LCD, Plasma Makers: Bigger is Better

BusinessWeek online has a piece this week on the size battle between plasma and LCD following Samsung's announcement last week of the impending intro of its 70-inch LCD flat panel display. The company has plans for an 82-incher next, both of which come on the heels on Matsushita's 103-inch plasma that will be available for ordering in September.

So how big is too big? I never say never, but the odds would seem to be against the average family purchasing a 7- or 8-foot TV anytime soon. Price is obviously the main obstacle, but space is nearly as challenging. We just had a 50-inch plasma installed in our family room and based on the positioning of our sofa and recliners, even a 60-inch would have probably been too big considering where we sit. There's only so much information the human eye can process...

Plasma Sales Nearly Double from ’05 Level

Research firm DisplaySearch said this week that global plasma display sales were up 95 percent in the quarter ending June 30th compared to the same quarter last year. In all, 2.2 million plasmas were sold in the three-month period from April to June, accounting for about 5 percent of the entire TV market. Panasonic parent company Matsushita remains the industry leader with 28.3 percent of total market share, up from 21.5 percent in the first quarter. LG, Samsung and Philips followed Matsushita.

Interestingly, although plasmas accounted for just 5 percent of global TV sales, they represented 20 percent of sales revenue.

LCD sales, by comparison, made up 22 percent of all TVs sold worldwide in the second quarter. 9.4 million LCD TVs were sold in the period, an increase of 135 percent from the same quarter last year.

HDNet to Broadcast Space Shuttle Launch Sunday

HDNet will offer viewers live coverage of the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch this Sunday at 4:30 ET, with pre-launch coverage beginning at noon ET. Former astronaut Sam Gemar will be a co-commentator for the event, which looks absolutely spectacular in 1080i HD.

DISH Adds Food Network HD

DISH Network said today that Food Network HD is now available to DISH satellite high-def customers, bringing its total number of national HD channels to 30 (including 15 VOOM channels).

DISH is the first major national cable or satellite provider to carry Food HD.

Comcast HD Update

Some quick checking on the Internet reveals that someone at Comcast HQ may have taken my May 31st post to heart. In late May, a Comcast exec was quoted as saying that a lack of HD content was hindering consumer high-def adoption. That notion seemed silly to me considering the vast number of HD channels in existence that Comcast didn't even carry. Since then, Comcast has stepped up to the plate by adding ESPN2 HD, MHD, TNT HD and Universal HD in many of its markets.

So kudos to Comcast -- I won't pretend that this blog had anything to do with it, but it's nice to see the world's largest cable company become a strong proponent of HD service.

Conference Attendees Debate Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

CNET writes today about the ongoing debate over the battle between Blu-ray and HDTV at the DisplaySearch HDTV conference in Beverly Hills. Some panelists believe that the war will end in a stalemate, although that seems unlikely to me. The only way both formats survive in the long run is if one of two events occur:

1. Manufacturers begin producing dual-format players and recorders
2. Consumers don't naturally gravitate towards one format over the other

I'll take some heat from the HD DVD folks over this next comment, but I don't think there's much question that Blu-ray is the technologically superior format. With almost twice as much disc space as HD DVD, in addition to more support from the various industry players in Hollywood and in CE, the game is Blu-ray's to lose.

As far as I can tell, however, the primary reason HD DVD exists is because it costs about half of what Blu-ray does. For consumers who are used to spending $100 or $200 on a DVD player, spending $1,000 on a Blu-ray is a tough pill to swallow. Spending half that on HD DVD is much more palatable.

The bottom line seems to be that if the Blu-ray manufacturers would price their players and recorders at a premium to HD DVD, but well short of a 100% premium, they would blow HD DVD out of the water. But as long as HD DVD remains more more attractive from a price perspective, it will continue to sell well with consumers.

Maxent Intros $2,499 50" Plasma

Maxent USA today announced the release of its value-oriented 50" plasma display with a suggested list price of $2,499. The company touted the Japanese heritage of the plasma panel, playing up the high-performance of the panel with its relative low price.

The Maxent plasma will take on, among others, Vizio's PDP of the same size that retails for $1,999.

CRTs Going Down the Tubes

The New York Times has a piece today that chronicles the rapid decline of the CRT picture-tube television, demand for which has fallen so quickly that many manufacturers won't even make them next year. To wit:

• Panasonic marketed 30 different CRT models a year ago. Now, it offers just one.
• Retail giant Costco won't sell CRTs after the holidays this year.
• Sony, which established consumer electronics dominance due in large measure to its fabled line of Trinitron tube TVs, will only make two different CRT models next year, down from 10 two years ago. And both of those will be widescreen digital models.

The culprit in the precipitous demise of the CRT? You guessed it: flat-panel LCD and plasma displays, which are rapidly coming down in price as additional production facilities in Asia are meeting consumer demand for the new technologies. Think about it this way: do you know anyone who has actually purchased a CRT at all, let alone one to be used as their primary television, in, say, the last two years?