6ft by 150 inches - and that's just the TV

(Reuters)

Watching Match of The Day will never be the same again after the unveiling in Las Vegas yesterday of the world's biggest plasma television.

The 150-inch (3.75m) Panasonic widescreen TV, which stands 6ft tall, will enable viewers to watch everything in life-size.

But because of its huge size, the screen can only be comfortably watched from a distance of at least 30ft, making it too big to install in most living rooms. And with an expected price tag of 50,000, the giant TV will be beyond the spending power of most consumers.

The screen, dubbed the "Life Panel", was the star attraction on the opening day of the world's biggest consumer technology trade show in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronic Society International trade fair.

The television trumps the previous record size television Sony's 108-inch model by 42 inches.

Unveiling the television, Panasonic's president Toshihiro Sakamoto said: "Can you imagine sitting at home and watching the Olympics on this baby?"

While the enormous television was greeted with glee by gadget enthusiasts, environmental campaigners were less impressed, claiming it will guzzle up to 3,000 watts of electricity.

It is not yet clear when the televisions will be available in the UK, but they will go on sale in the US this year. Other products unveiled at the fair included a digital photo frame slim enough to fit into a wallet and a self-tuning electric guitar.