Panasonic has announced two very thin 58-inch and 65-inch plasma TV’s at the IFA trade show in Europe that also have built in HD wireless that eliminates the need for wires when connecting with wireless speakers. The new TV’s are also lighter than previous models.

Both are just 24.7 millimeters thick. At the CES show in Vegas in January SmartHouse was shown a 50″ plasma version of the same screen. The new plasma screens will go up against new offerings from Sony and Sharp. What is not known is when the new Panasonic offering will be shipped however the Company is insisting that the new thin screen are “market ready”. A big  advantage of the thinner sets is that they will be easier to mount because they are lighter. One of the prototypes at IFA weighed 29 kilograms versus 59 kg for a current model of the same size.

For this reason Panasonic said it is also planning to integrate wireless HD streaming into the sets so that only a power cable needs to be run to the set. That will add even more flexibility in mounting because home entertainment devices, like Blu-ray Disc players, won’t need to be set next to the TV.