Panasonic plasma TVs: Now with added Wii-proofing
Have you ever thrown a remote control or a Wiimote at your TV and done it some damage? If so, Panasonic thinks it has the answer.
At its 2008 product showcase in Valencia, Panasonic revealed that every year, literally some people manage to hurl their Wii controllers at their expensive flat panel TVs. Anyone who reads gadget sites will have read these tales of woe and possibly even seen the photos. The good news is that Panasonic has created a Wii-proof TV. Well, it's Wii-proof as long as you don't have the lobbing arm of a caber thrower.
You might think it seems daft to go to all that effort, but Panasonic didn't really have to change very much at all. Generally, plasma TVs do have a much more rigid screen anyway -- always with a tough glass front, unlike flimsy LCD panels. So making it resistant to more chucking force can't have been exactly rocket science.
The specially-treated panel does offer resistance of around 4 joules of energy. In case you don't know what a joule is, allow us to educate you. A joule is the unit of measurement for heat electricity and mechanical work. As a rough guide, 1 joule of energy is the amount needed to lift one small apple -- the fruit, not the MacBook Air -- straight up one metre. Joule, interestingly is exactly 107 Ergs, according to Wikipedia.
Panasonic also showed us an LCD panel that had endured the same treatment, and as you can imagine, it was truly messed up -- a fairly predictable outcome, if we're honest. If you've got a Wii and don't know how to hold onto things, perhaps this is the TV for you. -Ian Morris