Posted on 01/08/2007 10:56:29 AM PST by Teacher317
Big LCD TVs take center stage at Electronics Show
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Televisions grabbed the spotlight at the Consumer Electronics Show on Sunday with companies showcasing everything from super-sized models for the red-hot LCD market to technology enabling TVs to play video straight from the Internet.
A slew of consumer electronics makers introduced bigger flat-screen TVs, while others highlighted products to enhance viewing, such as a DVD player that could be a bridge between rival formats for next-generation video discs.
Sharp Corp. (6753.T) showed off a 108-inch high-definition LCD television to rival a 100-inch model introduced only hours earlier by LG Electronics Inc. (066570.KS). Sharp said its was the biggest yet among liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs.
In an effort to counter steep price erosion in the flat TV market, manufacturers are increasingly offering larger TVs with higher resolution, which generally carry fatter profit margins than smaller models with conventional resolution.
Other companies looked for ways to make television more engaging and easier to view from anywhere. Philips Electronics NV (PHG.AS) unveiled a one-speaker surround-system and a wireless high-definition video hub.
Europe's largest electronics maker also showed off bigger models of televisions that light up the wall behind them and introduced amBX, a video game system with a fan to simulate wind, for the North American market.
Japan's Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). (6758.T) took aim at growing consumer appetite for Web-delivered programming with its announcement that the company would equip its TVs with an attachable module that can stream broadband high-definition and other video content with the push of a remote control button.
"One of the key challenges to widespread adoption of video downloads is bridging the gap between the PC and -- the most important element in the home entertainment experience -- the TV," Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman said.
The four-day CES event, which starts formally on Monday, is the biggest annual U.S. gathering for the $145 billion industry and will draw some 140,000 enthusiasts and retailers to a sprawling exhibition of gadgets to feed consumers' ever-growing arsenal for personal entertainment.
LG introduced a DVD player to support both next-generation, high-definition DVD technologies, offering a solution in an escalating war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. LG said its Super Multi Blu Player would be available in early February in the United States for about $1,200.
Despite the flurry of TV-related announcements, many analysts say mobility will be the key theme at this CES as more people watch TV on laptops and carry entire music catalogs in their pockets.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS) said it plans to make available to U.S. broadcasters a new technology that lets people watch digital TV in cars, trains and on mobile computers.
BIGGER AND BETTER
Japan's Sharp said its new 108-inch LCD TV would be available in mid-2007, but it did not give details on price.
The Consumer Electronics Association says wholesale LCD unit sales are expected to jump 50 percent to $12 billion in 2007 from about $8 billion in 2006. By contrast, plasma unit sales are seen rising to $6 billion in 2007 from $5.7 billion.
LCD TVs have been popular recently, but they typically cost more than plasma TVs and have sold in smaller screen sizes.
Pioneer Corp. (6773.T) said it expects to introduce an advanced plasma high-definition TV this summer with richer colors, deeper shades of black and better contrast than predecessors.
The Tokyo-based company aims to compete better with rivals including Samsung and LG of South Korea and Japan's Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T), which offer both plasma and LCD TVs.
Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) said on Sunday it would launch 52-inch and 57-inch LCD TVs this year, playing catch-up with rivals such as Sharp in its foray into the 50-inch class.
(Additional reporting by Lucas Van Grinsven and Kiyoshi Takenaka)
Can I get one in time for the Superbowl?........
Not impressed. I have always wanted a 140" plasma for my bathroom. I guess I will just have to wait.
That works out to be about 20 pixels/linear inch... you'll have to stand VERY far away for it to look good. At least 25 feet or so.
That screen size will ruin the drive-in business...
Oops, never mind.
I want one of those!
It'll fit- I'll make it fit.
New Orleans is gonna win it..no need to watch..(you heard it here first)..
Oh boy. We can all sit there with a beer and watch the world
go to hell in Hi Def.
My Cowboys sure flubbed it..........
Better buy it quick.
OTOH, think of what it'll do for the sub-prime mortgage business, when people who can't afford these put them on the list of toys they'll buy with their re-fis, right behind the new Escalade and the trip to Fiji.
literally..
I don't think my fuse box could handle this one.....my fuse blows out when my tv is on the same time the vacuum is.
Yeah, but think of what it could do for the billboard business...
Defeat Global Warming..Purchase that 108" screen and block out the Sun !
Size DOES matter!
Risin' above the city, blocking out the noonday sun
It dwarfs the mighty redwoods and it towers over everyone
I still remember when that delivery truck came down our block
What a lucky guy, I hear he got the last one in stock
And the neighbors are just green
They say, "That's the biggest screen we've ever seen!"
It's Frank's 2000" TV (Frank's 2000" TV)
Everbody come and see (Frank's 2000" TV)
Frank's 2000" TV (Frank's 2000" TV)
Rush now talking about this TV.
Those projector rigs sure are sweet with a good video game console. My brother-in-law has one with an XBox 360 hooked to it, complete with surround sound. The auto-racing games are just about 1:1 scale!
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