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Home Entertainment Market Taking Shape

Home entertainment projection systems using microdisplay technology are one of the potential huge growth engines of the next few years. But the key to a mass consumer market will be price, price, price. Now, some signs are emerging that much lower cost projection systems are available in the market, which could spur considerable demand.

For example, a recent trip to a Bay area Best Buy store revealed a surprise. There on the show floor was Samsung's new 43-inch DLP rear-projection TV set (HLM4365W) for $2,600. This was advertised as a special promotional deal--worth pouncing on as this set's retail price is $3,999.

In front home projection, we also found a Japanese Web site that is advertising Sony's Cineza (VPL-HS1) for 129,000 yen (~$1070). This appears to be a close out sale, but considering the retail price for the unit in the U.S. is $2,999, this seems like a pretty good deal.

http://www.kakaku.com/prdsearch/detail.asp?ItemCD=008865&MakerCD=76&Product=VPL%2DHS1

The front home projection market is small now (100K to 200K units worldwide), but growth could be astronomical in the coming years if the category takes off. Techno Systems Research (Tokyo, Japan) for example, is predicting growth to 5.9M units by 2005. Rapidly declining prices, initiated by the $1,000 projector and moving down to $700 projectors in 2005, will fuel all of this. That's spectacular growth but prices need to reach these levels to drive the unit sales. Insight Media is offering the English translation of this full forecast and cost model report at:

http://www.insightmedia.info/ProjectionDisplaysResearchProject2002more.htm

However, most home front projectors remain higher priced for now. The September issue of Microdisplay Report will have news about the latest front projection products from Sharp, Epson, Benq, Optoma, Sony and Sanyo. - CC

Insight Media, Chris Chinnock, 203-831-8404, chris@insightmedia.info

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