While the rest of the world goes cuckoo for LCD, Panasonic remains committed to plasma technology with a new plasma plant (their fifth) scheduled to begin operation in Japan in May, 2009. The plant will have the ability to mass-produce the massive pieces of "mother glass" required to manufacturer the 150-inch plasma flat panel we first saw in prototype form at CES and again this week at CEATEC in Japan. But Panasonic said they expect to begin production of the biggest ever flat panel TV later next year or early in 2010.
The new mother glass, which will measure in at nearly 150 inches wide and 83 inches tall, can provide the panel material for sixteen 42-inch flat panels or one whopping 150-inch set. But even 150 inches isn't large enough to meet Panasonic's long-term goals.
In their future technology demos at CEATEC Japan this week, Panasonic showed off their Life Wall concept television - a TV that takes up literally an entire wall of a house. Inset within the main screen can be multiple individual screens (for family members to enjoy different shows), each of which can follow around the individual as he or she moves about the room, getting smaller or larger as the individual approaches or moves away from the screen. These advanced technologies were simulated at CEATEC through the use of synchronized rear projectors but Panasonic's vision is to have a Life Wall made up of one continuous flat panel TV. And this is something that's not really feasible with plasma or LCD, though it may be possible with OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode).
So far, only Sony has released an OLED TV to the public, though theirs hardly qualifies as a mass market product - it's an 11-inch TV that sells for $2000. But in a private meeting with Panasonic executives at CEATEC, we learned that Panasonic is indeed at work experimenting with and researching the viability of OLED for large screen applications, although they do not expect this to lead to a commercial product until at least 2013. Until then, plasma, LCD and projection technologies will have to do.
