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The TV preferred by four out of five evil geniuses

Erica Ogg Former Staff writer, CNET News
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur.
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Erica Ogg

Forget mirrors and liquid crystal on silicon. The future of rear-projection TVs might be all about "frickin' laser beams."

In Sydney on Tuesday, Aussie chipmaker Arasor International and Silicon Valley-based Novalux showed off what they're calling the first laser-projection TV. Mitsubishi built the prototype with Arasor's optoelectronic chip and Novalux's laser-projection device inside, and says it's expecting to sell the first models in December 2007.

Mitsubishi's prototype laser TV
Credit: Mitsubishi

Novalux predicts that this new technology will uproot plasma's dominance in the 40 inches and larger category of high-definition TVs because it will be half the price, consume less power and show more detail than standard plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs, according to News.com.au. More detail comes from more color--laser TVs will show 90 percent of the possible colors the human eye can pick up, according to Novalux.

and Samsung are working on similar technology. Though none have officially announced pricing yet, Novalux says TVs with its laser technology will sell for less than $1,000.

Even Dr. Evil would be impressed by that.