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Category: hdtv

  • Logitech Delivers Google TV to Living Rooms

    Consumers today have access to an enormous amount of content, delivered by a range of sources and increasingly complex devices. To bring this content together through a single interface on the best screen in the house – the TV screen – Logitech has worked with Google on a line of products designed to create the Google TV experience for the U.S. households with an HDMI-ready TV.

    Google TV brings traditional TV programming together with the entire Internet, with the ability to search across them both.

    Logitech yesterday unveiled Logitech Revue with Google TV, a compact, plug-and-play companion box with its Logitech Keyboard Controller, which together provide control over the Google TV experience and home-entertainment devices. The company’s portfolio of products for Google TV also includes the Logitech TV Cam and Vid HD service for HD video calling, Mini Controller as well as other applications designed for the Google TV platform.

    The box is capable of outputing a 1080p (60fps) signal and comes with with HDMI 1.3a in and out, two USB 2.0 ports, audio optical output (S/PDIF), 10/100BaseT Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n connectivity, the Logitech Harmony IR blaster port, and a built-in Logitech Unifying receiver.

    The box ships with a compact keyboard complete with integrated remote and touchpad, HDMI cable, and one IR mini blaster. There is also a selection of accessories: a $149 webcam, and the Revue-specific version of Mini controller for $129.99, as well as Logitech Harmony app for Android and iPhone.

    The Logitech TV Cam lets you make and receive high-definition video calls on your HDTV – no computer required. It has Carl Zeiss wide-angle autofocus lens with 5x digital zoom and two digital, directional microphones and connects with Logitech Revue box using USB. Together, the Logitech TV Cam and Vid HD software enable HD video calls of up to 720p.

    Available for pre-order on Logitech.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com, Logitech’s line of products for Google TV are expected to be available online and in Best Buy stores across the U.S. by the end of October. The Logitech Revue suggested retail price is $299.99. The Logitech Mini Controller will be selling for $129.99, and the Logitech TV Cam for $149.99.

    “Just as we have done with the PC and with home entertainment systems, our role with Google TV is to give people the ability to control and interact with their content and devices with unprecedented ease,” said Gerald P. Quindlen, Logitech president and chief executive officer. “With our line of products for Google TV, Logitech will help redefine the user experience in the digital living room.”

    “Logitech Revue with Google TV makes it easy for people to use just one controller to find and enjoy content from a variety of sources – programs from TV providers; the entire Web, including Flash-based games; music, photos and videos from their personal library; and a growing selection of apps,” said Ashish Arora, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s digital home products group. “Logitech not only delivers the Google TV experience for any HDMI-ready TV, but we build on it with exceptional interface devices, control of living room components through Logitech Harmony Link and enhanced experiences such as video calling in the living room.”

    “Google TV combines the power of search, a full Web browser, and Android apps with the TV experience you know and love,” said Mario Queiroz, vice president of product management for Google. “We’re proud to be working with Logitech to launch the very first set of Google TV devices, helping you and me easily access great Web and TV content, all on the same HD screen.”

    “Smart TV delivers a truly integrated experience, with broadcast and the Internet united on one screen,” said Wilfred Martis, general manager, Retail CE, Intel Digital Home Group. “The Logitech Revue brings Google TV to existing televisions, and also offers video calling to provide a new dimension to home entertainment. The smart TV experience requires advanced processing performance, as well as outstanding audio/visual capabilities, and we’re proud that Logitech selected the Intel Atom processor CE4100 to power this revolutionary product.”

  • Slow Television Sales Spur LCD Panel Oversupply

    Shipments of large-sized LCD panels vastly exceeded end-market sales of televisions, monitors and notebook PCs in the first half, spurring a major buildup of inventory of the LCDs and finished products, including LCD-TVs, according to iSuppli.

    The research firm finds that a total of 46.8 million LCD-TV panels shipped in the first quarter of 2010. However, although LCD-TV set shipments equaled only 37.5 million units—an overage of 24.5 percent, iSuppli’s electronic display industry analysis indicates.

    In the second quarter, large-sized LCD-TV panel shipments grew to 52.0 million units, but actual set shipments amounted to only 38.7 million units. This gap of 36.4 percent, higher than anything seen in 2009, has pushed the market to further levels of oversupply, especially in the face of an uncertain outlook in the second half of 2010.

    “Coming amid fears of a slowing economy and the possibility of a double-dip recession, the inventory increases in the LCD TV retail channel are raising concerns throughout the display supply chain—from panel suppliers to contract manufacturers and brands, to retailers,” said Sweta Dash, senior director for LCD research at iSuppli.

    According to iSuppli, inventory levels for both suppliers and buyers have caused a ripple effect on pricing as large-sized LCD panel pricing dropped again in July, taking some panels down to the manufacturing cost level. In August, prices dropped another 4.4 percent because of the continuous inventory adjustment, with a further decline expected in September.

    Some low-priced panels were already reaching the cash cost level—and the oversupply situation is not helping matters, iSuppli indicates. These developments have prompted a series of production cuts by some panel suppliers in order to bring panel supply and demand back to balance.

    Although pricing for the LCD-TV sets themselves surged upward in July in the United States, prices are likely to have declined in August and will do so again in September, as brands and retailers have to become aggressive once again with their promotions in the upcoming months in order to fuel demand, iSuppli believes.

    Related news
    U.S. LCD-TV Market: Samsung Maintains Lead, but Vizio Closes Gap in Q2
    Samsung Takes Lead in U.S. LCD-TV Market in Q1
    China TV Market to Enjoy Solid Growth in 2014

  • U.S. LCD-TV Market: Samsung Maintains Lead, but Vizio Closes Gap in Q2

    The battle for the top spot in the U.S. LCD-TV market heated up in the second quarter as the gap in market share between No. 1 Samsung and No. 2 Vizio dwindled to less than 1 percentage point, according to the electronic display research firm iSuppli.

    The research show that Samsung in the second quarter held a 0.7 percentage point lead over Vizio in terms of U.S. LCD-TV shipments, compared to 1.3 points in the first quarter. Both companies in the second quarter dramatically outperformed the overall market by offering sets with advanced features desired by U.S. consumers.

    “Leadership in the world’s largest television market—the United States—represents the marquee position for global LCD-TV brands,” said Riddhi Patel.

    “Because of this, companies are competing intensely to secure every point of market share—with the most closely fought battle occurring between South Korea’s Samsung and U.S.-based Vizio. The two companies have swapped quarterly leadership multiple times during the past few years, and now are virtually tied in the race for market leadership,” she added.

    According to the report, U.S. LCD-TV shipments rose by 12.8 percent in the second quarter to 7.36 million units, up from 6.53 million in the first quarter.

    Samsung’s shipments grew at more than twice the pace of the overall market, rising by 26 percent to 1.45 million units, up from 1.15 million in the first quarter. Vizio grew even faster, with its shipments rising by an industry-leading 30.8 percent to 1.39 million units, up from 1.07 million in the first quarter.


    Pattel noted that in the past, the two companies pursued very different strategies to attain LCD-TV market leadership, with Samsung focusing on premium products and Vizio stressing low-cost value-oriented LCD-TVs. However, as U.S. consumer preferences have shifted to higher-end LCD TVs, Vizio has realigned its product line to offer more advanced features.

    “Most LCD-TVs purchased in the United States in 2010 are replacements of first-generation flat panels,” Patel said. “Because of this, U.S. consumers are more informed and demand larger LCD-TVs with better picture quality and more premium features, including 3-D, LED backlighting and built-in Internet connectivity. While Samsung continues to lead these technological trends, including the nascent 3-D TV segment, Vizio has significantly closed the feature gap.”

    Television research from iSuppli’s U.S. TV Consumer Preference Analysis service, which surveys Americans on their attitudes regarding television purchases, illustrates the rising importance of advanced features when buying a television.

    Of consumers surveyed in the second quarter, 17.2 percent said the LCD-TV sets they had purchased used LED backlighting, an increase of 5 percentage points from the first quarter. Furthermore, 60.8 percent of the consumers purchased a 40-inch or larger set in the second quarter of 2010, up from 51 percent during the same period in 2009. Finally, about 32 percent consumers say they connected their new televisions to the Internet.

  • Blu-ray Player Shipments to Exceed 62.5 Million in 2011

    Worldwide Blu-ray player shipments are expected to more than double between 2009 and the end of 2010, and the numbers from ABI Research forecast continued growth next year, for a total of more than 62.5 million shipments in 2011.

    In North America standalone Blu-ray players are expected to reach almost 18% penetration among TV-owning households, up from just over 7% in 2009.

    As interesting as this estimate is, it is just part of a larger picture. According to industry analyst Mike Inouye, “The solid growth in Blu-ray player shipments highlights a trend within the wider consumer electronics market. Larger, fixed-location devices such as Blu-ray players and flat panel TVs are enjoying rapid adoption relative to many classes of small, portable devices. Specifically, portable gaming devices are leveling out, while we are seeing actual declines in shipments of portable audio players. Digital picture frames are showing only mild growth, and compact digital camera shipments are declining in North America and Japan, though they continue modest growth elsewhere.”

    What is behind these shifts? “In addition to price declines, the greater growth potential of TV-centric devices may be due to some of the recent exciting innovations in TV technologies: larger, flatter panels, Internet connectivity, and 3D,” says Inouye. “Aside from the economic/job environment it could be that dedicated portable device markets are simply maturing, or it could be due to the greater competition they face from smartphones and other multi-function portable devices.”

    ABI Research believes that CE device vendors can improve their chances of success in this very competitive marketplace by, on one hand, continuing efforts to educate consumers about what they can do with the latest devices, and on the other by striving to keep the user-experience as seamless and painless as possible.

  • Sharp to Introduce VR-100BR1 Triple-Layer Blu-ray Disc Media

    Sharp will introduce the VR-100BR1 triple-layer Blu-ray Disc media (write-once) that conforms to the BDXL format specification, the new multi-layer recordable Blu-ray Disc format, a world first. These new Blu-ray Discs will be available in Japan beginning July 30, 2010.

    This disc media product conforms to the new BDXL format specification that extends the storage capacity of Blu-ray Discs to 100GB, twice the 50GB storage capacity of existing dual-layer discs.

    This new format enables recording approximately 12 hours of terrestrial digital TV broadcasts or approximately 8.6 hours of BS digital TV broadcasts. It expands the range of applications for Blu-ray Discs to include recording and saving long-duration HDTV programs or multiple episodes of serial dramas onto a single disc with the same high-definition image quality as the original.

    Major Features

    1. World’s first triple-layer Blu-ray Disc media featuring large 100GB recording storage capacity.

    This disc media is the first in the world to conform to the new BDXL format specification that extends the storage capacity of Blu-ray Discs by increasing the number of recording layers. The dual-layer structure used up to now has been augmented with an additional layer where image data can be recorded to create a new triple-layer structure.

    2. “Hard coat” process provides peace of mind for users by protecting important video data from scratches and fingerprint contamination.

    A “hard coat” process applied to the disc surface forms a protective barrier coating to protect stored data from scratches and dirt that may cause read and write errors.

    3. Users can print directly on discs down to 24 mm inner diameter.

    Wide print area of 24 mm inner diameter and 118 mm outer diameter for disc labeling. In addition to enabling vivid color labeling to be printed over nearly the entire disc, oil-based or water-based marker pens can be used to hand-write labels on these discs.

  • Samsung Takes Lead in U.S. LCD-TV Market in Q1

    Samsung in the first quarter of 2010 regained the leading position in the U.S. LCD-TV market, as the company capitalized on rising consumer demand for television sets with advanced features, including LED-backlighting, built-in internet connectivity and 3-D images, according to iSuppli.

    Samsung in Q1shipped 1.1 million LCD-TV sets in the United States. While this was down 33 percent from the fourth quarter, Samsung actually outperformed the overall U.S. LCD-TV market, which contracted by 35.8 percent sequentially due to seasonal factors. "This allowed Samsung to increase its market share to 18 percent in the first quarter, up from 17.3 percent in the fourth quarter, giving it the top position in the U.S. market," said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, television systems, for iSuppli. 

    According to her, the year 2010 "marks a major transition period for the U.S. LCD-TV market, when consumers increasingly are gravitating toward sets with more advanced features.”

    “With Samsung at the forefront of trends including LED backlighting and 3-D, the company has been able to outperform the market and its closest competitors,” she said.

    The report finds that Samsung of South Korea retook the lead from U.S.-based brand Vizio, whose unit shipments declined by 42.2 percent sequentially in the first quarter. Vizio and Samsung have been engaged in a tight race for leadership in the U.S. LCD-TV market, with the two companies frequently swapping the No. 1 position from quarter to quarter. Samsung held a 1.3 percent point lead over Vizio in the first quarter of 2010, the same margin in which Vizio led Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2009.

    According to iSuppli, the U.S. LCD-TV market in 2010 is set to undergo a rapid transition away from traditional Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) and toward LED backlighting technology. Shipments of LED-backlit LCD-TVs in the United States are projected to rise to 7.7 million units in 2010, up about 600 percent from 1.1 million in 2009. LED-backlit models will account for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. LCD-TV shipments in 2010, at 23.4 percent, up from only 3.4 percent in 2009.

    Meanwhile, Internet-Enabled Televisions (IETVs) are attracting consumer interest, with U.S. shipments expected to rise to 11.8 million units in 2010, up from 6.9 million in 2009.

    Among U.S. consumers that purchased new televisions in the first quarter, 26.8 percent indicated their new sets were connected to the Internet, either though the internal capabilities of their TVs or via external devices, such as digital video boxes or game consoles. This is up from 24.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. Over time, IETVs will account for a rising portion of Internet connectivity in televisions.The most popular types of Internet content accessed by consumers are movies and social networking services.

    The research group says that U.S. shipments of 3-D TVs—introduced to the market for the first time in March—are expected to reach 1.45 to1.5 million units in 2010, thanks to increasing acceptance from enthusiastic early adopters.

  • NVIDIA Demonstrates Streaming 3D Video Using Microsoft Silverlight

    NVIDIA today demonstrated 3D video streamed live over the Internet using an NVIDIA 3D Vision PC, Microsoft Silverlight and IIS Smooth Streaming technology. The demonstration, which streamed the music video “We Are the World” 3D, at a press conference at Computex, comes at a time when consumer interest in seeing 3D movies is at its highest level ever.

    “We’ve been collaborating with Microsoft to enable 3D in an Internet browser so that it’s very simple to use,” said Phil Eisler, General Manager of 3D Vision technology at NVIDIA.

    “Just click on a 3D video and it plays in 3D, using the latest 3D Vision Silverlight-based video player and NVIDIA 3D Vision. Internet users can now enjoy 3D video content streamed in high-definition (HD) quality and viewed at full resolution. This is another great benefit of having a 3D PC.”

    To take advantage of this technology, consumers will need an NVIDIA 3D Vision-based desktop or notebook PC equipped with the latest 3D Vision drivers and the Silverlight browser plug-in. Once these are installed, consumers can then navigate to any Web site hosting 3D Vision-based content.

    For content owners, this milestone provides a secure path to distribute and monetize 3D video over the Web with Silverlight and IIS Smooth Streaming. Movies, trailers, sports and any form of 3D video can now be hosted and streamed over the Internet to a growing market of 3D PCs, most of which ship with Windows 7.

    “Customers have a peaked interest in 3D entertainment experiences, and Microsoft is looking forward to working with NVIDIA to bring these experiences to users through their PCs,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft Corp.

    “Silverlight and IIS Smooth Streaming together deliver the highest quality HD video experiences over the Web and, with NVIDIA 3D Vision, will now provide consumers with a way to watch their favorite movies, sporting events, music videos and more, all in 3D from their own computer.”

  • Sony Develops a "Rollable" OTFT-driven OLED Display

    Sony announced today that it developed a super-flexible 80 μm-thick 4.1-in 121 ppi OTFT-driven full color OLED display which can be wrapped around a thin cylinder.

    To create the display, Sony developed OTFTs with an original organic semiconductor material (a PXX derivative) with eight times the current modulation of conventional OTFTs. This was achived due to the development of integration technologies of OTFTs and OLEDs on an ultra-thin 20 μm thick flexible substrate (a flexible on-panel gate-driver circuit with OTFTs which is able to get rid of convetinal rigid driver IC chips interfering roll-up of a display) and soft organic insulators for all the insulators in the integration cuircuit.

    By combining these technologies, Sony successfully demonstrated the world’s first OLED panel which is capable of reproducing moving images while being repeatly rolled-up – around a cylinder with a radius of 4 mm – and stretched.

    The company will unveil the results of this development on May 27 at "SID (Society for Information Display) 2010 International Symposium" in Seattle, WA (May 23-28).

    This is the world’s first demonstration of an OLED display with an integrated gate-driver circuit with OTFTs. The improvement of the OTFT described above enables integration of a flexible gate-driver circuit with OTFTs on a display panel. The roll-up capability is possible because the rigid driver IC chips has been removed from the display.

    Sony informed they will proceed with the development of the solution / print based process which manufactures display devices from organic materials that are easily dissolved in common solvents. This process requires fewer steps, and consumes materials and energy more efficiently – thus has a smaller environmental footprint – compared to the conventional high temperature vacuum semiconductor process which use inorganic, silicon materials.

    The company will continue to improve the performance and reliability of its flexible organic displays because the application of these developments are expected to yield thin, light-weight, durable and mobile devices with enhanced form-factor.

  • Google Brings Web to TV, Announces Google TV

    At the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, leading industry players announced the development of Google TV – an open platform that adds the power of the web to the television viewing experience, ushering in a new category of devices for the living room. Intel, Sony, and Logitech, together with Best Buy, DISH Network and Adobe, joined Google on stage to announce their support for Google TV.

    Over the past decade, the internet has created unprecedented opportunity for innovation and development across the world, but so far the web has largely been absent from living rooms. With Google TV, consumers will now be able to search and watch an expanded universe of content available from a variety of sources including TV providers, the web, their personal content libraries, and mobile applications.

    Search across TV, Web, and Apps

    Google TV is based on the Android platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser. Users can access all of their usual TV channels as well as a world of Internet and cloud-based information and applications, including rich Adobe® Flash based content – all from the comfort of their own living room and with the same simplicity as browsing the web. When coupled with the Intel® Atom™ processor CE4100, Intel’s latest system-on-a-chip designed specifically for consumer electronics, the new platform will offer home theatre quality A/V performance. Sony and Logitech said they would be delivering products based on the new Intel Atom processor and running Google TV later this year. While Google TV is designed to work with any TV operator, at launch the user experience will be fully optimized when paired with DISH Network.

    Google TV expands video choice from the hundreds of channels available today through a pay TV provider to the vast storehouse of video content available through the web and streaming videos. The Google TV experience is complemented by the ability to watch streaming video from leading content platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and YouTube. Google TV will also have the capability to run apps from the Android Market.

    To navigate the array of content that will now be available through a single device and on a single screen, Google TV introduces an integrated search experience to help viewers easily find relevant content across over-the-air and pay-TV channel listings, DVR, and the Internet, as well as a picture-in-picture layout to access multiple windows simultaneously. Google TV also features an innovative home screen to help viewers quickly organize their favorite content and personalize their TV viewing experience. Some of these features are only available with advanced integration from DISH Network.

    Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO said, “We are very proud to be working with this distinguished set of partners, all of whom have decades of experience in hardware, design and retail.”

    Sony announced plans to introduce “Sony Internet TV,” the World’s first TV lineup incorporating the Google TV platform. The first models are planned to be introduced in the U.S. market in the Fall of 2010 with the lineup featuring both a standalone TV model and set top box-type unit incorporating a Blu-ray Disc drive.

    Howard Stringer, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Corporation said, “I am delighted to announce the unique alignment of Google’s rapidly growing, open source Android platform with Sony’s unparalleled expertise in the field of TV design and technology. The addition of ‘Sony Internet TV’ will further bolster Sony’s comprehensive TV lineup and will fuse new levels of enjoyment and interactivity into the TV experience.”

    Logitech will introduce a companion box that brings Google TV to existing HDTV home entertainment systems, easily integrating with any brand of HDTV and set-top box. The companion box will incorporate Logitech’s Harmony® remote control technology, and will include a controller that combines keyboard and remote control capabilities. The company also has plans to introduce an HDTV camera and video chat for Google TV, along with additional choices for navigation and control, including apps to turn a smart phone into an advanced controller for Google TV and home-entertainment systems.

    Gerald Quindlen, President and CEO, Logitech said, “We committed to Google TV early on because it aligns with our strategy to support open platforms that enable new immersive experiences in the digital living room. While Google TV enables seamless discovery of all your content, Logitech enables seamless control over how you experience that content. We look forward to continued collaboration with Google and the developer community to create new Google TV experiences that have yet to be imagined.”

    The Intel Atom CE4100 processor will power both the Logitech and Sony devices. Paul Otellini, Intel President and CEO praised the collaborative effort and said TV as we know it was being “reinvented.” "Today marks the next step in the evolution of TV to Smart TV. TV’s are becoming smarter as a result of the microprocessor and the Internet. Traditional TV programming will be merged seamlessly with the infinite amount of content on the Internet to enable every viewer to determine what they want to watch, when they want it. This is Moore’s Law transforming television, powered by the performance of Intel microprocessors."

    DISH Network has been a key partner with Google on advanced integration development for Google TV. The two partners began a joint trial over a year ago with more than 400 DISH Network and Google beta users. Based on the continuous feedback from the trial, Google and DISH Network have built the optimized Google TV experience that seamlessly integrates traditional TV, DVR and web content.

    Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of DISH Network, said, “Google TV marks the next evolution in television, and we are excited to be the first to partner with Google to bring this experience to our customers. Only DISH Network Google TV customers will be able to enjoy a unified search across TV, DVR and web; easily find related content; and manage their entire TV viewing experience. Additionally, the advanced integration will allow developers to create new and exciting applications to enrich the TV viewing experience.”

    Best Buy     will bring their retail experience and consumer expertise to the project, with Google TV devices being sold at Best Buy locations nationwide later this year. “Every day, our 180,000 Blue Shirt store employees and Geek Squad Agents work with our customers to get them the best home theater experience possible”, said Brian Dunn, CEO Best Buy, “We are thrilled about the new and exciting experiences smart TVs, like Google TV, provide to our customers – and we are looking forward to showcasing those experiences in our store and ensuring customers get connected to all the products and services that bring those experiences to life.”

    Finally, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 will be integrated directly into the Google Chrome browser on Google TV, enabling viewers to experience tens of millions of web pages with rich Flash content including games, animations, applications, videos, audio and more. Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO, Adobe said, “An open web ecosystem offers endless opportunities for creativity and innovation. Flash Player 10.1 extends the advantages of full web browsing and consistent, rich experiences to smartphones, tablets, netbooks and Internet-connected TVs. We’re thrilled to be part of the Google TV initiative with other industry leaders who share a common vision of enabling access to the best web experiences possible.”

    Google also plans to open source the Google TV platform to help spur innovation in the industry and so that other developers can benefit from the project. The long term goal is to collaborate with the entire developer community to help drive entertainment in the living room forward and to introduce the next generation of TV-watching experience.

  • China TV Market to Enjoy Solid Growth in 2014

    The China television market, already a dominant force on the world stage, is expected to perform strongly once again in 2010, led by an overall rise in the production of television sets as well as surging demand for LCD-TVs, according to iSuppli.

    As the world’s top TV manufacturer, China will produce an estimated 95.5 million TV sets in 2010, up 11.3 percent from 85.8 million in 2009 when the country accounted for 42 percent of total global TV shipments. This year’s anticipated rise is also a bigger increase than the 5.3 percent gain made during the 2008-2009 period, iSuppli figures show.

    LCD-TV shipments alone this year will increase 40 percent to 80 million—or nearly 84 percent of overall China TV shipments—far outpacing the 13.6 million CRT-TVs and 1.9 million plasma sets to be produced in 2010.

    By 2014, iSuppli forecasts that TV production in China will rise to 128.1 million units, translating into a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 7.6 percent for the forecast period.

    LCD-TVs Take Center Stage
    The strength in China’s TV manufacturing can be attributed to the brisk expansion of LCD-TV production capacity as well as to the growing demand from both the domestic and export markets. In particular, Chinese LCD firms are investing billions of dollars in set-production lines, panel fabs and component factories, becoming more competitive with the global brands in the overall LCD-TV arena.

    Of the total China LCD market in 2009, local Chinese OEMs accounted for three-quarters market share, beating out their foreign-based counterparts that had pulled back on marketing in the country because of the global economic crisis. Chinese OEMs were also helped by their deep penetration in the rural market, along with support from the government’s subsidy program offering rebates to consumers who buy TVs and other consumer goods.

    In addition to the encouraging factors above, China’s LCD-TV market will receive a boost from consumer interest in new flat-panel TV features, such as higher 120/240Hz refresh rates, LED backlighting and Internet-ready capabilities, further cementing the dominance of LCD technology in the world’s most populous country, iSuppli projections show.