Panasonic today announced a 103" Plasma today at the New York Stock Exchange. The full press release can be found Here.

Here are some excerpts and commentary:

Panasonic (NYSE: MC)... is showcasing the world's largest high-definition plasma television at the New York Stock Exchange today. Ramping up for the official ringing of The Closing Bell, Yoshi Yamada, chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America will be on site to showcase the big screen, which at 103 inches, can deliver more than two million pixels (1,920 x 1,080) of performance...

...In developing this record-breaking plasma television, Panasonic had to overcome numerous technical challenges to master a panel larger than 100 inches measured diagonally, while maintaining stable discharge and high picture quality across the entire panel surface.

The company overcame this hurdle by developing a new rib and phosphor for these super large panels. The 103-inch 1080p plasma panel, equivalent to four 50-inch panels in size, features consistent and uniform discharge, delivering the same accurate images from the center to every corner of the screen and the same brightness as the current 50-inch HD model (TH-50PX500). The panel incorporates Panasonic's 1080p HD high-speed pixel drive. The same high-speed pixel drive is used in the TH-65PX500 65-inch 1080p Plasma TV, which has been well received in Japan since its introduction last November.

HSL's Analysis:
To deliver telepresence effectively one of the keys is creating an immersive environment where visible technology is minimized, particpants are life-sized, and eventually local particpants are able to completely suspend disbelief that remote particpants are in the same room. One of the key components is display technology and bigger is definitely better. While flat-screen plasmas and LCDs are an intermediate step to what will eventually become a seamless experience the fact that they are here today, relatively cheap, and getting bigger and better every time you turn your head bodes well for cost-effectively improving the effective visual collaboration experience in the short term.