Get a "Wide Screen TV for your DVD player..........................
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Cold market response dampens production of widescreen TVs
<Picture>Producers await entry of low-cost DVD players to jumpstart demand for 16:9 displays
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Asia's first wave of widescreen TVs have come up against a stone wall. Makers were banking on the premise that widescreen's 16:9 aspect ratio would make it popular for watching movies at home, the 16:9 format being close to the cinema format, which in turn is closer to the normal human viewing field.
So far, so good. But widescreen units are also twice or thrice the cost of normal 4:3 TVs, and widescreen broadcasts are rare outside Japan. The result: consumers have kept away.
Nevertheless, the prospects of eventual market expansion are keeping suppliers optimistic. With cheaper DVD players bound to be launched by next year, and if Japan succeeds in lowering CRT costs, the widescreen idea might yet take off, they say.
Standard features include multisystem compatibility, super bass subwoofers, satellite tuners, more PIP (picture-in-picture) windows and expanded on-screen displays. Subwoofers add 3 to 5 percent to total TV costs. -- Asian Sources Electronics, December 1997
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Widescreen TVs
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Cheaper components, DVD to develop market
DESPITE THE initial setbacks, many suppliers still think the widescreen concept has legs.
The market will grow, predicts Ho of Great Wall, Hong Kong. It will mostly consist of people who can detect, appreciate and pay for, the difference in picture quality. That means deep-pocketed audiences in areas such as Japan and Europe.
"When you view normal broadcasts, there's not much difference [between the picture quality of normal and widescreen TVs]," he explained.
"But if you have the proper source such as a laserdisc player, then the picture quality will be so much better."
Adequate CRT supplies
The supply of CRTs and ICs necessary for manufacturing widescreen TVs is still firmly in the hands of Japanese firms, but supply should grow in the coming years.
This is the confident prediction of Proton Electronic Industrial Co. Ltd's division manager David Wang and Acer Peripherals' consumer A/V department product manager, David Chen.
"Widescreen tubes are much more profitable than almost all other types and sizes of TV tubes and PC monitor CRTs," Wang noted.
"This is likely to encourage Japanese makers to supply enough 16:9 tubes as a first priority. In fact, it is the high costs of picture tubes that troubles us. Export demand for widescreen TVs can be much stronger should Japanese cut prices of such vital components to break the vicious cycle."
Helping hand from DVD debuts
Wang reckons the release of inexpensive DVD players next year will further stimulate widescreen sales. Acer's Chen pointed out that three of the four HDTV formats regulated by the United States' FCC support 16:9 displays, and "thus by the year 2000 most HDTVs sold on the market will probably have 16:9 screens."
Meanwhile, the Koreans are looking to increase their price competitiveness. They are focusing on the VE or value engineering concept, and reducing overheads at factories or sales corporations. Picture tube supply is not a problem as they source in-house through affiliates. |
