Berlin  - Dominated by flat-panel televisions in every variation, the IFA consumer electronics trade fair was set to begin Friday in Berlin, offering hundreds of thousands of European fans a look at the world's newest audio and video gadgets.

Chancellor Angela Merkel ceremonially opened IFA at a Thursday evening reception at the city fairgrounds, where an industry leader told her the booming sector was all but recession-proof.

"Our sector is defying the crisis," said Rainer Hecker, head of the GFU German consumer electronics trade association that runs the event.

A total of 1,164 manufacturers from 60 nations are exhibiting at the event, which runs until September 9.

Many products are being promoted with claims of green technology inside, for example through reduced use of heavy metals and other pollutants. Cutting power use by plasma and liquid-crystal-display (LCD) television sets is a key aim of the industry.

LCD sets with light-emitting diode (LED) backlights are centrepieces at this year's show.

Backlights shine through the screens to create an image. Makers say that converting backlights to LED light sources, instead of using fluorescent tubes, reduces electricity use by up to 40 per cent.

Merkel said many products introduced at IFA quickly became big sellers soon after, but she chided German broadcasters for their long delay in introducing high-definition television, which is only starting in Germany now.

"It was first demonstrated at IFA 24 years ago," she said.

Two big Japanese-based electronics groups, Sony and Panasonic, have said this week in Berlin they are on the verge of launching home televisions that play three-dimensional (3D) recordings and broadcasts. The illusion requires viewers to wear special spectacles.

But the two company's systems are currently incompatible, raising fears of a new format war in the industry.  dpa