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Laser TV was supposed to debut this Christmas and relegate the humble plasma to the scrap heap, but now it is unlikely that we will be able to buy one before at least 2009 in Australia.

The technology's main proponent, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics, has told the television industry to expect a major laser TV announcement at a US trade show in January, but it is not yet clear how long after that they will go on sale there.
The pair promised a worldwide launch by Christmas 2007 under known brands such as Mitsubishi and Samsung. Arasor reiterated the promise of an end of 2007 launch in its last annual report.

Novalux's chief executive, Jean-Michel Pelaprat, said at the time that plasma was "now something of the past", as laser TVs could produce twice the range of colours of current flat panel models while being thinner, lighter and less of an electricity hog.

"All of a sudden what you see is a lifelike image on display," Pelaprat said, adding LCDs would continue to dominate for smaller screen sizes but laser would take over from plasma at 40-inch and above.

In a recent presentation to the television industry at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference in California, Frank DeMartin, vice-president of marketing and product development at Mitsubishi Digital Electronics, said the manufacturer would make a major laser TV announcement in January at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Wilkie said he did not expect to see laser TVs on sale in Australia until at least 2009, but Samsung and JVC had shown renewed interest in the technology.

"We actually believe that JVC and Samsung and some of the others are showing more promise at launching in full global distribution volumes than Mitsubishi, but that's just what we're hearing," he said.
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