09 Jun 2003 08:36
Korean electronics giant Samsung has launched a massive 40-inch LCD display which will go head-to-head with plasma screens, the traditional kings of the wall-mounted flat-screen world.
The Syncmaster 403T TFT LCD is the largest LCD display yet to go on sale, claims Samsung.
Rival firm LG Philips has announced that it will launch 42- and 52-inch LCD displays later this year, and both Samsung and LG Philips have demonstrated prototype 52-inch LCD displays.
The widescreen-format 403T (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) is designed to be a wall display and will compete with plasma displays in that niche.
Plasma and LCD displays have traditionally occupied different segments of the market, but LCD panels have been creeping up in size, as makers invest in factories that can handle ever larger glass substrates, the underlying frame of the panel.
AT $8,115 (£4,950), the 403T costs several thousand dollars more than a 42-inch plasma display, but with a 1280x768 pixel resolution, it can offer sharper images and text than a plasma, making it better suited for business presentations, according to Samsung. As it is designed to be wall display, its resolution falls far below that of 20 or 21-inch displays functioning as desktop PC monitors.
A widescreen plasma display that cost around $6,000 today can go up to a 1024x1024 pixel resolution, with less expensive ones producing a 1024x768-pixel image.
The Syncmaster 403T also supports the RS-232C communications protocol, a standard for connecting serial computer devices, so multiple displays can be controlled remotely.
The new LCD display measures 974 mm x 674 mm x 29 mm, weighs 26kg and supports up to 16.7 million colors.
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