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American Morning

Plasma TV Screens Coming Soon

Aired May 29, 2002 - 08:58   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a source of personal envy. Oh, Jack Cafferty's calling it plasma envy here this morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well.

ZAHN: We're talking about the size of a television screen. We've got you all trumped up. What is being billed as the world's largest plasma TV screen is coming soon to an electronic store near you, but for now it's all ours.

And CNN's Daniel Sieberg has got the remote and joins us now.

So, Daniel, let me get this straight, this sucker is how much, $20,000? These aren't going to go like running out of these stores anytime soon, are they?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not, Paula. You would think of it as a bit prohibitively expensive for the average consumer at $20,000, but it is billed as the world's largest plasma monitor at 61 inches from NEC. And what we're seeing right now is a feed from high-definition TV. And you can see this really fine definition and fine quality picture that you're seeing in it.

And of course what this is is a plasma screen here. What we're talking about is tiny bubbles filled with this gas-like substance, and when an electric current is passed over the phosphorus, that's what's bringing out this really sharp picture that we're seeing here.

ZAHN: So how many of these are available, Daniel?

SIEBERG: Well they're -- you know they're -- they are out there on the market, but NEC acknowledges that they're really going more after the commercial market rather than the consumer market because of the price.

Now I wanted to just point out a few things that it can do. We've got a couple of feeds set up coming in here. Right here we've got a DVD. This is "Blast from the Past." I can also go over to another one here and this is the PlayStation 2 that's showing some of the "Spider-Man" game from Activision. And I can also pull you guys up in the studio here. So you can see some of the fine definition quality that's coming specifically from the plasma. So (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- you know that's what you like at 61 inches.

ZAHN: Oh, I've never been able to wave at myself before.

CAFFERTY: It's pretty cool, yes.

ZAHN: Now you guys, are you impressed with this?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Absolutely.

SERWER: I think the Lakers' game would look great on that, Daniel.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SIEBERG: Well that's just it. You know if somebody wants to set up a home theater or they're a real sports fan or something like this, this is certainly the way to go. But again, of course it's expensive, not cheap at $20,000.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: I think 61 inches of us on an individual basis is probably going overboard, huh?

SERWER: See how big Paula was on that screen?

CAFFERTY: A bit scary, yes.

ZAHN: High definition TV.

CAFFERTY: Well she looked good (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: Have you seen the projection of what all of us will really look like...

CAFFERTY: No.

ZAHN: ... when most of America turns to high definition TV?

CAFFERTY: I'm probably going to have to go back to radio I have a feeling.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAHN: It's going to be a frightening option for all of us.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

ZAHN: All right, you all are watching AMERICAN MORNING.

Daniel, thank you so much. Appreciate your joining us this morning.

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