VInc. is a new company with a filial relationship to Princeton Graphics, a maker of computer displays and a line of commercial DTVs. The companies share a major investor in William Wang, and V Inc. has ambitious plans for the world of consumer electronics.

More than a year ago, Zenith shook up the world of plasma televisions by introducing the DPD60W, the first 60-inch model—a behemoth that seemed to fill up a room. For Zenith, it was a statement product and a wonder to behold, though its performance problems held it back from the first rank of plasma displays (see the review in the January 2002 SGHT, also available archived at www.guidetohometheater.com).

Plasma panel prices continue to drop precipitously as the technology gets hotter and hotter. Gateway, provider of digital-technology solutions, has entered the home theater market with the GTW-P42M102 42-inch plasma panel, which has a native resolution of 852 by 480 in progressive-scan mode. It's a perfect example of plasma's ongoing price reduction. The streamlined display is 25.2 inches high, 40.8 inches wide, and a very slim 3.7 inches deep, and it weighs less than 70 pounds. The handsomely designed set sports a silver finish with a small, dark border surrounding the screen. The GTW-P42M102's performance characteristics are a mixed bag; however, at a list price of $2,999, there's no denying that it's the best value by a country mile in the 42-inch-plasma-panel category.

For better or worse, electronic display technology is going flat. Slowly but surely, as Asian manufacturers jettison older high-volume, low-profit picture- and projection-tube assembly lines, the venerable cathode-ray tube is being supplanted by such exotic items as Digital Light Processing (DLP), and liquid-crystal display (LCD) and plasma display panels (PDPs).

In the home theater display realm, "some day" has finally arrived. As you've read in past issues of Home Theater, the world of technology is advancing, and we're all the better for it. We now reap the benefits of the microchip's evolution. Several audio DSP chips offer improved sound processing, and advanced video-processing chips have helped display technology take large steps forward.

Thin is definitely the wave of the future. Just look at most Hollywood actresses. Their faces get more gaunt with each passing season. Television displays are the same way. People are tired of the little black box. Consumers have clamored for skinny plasmas and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) since their introduction a few years back. The only problem's been that plasmas have come in large screen sizes (42 to 60 inches diagonally) while LCDs have been relegated mostly to computer-monitor service. Sharp, longtime master of the LCD panel, has now brought forth a midsized panel for midsized environments.

Many of my coworkers in New York City tend to sum up flat-panel LCD monitors as "cool," a concise but shallow understatement. Flat panels are the envy of big-ass CRTs (and their owners) everywhere, a sexy combination of performance and space economy in an inspiring "Where's the rest of me?" form. They are also getting better and less expensive by the minute.