Laser Television

Arasor International, Australian company and its US partner Novalux unveiled what they claimed to be the world’s first laser television. It is laser TV, billed as being half the price, twice as good and using a quarter of the electricity of conventional plasma and LCD TVs. The Laser TV was displayed beside a conventional 50 inch plasma TV, the Mitsubishi-built prototype does appear brighter and clearer than its “older” rival. Laser television will make plasma screens obsolete. 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.

Novalux chief executive Jean-Michel Pelaprat predicted LCD TVs would come to dominate the market below 40 inches, and laser television the market above that screen size, displacing plasma. The optoelectronic chip-laser technology won’t be confined to TVs. The technology is also being trialled in mobile phones, where it will be used to project images onto any surface, and in home theatres and cinemas.

Mr Pelaprat said, “If you look at any screen today, the colour content is roughly about 30-35 per cent of what the eye can see. But for the very first time with a laser TV we’ll be able to see 90 per cent of what the eye can see. All of a sudden, what you see is a life-like image on display.” And laser TVs are also half the weight and depth of plasma TVs.      You can expect to see laser TVs in stores by the end of next year, as the worldwide launch is scheduled for Christmas 2007.