Laser TVs unveiled – set to make plasma screens obsolete

11 Oct 06 01:50 by Seán Byrne in category Uncategorized To news archive

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With the
recent launch of both the Blu-ray and HD DVD players, along with HD terrestrial,
cable and satellite broadcasts becoming widespread in some countries, there is a
very strong growth for large high definition televisions. However, if one
still has plasma on their mind but has not bought one yet, it may be worth
holding back for now with the recent announcement of Laser TV technology by a
new Australian company Arasor International and its US partner Novalux.

According to the company Arasor, laser TV has
several big advantages over plasma and LCD of equivalent size, including half
the price, weight and depth as well as one quarter the electricity usage of a
plasma set equivalent. Arsor also produces the optoelectronic chip
that runs the laser projection device. Unlike typical sets only produce
around 30% to 35% of the colours a human eye can see, laser TV will be the first
to bring this figure to 90%, making images more real to life looking. A
Laser TV prototype set up next to a 50″ plasma shows a clearer and brighter
image to the plasma.

A worldwide launch is expected for the holiday
season of 2007 including models from Mitsubishi and Samsung and will aim to
compete with TVs from 40″ up, potentially making it a very strong competitor
against Plasma, which typically starts at 42″. This technology is also
being tested as a means of front projection, such as a competitor to current
technology used in home theatre and cinema projectors.

src="http://www.cdfreaks.com/contentimages/newsimages/1365520161" align=right border=0> IT’S being hailed by its developers as the next revolution in visual technology – a laser television that will make plasma screens obsolete.

Soon-to-be-listed Australian company
Arasor International and its US partner Novalux unveiled what they claimed
to be the world’s first laser television in Sydney today, with a pitch
that it would be half the price, twice as good, and use a quarter of the
electricity of conventional plasma and LCD TVs.

Manufacturing company Arasor produces the
unique optoelectronic chip central to the laser projection device being
developed by Silicon Valley-based Novalux, which is being used by a number
of television manufacturers.

If this technology uses a similar technique to a CRT
display, but scanning lines with a laser instead of with an electron beam,
hopefully there will not be a noticeable flicker as it is unclear how quickly it
draws each frame at. At least unlike plasma and LCD displays, dead pixels
should be a thing of the past, however if the laser fails, obviously the whole
picture will go out like the burned out bulb in a projector.
Unfortunately, it is not clear at this time what its life expectancy will be, if
there are any viewing angle restrictions and what will be the typical maximum
resolution.

Feel free to discuss about Laser TV and other large high definition TV
technology on our target=_new>Satellite, HD-TV, Blu-ray and HD-DVD
Forum.

Source: c|net News – Australia

15 Comments

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5757; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 02:24

Can you hang it on a wall like a plasma? If so, I am very interested in this tech! According to the article, this thing has 90% of alll color that the eye can see. My plasma only has 35%. Yet it looks great. I would sure like to see one of these things demonstrated. :X

jwill427: Posts: 1320; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 02:43

where do I sign :S

FidelC: Posts: 987; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 02:49

DETAILS!!!:S Sounds promising to me. I guess u dont need vacuum to shoot a laser beam, unlike traditional CRT electron beam. Thats what will make it cheaper and more compact than CRT. (hope my theory is right). Besides if a Prototype looks better than regular plazma, then its very promising. Where do I pay again?

liking the power consumption!
[edited by FidelC on 11.10.2006 02:51]

ivid: Posts: 505; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 04:43

It sure won't be cheaper than competing technology if its thinner, lighter and has better picture & colors. The new s*it is always expen$ive !

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 06:07

it sounds like a led tv on steroid; instead of just showing the active screen, it shoots laser powerful enough to be projected on the bigger screen this sort of thing isn't really new, but they came out sooner than i expected. they can certainly compete on larger screen size with lcd/plasma, but i am not sure whether they can produce high brightness as it isn't easy to make 1080p arrays of laser diode cheaper than lcd or plasma. it is certainly possible that the laser diodes are made out of orgnaic materials which are not certainly durable (a problem that needs to be overcome before oled tv can be sold widely) i would bet on lcd for now

Shadowman69: Posts: 155; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 08:47

I hope that due to an accident the laser cannot go out from the screen and hit you directly between your eyes! :B

johnhamler: Posts: 195; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 13:01

with laser, u can project the laser on anythig you would like and have the size you want. this is the futur in 3-5 years , with a cheap color laser, u can use for cinema, for home, back and front projector at any distance you want and get a screen bigger than a building. th laser is so much more powerfull and accurate than any technik seen so far will disapear and go for laser and give up dlp,lcd, and plasma... life expectance can go up to 20000h.

Saruman: Posts: 476; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 13:32

Shadowman69, That will only be available in the 3-D model where you will be able to join in the action of your favorite sci-fi movie. :B

Seán: Posts: 7615; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 13:44

While this is unlikely to happen with an integrated laser system (unless someone tries dismantling the TV with it switched on), accidents like this are bound to happen with a laser driven front projection system! For example, I’m sure there will be someone out there who will end up testing their newly purchased laser driven projector and pointing it at a wall containing a mirror or other highly reflective object, not realising the potential consequence. http://club.cdfreaks.com/images/smilies/6/eek.gif Worse still, if someone decides to use their living room with a laser driven projector for partying and ends up installing a disco ball between it at the screen, if they forget to take this mirror ball down after a party or not realise where they located it, they will surely get some surprise the next time they turn on their TV!

DukeNukem: Posts: 1360; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 15:29

You've got that right. However, I'd still like to give them my VISA card to put one on hold for me.

DukeNukem: Posts: 1360; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 15:41

What ever happened to OLED ??? January 2005 - Samsung has 21" OLED display May 2005 - Samsung has 40" OLED display October 2006 - Nuthin' WTF? When can I get one?

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 11 Oct 06 18:50

i thought they were going to be release between late 2006 to fall of 2007 problem with oled is the durability as o stands for oranic material which can be spoiled by water & oxygen, so that not only the display itself won't last long, it will have limited storage time if someone can come up with the solution, oled screen would be great btw, since the laser diode is freaking expensive especially the blue one, i think this laser tv is simply lcd/dlp/lcd on silicon projection tv with a laser light source instead of an ordinary light bulb btw, this laser could be used as a backlight on lcd screen just like a led backlight system which improves contrast

Wesociety: Posts: 5230; Posted on: 12 Oct 06 01:08

Sounds promising but I'll believe it when I see it... It appears to be at least 12 months away. It could possibly be 2 years before it is affordable and all the bugs are worked out. :X

CORRSA: Posts: 299; Posted on: 12 Oct 06 10:20

where's carbon tv gone ????? that looked real good

Electrox3d: Posts: 222; Posted on: 14 Oct 06 00:02

getting a bright blue laser was the hardest part. most blue lasers ended up being more of a violet, like the blue laser in blu-ray or HD dvd. A laser projector could project a perfectly sharp image on a mountainside, or a cloudy sky...

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