Skip the navigation

Flat-panel makers push screen technology

The size of LCD and plasma screens is no longer the only differentiator

By Martyn Williams
October 19, 2005 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - After several years of strong growth in the flat-panel display business, where new products often meant bigger panels or higher resolutions, the frontiers are shifting and competition is increasing. Nowhere is that more evident than at this week's international flat-panel display show in Yokohama, Japan.
The changes are coming because the industry has reached a stage where it no longer makes sense to make increasingly larger panels. Already, only the richest consumers can afford the largest flat-panel TVs on the market, so there's little potential right now for selling even bigger screens. And resolution has caught up with the 1,080-line high-definition broadcasts now common in many countries, so there's little room for improvement for now.
Instead, panel makers are trying to push the boundaries of their respective technologies in different directions to increase market share. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the battle between LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) makers.
There has traditionally been a "buffer zone" at around 42-inches where LCD gives way to PDP for building big screens. Now, however, each technology is pushing into the other's territory.
Improvements in manufacturing are helping create LCDs that are both larger and cheaper than has been possible before, while PDPs are getting smaller but retaining high-definition resolution.
This new grab for market share between the technologies will be one of the defining characteristics of the market over the next five years, said Lee Sang Wan, president of Samsung Electronics Co.'s LCD business, during a keynote speech at the event.
"Currently, those barriers [between technologies] are being eliminated, and in order to survive, very tough competition will begin," said Lee.
Much is at stake. Samsung estimates that the flat-panel display market will increase in value from $66 billion this year to $115 billion in 2010.
Competition is also moving in new directions as vendors try to better their rivals. No more are viewing angle, contrast ratio or brightness the only specifications panel makers shout about.
Color gamut, which is a measure of the ability of the screen to reproduce a balanced and wide range of colors, is becoming important. In the CRT era, things were simple: CRTs displayed 72% of the full National Television System Committee (NTSC) television color gamut. But displays are now coming onto the market that boast all of the NTSC color gamut and more. This should mean richer colors for viewers, although because broadcasters tailor their images for CRTs, users won't notice a big difference unless they are watching a DVD or

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2010 International Data Group. All rights reserved.
Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Hardware White Papers
The Laptop Dilemma: How to Maximize Productivity and Lower the Burden on IT
Download Now
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
All Hardware White Papers
Hardware Webcasts
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®...
All Hardware Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs