September PM Released

This year the Forum was highly interactive as the audience was asked questions covering a wide range of HDTV and TV related topics using an automated polling system. This created a kind of HDTV industry expert straw poll with some very interesting results that produced some of the golden nuggets of the conference.

Topics ranged from premiums people are willing to pay for thinner form factors, flat panel TVs and 1080p TVs, to recommendations for accelerating HDTV adoption, problems with the current HDTV retail experience and the technology delivering the best HD viewing experience.

The diverse group of attendees from across the TV food chain included Mark Cuban from HDNet and Bryan Burns of ESPN as keynotes. Others representatives were from TV and cable networks, HD production, government agencies, satellite and cable providers, retailers, distributors, TV brands and OEMs, panel/tube/engine makers and IC manufacturers. The proceedings from the event, along with the results of a 70-question audience survey, are available now for $995. Order Here...Click here for complete highlights of the HDTV Forum.

In other news this month we report on Epson's newest generation 0.7-inch HTPS microdisplay technology. The "D5" generation increases aperture ratio 20% using a new driving scheme that promises to boost contrast by a whopping 50%. With a new plant scheduled to come on line this fall, Epson intends to continue to extend the life of this microdisplay technology and keep it competitive.

On the LCOS front, Intel has shifted its strategic focus away from 720p and will now wait for its 1080p chip set to be ready with a first commercial product. We think this is a realization that the 720p "window" is closing for LCOS and that 1080p is the next frontier - and they want to play. Meanwhile, SpatiaLight looks to be changing doubters into believers, Taiwan Microdisplay Corp. is building a second LCOS factory and UMO has shifted its business model from a brand supplier to a merchant foundry. The LCOS guys never fail to keep it interesting!

Also interesting are UHP lamps. In a presentation at the HDTV Forum, Insight Media described a new lamp supply and demand model we have been developing for the last eight months. The bottom line - we think the needs for lamp replacement are being seriously underestimated and that the current imbalance in supply and demand will continue - and grow. We plan to release the full report on this study later this month, so stay tuned.

On the display electronics side, chip makers lined up to offer solutions in support of compliance with the FCC tuner mandate requiring TV makers to support DTV signals along with the analog NTSC tuner. LSI, Microtune, Samsung and Zarlink all announced new technology this month. Sony wants to put PlayStation technology in its TVs to improve competitiveness, Genesis got a licensing deal Hyundai and Sampo; and Silicon Optics acquired Teranex. Meanwhile, some financial results are in and Zoran, Tvia and Genesis all lost money. Ouch!

A host of business and home theater projectors and RPTVs were announced this month partly due to the CEDIA conference (www.CEDIA.net) in Indianapolis that begins September 9th. No less than nine companies announced new projectors including a sub-4 pound, price breaking XGA from Dell selling at $1499. These relentless price reductions are great for buyers, but are putting a lot of pressure on the manufactures and sellers. Epson announced a new wireless business projector along with Canon, Toshiba, InFocus and others.

In RPTVs, we report on six new models using various light engines. OEM Brillian finally revealed the unnamed and long-awaited major retailer that will be branding their high-end LCOS-RPTV. Sears will do a nationwide rollout with the 65-inch 1280 x 720 box that offers multiple tuners, advanced connectivity set and CableCARD option plus more. Sears will brand the set under its new VEOS name, but we have to wonder if consumers will jump to buy an $8K TV from Sears with a brand name they have never heard of. Is Sears committed to supporting this new high-end CE brand? Don't know.

In flat TVs, a sub-$2,000 plasma-TV was announced by European distributor Maverick based in the UK. Hitachi, NEC, Chinese TV maker and Thomson parent TCL and Maxx all introduced new PDP sets. In the US, new price levels were reached on 30- and 27-inch LCDs announced by Westinghouse hitting the $2,199 and $1,699 price points respectively. Samsung's 46-inch LCD-TV with 1920 x 1080 resolution is now available in stores for the low, low price of $9,999 and Sharp's 45-inch version is available now too for $9,145 - and features 10-bit processing. It's only a matter of time, of course, before these prices come down.

Sr. Analyst Bill Nicholson had a chance to get to SIGGRAPH last month to cover 3D systems. He found a bunch, filing eight stories on the technology including Sharp's new 3D monitor, Kodak's next generation desktop display, the second generation volumetric display from Actuality, X3D's newest offering, 3D software from Opnet and Barco's new 3-chip DLP projector for stereoscopic viewing. Momentum is clearly building to push 3D displays into mainstream applications.

On the DTV front, FCC chairman Michael Powell made a fateful announcement of the "beginning of the end" of analog TV that sounded vaguely Churchillian. This was prompted by the commencement of an open channel-election process that will set final digital channel assignments for incumbent broadcasters along with setting other hard deadlines. The commission was also busy approving broadcast flag technologies, announcing thirteen standards submitted by nine groups that passed the scrutiny of content protection. Included in the group of approved standards was TiVo with its TiVo Guard technology, the only one opposed by the MPAA, NFL and NAB. This will help breathe some life into the TiVo brand as it supports digital content distribution over IP.

In our coverage of Digital Cinema this month, we note that $23M in lottery money will be used to support independent films electronically distributed and digitally displayed at over 150 cinemas in the UK. What a great idea to spur adoption! And, according to leading HD cinematographer, Randall Dark, many independent filmmakers are now moving to digital HD-Cam production, or if still doing film, will still find the cost of the cine-transfer less than reproducing multiple copies of celluloid. So, no show stoppers here. Take a page, guys.

In electronic signage, LED display maker Matsushita announced a 236-inch LED display going on-line in the Taipei Rapid Transit station and Sanyo showed a 37-ft. wide x 16-ft. high tiled display system using 28 front projectors tiled together and installed in Omaha's Union Station.

You'll find this coverage and more including our monthly offerings of Channel News, Business & Strategic, Market Intelligence or Bottom Line sections. To give you a better idea of the information we cover in these sections, read on…

Business & Strategic
This section covers the business and strategic issues related to varied big-screen display components, subsystems and finished products including sourcing, manufacturing, marketing and merchandizing. Here, we cover new strategic moves, joint ventures and entire multi-technology product roadmaps. This section is for specific company or partnership news (non product) business news and issues. Specific product news goes in respective categories: LCD, PDP, RPTV, Electronics, etc.

Market Intelligence
Relevant market reports and survey news in all areas of coverage within Projection Monthly. We track 72 market research firms and include some exclusive news from selected market research firms. News in this section is mostly display-oriented and includes market forecast information, especially referencing multiple companies or sourced from market research firms.

Channel News
This section looks at the distribution channel news for large display devices including 20 specific retail and wholesale distributors primarily in the US. The focus of this section is to detail the education and sales trends, issues and sales results for top retail and professional distribution channel players.

Bottom Line
This section covers the core financial news of more than 120 projection and TV companies, as well as key supply chain companies. Coverage includes details on revenue, profitability, market guidance, capital investment; supply chain issues inventory levels and product allocation. Other coverage includes the raising of capital, alliances, joint ventures and partnerships. Bottom Line is for system/finished product company's financial results.

About Insight Media
Insight Media (www.insightmedia.info) is a full-service market research company specializing in microdisplay-based products in the projection and near-to-eye segments. It tracks the full supply chain, finished products and distribution of these microdisplay-based products through its various newsletters, technology reports, forecasts, conferences and custom consulting activities. Headquartered in Norwalk, CT, Insight Media has a core of 8 analysts and associates to cover the microdisplay industry in a comprehensive manner.