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Mitsubishi Electric develops world’s first TV with laser light source On February 14, Mitsubishi Electric announced that it has developed for the first time in the world a new type of TV that uses lasers as the light source for projecting images, and this model will be launched in the North American market this fall. The feature of the new type of TV is that it can utilize the properties of lasers to display vivid images on a large screen. The new products will create demand for new types of large-screen TVs beyond LCD and plasma TVs, with sales targets of around 30,000 to 50,000 units by 2009. The new type of television is called “Laser TV”. It uses semiconductor lasers in the three primary colors (red, green, blue) placed at the back of the television as light sources, to project bright lasers and create images. The screen size of the newly developed prototype is 65 inches, with a thickness of 25 cm. Its thickness is about half that of a back-projection TV of the same size. The product is designed to meet the needs of replacing rear-projection TVs in the North American market. The range of colors that this new type of TV can display is more than twice that of existing LCD TVs. This product supports full HD video, as well as 3D video that gives objects a three-dimensional appearance, allowing users to enjoy video games and movies on a large screen. The company plans to launch a variety of models, focusing on large-screen home TVs of 65 inches and larger. The price of the new TV has not been determined yet. Compared to LCD TVs (whose retail price is $6,000–$6,800 for 65-inch models), it has a simpler structure and lower production costs; therefore, the company states that \"the price is expected to be on par with that of LCD TVs.\" Its power consumption is less than half that of LCD TVs, and one-fourth that of plasma TVs. The company also plans to leverage this energy-saving performance to expand sales of large-screen home TVs in new markets. The release date for the new TV in Japan has not been determined. (Feb. 15, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Morning Edition)