Sharp Corporation will start selling world's largest LCD display

Famous Japanese electronics company, Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753), announced that it is going to start shipping the world’s largest LCD display from next month. The 108-inch display would cost roughly 11million yen and would be made to sell to various business organizations. Next year, another Japanese company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (TYO:6752), is planning to sell its 150 inch plasma display for billboards. Network World.com reports:

Sharp has begun offering a monitor based on the 108-inch LCD panel that it first unveiled over a year ago. The panel, which is the largest yet to be shown by any LCD maker, was first unveiled in January 2007 at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and promised for later in the year but was delayed. Now it's available to customers worldwide, built-to-order, for ¥11 million (US$102,000).

The Full HD (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels) monitor comes with a wide array of input sockets. There's analog RGB and DVI computer inputs, 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs, two composite video inputs, two sets of component video inputs and one S-Video input. The entire set weighs an impressive 195 kilograms and consumes 1.1 kilowatts (kW) when in use.

Weak demand for big televisions has hurt major manufacturers like Hitachi Ltd, Pioneer Corporation (TYO: 6773), and Sharp Corporation. Hitachi and Pioneer incurred losses on their TV operations. Initially, Sharp had plans to focus on larger displays but it shifted switched to 40 inch and smaller displays in the middle of 2007.

Related articles:
Reuters

Network World.com

Sharpcorporation

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. takes the top position in global LCD market

According to the report of market research firm Display Search, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005930) is the current LCD market leader. The South Korean multinational giant took up 22.1% of the global LCD market by revenue shares in the first three months of 2008. Japan’s Sony Corporation (TYO:6758) and its major domestic rival Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753) took the second and third position by gaining 18.1% and 10.1% over the same period. Samsung has also remained the top global brand for the ninth straight quarter in terms of revenue, maintaining a 39% year-on-year growth. Korea Times reports:

By shipments, the company ranked top, while Sony was No. 2 on a revenue basis for the third straight quarter, declining to about 13.2 percent revenue share after a strong fourth-quarter performance. LG Electronics remained the third-largest player, leveraging a No. 2 unit share position to offset lower than average selling prices (ASPs). ASP is a key measurement to gauge profitability.

LCD TV’s continue to post the strongest growth, rising 45 percent year-on-year to 21.1 million units, though this was the weakest quarter of growth to date.

On the other hand, Japanese company, Panasonic, took over the top position in global Plasma television market. The company had the top Plasma Display Panel (PDP) revenue share of 33.7%; followed by Samsung at 22.7% and LG 16.4%. Samsung’s PDP sales rose 20% to nearly 2.8 million units most of which comprised of 32 inch models.

Related article:
Korea Times

To rival LG's Scarlet, Samsung releases LE32A656

Following the release of LG’s Scarlet LCD television, Samsung released its 32inch LE32A656. On the first look, you would feel that Samsung just copied the LG Scarlet design but that is not the case. The main difference between LG scarlet and Samsung LE32A656 LCD television is, the red color in LG scarlet is very much visible, bang slap on your face. On the contrary, LE32A656 has a subtle hint of red at the edge. LG Scarlet is a big red television but the Samsung LE32A656 is of delicate taste. Produced by Samsung, one of the market leaders in LCD television, the LE32A656 is no less gorgeous and comes with lots of great features.

Features of LE32A656 LCD TV:

• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV comes with a flash glassy panel fitted over the top.
• The Samsung LE32A656is the first television in the A656 range that is put together without rivets or glue.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV has four High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). All of them are built using the latest v1.3 specification. The HDMISs can take up 1080p/24 feeds from Blu-ray players.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV comes with a D-Sub PC port.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV has a USB 2.0 socket that can be used to play MP3 audio and JPEG still files.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV is the first 32inch television from to come with a full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV comes with a combination of dynamic backlight system and proprietary filters built into the screen to deliver the highest contrast ratios: 15,000:1.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV comes with 100Hz processing capability. This reduces its motion blurring problem.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV has a 120Hz mode which delivers cleaner, smoother pictures.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV comes with Samsung's latest Digital Natural Image engine processing, DNIe Pro.
• Other features of the Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV includes: flesh tone correction system, edge enhancement, noise reduction, gamma tweaks, a black level booster, and a picture-in-picture tools.
• The Samsung LE32A656 LCD TV comes with 2 x Scart sockets, composite AV, S-Video, optical sound out, PC input, RF input, component and headphone.
  

Related articles:
Trusted Reviews

32 LCD TVs

LCDtelevision

SamsungLCD

Samsung & LG: Once fierce competitors are becoming partners

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (SEO:005935)and LG are two of the top electric companies of South Korea and fierce competitors in global market. Now, the once fierce competitors are becoming partners. In order to survive the competition, last week the two companies agreed on a cross-purchasing deal for their flat screen television products. Under the agreement, LG Display will buy Samsung’s 52’’ LCD panels and Samsung will buy LG’s 37’’ LCD panels. Till now, the two companies used to buy LCD panels from Taiwanese makers. With the rise of the Taiwanese LCD makers controlling 42% of the global LCD market the two South Korean giants have joined hands. The Korea Times reports:

The deal will also contribute to cutting the nation's trade deficit, while promoting investment in the local LCD panel industry. In addition, Samsung and LG have agreed to jointly develop mobile television technology aimed at becoming the industry standard in the North American market. Executives of the two companies said they plan to present their proposal to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), an international group developing technology standards for digital televisions used in the United States and Canada.

The Samsung-LG collaboration comes before the ATSC's U.S. office is scheduled to pick a mobile television standard in the first half of next year. The joint action is expected to set the stage for domestic companies to move from rivalry to partnership in order to cooperate in developing technology, making products and exploring overseas markets.

In a display conference at the Seoul Hotel chaired by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Lee Sang-wan, chief of Samsung Electronics LCD division told that in the next two months Samsung would start the second phase of its eighth-generation lines that would be able to produce 60,000 sheets per month. Till now, Samsung has been refusing calls from LG to provide large-size panels because of the tight supply in the industry. The two companies could not reach an agreement over pricing and other technical matters.

Korean companies are market leaders in semiconductor, shipbuilding and other industrial sectors. Till now, the companies were competing with each other but with the rise of Japanese and Chinese manufacturers, the companies are now teaming up with each other to survive the growing competition.

Related articles:
The Korea Times

Smart House

LCD

samsung

flatscreentv