Posted on 01/05/2006 7:55:37 AM PST by george76
Gizmos land among CES 'mega-trends' as U.S. sales rocket
It's all about portable music players and flat-panel TVs.
One look around the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center confirms that, with much of the space devoted to companies pitching all manner of MP3 devices and big- screen televisions.
And no wonder - U.S. shipping revenues of portable MP3 players in the first 11 months of last year were up 224 percent over 2004.
And sales of flat-panels - LCD and plasma sets - are expected to go from $6 million in 2005 to $10 million this year, helped by prices that are steadily, if still slowly, falling.
That's according to Sean Wargo, the director of industry analysis for the Consumer Electronics Association, sponsor of the International Consumer Electronics Show.
Wargo admits that overall growth in consumer electronics is likely to fall in 2006, after an 11.3 percent jump in U.S. shipments in 2005, with total revenues of $126 billion. Wargo said he expects growth to settle around 7.5 percent this year.
"Portable audio is the main growth sector...
the average price of a 27-inch LCD TV last year was $799...
"Wait until the end of the show,"
"It will probably be less."
The CEA estimates 22.4 million portable music players shipped in the U.S. in 2005, with 15 percent of those video capable.
In 2004, just 7.1 million music players shipped.
In 2006, the group predicts shipments to rise to 27.7 million...
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
I just bought a 26" lcd tv (with WXGA resolution -- excellent computer monitor) for $699..
On that note, if you buy an lcd tv and intend on using it with a pc, be aware that many do not support 1024x768 resolution -- they support 1024x760. Why they left off 8 lines is beyond me. If you want all 768, get one that has 1328? x 768, and get a card taht supports that mode otherwise it will still work, but it may stretch the image a tad.
Because they are designed to support the High Definition TV standard of 760p - the computer functionality is just an added plus. Better to hold out for a display that supports HD at 1080p - they cost more, but look better. And for a 27" computer monitor, I'd want to achieve a much higher resolution than 1024x768.
PLUS many of the cheaper LCD TVs have pathetic resolutions such as 640x480. Thus fairly lame for a computer monitor.
I fail to see how the human eye can pick up the difference you mention. being off by eight lines won't do it. Or will it? Plus you always want an LCD monitor to operate at it's optimum resolution. Though it will work on others. My 17" LCD computer monitor optimum is 1280x1028. Other resolutions make fuzzy image
Your monitor is fuzzy because it stretches the image to fit the fixed number of pixels. I presume this happens when you use a monitor that only supports 760 vertical pixels. -- it has to drop some lines somewhere, leading to some fuzziness.
Well, why didn't they design 720p to be 768? Kinda silly seeing how that resolution has been a standard for years.
1080p set are still too expensive. Heck, 1080i sets are still to expensive. Heck, 720p sets are still to expensive!
Why did I buy one now, when next December the same tv will be $499? Well I moved into an apartment. I don't want the TV to be the focus of my living room, as I do have a life besides vegging in front of it nightly. I needed something that would hang on a wall and not require me to purchase a stand that juts out two feet from the wall. My TV should be as unobtrusive as possible.
I'm going to put a frame around my TV and put a roll down picture in front of it. When you come in my house, you won't see my tv. When I want to watch, I roll up the canvas and watch...
So this is why I didn't wait to get a 1080i or p tv next December, when they will most likely be "affordable." ($700 is an awful lot to spend on a television).
If I recall they had a big fight over the standard at the time - Bill Gates wanted it to be 768, just as you suggested, but the HDTV industry insisted in going its own way. Maybe just to spite Microsoft. ;)
" ($700 is an awful lot to spend on a television). >>>>>>>>
My father paid $450.00 for a fifteen inch black and white television over fifty years ago when he was earning about fifty dollars a week. Try that on for current pricing.
Doesn't this sound low?>>>>>>>>
It sounds very low to me, considering the fact that the local CircuitCity store probably has fifty thousand dollars worth of plasma and lcd units out on DISPLAY.
I paid $500 for a 20 inch TV 23 years ago. I paid $139 for a 20 inch TV last year.
I'm going to buy the 23" Samsung LCD HDTV-ready version this weekend. Compared to the Sharp 20"and the Magnavox 26" it has the best picture for the money.
I paid $500 for a 20 inch TV 23 years ago. I paid $139 for a 20 inch TV last year.>>>>>>>>>
If the price of necessities had fallen at the same rate as electronics prices, I could work one month a year and live like a king.
Take a peek at the Best Buy brand Insignia. I purchased the 26" for $699.
The 23" samsung is $999, and I didn't notice a significant difference.
You can also get a 30" insignia for $1000 or so..
I love my Archos GMINI 402 portable multimedia center. Purchased in Dec05 from Amazon for $240: 20GB hard drive, built in USB that allows me to capture the photos from everybody's digital camera BEFORE we leave the family reunion and then pipe them into a big screen TV so everybody can enjoy them on the last day of the get together. Wired it directly into my 1998 Avalon head unit for best fidelity with an adapter from Crutchfield ($60) that I custom mounted in the center console. Everything still looks factory. The Archos hooks to your computer USB port just like a flash drive. Can move music, photos and data back and forth without any extra software.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AA7MQA/sr=1-1/qid=1133752581/ref=sr_1_1/102-9883245-2805765?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Circuit City Revenue Up on Flat-Panel TVs
Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second largest chain of consumer electronics stores, said Friday its overall December revenue climbed 12.1 percent due to a sharp holiday strategy, strong flat-panel TV sales and higher average purchases.
The Richmond-based company said its revenue rose to $1.98 billion in December from $1.77 billion a year ago.
Circuit City's larger rival, Minneapolis-based Best Buy Co. Inc., on Friday reported a 12 percent gain in total sales to $5.7 billion from $5.1 billion. Same-store sales rose 5.8 percent, and U.S same-store sales were up 5.6 percent.
http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-circuit-city-sales,0,6601296.story?coll=sns-ap-business-headlines
journalists are always confusing "million" and "billion." I remember a NY Times headline written in horror that Bush, Sr. had released a budget with a deficit of THREE HUNDRED MILLION.
(of course Dr. Evil owns the NY Times... duh!)
Do NOT buy plasma TVs... they do not last long at all... The plasmafied pigments eventually quit returning to ground state. Hold out a couple years... there'll be much better technologies.
Or, come to think of it, even if you dont hold out, you'll still be in the market for a new TV in a couple years when the better technologies come out.
The 20 inch might have been made in the USA 23 years ago, the one you bought last year was not.
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