Samsung shows off 54-inch flat screen telly

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS is today showing off what it claims is the world's first 54" TFT LCD screen. The company will introduce the new mega screen at CeBIT in Hangover, tomorrow.

Samsung says the product is the largest-screen TFT LCD available for TVs. It says it has at least twice as many pixels built in as any current PDP model over 50 inches. The company introduced a 46-inch TFT LCD panel last October, but says that, with over 6.22 million pixels, its 54-inch model boasts 2.25 times the resolution of that model.

Samsung claims numerous breakthroughs in the development of the bigger screen, including an improved liquid crystal viewing angle and better colour reproduction. The company also says it has developed new driver technology to achieve ultra fast liquid crystal response times. The RGB (red, green, blue) pixel configuration is 1,920 across by 1,080 rows high, for a total of 6,228,000 pixels. Its 1,080 progressive scanning lines capture 60 frames per second, and Samsung claims this the best resolution available, as other wall-hanging TVs scan 720 lines at 60 frames per second.

The 54-inch screen is built using a 1,100mm by 1,250mm glass substrate, produced on Samsung's newest 5G line that was started up in September. The company hopes to lead the market for flat-screen TVs which is expected to expand rapidly beyond 2003. And the company already has plans for a 7th-generation line to kick off in early 2005.

Samsung says mass production of 46- and 54- inch wide screens is scheduled to begin next year. µ