Got $70,000 to spare and a really big room? For that, plus another $10,000 for peripherals, you can own the world’s largest high-definition plasma TV: Panasonic’s 103-inch TH-103PF9UK.

It is, in a word, breathtaking: the kind of display that commands all eyeballs in the room, leaving everyone mesmerized. We got a look at this behemoth at Panasonic’s premiere event in Los Angeles today. It’s pretty darn nice – with a bunch of caveats.

First of all, it’s 1,920 x 1,086 pixels spread over a 89-inch wide x 50-inch high screen. Movies from a digital source – like “Ice Age: The Meltdown” – looked incredible: bright and crisp right down to the finest details of Scrat’s furry coat.

But movies transferred from film are another story: “Pirates of the Caribbean” look grainy and wan, lacking the color saturation plasma is known for. “Kingdom of Heaven” looked a lot better, but action scenes were still blurry as the screen struggled to keep up with rapid movement.

Panasonic, which also makes LCD displays, is heavily touting its array of plasmas, which inch-wise come in 37, 42, 50, 58, 65 and now 103. “We make the widest array of sizes for plasma TVs,” says Andrew Nelkin, Vice President – Display Group, Panasonic Consumer Electronics. “The majority of growth will be in the 50- to 58-inch segment of the market.”

In fact, Panasonic expects to sell about 100 of the 103-inch displays by Christmas and is projecting overall sales in the thousands – as opposed to the tens of thousands. After all, the model weighs a crushing 485 lbs. If you want it mounted, you have to reinforce the wall it’ll hang on, then spring for the special bracket system that itself weighs 420 lbs. and costs $4,500. Or, you can get a pedestal stand that weighs 150 lbs. and will set you back $5,000. Keep in mind, you’ll also need to hire an electrician; the display requires 240V AC.

Add Panasonic’s surround-sound system for $3,700 and its Blu-ray player for $1,299, and you have yourself one sweet home theatre setup.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 9:46 pm and is filed under HOME, TECH, HDTV, HOME THEATER, NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.