HDTV information resource - HD TV plasma television

March 14, 2007

During a recent press event in Hong Kong, Rudy Provoost, CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics, said the company has decided to phase out of the plasma HDTV market and will focus on LCD HDTVs in the future.

 
Provoost added that, except for North America and Australia, Philips will drop plasma HDTV sales, and that it plans to stop plasma HDTV sales in China later this year.

 
In 2006, Philips ranked the fourth in the global plasma HDTV market for the full year with a 10% revenue share, trailing Panasonic, LGE and Samsung, according to DisplaySearch. Even better, Philips ranked the second place in LCD HDTV market in 2006, with a revenue share of 13.0%, with Samsung being the top player, the research firm added.

 
Also according DisplaySearch, Philips plans to ship nine million LCD TVs in 2007, up from more than five million in 2006.  Philips Taiwan said the company is unavailable to provide its plasma HDTV shipment target for 2007.

 
Unlike its LCD HDTV business, for which Philips has 32.9% of stake of LG.Philips LCD, a leading LCD TV panel maker, Philips does not have any plasma plants to support its own-brand plasma HDTV business.

 
Sources said that Philips’ decision is probably related to the strong growth of the LCD TV market.  According to research firm iSuppli, worldwide LCD and plasma markets will grow to 63 million and 11 million units, respectively, in 2007, up from 40 million and nine million units, respectively, in 2006.  To stay competitive, plasma HDTV makers now are eyeing the 50+” segment, which has become the new divide between LCD and plasma technologies, as opposed to the previous divide at the 40″ level.

 
Last year, Sony stated it too will stop producing plasmas after having slowed its plasma shipments in recent years. Sony’s output of plasma HDTVs totaled only 100,000 units in fiscal year 2005 (the year ended March 31, 2006), down 67% from 300,000 units in the previous year, according to Sony.  Nevertheless, a January report quoted market rumors in saying Sony is considering returning to the plasma HDTV market and is in talks with Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display.

March 13, 2007

Philips announced yesterday that it has dropped its advanced, blinking fluorescent backlights for flat televisions and will instead employ the much smaller LED backlights, thus signaling the demise of technology designed to dramatically reduce motion blur and smear on flat LCD televisions.
LEDs are solid-state lights, used in car indicators, bicycle lamps and increasingly in buildings. They require no bulb, which makes them sturdy and long-lasting, and they also consume less energy per lumens, a measure of light.
Philips’ scanning backlight emitted bursts of light — as opposed to emitting constant light, like in current LDC HDTVs — which tricked the human eye into seeing sharper images.  Philips had touted the technology called Aptura as a major innovation and a potential cash cow for the lighting division which has been repositioned as one of Philips’ growth engines.
“If we want to continue developing this backlighting technology, we’ll have to make new investments.  At the same time, LEDs are getting ripe for the market and they enable thinner TV sets, so we’ve chosen to invest in those,” a Philips representative said.
Philips unveiled its intention for a flickering backlight several years ago and started selling it commercially last year together with LG.Philips LCD, which makes the LCD panels for which the backlights are needed.
Some pricy, flat-panel displays already have LED backlights, but it will probably take several years before they are cheap enough to be put in mainstream flat televisions, the Philips spokeswoman said.
Philips Lighting has a unit called Lumileds, which is the world leader in bright LEDs and one of the fastest growing business segments in the lighting division with 25% annual revenue increases.

November 17, 2006