A body-image crisis for televisions

Think a flat-panel LCD or plasma set is slender? Think again. Its time to replace your 4-inch-thick porker with a new model measuring under a deuce.

Following on Hitachi, which introduced 1.5-inch panels in the fall, JVC is introducing its own waifs here at CES. JVC also gets down to 1.5 inches (at its skinniest part, bulging to 2.9 inches in the center). JVC launched two screen sizes: slim 42 and 46 inches (pricing not set).

Triming the sets involved some radical re-working of their innards, as we describe in an article from our upcoming February issue. But now that its been done, expect other companies to follow. (Actually, you can expect another announcement in a few hours.)