Thin is in for the coming year among flat panel TV makers. That’s a big change from prior years when the boasting was all about how big screen sizes could get. Breathing new life into the dying plasma display technology, Pioneer stunned a crowd of reporters and analysts after showing off a prototype 50-inch-wide plasma, called Project Kuro, that’s thinner than many iPods**. At 9 millimeters thin, it might very well snatch the title as thinnest 50-incher at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, although comparing a prototype to products set to ship this year may be unfair.

The announcement came just moments after JVC announced said this morning it plans to sell an LCD TV that’s less than 3-inches thick or 39 millimeters. To be sure, JVC’s model comes with an attached TV tuner. Sharp in August also showed off a prototype 20-millimeter TV set.

Our reporters point out that TV makers are scrambling to release ever-thinner sets in anticipation of rivals launching TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays that are even thinner, and promise crisper images, once prices come down to mass-market levels.

Check out Sony’s OLED XEL-1 from its Japanese site for further perspective.

** The smaller of the Classic iPods are 10.5 millimeters, but an iPod Touch is only 8 mm thin.

(Photo: Pioneer)