mitsubishi is calling the first of their kind,
are expected to reach stores sometime late next year.
At the heart of the first generation of this new television is an existing
rear-projection technology called digital light processing. In the past,
this technology, developed by Texas Instruments, used white-light mercury
lamps as the television's light source. With laser television, separate
red,
green and blue lasers are used in conjunction with an HDTV chip, said Frank
DeMartin, vice president for marketing and product development at
Mitsubishi.
He and Mitsubishi engineers said this provided a new look in large-screen
units, signaling a move to lighter, slimmer profiles for rear-projection
television. In terms of performance, Mr. DeMartin said, laser television
promises a greater range and intensity of colors. He said the new sets
would
be made with compact, sculptured cabinets and remain relatively light
because the screens would be advanced plastics rather than the glass common
in plasma television flat-panel units.
The screens will be so lightweight that the need for frames will be
significantly lessened, Mr. DeMartin added. This will give the television a
cleaner, practically all-screen look.
Its lighter weight, about half that of plasma models with comparable screen
sizes, will also have a smaller footprint, he said. For example, a 50-inch
plasma or L.C.D. television requires stands up to 17 inches deep to rest
securely, Mr. DeMartin said.
Laser television technology is not new. For years, engineers have
experimented in laboratories and research centers, seeking to illuminate
television images with lasers. But the most optimistic outlook had been for
laser television to be available in two to three years. Power and costs
were
barriers to bringing the technology to the marketplace.
But Marty Zanfino, the director of product development for Mitsubishi, said
those issues had been resolved, resulting in large-screen laser television
that is expected to be competitively priced with plasma television in sizes
of 52 inches and larger.
Mr. DeMartin said laser television would use about a third the power of
conventional, large-screen models that depend on high-power lamps. In such
television, he said, the lamps are required to be on at full power whenever
the sets that use them are on. But Mitsubishi's new lasers, which are based
in semiconductors, turn on and off when needed. For example, Mr. DeMartin
said, when black is required in an image - still a challenge for some
plasma-based television - the laser switches off.
These solid-state lasers, he added, will greatly outlast lamps. As a light
source, he said, they are practically "permanent," meaning that the lasers
should last for the set's lifetime.
A 52-inch model of the Mitsubishi laser television is scheduled to be
demonstrated when the company shows its new lines on Friday in Huntington
Beach, Calif. Mitsubishi is showing the new product at a time consumers are
expressing interest in high-definition, flat-panel units.
Industry statistics show that consumers in the United States are buying
large display television at twice the pace they did three years ago.
Mitsubishi executives said Americans were buying five million
high-definition television units a year, urged on by increased
high-definition programming, the move to high-definition video consoles
from
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, and high-definition DVD players coming to
market.
But unlike old technologies based on the cathode-ray tube, or C.R.T., which
remained basically unchanged for decades, flat-panel television is
continuing to evolve rapidly.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Toshiba and Canon
demonstrated their jointly developed S.E.D. (surface-conduction
electron-emitter display) televisions, new flat-screen units that
essentially combine the best of C.R.T. emitter technology with digital
flat-panel technology. The two companies recently postponed their
introduction until next year.
"It's a story of complexity," Ted Schadler, a Forrester Research analyst,
said of the dizzying array of choices prospective buyers face. He said
there
were more technologies, more shapes and sizes and more competing
manufacturers' agendas.
While he said the S.E.D. and laser television technologies had
"characteristics that are extremely interesting," he warned that consumers
and retailers were going to have to do their homework as the flat-panel
choices grew more complex.
"Television used to be very, very simple," he said. "You bought a big one
or
a small one that was black and white or color."
That has all changed, Mr. Schadler said. "Now we've got complexity like
buying real estate or buying a car or something," he said. "It's just
gotten
tremendously complicated."
To unsubscribe please click: [email protected]
To receive the digest mode (one email a day made from all posted that same day) send an email to:
[email protected]