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Yet another consumer electronics segment is bouncing back from the recession--demand for LCD TVs is showing new signs of life.

Third-quarter shipments of LCD TVs rose for the first time in a year, according to DisplaySearch's "Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report," released Wednesday. That upward motion suggests that TV sales for the first quarter of 2010 could surpass those of the first quarter of 2009, the first gain in six quarters.

Mitsubishi LT-249 series (photos)

Total TV shipments will climb 6 percent in 2010 to reach 218 million units, versus 205 million for 2009, according to DisplaySearch's forecast. LCD TV shipments specifically will account for around 170 million units in 2010 versus 140.5 million this year.

TV manufacturers and vendors can thank North America, Japan, and Western Europe, where consumer demand continues to grow. But emerging markets have also developed more of an appetite for flat-panel TVs.

"China is a hot growth engine for the global flat panel TV market as the transition from CRT to LCD and plasma TVs continues to drive market growth," said Hisakazu Torii, vice president of TV market research for DisplaySearch, in a statement. "Government stimulus activity is having a positive effect on demand for flat panel TVs in both China and Japan, while several upcoming analog-to-digital broadcast changes in 2010 are likely to increase demand in Western Europe for digital TVs. Meanwhile, large price declines in North America have been driving strong unit demand, especially for 19" to 32" sizes."

Price declines of 9 percent this year for all flavors of TVs have hurt revenue but boosted demand, with 2009 revenue likely to drop 10 percent to $101 billion from $112 billion last year. But prices will not fall as much in 2010, says DisplaySearch, and so continued consumer demand will reward the industry with some sales growth next year.

Around 14.6 million plasma TVs are expected to ship next year thanks to growing demand in China. Meanwhile, the older CRT (cathode ray tube) TV continues to hang in there, with 32 million units likely to ship in 2010, predicts DisplaySearch. But that forecast is lower than the company's previous estimate based on declining demand and a dwindling supply of key components.

Alternative technologies like LED-backlit LCDs and 3D TVs will play a role in driving growth for the industry. Demand for LED-backlit TVs will jump in 2010, according to DisplaySearch, with just about every TV manufacturer bringing a variety of models and sizes to the market.

LCDs with higher frame rates will catch on as manufacturers add higher performance features to their TVs, DisplaySearch said. TVs with 100/120 Hz frame rates will capture 26 percent of global sales in 2009, while those with rates of 200/240 Hz will soak up only about 5 percent. But by 2013, 100/120 Hz TVs will account for 31 percent of global revenue, with 200/240 Hz TVs winning nearly 20 percent.

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

I've written articles in the past explaining various TV technologies, including the differences between 720p and 1080p and 120Hz and 240Hz LCD TVs. But with Samsung, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers pushing so-called LED TVs these days, it's high time that I--with an assist from our resident video guru, David Katzmaier--sort through all the marketing mumbo jumbo and provide some insight into just what an LED TV is. Here goes.

1. An LED TV is not a new kind of TV.

I appreciate a good marketing ploy as much as the next guy, but an LED TV is just an LCD TV that's backlit with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of standard cold-cathode fluorescent lights (or CCFLs). And while they've become best-known this year with Samsung's ultrathin models, LED-backlit LCDs have been on mainstream store shelves since 2007, when Samsung's LN-T4681F debuted.

Unlike plasma and OLED, which are emissive technologies where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a transmissive technology where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit.

2.There are two types of LED backlighting.

Initially, LED-based displays like the Samung LN-T4681F were backlit by what's referred to as a "full array" of LEDs behind the LCD across the back of the panel. But to create superthin TVs, engineers needed to eliminate that extra layer of LEDs and move it to the sides of the display. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via "lightguides." These types of TVs are commonly referred to as "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs.

Samsung is the main maker of such sets this year with three series of edge-lit sets, although Sony did release one model earlier this year, the KDL-40ZX1M, and has another flagship series, the KDL-XBR10 models, waiting in the wings. Samsung, Sony, Sharp Toshiba, LG, and Vizio all have non-edge-lit, or "full array" models, available today. See our comparison of edge-lit vs. local dimming for more info.

Edge-lit LED-based LCD by Samsung explodes--photos

3. Of the two, local dimming can produce deeper black levels, but also creates "blooming."

Local dimming LED backlights can dim or turn off individually as needed.

The type of backlighting can impact how deep a shade of black a TV can produce. All current LED-based LCDs with rear-placed, "full-array" LED backlighting--except the Sharp LC-LE700UN series--feature a technology called "local dimming." With local dimming, specific areas of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter.

With fluorescent backlighting and edge-lit LED backlighting, by contrast, the entire backlight dims or brightens at once, if at all.

Being able to dim specific quadrants helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, and the end result is blacks that appear darker and more realistic. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture--and colors--appear to pop. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. A great example of local dimming done right is Samsung's UNB8500 series, which is one of the best-performing TVs we've ever tested.

One downside to local dimming is an effect called "blooming," where brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels. ... Read More

NICT's MSens technology: a practical use for 3D.

(Credit: Scott Ard/CNET)

TOKYO--In the exhibition halls of a gadget trade show, the things that normally jump out are the wacky outfits the female booth attendants are forced to wear, the mammoth wall installations of TVs, and long lines for booth swag.

For better or worse, the enduring image of Ceatec 2009 has been the sight of suit-clad men waiting in twisting queues for the chance to don a pair of plastic 3D glasses for a five-minute TV demonstration. There are two reasons for that: because the major TV makers here couldn't miss out on the chance to show their prototype models of this trendy technology, and because there wasn't really much else going on this year.

There isn't yet a final, official count, but this year's show, which started Tuesday and runs through the weekend, so far seems far less crowded than in years past. Attendees could have been kept away by the sluggish economy, or the inclement weather, including a tropical storm that hit Tokyo midweek. Either way, the general vibe at the Makuhari Messe has been much more subdued.

In the past Ceatec has been known as the event where gadgets destined for store shelves showed up en masse, the last stop on the trade show circuit before they're packaged and ready for consumers during the yearly holiday sales period. However, the 2009 edition was shorter on practical products and very low on new stuff.

As at IFA in Berlin last month and at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, 3D was the dominant theme. Panasonic showed its very-close-to-being-ready 3D plasma TV here this week--this time, though, on a 50-inch set, a size that's far more practical than the 103-inch behemoth used at expos earlier this year. The 50-inch model, plus some sizes larger than that, will be unveiled along with pricing and shipping information at CES in January 2010. Sony is also readying its first 3D TV for the home, which is set to ship sometime next year, though the company wasn't specific about exactly when.

... Read More

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

CHIBA, Japan--What do President Obama, robots, comic book characters, and solar power have in common?

Not much. However, they were all spotted (in some form or another anyway) at Ceatec 2009, Japan's largest consumer electronics show taking place here this week.

Click the slides below for views from the second day of the expo.

Photos: Ceatec Day 2--robot phones, 3D TVs, Hellboy

LG's 15-inch OLED TV, which is set to go on sale in Korea by December.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

SAN FRANCISCO--Though LG's eye-popping OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display wowed audiences in Berlin last month, it's best not to get too excited. There's not going to be more where that came from, at least for a while.

The industry is still at least three years away from churning out standard-size televisions of 32 inches or larger at something approaching acceptable prices. And though Sony grabbed all the attention in early 2008 with its $2,500 11-inch OLED, it's faded into the background when it comes to nudging the technology forward. Initially promising to follow up with 21-inch and 27-inch models, Sony's deferred those plans while battling bigger problems with its TV business.

With Sony on the sidelines, it seemed like we were witnessing yet another false start for a technology that's been intent on challenging existing TV standards like LCD and plasma for almost half a decade now.

Beset by the standard issues that come with bringing a new technology into the mainstream, like the exorbitantly high cost of development, OLED TVs might be on the verge of shifting out of neutral as new standard bearers for the technology emerge. The ones to watch now are Samsung and LG Electronics, which have each signaled that they're ready to make larger investments in OLED technology for TVs.

Some lucky kid in Detroit will get a 42-inch plasma television--just for showing up to school Wednesday. The free TV is part of a plan to lure as many kids as possible to the classroom on Count Day, the designated day for students to be tallied to determine state aid allotments.

Detroit, as well as other districts in Michigan, are offering a range of incentives to students in hopes of jacking up attendance rates in an age of budget cuts and dwindling enrollment. In Detroit, every student enrolled above the budgeted number brings $7,550 in state resources for students and classrooms, according to the Detroit Public Schools.

If that lesson on the American Revolution won't get them into the classroom, maybe this will.

(Credit: Panasonic)

Judging from that big-screen TV being raffled off in a Count Day contest by radio broadcast company Radio One, we're not just talking prizes like T-shirts here. Detroit students who make it to school Wednesday will also be eligible for a laptop, an iPod Nano, and an American Express gift card through the raffle.

Some might argue that such a reward system sets a dangerous quid pro quo precedent, while others will view it as a savvy--if gimmicky--move that could impact kids' future.

Regardless, Michigan school officials consider Count Day crucial, as about 75 percent of the state's school districts are losing enrollment, according to the Michigan School Business Officials organization. The reasons range from parents searching for better options for their kids to the smaller number of students entering schools as the last of the baby boomers' children graduate.

With figures like that at stake, districts are mobilizing with attractions, including parades, country hoe-downs, basketball games, free skating tickets, movies and, in Detroit's case, what appears to be ultimate reward: gadgets.

Not all districts are going the gifts-as-incentive route, however. David Mustonen, the Dearborn district's communications coordinator, says his district decided to go with a "firm" reminder instead, according to WWJ Newsradio.

Not as glamorous as a television, to be sure, but hopefully just as effective.

How do OLED TVs from Sony and LG work? MIT professor Vladimir Bulovic explains using a glowing pickle and an accent to die for. Essentially, electrons pass through the pickle (or any other active organic matter) and charge the substance. When positive and negative charges collide, they release a photon (light).

This pickle represents just one of millions of OLEDs in a potential display. It also means that Vlassic stock will skyrocket if they can only cut those Bread and Butter chips a little bit smaller.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Flat-screen televisions are a major upgrade from existing cathode-ray tube TVs, making new high-definition sets one of the hottest-selling items in consumer electronics. But that dazzling picture and bigger screen come with a price: higher energy use.

To individual consumers, a bigger flat-screen TV might mean a noticeable bump in monthly electric bills. But at a national level, the onrush of these new energy-hungry TVs is a growing concern.

On Friday, the California Energy Commission finalized a proposal to regulate energy consumption in TVs sold in California sold after 2011.

The move is significant because California's stringent efficiency standards in appliances have impacted codes across the country in the past. California's efficiency measures in big appliances, such as refrigerators, have been credited with keeping the per capita electricity consumption in the state steady since the 1970s.

But not everyone is happy with the California measure, which is expected to pass in November. Industry association the Consumer Electronics Association opposes the proposal, arguing that any efficiency improvements should come from consumer demand rather than regulation.

To unwind some of the issues around energy efficiency and TVs, we offer this FAQ, which draws on the analysis of CNET Reviews' senior editor David Katzmaier, who has been measuring power consumption in TVs for the past three years. You can see the latest data at CNET's Energy Efficiency Guide and power ratings of 150 HDTVs.

If I buy a new flat-screen TV, will I be slapped with a huge energy bill?
Not necessarily. The primary reason flat-screen TVs consume more power is because they are bigger. The California Energy Commission estimates that per square inch, LCDs consume a bit more than CRTs, but most people are also upgrading in size, which means significantly more electricity use. That's one reason why TV product ratings from the likes of CNET and Consumer Reports now include yearly energy consumption estimates.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

BERLIN--Spotted in LG's enormous booth here at IFA: a razor thin OLED TV with a 15-inch screen.

That's still about half the size of the average person's LCD or plasma TV, but it's progress. Currently Sony is the only company that sells an OLED and its measures just 11 inches diagonally. LG will officially one up its rival when this hits the market in Korea first next year.

Called "The Object," this display is 0.1 inches thin and weighs in at just over 11 ounces.

See more after the jump. ... Read More