Panasonic unveils high definition 42" plasma display

Offering what is claimed to be the industry's highest contrast ratio at 3000:1, Panasonic has debuted the high definition 42" diagonal TH-42PHD5UY Professional Plasma Display Panel.
The widescreen format TH-42PHD5UY offers 1024 x 768 pixel XGA progressive-scan resolution and is the first 42" plasma display to reproduce 1024 shades of gray in high definition to deliver smooth colour transitions in gradated areas.
The optional TY-42TM4D DVI interface allows for direct digital input of RGB signals, which doubles the number of grey shades that can be reproduced to 2,048, while also minimising distortion and sync problems common in conventional analogue data transfers.
The flat-screen 16:9 display features innovative picture-enhancing technologies - a Real Black Drive System, Advanced Plasma Adaptive Brightness Intensifier and Real Gamma Correction - to produce deeper, richer blacks, which contribute to the display's wide contrast ratio. Panasonic claim that the new Asymmetrical Cell Structure Panel improves the light-emitting balance of the three primary image-creating colours (red, blue, and green), allowing the display to reproduce purer whites while maintaining a high brightness level.
The display supports VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA and UXGA resolution computer graphics and DTV/HDTV signals in 1080p 24/psf/25/30, 1080i 50/60, 720p 60, 480p/i and 576 p/i. It also offers an expanded range of horizontal and vertical scanning rates (fH: 15.6 -110kHz; fV: 48-120Hz).
The display also automatically detects a 3:2 film-based source (24p video) to produce clear, smooth-flowing images with a detail level that closely approaches that of the film original.
Ideal as updateable digital signage or for a limitless array of multimedia presentation applications, this ultra-thin 3.5" display can produce a palette of 16.77 million colors and offers a viewing angle of 160 degrees. The TH-42PHD5UY offers three screen savers to minimize the risk of uneven phosphor aging.
The TH-42PHD5UY teams with Panasonic's iDVR Digital Video Replay servers (with built-in DVD-RAM drive) to provide HD content for audio-visual uses.
The iDVR-100 desktop and the iDVR-200 rack-mountable servers can playback 30 minutes of 1080i or 720p HD video in both 24 frames and 60 frames per second from a single 4.7Gbyte capacity DVD-R or DVD-RAM disk.
(SP)