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At this year's CeBIT (Europe's answer to CES) in Hannover, Germany, Samsung is introducing the world's largest LCD flat panel display. Measuring 82 inches diagonally, the 1920x1080 panel was developed at Samsung's new seventh-generation production facility in Tangjeong, South Korea; amazingly, this facility can produce two 82-inch panels from a single substrate, which has been impossible up to now.

The panel incorporates Samsung's Super Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment (S-PVA) technology, in which the liquid crystal molecules are nominally aligned at 90 degrees vertically with respect to the electrodes. When an electric field is applied, the molecules are deflected from this orientation, which controls the amount of light that can pass through them. This technology is said to greatly increase the viewing angle over conventional designs; Samsung claims a viewing angle of 180 degrees in all directions for this panel.

Other features include a low-dispersion color filter and ultra-high aperture ratio that, according to the company, provide a contrast ratio of at least 1200:1 and a maximum brightness of 600 nits (175.4fL). Response time is said to be 8ms or less, and a special backlight is designed to produce a color saturation that is 92% of the NTSC standard. (According to Samsung, most CRT and LCD displays achieve a color saturation of only 72%.)

The new 82-inch panel highlights the smooth launch of a joint venture with Sony to produce large LCD displays. Mass production is scheduled to begin at the end of March.