Will the TV of the future run on lasers?

Different companies are tinkering with ways to improve the picture quality and reduce the size of TVs. Canon and Toshiba have made a big bet on a technology called SED, where nanoparticles deliver electrons to the screen. Texas-based Applied Nanotechnologies is working on a similar idea. Philips is looking at 3D TV and more prevalent use of light emitting diodes.

In the labs at Sony, researchers are looking at lasers, according to Stan Glasgow, president and COO of Sony Electronics America.

"The laser would be a light source to project the image," he said. Lasers would also be resolution neutral: The picture could be shrunk or blown up.

A lot of issues will need to be worked out. Cooling is one problem. "It's not ready for consumers. We've done it on a 60-foot screen," he said.

Still, it could work. Lasers are coming down in price and companies are figuring out ways to reduce power consumption.

In the near term, Sony will concentrate on expanding the size of its LCD TVs--a 52-inch LCD is coming out soon--and changing the design of its rear-projection TVs. Rear-projections are now a minimum of 18-inches wide. By the end of next year, Sony hopes to shrink that to between 10 and 12 inches, with a new optical system, he said.