• Blogs
• Forums
• Tradeshows
• Partners
• White Papers
• Events

Prototype Invasion

Feb 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Jeff Sauer

CES 2005 offers a first look at trend-setting display products.

For a long time the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has been the place to see all the latest television sets. The difference now, and for the last couple of years, is that those TVs are no longer the inexpensive siblings of professional video monitors, but rather the most advanced flat panel technology the industry has to offer.

It's been more than a year since consumers overtook professionals in terms of flat panel sales volumes, and manufacturers have followed the dollars. CES is where you'll see what's new in plasma and LCD first, as well as the latest rear-projection TVs and a few video- (if home theater-) oriented front projectors.

As always in the flat panel business, there's a size war, and bigger is better — at least if you're trying to draw a crowd at a trade show. Samsung won that battle again this year with prototypes of both the world's largest plasma — a monstrous 102in. prototype labeled “Z-102” — and the largest LCD TV, the 70in. HL-R7078W. Unfortunately, if you missed them at CES you may have to wait a while to see them. Neither is expected to ship imminently.

Of course, size ultimately matters a lot more in terms of status than actual business because cost still puts even last year's biggest panels out of range for most prospective buyers. That, however, can't stop the rivalry between flat panel giants Samsung and LG Electronics. While Samsung had the biggest show floor demos, LG was able to claim the biggest plasma currently in production, albeit not quite shipping as of CES in early January. The 71in. MW-71PY10 plasma will carry a list price of a whopping $75,000 (although I've found it online for $50,000). But even at that, LG says it has at least “a few” orders.

The more interesting numbers, shared by all three of those products, is their 1920×1080 native resolution. And happily, those weren't the only high-resolution products at the show. For example, Texas Instruments showcased the first 1920×1080 DLP DMD chip, and both LG and Samsung showed rear-projection TVs using it. Naturally, Samsung made the point that its 67in. HLR6768W would be the largest DLP TV when it ships in the middle of the year ($6,999), but also claimed its 56in. HLR5688W would be the first 1080p DLP TV when it ships within the next month. LG will have both a 56in. and a 62in. 1080p DLP TV, but neither is expected before the second quarter of the year.

Also high resolution, a Fujitsu prototype of a native 1920×1080 3-panel LCD projector appeared at the booth for a newly announced 3LCD alliance. Apparently tired of being beaten up with smart DLP-oriented marketing by TI, an assembled who's who of consumer electronics companies — Epson, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sony — joined forces effectively to announce that LCD's death has been greatly exaggerated.

The “3LCD Group,” as it will be called, was formed to show that LCD has several advantages over DLP and to combat a growing mass perception that DLP is better quality. According to demonstrations at the 3LCD booth, the Epson booth, and in press materials, these advantages include: no “rainbow” effect or color break-up, superior grayscale range, excellent contrast, and “brilliant images.” If nothing else the alliance should make for better competition between the competing technologies, and that will certainly benefit users.

Another technology that made a major splash in small circles at CES was LED. LED maker Lumileds (see Video Systems, June 2004, “An Illuminating Technology”) was behind the light source illuminating two exciting technology demonstrations. First, InFocus and Mitsubishi (in the TI booth) both showed a sub-1lb. (actually 400 grams), LED-lit front projector that could literally fit in the palm of an adult hand. Both were about the size of a stack of 3.5in. floppies and, although specifications weren't on offer from either, the indication was that brightness would be somewhere in the 400-500 lumen range. Still, a projector small enough to literally fit in an overcoat pocket marks an intriguing step forward (see Video Systems, Sept. 2004, “Pondering Projection”).

The other LED demonstration will probably have a more immediate professional impact: a prototype LED-backlit LCD monitor from both Samsung and Sony. Each showed its version of a jointly developed panel, the result of their manufacturing partnership, and both were very striking with excellent color that could rival plasma. Sony's left me with the stronger impression, but that is likely a result of the ideal room conditions and high-quality source material. Still, Samsung's demonstration, compromised somewhat by the bright lights of the show floor, showed three side-by-side versions of the same LCD panel with CCFL, FFL, and LED backlights. The LED panel easily had the best color.

LCD panels create color by subtracting primary color from white light. Since a combination of red, green, and blue LED can create a purer, fuller white than a CCFL backlight, LEDs offer the potential for a broader range of colors and grayscales. LEDs can turn on and off very fast — in this case during the time the liquid crystals are changing state — thus reducing or even eliminating LCD's typical motion ghosting.

Interestingly, Philips also showed a prototype LCD TV with a fluorescent backlight that was also able to turn off and on during crystal movement. Philips called its technology the Aptura backlight model. Similarly, though, few details were yet available.

Finally, while Samsung and LG were slugging it out with both plasma and LCD, other companies were essentially picking sides. Sharp has always been an LCD company, and introduced a new 65in. model that will be available later in the year; Pioneer has always been a plasma company. However, at this CES both Sony and Panasonic picked their horses as well.

Sony declared its future to be primarily in LCD, while Panasonic looks toward plasma. Those declarations aren't too revealing given each company's partnerships, but they are interesting, looking at the existing product lines of each. Each company still has lines using both technologies.

---

feedback

To comment on this article, email the Video Systems editorial staff at vsfeedback@primediabusiness.com.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.