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fishpoint
02-21-06, 01:59 PM
Toshiba to end CRT TV sales in Japan, rebrand LCD range

Dinsdag 21 februari 2006, 10:35 - Toshiba Corp. plans to end sales of CRT (cathode ray tube) and analog-tuner equipped LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions in Japan from April this year, it said Tuesday.

Geen reacties Door Martyn Williams
The company will instead concentrate its efforts on rebranding and promoting its digital LCD televisions, said Satoshi Niikura, executive vice president of Toshiba's digital media network company, at a Tokyo news conference. The digital TV market is growing fast in Japan after the launch of terrestrial digital TV broadcasting in late 2004.
Overall LCD TV sales were 4.4 million units last year and surpassed sales of CRT sets for the first time. For this year Toshiba anticipates LCD TV sales will grow to 6 million units, and further to 7 million units in 2007. In contrast, the CRT TV market is seen contracting from 3.5 million sets in 2005 to 900,000 sets in 2007. The company expects to sell 650,000 PDP (plasma display panel) TV sets in 2007.

The year is unlikely to see any significant sales of SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) panel sets, Niikura said. Toshiba and Canon Inc. have been developing the technology for some time and have a joint production line in the Tokyo suburbs but commercial products are yet to be seen. Toshiba had originally promised SED televisions last year and is currently targeting them in small volumes during the "spring" of this year but a decision on whether the technology is ready for use in a commercial product is yet to be made.
Following the lead of several of its largest competitors, Toshiba Corp. plans to unify branding of its flat-panel television sets worldwide under a single name, the company also announced.

Toshiba, which has been using the "Face" brand in Japan and some other international markets and no brand in other countries, will unify its entire LCD (liquid crystal display), PDP (plasma display panel) and projection TV models under the "Regza" brand name, said Niikura. Regza comes from the German "regsam," a word which connotes vibrant and dynamic qualities.

In the flat-panel TV world Sony Corp. relaunched its products under the "Bravia" brand name last year and Sharp Corp. has been using the "Aquos" brand on its LCD TVs for some years. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) sells its sets in some markets including Japan under the "Viera" brand name.

fishpoint
02-21-06, 02:00 PM
above from Engadget

biker19
02-21-06, 07:16 PM
Get em while you can.

kny3twalker
02-21-06, 08:35 PM
whatever leave them on the shelves
and good Toshiba has been putting out poor quality TVs for a couple years now and they need to get out of the game

kny3twalker
02-22-06, 03:51 AM
not surprised

I hope some company that cares about quality picks up SED or OLED

williamtassone
02-22-06, 04:41 AM
A Sony SED made in Japan. Hmmmmm , I'd like to see that

biker19
02-22-06, 11:51 AM
[QUOTE=kny3twalker]not surprised

I hope some company that cares about quality picks up SED or OLED[/QUOTE]
For the first few years Toshiba and Canon will want to recoup their R&D money and not license the technology to anyone.

kny3twalker
02-22-06, 12:22 PM
For the first few years Toshiba and Canon will want to recoup their R&D money and not license the technology to anyone.

SED is not the only technology up and coming, think OLED
and I cannot afford a 10k display anyways
so in 5 years, when someone else starts making them and they cost 4-5k
I will consider it an option

biker19
02-22-06, 12:52 PM
[QUOTE=kny3twalker]SED is not the only technology up and coming, think OLED
and I cannot afford a 10k display anyways
so in 5 years, when someone else starts making them and they cost 4-5k
I will consider it an option[/QUOTE]
If the new technlogy only offers slightly better PQ (or some other feature) over current flat screens, the new entrants won't be able to charge that much of a premium over LCD and plasma screens - the main reason for LCD and plasma sales are their size - not PQ or other features. And at the current pace of 30% price declines every year very few panels are going to be in the 4-5K price range 5 years out. A main stream 37" panel in two years should be 1K - a panel in this range should be the volume model. If SED actually works, a 40" panel in 5 years will probably be under 1K.

kny3twalker
02-22-06, 01:01 PM
well the thing is they will be charging about the same amount as LCD and plasma
if they are selling a 55" 1080p SED at 10k, 57" Sharp 1080p LCD MSRP 16000, and the Pioneer 50" plasma 1080p is MSRP of 10k as well


so how was my statement incorrect
again SED is going to be a 1080p technology, only most probably

I see in 5 years, they will still be well over 3 or 4k

williamtassone
02-22-06, 07:28 PM
[QUOTE=biker19]-
the main reason for LCD and plasma sales are their size - not PQ .[/QUOTE]

never a truer word spoken