[opendtv] News: The Skinny On Flat-Panel TVs
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 08:03:32 -0500
http://www.forbes.com/2004/11/30/cx_pp_ii_1130tvs.html?partner=media_newsletter
The
The Skinny On Flat-Panel TVs
Penelope Patsuris, 11.30.04, 8:55 AM ET
NEW YORK - This holiday season, shoppers in search of the right
flat-panel television have more options than ever before.
The shelves at Best Buy (nyse: BBY - news - people ), Circuit
City Stores (nyse: CC - news - people ) and Target (nyse: TGT -
news - people ) are stocked with televisions that are thinner,
bigger and have sharper pictures. They're also cheaper, although by
no means inexpensive. Last year's average price for a 32-inch
liquid-crystal-display (LCD) high-definition TV was $3,783, according
to market researcher iSuppli, while this year that average price is
down 37% to $2,379.
The irony for anyone who's intent on adorning their living room wall
with a sleek-looking plasma: Traditional cathode-ray tube televisions
still offer the very best picture quality available. "No one would
argue that CRTs are still the benchmark for image quality," says
DisplaySearch analyst Chris Connery. Still, according to retailers,
most shoppers are happy to forgo the best picture in order to get a
flat screen.
Consumers won't always have to choose between form and function.
Manufacturers like Samsung, Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ),
Pioneer (nyse: PIO - news - people ), Philips Electronics (nyse:
PHG - news - people ) and Matsushita Electric Industrial (nyse:
MC - news - people ) brand Panasonic are plugging away to close
that gap.
Digital-light-processing rear-projection televisions are widely
available for the first time this year. These sets use semiconductors
that are loaded with over one million microscopic mirrors to project
an image onto a screen. DLP TVs represent a small segment of the
market but are quickly gaining steam because of the compromise they
offer. DLPs are cheaper per square screen inch than flat panels but
offer picture quality that's on par with them. They come in large
screen sizes and although they are rear projection TVs, they're
getting much slimmer. RCA's new 61-inch Scenium Profiles DLP TV is
just shy of 7 inches deep--thin enough to be wall mounted like a
plasma or LCD set, while Samsung's 50 inches pedestal DLP TV is only
20 inches deep.
Another promising type of rear-projection TV uses
liquid-crystal-on-silicon technology to project programming onto a
display. Analysts say the LCOS pictures are exceptional, but these
TVs have been slow to take off due to manufacturing difficulties. The
category lost some momentum in late October when Intel (nyse: INTC -
news - people ) halted its ongoing efforts to make the LCOS chips.
However, JVC (another Matsushita brand) and Sony are making LCOS TVs,
and they will probably have more of a presence in the market next
year.
As is so often the case with electronics, there's new technology
just around the corner, which may make some shoppers wonder if they
should nix a purchase for now. The spoiler this season is the
surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) TV, which is
expected to be in stores by Christmas 2005 from a joint venture
between Toshiba (otc: TOSBF - news - people ) and Cannon (nyse:
CAJ - news - people ). The buzz is that SED TVs will have the
best of any flat-panel picture, on par with that of CRTs and that
they'll be much cheaper than LCD or plasma screens.
"If it really is less expensive, SED could overthrow plasma," says
Gartner analyst Paul O'Donovan. Either way, it's another acronym to
add to the long list of terms we'll have to keep straight just to
shop for a television.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts: