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CNN Live Today

Getting the Big Picture

Aired May 29, 2002 - 12:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to their personal TV sets, a lot of guys brag about size. Bad news, guys. Size alone won't do it forever. But now there is plasma.

And here to show us: CNN's Daniel Sieberg, hanging out with the big picture.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the big picture here, Carol.

And it's 61 inches of plasma. And, in fact, it's billed as the world's largest plasma screen made by NEC. And we are looking at it right now. I want to talk a little bit about the technology. This is a high-definition TV feed that is coming in here. Well, the way plasma works is, there are literally millions of tiny bubbles that are all over this screen right now filled with this gas-like substance.

It's covered in phosphorous. And, as an electric current passes over it, it illuminates this much crisper picture that we're seeing here, different than what you would call a liquid-crystal display or what most people have on their computer for their monitor, which is a cathode ray tube display. This is taking it much further than that.

LIN: Well, how long is it going to cost me $20,000?

(LAUGHTER)

SIEBERG: Well, very good question.

It has come down in price since last year. They started out being about $28,000. This one now would go for about $20,000. And, of course, that's prohibitively expensive for most people, for the average consumer. NEC realizes that, although some of the sort of home theater buff out there might be interested in buying it. They are also marketing it toward the commercial angle, people who might be interested in using it for video conferencing for businesses, and even for advertising. So, that's where they see this going as well.

LIN: You know what's amazing about it? It has such a three- dimensional picture to it.

SIEBERG: Yes.

Well, I will point out a couple other things we've got tied into it. This is this high-definition TV, as I mentioned before. This is one of the feeds that we have got coming into this plasma screen. Now, also, we've got a DVD playing here. This is "Blast From the Past." So, you can see the picture itself doesn't distort a whole lot. I'm actually moving to the side here. This is one of the appeals that they say with plasma, is that the distortion doesn't happen as much as you are moving to the side, as it would for, say, a liquid-crystal display or a TV, for example.

The other thing is, it is only about 6 inches deep. If we can get a side view of it, you can get an idea for how thin it is. It still weighs about 100 pounds. So, it's not light. But you can actually hang this as well, aside from just putting it on a stand, which is an additional cost to the $20,000.

LIN: Daniel, if you do buy one of these things, how far away should you have to sit away from it in order to appreciate the picture?

SIEBERG: Well, that really depends on whether you want to get square eyes, as my mom used to say. If you get too close to it, you're probably going to lose some of its effect. But it really depends on your own personal taste. Again, it depends also on how far to the sides that you are going to sit for it as well.

Now, I wanted to point out just a couple of other things we've got fed in here. We've got the PlayStation2 with the latest "Spider- Man" game from Activision. So, gamers, of course, might be really interested in this, if they can afford it. And we've also got a CNN feed that we can bring up here, where we can show you sitting there at the desk.

LIN: Ah. How much more detail do you see in those things, anyway?

(LAUGHTER)

SIEBERG: You look great, Carol.

LIN: Oh, yes, right. Thanks. You're paid to say that.

SIEBERG: You look great at 61 inches.

(LAUGHTER)

LIN: Thanks, Daniel.

SIEBERG: All right. Thanks.

LIN: We'll see you later.

SIEBERG: You bet.

LIN: Daniel Sieberg and the big screen. All right, size does matter, I guess.

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