Sharp sees HDTV's future mapped out
Say hello to the Sharp LED HDTV.
(Credit: Sharp)Earlier this week, Sharp announced that it's bringing a new line of LED-backlit LCDs to the market.
I had the opportunity to discuss the announcements and Sharp's views on the future with the company's senior vice president of marketing, Bob Scaglione, recently. He believes that while the advancements made in this line show Sharp is making a more concerted effort to take the lead in the market, the only way to solidify its position is to fully invest in LED-backlit liquid crystal displays.
"We believe LED is the future," Scaglione said. "We have very aggressive plans to integrate LEDs (light-emitting diodes) in our entire HDTV product line. Sharp plans to be 100 percent LED. By 2011, the entire Sharp product line will feature LED-backlit displays."
It's a bold plan. While LED-backlit displays are widely considered the future in the HDTV market, so far, they're more expensive than LCD high-definition TVs that don't feature LED technology. And in today's economy, price matters.
But it seems Sharp isn't too concerned. The biggest risk it could take, Scaglione asserts, is investing in plasma. To Sharp, investing in LED-backlit displays makes sense--it's the next big thing. But plasma, on the other hand, is on its way out.
"Eventually, some small percentage of the industry will stay in plasma," Scaglione said. "But the number of players will continue to decrease until one or two companies are handling demand on their own. Most companies have seen the light and switched over, but there are a few more catering to the remaining plasma customers."
What about the future?
If plasma is the dying elder, OLED (organic light-emitting diode) is the newborn in the market. It's widely considered the future. And although it's extremely expensive and most companies have shied away from the technology due to price, Scaglione said his company is considering every possibility when it comes to OLED.
"OLED is something we're watching very carefully," Scaglione said. "Although it won't be affordable for at least 5 to 10 years from now, all of the displays showing off the technology are beautiful. But based on price, it's prohibitive. OLED has an opportunity to be a contender, but for the foreseeable future, it's LCD with an LED backlight that will lead the way."
Plasma technology was once all the rage, and now it enjoys just a small percentage of the market. Realizing that and understanding that the HDTV market evolves so quickly, there's a possibility that LED-backlit HDTVs won't be as popular as Sharp expects.
Scaglione disagrees. He believes there's no doubt that LED-backlit displays will dominate the market. Furthermore, he thinks it can happen in an extremely short amount of time.
"LED-backlit LCDs are the buzz on the retail store floor and it probably won't take long for it to take the majority of the sales," Scaglione said. "Many times, it takes less than a year for tech to take control. And we believe LED-backlit displays will be no different."
If Scaglione is correct, the question is not whether LED-backlit displays will take the market lead, but rather will we be happy that it is happening?
Sharp is. Let us know if you are in the comments below.
Check out Don's Facebook profile, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Officially Sept, but...
Its coming and soon.
Only reason Plasma is fading is because of the physical weight of the sets.
And you're right, burn-in has mostly gone away; but you still have to be a little bit careful with certain uses. The big ones are video games, 4:3 tv, and general stupidity like going to sleep with the tv on to a DVD menu or something (although many sets have auto-off features to help)
My 52" Sharp is rated at 280w, whil the 50" Panasonic plasma I was looking at was rated at 600w. Tha'ts a big difference in power and heat dissipation.
That is a big difference but it amounts to a little more than $35 a year or $3 a month. Not exactly breaking the bank. There's a $700 difference in MSRP between these sets, so you'd break even after 20 years...
Do consumers really need to buy the "latest and greatest" top-dollar TV purchase every 3 years? Is that what it has come to in the last 6-7 years?
I'm still miffed about my mere 1080i, 2003 model Mitsu projection HDTV with unusable FireWire ports (because that was the "direction things were going" instead of DVI...) pffft....
This also seems to be an issue with LED backlit displays. It actually makes off-angle viewing worse than traditional LCDs. At least the early ones did according to CNET reviews. They even commented that it was significantly worse just 1-2 seats over from the sweet spot. Not exactly a TV to be enjoyed with company...
- by chcake39 August 4, 2009 10:07 AM PDT
- I'm just curious, but who here has actually seen the new sharp tv's? I just bought the 52 inch model, and I have to say, the picture is amazing. I have been to a lot of different stores looking at both lcd's and plasmas, and the picture on this led backlit tv (atleast the sharp one I got) beats out everything I've seen anywhere else. I am extremely happy with my investment.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(15 Comments)I do agree that there is no reason for people to buy a new one every couple years, nor do I plan to. When they say 'take over the market' they aren't referring to what is actually in people's houses, theyre referring to what people are currently buying new.