February 24, 2006 Taiwanese Chi Mei Optoelectronics is a name you may not know, despite the company being the third largest LCD TV panel supplier in the world. At CEBIT in Hannover in mid-March, the company will display the world’s first 56-inch LCD TV panel. Perhaps more startling than the size of the mega-telly is the definition which is known as Quad Full High Definition (QFHD) with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and an astonishing 8.29 million pixels.

The new panel features resolution that is four times that of currently available products (1920 x 1080), and the highest ever achieved. The new panel consists of over 24.8 million units of transistors, with a data transmission speed of over 1.4 gigabytes per second.

To achieve this breakthrough result, the Chi Mei Optoelectronics research and development team overcame a number of significant technical challenges, including the development of special new driver methods and scanning procedures and solving massive heat generation problems caused by the alignment of so many transistors.

The company points out that the technical challenges were not only in developing a larger sized LCD panel, but also in developing the 4x increase in screen resolution.

“In the future, LCD screen size alone will no longer be the technical threshold nor the development focus of display panel makers,” said Chi Mei Optoelectronics President Mr. Jau-Yang Ho. From now on, all LCD manufacturers must shift to increasing the consumer experience on LCD display by using greater screen resolution and more advanced technology,” he said.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics believes that display data load will increase exponentially, due both to technology development and the continuing convergence of 3C (computer, communication and consumer electronics) trends. As a result, demand for displays with high-speed data processing capabilities will also increase dramatically.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics’ new flagship 56-inch LCD panels can be applied in a number of high-end applications. They will be perfect for ultra high-end multi-functional home entertainment systems, in which they can provide consumers the superior performance of digital TV and to connect with high quality digital still and video cameras, to provide consumers with luxurious home theater experience. Alternately, the 56-inch QFHD displays can be applied in high-end specialty uses for high-resolution graphic display such as in medical video camera or satellite picture displays.

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