Panasonic unveils TV which ‘disappears’ - turning into a pane of glass when you switch off

This will be welcome news to anyone who cares about the look of their front room - Panasonic just showed off a TV which actually disappears when not in use.

Or at least it does the next best thing - it transforms into a totally transparent pane of glass, the sort one would see in many shelving units.

The new prototype was shown off at the CEATEC technology conference, and works using a barely visible mesh embedded into the glass, which turns into an OLED screen when powered on.

Panasonic showed off a prototype version at the CES technology conference this year, but it used LED technology, and the screen was so dim it had to be underlit to work.

The new version is bright and clear - coming to life with the press of a button or the wave of a hand.

A Panasonic spokesperson said that the technology was still in development, and that ‘transparent’ TVs were unlikely to hit the market for three years at least.