LCD & Plasma TV Market Updates

By the fall of 2008, consumers can expect to buy 52-inch LCD TV sets at the current price of 40-inch LCD TVs, based on industry trends and price projections.

According to the market researcher DisplaySearch, the price of 52-inch LCD TVs will fall to $2,300 by the third quarter of 2008.

Home appliance makers have targetted 52-inch LCD TV as the major item for the flat-panel TV market for the next year and they are competing to get their share of the market.

Samsung this year sold around 790,000 52-inch LCD TVs, but expects the sales to grow to 1.95 million units next year aided by new products based on 120Hz technology and equipped with LED backlights.

LG Electronics has added wireless transmission and PC connectivity features to its lineup of 52-inch LCD TVs

Samsung's LE52F96BD's 52-inch LCD TVs is a leading example of the category. It uses Samsung's Digital Natural Image engine to improve colour saturations/tones and fine detailing, as well as providing further boosts to black levels and motion control.

The most interesting capability of the TV though is LED backlighting using an array of LED backlights, which are all individually controllable.

The advantages of this approach are much deeper black levels and a jaw-dropping contrast ratio of 500,000:1.

With HD DVDs dark scenes like the opening shots of Ocean's Thirteen on Blu-ray look spectacular and dynamic because the range between the screen's peak whites and deepest blacks is huge and because the darkness contains more subtle detailing helping the picture look more full of depth.