Welcome to the television of the future as introduced at CES 2010. Measuring in at 152 inches, with an eight million pixel display (or 4K format to be technical) and with full 3D capabilities, the ultra-high-definition plasma television by Panasonic could well be on a wall in our home in five or ten years time, which gives us enough time to find a house with a big enough wall.
Beating the previous record holder by two inches, this is now the world's biggest plasma television and it could stay that way too. New laws that limit the sale of plasma televisions due to their high energy usage could spell the end of monster sized plasmas at CES and in the stores.
After several hours of research on green-energy websites and some very shoddy mathematics, I have came up with a very basic idea of what type of power this TV will consume.
Well to start with what affects the energy usage of a television? Three things: Screen size, technology (i.e. Plasma, LCD etc) and picture settings. Apparently the 50inch Panasonic TH-50PZ800U is one of the greenest plasma televisions on the market (in terms of quality VS energy consumption) and this consumes 192 watts of energy per hour. So being the same technology and the same brand as the television in question, I decided to times the 50inch plasma by three, which means that 150 inches of plasma needs 576 watts per hour. Bearing in mind I have lost two inches, the picture settings aren't being taken into consideration and I have used a 'green plasma' thus the real sum will probably be a lot higher, the 156 inch plasma needs approximately 576 watts of power per hour.
Which is, based on the figures from energy efficiency websites, the equivalent of:
As already discussed, two 50inch plasma televisions
Just under three Playstation 3s per hour.
Around nine and a half sixty watt light-bulbs per hour
Six 50 inch plasma televisions
The real point to make hear is that plasma TVs use on average two to three times more energy than an LCD TV which is why the future of plasma televisions (especially 152 inch ones) is dubious.
But to put everything into perspective an hour of the giant television would not even give us half an hour with an average kettle at 1800 watts per hour.
5 thoughts on “CES News: 152-inch Panasonic Plasma TV – The Future or Past?”
Ooops that should be 3 plasmas sorry.
Equivalent to 2 50″ Plasma Televisions or 6? I’ve read somewhere that it is 4 X 1080 horizontal lines.
I think your math needs a little help. A 150-inch plasma is the size of 9 50-inch plasmas (3 rows with 3 TVs in each row), not 2 or 3. But you can’t get power usage simply by multiplying a 2-year old plus 50-inch panel design (the PZ800) by nine. Larger screen sizes typically use *less* power per square inch than smaller TVs. But since they have more surface area to light up, overall power usage is higher for larger TVs. Also, this TV features Panasonic’s new neoPDP panel design for 50% improved efficiency over 2008/2009 models.But really there is no way to estimate this set’s power usage accurately. It would need to be directly measured.
When looking at power usage, then only comparison that makes any sense is to compare the power usage of comparably sized sets. In this case, there is no comparison to LCD as there are no LCD screens even close to this size. If you want a 152-inch screen you’ll need to buy one of these or use a projector. A projector will give you much more efficient power usage, but at a far lower brightness which would not be suitable for daytime viewing.
Also, the power efficiency regulations in California do not currently apply to screens of this size. If people ant to buy one of these beats (assuming they ever do come up for sale), it’s because they want the finest picture quality possible on an enormous screen size. The power usage is probably not going to be one of their main concerns.
surely this plasma is the equivalent of 9 50 inch plasmas?
who cares about a few extra watts, if you want the best picture, its been proven again and again that plasma is king. Plasma and forthcoming OLED are streets ahead, always will be.