Hitachi (News - Alert) America announced it is displaying its 1.5-inch ultra thin Plasma Display Panel (PDP) as the centerpiece of its ‘Innovations Showcase’ at the Consumer Electronics Show  2008 in Las Vegas this week.

 

“Hitachi has a long history of innovation and a proven track record of making breakthroughs that advance the consumer electronics industry. But what is even more important than being first with a prototype or concept is being first to deliver the end product to consumers,” said Daniel Lee, vice president of marketing for Hitachi America, Ubiquitous Platform Systems Division. “Especially for our complete new line of Ultra Thin displays, we already have the manufacturing processes, sales and marketing investment and overall corporate commitment in place to put these products into consumers’ hands months, if not years, ahead of other suppliers. From our perspective, and that of our distribution partners, being first with a product in the sales channel is ultimately what is most important.”

 

The screen size of the ultra thin Plasma Display Panel sample to be exhibited at CES (News - Alert) is 50 inches, and the company plans to introduce other sizes as well, when the product is released commercially by end of 2009.

 

Besides the PDP, Hitachi says it will also introduce others from its latest developments in its ‘Innovations Showcase,’

 

Hitachi’s Similarity Based Image Retrieval System helps retrieve still and video images to be used in large scale image and video archives.  This system uses quantified information specific to the image such as color, shape and form. This is used to locate a movie scene or image on camcorder, besides being useful in searching for facial imagery, as in security video surveillance.

 

Personal Video Sharing from Hitachi enables video recorded for personal use to be shared within the house or in between two homes using the home data center with a central server in one house. This enables viewing of videos made by another family by accessing the network with the TV instead of a PC.

 

Hitachi will also demonstrate its Wireless HDTV, where content can be stored on a hard disk drive and the server can be connected to PC or IPTV for HD content. A remote control with each TV enables selection of content from a menu and the HDTV content can be viewed from anywhere in the house. Only a power source is required and there is no need for cable, satellite, or any wiring.

 

Another new product from Hitachi to be demonstrated is the IPTV (News - Alert) User Interface. A Graphic User Interface (GUI) enables selection of content from different sources, like home server network, broadcast, Internet, and handheld devices. A menu customized according to user tastes and preferences helps users to store and access content within and outside the home.

 

Hitachi plans to showcase its Hybrid Monitor also which uses an advanced light source system to achieve 8 million to one (8M: 1) ‘mega contrast’ ratio and optimum light efficiency. A Micro Display System, a Sole Polarized Light Source, a magnifying lens and an LCD panel offers color gradation to reproduce natural colors realistically.