LCD screen hit 100 inches; Plasma screens to become signs

Plasma screens are going big, according to Takeshi Uenoyama, director of the advanced technology research laboratories at Matsushita Electric.

Fujitsu has developed plasma tube arrays that are flexible and large and appropriate as large signs, he said at the Society for Information Display, an annual gathering of display scientists, taking place in San Francisco. A display with 1000 pixels by 700 pixels measures three meters by two meters. A 2000 x 1000 pixel display measures six meters by three meters.

Although competitors, Matsushita and Fujitsu are allies in promoting plasma technology. In the home, plasma TVs are not growing nearly as fast as LCD TVs. Plasma manufacturers, however, assert that they have eliminated the problems with power consumption and other issues that surrounded their technology. Matsushita will produce 5 million plasmas in its third generation factory in Amagasaki this year, up from 3.5 million.

The LCD camp, of course, isn't sleeping. Bock Kwon, vice president and chief marketing and sales officer at LG.Philips, showed off a 100-inch LCD screen at the show, the world's biggest. Traditionally, plasma screens are bigger, but the record for plasmas sits at 103 inches diagonally.

"The dream of a 100-inch LCD screen is now a reality," he said.