LED and 3-D battlegrounds for 2010 TV makers

Date: January 4, 2010

The explosive popularity of three-dimensional movie Avatar here and overseas prefigures well for major TV makers, which bet heavily on growth of 3-D capable TVs.

Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Sony and other TV manufacturers plan to showcase their new 3-D-compatible TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show opening this week in Las Vegas.

Industry officials said the 3-D TV, along with LED-backlit TVs, will be one of the two buzzwords in the industry this year, with makers pushing for sales of premium TVs to spur consumer demand and slow price falls.

"Advanced technologies like LED backlights and 3-D are expected to provide a further growth catalyst, particularly in higher price point products where the premiums are more acceptable,"DisplaySearch said in a report last week.

3-D: hype or not?

But it remains to be seen whether consumers will pay extra money and bother to wear glasses to view 3-D content in their living rooms. Although this year will see a rising number of 3-D movies, sports and computer games, most free-to-air broadcasts will not be available in the format.

The amount of 3-D content is expected to be still relatively small partly because production costs are more expensive than of regular versions.

However, LG, the No.2 TV maker, expected many consumers to upgrade to 3-D TVs because the price gap between 3-D TVs and other LCD TVs will not be large.

LG's 3-D LCD TV, which is currently priced at around 4.5 million won for a 47-inch model, is expected to drop by around 40 percent this year, an LG spokesperson said. That will make the prices of 3-D TVs slightly higher than those of other 42-inch LCD TVs, he said.

"When combined with rich content, the 3-D TV market will grow exponentially,"he said.

LG aims at becoming the top 3-D TV maker in 2011, with 3.4 million units in sales, from 400,000 units this year. To that end,LG has applied 3-D functionality to its flagship "Borderless" TV series.

Sony,the No. 3 TV maker, also said between a third and a half of all TVs sold by the company would have 3-D capability by the year ending March 2013.

Market leader Samsung has also joined the 3-D fray, planning to launch 3-D capable LED-backlit LCD TVs this year.

"The 3-D content supply is improving," a Samsung spokesperson said.

"3-D TVs will be this year's top TV trend along with LED (LCD) TVs," he said.

Samsung and LG also plan to join a government-industry steering committee in Korea to launch trial services for 3-D television slated for October this year. That would make Korea the world's first country to test 3-D television in HD picture quality through terrestrial networks.

DisplaySearch forecasts that 1.2 million 3-D-capable TVs will be shipped in 2010 and 15.6 million sets in 2013.

LED TVs set to boom

The LED LCD TV market is also headed for sharp growth this year, with major vendors expected to aggressively push for sales of the LED LCD TVs, which boast slim design and improved picture quality. Expensive prices have been one of the biggest hurdles for the widespread adoption of LED LCD TVs, but their prices are expected to fall this year.

An LED TV is an LCD TV that is lit by light-emitting diodes, while traditional LCD TVs are lit by fluorescent lamps.

Global shipments of LED-backlit LCD-TVs with 40 inch or larger screen sizes will jump by nearly eight-fold in 2010, from 2.5 million units in 2009 to 18.8 million units,according to market research firm iSuppli.

Samsung said on Sunday that it aimed at quadrupling its LED LCD TV sales to 10 million units this year. Second-ranked LG Electronics also earlier announced its aggressive sales target of 7 million units for LED LCD TVs.

Meanwhile, global LCD shipments are expected to jump by 22 percent to 171 million units this year from 2009 levels, as the global economy is recovering from the financial meltdown, boosting consumer demand, according to DisplaySearch.

Total TV shipments, which dipped 1 percent last year, will rise by 6 percent to 218 million units in 2010, from 205 million units in 2009, DisplaySearch said. It added that that the growth will be driven by "demand resilience in developed TV markets like North America, Japan and Western Europe, as well as accelerating demand from emerging markets for flat panel TVs."

Global TV revenues will post positive growth this year after falling 10 percent to $101 billion last year,DisplaySearch said.

News Source: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr