HDTV Market is heating up! - Page 5

5Xwen · #41 08-15-2005, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bavarian

Why anyone would bother to watch CNN in HD is beyond me...but the channel exists, so go figure.

Paula Zahn is one reason.

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LeMansX5 · #42 08-15-2005, 08:02 PM

Does anybody have recommendation on DLP rear projection TV? This article appears to be leaning towards DLP in DLP vs LCD comparo.

Smiley · #43 08-15-2005, 08:38 PM

I'm leaning towards a 52" Toshiba DLP. I'm going to get my HDTV in October when the house is finished (crossing my fingers, they are sanding drywall now). The Toshiba DLPs get pretty good reviews on AVSforums. In general, I've always had my eye on Toshiba TVs, as they all SEEM to be of good quality (based on what I've read and what I've seen from friends and family sets). I'm also strongly considering a 55" Sony (LCD) and a 56" JVC (HD-ILA), although I'm a little nervous about how well the JVC technology will hold up (but the color on the thing is close to the color on a plasma set!).

Chris F. · #44 08-15-2005, 08:44 PM

DLP has better contrast (i.e. better blacks) vs. LCD. However you really need to watch a DLP set for a few hours before making a decision on a HDTV -- some people see 'rainbows' when watching the screen! This can occurr when you move your eyes very quickly from one section of the screen to another.

To see a demonstration of the 'rainbow effect' that some people see, click here

Unfortunately I see rainbows, otherwise I'd have a DLP set in my house.

Be aware that DLPs do have a revolving color wheel which is a moving part -- I will give LCD the edge here -- no moving parts. However, as far as picture quality goes, DLP has the edge IMHO.

I would consider waiting for Sonys new SXRD technology this Fall. It's supposed to be pretty impressive, and no moving parts, and no rainbow effect.

5Xwen · #45 08-15-2005, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeMansX5

Does anybody have recommendation on DLP rear projection TV? This article appears to be leaning towards DLP in DLP vs LCD comparo.

The Samsungs are among the best DLP RPTV's.

motordavid · #46 08-20-2005, 09:09 PM

CF: A follow up paste article from the NewYawkTimes...since, I'm in the mkt.
Not a techie art, but the pricing pressure is on. We consumers can only benefit.
BR,md

August 20, 2005
Falling Costs of Big-Screen TV's to Keep Falling

By DAMON DARLIN
In consumer electronics, as in much of life, good things happen to those who wait - good things as in plunging prices.

The cost of big-screen televisions, which have been steadily dropping by about 25 percent a year, are now expected to fall even more sharply this autumn, according to industry analysts. The coming markdowns reflect a singular confluence of business trends that will benefit consumers going into the holiday season.

"Prices are pretty much in a free fall," said David Naranjo, who tracks the television industry for DisplaySearch, a market research firm.

The best evidence of this is the expectation of analysts that in the next few weeks the Panasonic unit of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company will announce that it is dropping prices as much as $500 on plasma-screen TV's that retail for around $3,500.

Panasonic officials refused this week to confirm or deny the speculation, but because it sells the most plasma screens in the United States, a potential downward adjustment would be considered a harbinger of a price war for all varieties of big-screen TV's.

The chief executive of the Syntax Groups, James Li, maker of the Olevia brand of flat-panel TV's, said, "If they go to $3,000, I will go to $2,999."

All this spells good news for anyone thinking about upgrading from the old cathode-ray TV to screens that are 40 inches or larger in the three most popular formats. Full-featured plasma TV's with 50-inch screens that sold for $20,000 five years ago could edge close to $4,000 this season. A liquid-crystal-display version and a rear-projection TV with a digital light-processing chip will be considerably less, closing in on $1,800.

That does not mean choosing a TV will be easy. No longer is it just a matter of price and size. There are no fewer than eight competing technologies, as well as different screen sizes and display standards that force you to grapple with a shape-shifting matrix of at least a dozen dimensions.

Let's try to cut through that. It used to be that liquid-crystal-display technology was for small screens, plasma for medium, and digital light processing for large. Though the TV's with digital light processing have been the best value, plasma had the technological advantage and could sell for more because screens were big and flat. Now L.C.D.'s are as large and D.L.P. TV's are flatter.

As the technologies overlap in the 32-inch to 46-inch screen sizes, the price differences narrow. A price cut in one technology forces cuts on the others, too.

While these changes make any purchasing decision more complex, the resulting markdowns should compensate for the headaches. "The consumer really holds the ace in this game," said Jonas Tanenbaum, director of flat-panel and direct-view marketing for Samsung Electronics North America.

The problem with buying any new technology is that tomorrow it will be cheaper - and better. So why not wait some more? When you buy a depreciating asset, it always makes sense to wait as long as you can. But at this stage in the introduction of big-screen high-definition TV sets, consumers are unlikely to get whipsawed by radical new technology that leaves them regretting their purchase.

This year there are several compelling reasons for trading up to a bigger TV, especially one that offers high-definition. Nascar and the National Football League have begun broadcasting events in high-definition. (When it comes to $2,000 TV-purchasing decisions, surveys show men control the purse strings.)

The TV networks are broadcasting more high-definition content, but it isn't all that exciting to watch Paul Kangas read the "Nightly Business Report" on PBS in crisp clarity. Seeing the sweat knocked off the face of a sacked quarterback could be a thrill.

Content matters. " Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" began broadcasting in 1961, but manufacturers recall that sales of color TV's did not take off until the mid-1960's, after the broadcasters put most of their programming in color.

Driving big-screen prices below $2,000 - about what a color TV cost in the late 1960's, adjusting for inflation - is also expected to increase demand this year. A number of factors are causing that to happen faster than anyone expected. Manufacturers in China and Taiwan, the so-called Tier 3 makers that few consumers have ever heard of like Vestel, Changchong or Xoceco, are dropping heavily discounted L.C.D. TV's into general merchandise stores like Costco and Wal-Mart or at online discounters.

Manufacturers with high profit margins have as much to fear from Texas. Dell is applying to TV's the low-cost supply chain and direct-to-consumer sales model that struck such envy and dread in the personal computer industry. While others were selling 42-inch plasma screens for $7,000, it blasted into the market with one for $3,500. It can do that because it does well on margins around 16 percent.

The well-known Japanese and Korean manufacturers, with margins closer to 40 percent, are finding they must trim prices or lose sales. Some are trying to get retailers to trim their margins of about 10 percent to offer TV's for even less. Dell is now selling the 42-inch high-definition plasma screen for $2,600 and the company suggests it could go lower as it gets further deals on components.

Michael Farello, Dell's vice president for United States consumer electronics, said he was recently looking at Dell ads from the mid-1990's comparing its $3,500 PC's with other makers' units at $6,000. "This isn't the first time this has happened," he said.

Amid all this new competition, new factories in Asia are cranking out flat-panel displays. Economic theory holds that as volumes go up, costs go down. TV manufacturers can lower prices and cover the cost of the expensive new plants with the increased volume of TV set sales. But too many of the big makers decided to build plants, so now there is an oversupply of plasma screens that threatens to grow even larger. That will force manufacturers like Panasonic, Philips Electronics, the Samsung Electronics Company and the Sony Corporation to cut prices even more to soak up some of that overproduction through the rest of this decade.

"Price is being led by capacity," says Gary Merson, editor of the HDTV Insider newsletter.

Aren't you glad you waited?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/te...YMlrLnZ2CKQ05w