JAPAN: Mitsubishi brings laser TVs home to join the 3D battle

It's not just Sharp that's planning to take on Panasonic and Sony in the tussle for the Japanese 3D TV market: Mitsubishi is all set to to go 3D later this year, using its laser-lit TVs already on sale in the USA.

The company plans to launch a 75in Laservue TV in Japan, having sold this model and a smaller 65in screen in the States since 2008.

The L75A91 series set on sale there claims twice the colour rendition capability of conventional flat-panel TVs, while only consuming 25-35% of the energy used by a normal TV of a similar size. It has also been designed to be 3D ready.

It uses an RGB laser array and a DLP engine in a back-projection configuration, and thanks to the novel illumination is much slimmer than the portly rear-projection sets of the past: the L75A91 currently in US shops is 38cm deep, if rather heavy at 70kg.

The technology is also expensive compared to conventional LCD and plasma screens – the US 75in model sells for around $6000, about twice the price of a comparable Panasonic 65in plasma, and three times as much as a conventional 73in Mitsubishi back-projection set.

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