Razor's edge: HDTVs thin enough to shave with

David Katzmaier, Senior Editor August 26, 2009

OK, maybe rubbing your face or leg against the edge of one of the HDTVs below won't provide that inimitable freshly shorn feeling, but what razor can show a high-def picture? In their insatiable need to create products that both bring profit and cause you to want to spend money, TV makers have decided to make flat-panel HDTVs even flatter.

Ranging in depth from a relatively fat 1.6 inches for the Hitachi, to 1.1 inches for the edge-lit Sony KDL-40ZX1M, to a tenth of an inch for the OLED-based Sony XEL-1, each is thin enough to defy conceptions of what "flat panel" is all about. With those thin panels also comes feathery weight: the 40-inch Sony ZX1M, for example, weighs just 27 pounds sans stand, which is less than half as much as a typical 40-inch LCD. But each of these sets also costs significantly more than standard flat-panels, which generally measure 4 or more inches thick.

On the downside, few of these ultrathin TVs delivers ultragood picture quality. The best of the LCD bunch are Samsung's new edge-lit models, represented here by the 46-inch UNB467000 and UN46B6000, but even their pictures were marred by uneven uniformity, poor off-angle performance, and fluctuating backlights. Samsung's 1.2-inch thick PNB50B860 plasma, on the other hand, seems to make few, if any, picture quality sacrifices to get that slim depth.

The big question, of course, is whether ultrathin is worth the ultrahigh price. We don't think so. Especially in a tough economy, we're betting most viewers won't mind a couple of extra inches and pounds on their HDTVs.

More Resources

Best HDTVs overall,

Sony KDL-40ZX1M slide show,

Samsung UNB7000 series slide show,

Samsung PNB850/860 slide show,

CNET's HDTV World