If you have to ask yourself “how big is too big?” in the world of television, you really don’t want to be paying attention to the upper echelons of screen real estate these days.
At the IFA 2006 trade show in Berlin, Philips is giddily showing off its 100-inch Ambilight HD FlatTV LCD panel. The prototype unit uses a new four-sides version of Philips’ ambient lighting technology to bring a “new, transformational dimension to watching TV.” The idea is to enhance viewing by matching the the color and brightness of the screen’s ambient lighting system to the images displayed on the screen. Watching something bright with lots of colors? Your ambient light will re-enforce the image. Dark, brooding film noire? Ambient light scales back, dims, and gets creepy. Philips is ratcheting up the ambient quotient now with Ambilight Full surround, which projects ambient light on all four sides of the television set, and Ambient Light Surround which beams light out three sides of the set. Just be sure there’s a nice, neutral-colored surface behind the television.
(Right—like you’re going to notice ambient lighting while tanning in front of a 100-inch screen.)
In the meantime, Panasonic is apparently getting tired of dragging its world’s-largest 103-inch plasma set around to all the trade shows and is making good on its threats to offer the full 1080p monsters for sale. Today they named a price: $80,000—not counting installation. Availability is still set for early 2007.
