Panasonic is betting big on plasma TV screens even as LCD TV sales soar.

Plasma is the engine of our current growth, Yoshihiko Yamada, CEO of the companys North American business said at a Sunday press conference, much of which was devoted to describing the superiority of plasma TV technology over other formats.

Plasma TV is the perfect solution for everybody, according to another Panasonic executive at its big technology showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show on Sunday. The technology is better for your health, more environmentally friendly and last longer than other TV technologies, said the executives, who also mentioned that Cisco’s John Chambers wanted a 103-inch plasma for his keynote speech scheduled for Tuesday.

Not everybody agreed with Panasonics dismissal of LCD as a half-a-century-old commercial technology. Sharp and LG both introduced giant LCD screens today.

And, not everybody was optimistic about plasmas prospects as Panasonic.

The Consumer Electronics Association expects wholesale LCD television sales to jump almost 50 percent to $12.2 billion in 2007 from about $8.5 billion in 2006. Plasma screen sales are expected to climb to $6 billion from $5.7 billion over the same period.

Sony Electronics US president Stan Glasgow, had this to say after his companys CES press conference on Sunday.

“LCD has won the flat panel TV war. But Plasma is hanging in there,” according to Glasgow.

(Additional reporting by Franklin Paul)
(Photo: Reuters / Panasonic Blu-ray booth installation at CES 2007)