Projection Monthly - May 2005

Dear Readers,

The May issue of Projection Monthly is now in the hands of our readers, and in the 114 pages, we include some early spring announcements of new DTVs coming out, both flat displays and new MD-based RPTVs with some surprises. We have been very busy recently, attending trade shows and meeting with companies in Asia. 2005 is shaping up to be another action-packed year.

For instance, we were invited to attend Mitsubishi’s annual dealer show in Orlando where the company introduced its lineup of RPTVs, and LCD- and PDP-TVs. The MD-RPTVs probably had the best image quality and clearly seem to be the area where Mitsubishi is placing most of its energy.

Mitsubishi’s DLP-RPTVs will all be 1080p models, with screen sizes from 52 to 73 inches and pricing from $3,799 to $7,999. For the first time, the company also introduced 3LCD-RPTV models in 1280 x 720 resolution at 52- and 62-inch screen sizes, with prices between $3,199 and $3,799. But the pricing is quite high, leaving us to speculate that this will drop rapidly at retail.

Noticeably absent from the Mitsubishi mix was the 82-inch LCOS model, with no commitment made to offer an LCOS model in the future. However, the company did show a thin RPTV prototype it may introduce next year.

At the Home Electronics Expo in New York City, we got a chance to see the new DLP-RPTVs that will be offered by HP – yes, Hewlett-Packard – later this year. While some flaws remain with these sets, we were impressed with the overall image quality and attention to detail from the company in bringing these to market. Branded as HP Pavilion TVs, the new line consists of three LCD, three PDP and four MD-RPTV products. The DLP-based MD-RPTVs will be offered in 65- and 58-inch 1080p versions, and 58- and 50-inch 720p versions. Look for the sets to show up in regional and specialty AV channels by August.

This month’s issue has more MD-RPTV news from Sony, JVC, Luxeon, Prokia and TCL/Thomson (TTE).

A second trade show covered this month was NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) in Las Vegas. This years’ turnout was a whopping 104K plus attendees and the show’s tag line was: “What happens in the world of electronic media, happens here first.” It’s also interesting to note that almost 25% of the attendees were from outside the US.

Our show coverage focuses on conference updates in digital cinema, worldwide HD standards, the DTV transition, and some interesting new technologies we found at the show.

The buzz in “movietown” these days is “d-cinema” and the technology to get us there. For Hollywood, the stakes are high as d-cinema empowered theaters can save the big studios big dollars — estimated at $650M per year. This savings happens primarily on the distribution end, by sending complete films digitally over a secured satellite link and storing the film content at the theater site on a hard disk.

To get there, the industry has created a Digital Cinema Initiative, or DCI Digital Cinema Specification. This jointly developed spec includes input from the DC28 Technology committee of the film and TV standards group, SMPTE, with the goal being a final picture presentation that is better than an answer print (the first complete print combination of audio and video used for the producer's examination). This should also create a “better than home experience” for theatergoers. Details of the specification are covered in this month’s issue.

Numerous praises were made concerning the DCI Specification at NAB and its potential impact on the 175K motion picture screens worldwide. Supported by all seven major studios, it is said to be a “stable system,” with a “long future.” Some issues must be resolved before the spec is ready for prime-time including color gamut work and the need for consistency among device manufacturers.

Debate is still swirling around the value of 2K or 4K resolution in digital cinema, however. NEC’s Harry Mathias riled up attendees by suggesting resolution was not the “all important standard.” Mathias claimed that more filters were sold to “soften” the resolution of film cameras today because star talent doesn’t want facial flaws and blemishes showing up on the big screen. He underscored his point with a slide, “A few A-List Actor’s Ages…” including Julia Roberts (age 37), Harrison Ford (age 63), Mel Gibson (age 49), and Rene Zellwegger (age 36) …posing the question: “Do you think they want 4K close-ups?”

But challengers countered, saying Mathias was misleading the audience and called his remarks disingenuous. The debate ended before it began as session moderator Paula Parisi of the Hollywood Reporter discretely moved on to other topics, leaving the 2K vs. 4K debate for yet another conference — another day.

At the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference, we were given a comprehensive update of HDTV in Europe, first by conference panelist Bernhard Baumgartner of Harris, who focused on the technology side of the issue, and David Wood of the EBU, who gave us a business, political, and social/cultural perspective. For example, Baumgartner methodically went over the requirements for DTV transmission, from format (settling on 720p to start, moving to 1080p in the future) to compression schemes (recommending advanced codecs MPEG-4-AVC and/or WM9) and modulation methods (EU is settling on DVB-T, -S and -C, with no adaptation required to support HD transmissions). He concluded with remarks that Europe is well positioned to make the leap to HD.

Wood is a minister for the European Broadcast Union, the EU’s equivalent to the FCC in the US. He spoke about Europe needing to hit the “HD tipping point” in order to make the HD business model work. Among the necessary factors are affordable flat-panel HD displays, economical HD optical storage, accessible CE products, and sufficient content. He noted that, currently, half of all displays sold in Switzerland are flat panels. In addition, starting with pay satellite services presents the lowest risk, with associated lowest-cost delivery; big sports events are the best driver. HD satellite services will start in 2005/2006, along with HD DSL IPTV in France, and possibly HD cable on NTL in the UK. Terrestrial HD is expected in 8-12 years, following an analog shutoff, and the BBC plans to have all production done in HD by 2010.

There’s more on the HD transition and DTV coverage in Asia, including Japan, Korea, and two presentations on China, with lots of supporting slides included in the coverage.

And, there’s lots more, as usual. This month’s issue includes 140+ timely stories, all organized into over 30 sub-sections for easy review and reference. And, if you are a subscriber, you can build a library of past issues that is key word searchable – a very valuable business intelligence reference tool.

Projection Monthly is a subscription-based newsletter that covers the entire big-screen display industry, including all technologies, markets and applications – from the supply chain through the distribution channel. If you would like to evaluate a sample copy of Projection Monthly, please contact: Annmarie Gabisch, 203-831-8564, Annmarie@insightmedia.info.

Until next time…

Steve Sechrist
Insight Media
steve@insightmedia.info

About Insight Media

Insight Media (www.insightmedia.info) provides a full array of market research, news, analysis and consulting services for the microdisplay industry, with special attention to projection and near-to-eye products. Tracking the complete supply chain from finished products and distribution to components, microdisplay-based products, technologies, trends and analysis is delivered through newsletters, technology reports, forecasts, conferences and custom consulting activities. Insight Media has developed a world-class team of industry analysts and associates to provide the most comprehensive coverage and analysis of the microdisplay industry has to offer.

To be removed from the Insight Media News list, please click here.