Laser TV: The Wave of the Future or Just Another Flop?
Mitsubishi Laser TV
(Credit: Mitsubishi)In a recent interview with the New York Times, Mitsubishi's vice president for marketing Frank DeMartin, revealed that his company will be showing off its very own laser TV at CES 2008.
In the interview, Mr. DeMartin explained that "[Laser TVs] will spawn a new category for the premium end of the market."
And while his words are true, does Mitsubishi (or any other company for that matter) really want to be known as the "premium end" in a market that is being dominated by companies who are trying to drop prices as quickly as possible? The current state of the HDTV market, much like the cell phone market, dictates the best possible quality at the cheapest price. Next time you hit up a Costco or Sam's Club, take a look at the $3000 Sony and the $1700 Vizio. Can you tell a difference? And if so, how many times does the Vizio look better than the Sony? If my tastes are the same as yours, you would probably say 99 percent of the time.
With that in mind, would you really want to pay twice or three times that for a laser TV just because it is the next big thing and provides a somewhat better picture than your current plasma or LCD? Not me.
While some believe lasers will supplant UHP lamps as the medium of choice for HDTVs, I don't. Although current HDTVs can only display up to half of the visible color spectrum and laser TVs can show almost 90 percent of that spectrum, inky blacks and red reds are not as important to me as benefits for the cost.
In case you were wondering, Laser TVs works with the help of three lasers in their own distinct wavelengths: red, green and blue. Although red lasers are easily available right now, as far as I know, no green or blue lasers can be purchased for inclusion into the TVs. Because of this, manufacturers are required to use a technique called frequency doubling to create artificial blue and green lasers. Once these lasers are properly configured, they shoot beams at a vertical cavity containing two mirrors. The laser light is then converted into visible light and this is carried to a Digital Micromirror device where the mirrors either shoot the light onto your screen or into a dump.
Sound complicated? Well it's expensive too. Although this technique eliminates many of the components you would find in projection TVs (namely the color wheel and filters), laser costs are extremely high at this point, and to mass produce these HDTVs, companies may end up charging more than $10,000 for first-generation devices.
Even worse, laser TV technology uses laser power that is dangerous to human vision without the use of filters that will only add to the already exorbitant price tag.
Interestingly, proponents of laser TVs have consistently touted the advanced image technology that helps create a so-called "perfect" picture, but they never seem to mention the price of producing thousands of these TVs for the home. Like everyone else, I would like an HDTV that provides the best picture, but at what point are the returns on what I am getting, too little to justify the price?
As an avid HD user who believes SD bands should have been destroyed years ago, I understand and enjoy the benefits of a crystal-clear image. And while I can never go back to a standard-def image after enjoying sports games in HD, I don't think the jump from my LCD to a laser TV will be dramatic enough to warrant that reaction. If Mitsubishi and the rest of the laser TV proponents really had something special up their sleeves, don't you think they would be touting the new screens as HD killers or the next-gen of HD? Instead, they have their vice president of marketing spewing his company's ideas of a "premium" alternative to the current options.
Laser TV was doomed before it was even announced. The Internet is abuzz with the promise of this new technology and what it may provide for us in the future. I'm not so ready to jump onto the laser TV bandwagon. The technology will be too costly and the jump in quality is too little to justify the price of these HDTVs. The average consumer will not buy a more expensive TV that looks nominally better than the affordable set right next to it. So before you start asking your local tech guy if you should wait for laser TVs to hit CES before you pick up that new HDTV, give the guy a break and head down to your local warehouse store. Those Vizios are awfully nice.
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.
One opinion we hear is "...the HDTV market [http://...|http://...] dictates the best possible quality at the cheapest price." Not too much of a stretch, and one could probably say this about virtually any consumer electronics market. Of course, there's no universally accepted optimum for this quality-vs-price tradeoff. Which is why a premium segment of the HDTV market exists. There are always people who will pay extra for a great-looking picture. And others, who may share Mr. Reisinger's beer-budget taste, that want to spend $1700 for a merely adequate picture. Certainly the relative sales of those Sony and Vizio models that Don cites differ significantly between Costco's well-heeled members and Sam's Clubbers.
Mr. Reisinger says that it's not important to him that the picture in currently-available HDTV's shows only ?half? (actually it's 35% max) of the colors the eye can see. He's not interested in Laser TV's capability to show 90% of all visible colors. No problem, but mediocre image quality standards are not typical of HDTV users. If Don had actually seen one of the Laser TV demos at recent trade shows (including CES, SID, Infocomm), no way would he characterize their advantage as merely ?inky blacks and red reds.? Even an untrained eye can see vastly more colors in one of these demo sets, so that the screen overflows with realistic scenes. In the coming months many more of us will get chances to view Laser TV?s outstanding images from major brands for ourselves.
The technical discussion mixes one correct statement with a lot of convoluted misunderstandings. The correct statement is ?Laser TV?s work with the help of three lasers in their own distinct wavelengths: red, green and blue.? Inexpensive red and blue lasers are readily available, but like $100 green laser pointers, they?re way too dim to power Laser TV?s. So frequency doubling is used to create all three colors in Laser TV?s. How it works: an inexpensive semiconductor laser (termed a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, but for our purposes it?s a cheap chip) emits invisible infrared light that?s converted into either red, green, or blue light by passing through a crystal. That?s it. Not complicated or expensive. It?s just a much better component to replace the mercury lamps that currently power rear projection TV?s, as any owner who has shelled out $250-to-$400 to replace a burned-out one will agree.
It?s true that inside a Laser TV there are lasers. And lasers are bright. How many folks have opened up their rear projection TV?s, and stared into the lamp? Not many, because it looks about as bright as the sun, too. So the safety concern will likely be addressed using interlocks, not filters. And this solution is inexpensive, like the other components.
Where did Mr. Reisinger get the idea that the price tags for Laser TV?s will be ?exorbitant?? Did he speak with any of the laser suppliers about their component costs? Did he ask Laser TV manufacturers about projected pricing, to come up with his $10,000 figure? The article doesn?t say so because next to no research went into it, but it sure reflects Don?s idea that lasers are expensive. Had he asked, he would have learned that the semiconductor laser chips that power Laser TV?s are subject to the same economics that rule microprocessor chips. When produced in high volumes (not ?thousands? but hundreds of thousands), their manufacturing costs become a few dollars each.
It is the case that initially Laser TV?s will be positioned as premium televisions, but not because the components are expensive (as Don notes, the lasers will actually make the rest of the TV less expensive to manufacture). Rather TV makers recognize that HDTV aficionados will pay more for the stunning picture quality. And we?ve all seen TV features that are initially restricted to high-end models creep into all models over time. So good reasons exist to expect that we?ll all enjoy the awesome viewing experience of Laser TV in a couple years. And none of us will have to settle for a mediocre picture on a Vizio, even if Mr. Reisinger does work there.
One more thing, the Samsung LNT5281 series uses LED and has a truly spectacular picture....so how much better can it get, LED is the way to go.
http://laser-tv.org
It is so apparent that he has done no research and has little understanding about laser technology. There is a vast difference between 30% of the colors available and 90% that is noticeable by any passerby as radically better. The price for laser televisions (and hopefully soon to follow front projectors) will, over the course of a year or so, be lower than LCD, plasma, ect. because they cost less to produce. This article just does not make any sense and is not based on the facts
Past experiences have all shown us that the little 10% of the population that buy the more expensive $3000 Sony displays, comes out to be more than just 10%. That small ridiculous segment you mention, DRIVE the rest of the market and the direction it goes. The rest of the 90% of the market buyers plays in the fodder of what that 10% segment created. So the majority of the market that you claim to be in, are just a bunch of wannabe's and copy-cats benefiting from the technology that you know little or nothing about. That's why Best-Buy is doing so well.
Like Blu-Ray technology, everyone laughed at it a few years ago, and look now... how popular it has become. The game industry alone WILL drive LaserTV's into the mainstream. If you haven't noticed, LCD and Plasma are far from being perfect, and there will definitely be better technologies that surpass them (such as OLEDs). LaserTV is a superior technology with many benefits that will only extend the future of the market. Remember the same thing happened with computer graphic cards... when they were first introduced with 256 colors, and then 16-bit color was the full palette!!! And people thought 32-bit color, WHY!, that's too excessive. WHO NEEDS ALL THAT COLOR, was the initial thought. Now we can't live without it in our digital daily lives.
The same steps will happen with HDTV. We didn't realize we were missing colors in our 16-bit view, but now that we've seen 32bits, we can't go back! People think we've hit the pinnacle of HDTV technology and it will now level out. But that's so far from the truth, and that it's only growing exponentially worse. LCD/Plasma are definitely not the glory years.
All tech development takes time and doesn't happen overnight, but once it goes into production, hold onto your pants. So, you're statement of "90% of the market" isn't going to jump, doesn't hold water any more. It's a newer market now and people are more willing to change for the benefits they will gain. It's a different generation now. And just think, I didn't even mention that' it's "GREEN"er. That's a whole technology driver unto itself. Think of all the Prius cars out there now... a couple years ago, I would have said Prius, and you'd would have laughed.
- by LJS_Law July 19, 2008 6:09 AM PDT
- "companies may end up charging more than $10,000 for first-generation devices."
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(7 Comments)Don - I'm curious, How did arrive at making such a passing comment and fail to qualify it?
I've been following the developement of Laser TV news for aleast six months now, and your article is one of the first I've read, where the message is......."high prizes for the next big thing in electronics" will be the common factor. For instance, months ago YouTube.com had early release news reports, where reporters in Australia interviewed
a laser tv manufacturer representative. This representative (ON CAMERA) made the comment that his companies would produce laser models that would make Plasma and LCD model obsolete. HOW? His key message was......"Whatever you would expect to pay for a comparable sized plasma set, (diag. inches) We plan to sell our Laser TV at
HALF the price of a plasma tv - for the same size model.
We're all too aware the media is part of the problem these days, The HYPE, The inaccurate, The unqualified and unsubstantiated comments.......where do we suppose they all come from? Mitsubishi being the first to market with a $10,000.00 Laser TV?
Doesn't surprise me at all. You see Mitsubishi sold a huge amount of rear view projections TV in the early 2000's. I'm very familiar with the product Mitsubishi product they put on the shelves these days. I have two Mitsubishi models setting across the room from me right now. One is a 2002 model Mitsubishi and I need help from two other people to carry it out of house - so I can get it to the landfill. One of the most critical parts to repair the TV is no longer available NEW directly from Mitsubishi. I paid $3450.00 for it
six years ago and now it's a huge piece of junk.
Don - supporting the madness (the - how of control arms race in $$$$$) where do you think - at what point - does the electronics customer just stops buying and revolts?
$3450.00 every 6 years for a TV? then turn around and pay 10k to the same manufacturer for a laser set? The media can support the madness if they want, but at some point the term "snake oil salesman" sticks to everyone of you - and it doesn't come off.
Imagine Mercedes Benz saying....."We're sorry sir, we know your car is only 6 years old but we stopped manufacturing the replacement parts you need - why don't you just buy a new car while your down here today - We have the new Lazer GT on a weekend sale".