In America, bigger is always better and nobody is willing to prove this more than the customers who are bellying up to the bar for the $99,995 it takes to own Runco's most impressive flat HDTV. Unlike other plasma's that you can pick up at Best Buy or Circuit City, this monster requires a professional installation, a structural engineer to make sure your walls wont come falling down as well as a visit from the electrican to get the set a dedicated power circuit. Runco's top-of-the-line installers arrange for all of these people to make sure your world's largest plasma (at least for now) works great and is safely installed in your home which is what you should expect for that kind of coin.

No one product in all of consumer electronics has more sex appeal than the 103-inch plasma. High-end video powerhouse Runco has what many consider to be the pinnacle of HDTV technology with their monstrous XP-103DHD set. Runco is one of the few companies who meet the stringent standards of THX for their HDTVs, as well as offering Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) calibration for their sets. Those two elements alone set Runco's flat HDTVs apart from the rest of the market by heads and shoulders.

The XP-103DHD is both a gigantic 103-inch HDTV and a cutting edge video processor that uses their proprietary VivixII technology. Video processors are more than just HDMI switchers on a 103-inch plasma. Dealing with video maladies on a piece of glass this large is essential to living up to the consumer expectations of a plasma HDTV that costs as much as a Maserati.

In line with Runco's Cinewide initiative from their video projectors that use actual optics to provide the best possible picture for the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, their 103-inch set uses what they call "Virtual Wide" technology to allow installers and consumers to get the exact aspect ratio on the screen for sports, films and beyond. The fastest way you can destroy the image of a big HDTV is to squish a beaming HDTV signal into the wrong size. Runco makes that problem disappear into thin air.

Installation of a 103-inch plasma is no small feat, even when compared to installing a 65-inch HDTV. Beyond the need for a top AV installer (the only way to buy Runco is through an authorized dealer), you will also need to consider the structural integrity of the wall where you might hang this beast. It's not uncommon to need to reinforce the wall before installation. Additionally, power requirements call for your electrician to put in a dedicated 240-volt service for this giant HDTV.

High Points
Reports from the recent CES trade show say the Runco set solves many of the issues that people complain about on the $70,000 Panasonic set, although it is very likely the "glass" comes from the same source (however, this isn't confirmed). Runco's video processing deals with a lot of the problems like "stair-stepping," which causes visible distortion, most noticeably on the set's perimeter. The Runco set is far better than other 100-inch HDTVs at providing a beaming, bright, smooth HDTV picture and, for this kind of money, you should expect no less.

Low Points
The set is gigantic and, compared to a projector and screen, represents a poor value, as you can have a better looking HDTV for far less than half the money, beamed onto a screen that is twice the size of a 103-inch plasma. With that said, not every room can accommodate a projector and for those who want their video big, there is no other way to go, especially if you want it to look spectacular.

Conclusion
This is America and bigger is always better. Runco understands this and crosses all the Is and dots all the Ts in getting to what is the absolute best-looking, large HDTV in the world. If you have the room and the money, this is the HDTV to use for making a statement. To be clear, you will be making a big statement.