Progress in plasma display panels for HDTV

This paper reports the current state of plasma display panel (PDP) work in Japan. This technology is now coming to the market as large, flat panel displays which will have a significant impact on the way in which television pictures are viewed in a domestic environment. It also presents some of the results obtained during the six months spent working at NHK's Science and Technical Research Laboratories in Tokyo, during which time the author was largely concerned with the pixel arrangements of such displays. The DC-PDP technology used in the NHK prototype Hi-Vision display, which will enter volume production through their industrial partner, Matsushita, is explained and contrasted with the AC-PDP technology being used by Fujitsu, and the published plans of these and other manufacturers are discussed.