NEC Unveils Giant Flat Panel Display

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NEC’s American division has unveiled a giant flat-panel display. The NEC P701 will measure in at 70-inches. Sure, we’ve seen bigger prototype displays at CES, but considering those +100-inch models never make it to mass production, you’ve got to have some respect for this NEC.

NEC isn’t marketing this at home theater usage. Instead, this P701 is aimed at 24/7 operation, like you’d see in airports, hospitals and other public information ventures. Likewise, the default model of the display will not ship with a TV tuner – that is, it won’t have inputs for television. Not that strange when you consider this is a commercial display. It will, however, support full 1080p HD.

In addition to the lack of a TV tuner, the display also features clock and scheduling software, to allow automatic shutdown and start up. It also has eco-friendly software and options, allowing you to see the carbon footprint of running a 70-inch LCD display 24/7 (hopefully it’s LED backlit, not mercury, though the press release doesn’t say), although NEC does promise that the display has the same power consumption as the smaller, older 65-inch model.

It also supports NEC’s TileMatrix feature, which lets you easily network multiple of these displays together for a video-wall style application. TileMatrix will support a maximum number of 100 displays, arranged in a 10 by 10 grid.

The P701 will start shipping in Mid-March 2010. NEC is planning to show off the device at the 2010 Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, later this month. This display will set you back $11,799. If you care to use one as a home theater display, model with a TV tuner include is coming sometime after the first model.