May
13

Vizio LCD TVs Take No 1 Spot in LCD TV Market

Filed Under Cheap LCD TVs, Vizio LCD TV | Leave a Comment 

Total LCD TV shipments were 6.3 million in North America during the first quarter of 2009. This figure represents an increase of 10.5% for the same period in 2008 year.

The growth is welcome, if a little surprising given that the weak economy has caused sales of other consumer electronics to tale a tumble so far in 2009.

The most surprising aspect of the sales figures is that Vizio sold 21.6 percent of total LCD TVs shipped in the first quarter of 2009. This is a big leap in their market share, as it’s about 50% up from the 13.8 percent Vizio achieved in the fourth quarter of 2008.

As such Vizio LCD TV has now become the top-selling LCD TV brand in the U.S and in becoming the top brand, Vizio has overtaken Samsung, Sony, LG Electronics and Sharp along the way.

Seeing how Vizio only started business in 2002, you have to say it has come a long way very fast.

US-LCDTV-marketshares-Q1-2009

Question: So why is Vizio now the number one LCD TV brand? Most likely it’s because consumers are looking for cheaper TVs. Certainly, since the onset of the economic downturn, Vizio’s share has risen dramatically.

 

Vizio has kept its market share rising by:

  • keeping its prices low, despite competition from other “no-name” brands and the big brandnames

and

  • getting into stores like Costco and Wal-Mart, so its products are available in places where people are buying.

Vizio-VW42LF-42inch-Class-LCDFHDTV

One of Vizio’s best selling LCD TVs in Q1 2009 was a 42-inch HDTV for an average price of $850 (the VW42LF - 42″ Class LCD FHDTV is currently listed at $829.99 on the Vizio website).

In comparison, a similar TV from Samsung was around $1,000, while Sony’s was a little more at $1,090.

On the other hand, you can read this LCD TV review where the conclusion was “although the Vizio looked good by itself, when compared side by side with the Samsung the (large) difference in price was justified.”

For me, if a Samsung LCD TV was $1000 vs a similar Vizio LCD TV at $850, I’d want to take a close look at the 2 TVs, preferably side by side before buying.

 

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May
7

LED TV Update

Filed Under LED TV, LG LED TV, Philips LED TV | Leave a Comment 

The LED TV market is hotting up with recent announcements from LG and Philips to add to the Samsung LED TV hype.

It’s not clear to me if the vendors yet agree on what constitutes an “LED TV”. Each has their own spin to suit their products’ strengths and orientation.

Some vendors e.g. Philips and LG use LEDs for backlighting, whereas others use it as the primary illumination.

Philips LED TVs

Philips say their Ambilight 42PFL9803H/10 42 inch LCD / LED TV features:

  • LED Lux Display
  • MPEG4 HDTV* and the Perfect Pixel HD Engine
  • Perfect Motion, Perfect Colours and Perfect Contrast with Ambilight Spectra 2

This LCD TV has multi-array LED backlighting and uses multiple LED arrays each controlled individually, in contrast to regular LCD screens that only have one backlight to illuminate the entire screen.

Note: This is different LED technology to Samsung LED TVs where the fundamental illumination of the TV is done via LEDs, not just the backlighting. You could describe this as “half-way house” LED TV technology

However, the Philips LED TVs generally get excellent reviews, although the retail price is higher (up to twice as much) than a comparable Samsung LED TV.

Philips LED TV

LG LED TVs

LG’s LH90 LED TVs have been announced and priced (42 inch model retails at approx $2,400) but the availability isn’t clear yet - possibly next month (June 09).

The LG TV specs include:

  • 2,000,000 : 1 MEGA Contrast Ratio
  • 1080p Full HD Resolution - TruMotion 240Hz
  • LED back light Technology
  • 24p Real Cinema
  • Picture Wizard : Easy Self Calibration
  • Smart Energy Saving Plus

LG LH90 LCD-LED TV

Samsung LED TVs

Samsung LED TVs use LEDs as their primary light source, instead of traditional cold cathode fluorescent lamps.

Samsung say this allows their LED TVs to achieve higher contrast ratios, thinner TVs and 40% energy saving compared with LCD TVs of the same size.

Viewing tests indicate LEDs produce darker blacks and crisp whites, with vivid colors, resulting in improved picture quality. Samsung have also added their Auto Motion Plus frame interpolation technology that reduces motion blur and image judder.

On the minus side, it seems that the average life span of an LED TV is 40,000 hours, which is down on an LCD TV which averages 60,000 viewing hours.

If you watch TV 4 hours a day, 40,000 hours = 13.7 years and 8 hours a day viewin gtime = 6.85 years.

The Samsung LED TV models were introduced in 46-inch (priced at P260,000) and 40-inch (P160,000) variants last month while the B7000 55-inch model will be launched this May.

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