Suburban Retailer Selling 103" Plasma TV

ABC Chicago
August 27, 2007

By Frank Mathie

August 27, 2007 - Television screens were just a few inches across back in the early 1950s. Today, sets are reaching almost cinemascope proportions. ABC7's Frank Mathie tells us the biggest hi-def TV has just arrived.

Abt appliances in Glenview is the largest single appliance store in the country. They sell it all, especially television sets, and right now they're featuring a monster of a hi-def special.
"We have the world's largest plasma TV. It's a 103-inch Panasonic. It's very rare. There are only two stores in the country that have it today," said Mike Abt, Abt Electronics president. "This is for sale."

Just picture a 50-inch screen and this one is four times bigger. Your home is your window to nature, sports, movies and more. It's 475 pounds of couch potato heaven.

Yes, it is big. Seven and half feet wide, 4 feet high, 30 square feet of TV. And it's just loaded with all those goofy things called pixels. Whatever they are.

"This one has 2 million, 73,000 pixels. Pixels are the little dots on the TV that make up a picture," said Abt.

Now, as you might imagine, pixels are pricey. And, in this case, they really add up.

"Seventy thousand dollars. IS THAT THE TOTAL COST? No, it's $70,000 plus another $5,000 for the base and another $5,000 to install it," Abt said.

So it's $80,000 if you want something to put it on and someone to install it.

"I think it's a lot of money for a television set. A great picture but I can't imagine anybody buying it. HOW ABOUT SEVENTY THOUSAND? TOO MUCH? I think it would be better to buy a house ... or at least a down payment on a house," said Dick and Ann Langrill, who are shopping for a new TV.

Eighty-grand total. But you do get a three-year warranty?

Copyright ©2007 ABC Inc., WLS-TV Chicago.