Sizing Up TV Innovation
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
By Ross Rubin, Executive Director, Industry Analysis
As flat-panel technologies made TVs thin enough to tempt Jenny Craig into becoming a CE retailer, consumers found that they could not only put them in places that had been impractical before (such as on walls), but also fit more TV into less space. This was further facilitated by the relatively light weight of large flat-panel TVs, which made them easier to transport home from the store or ship from an online retailer. Indeed, according to NPD’s recent 2009 TV Inventory Study, nearly one-in-five televisions that consumers own is 40″ or larger.
Size matters. Big TVs generally offer more margin and opportunity for differentiation, but they are also a better platform for innovation. High resolutions, high refresh rates, and the promise of 3D (as analyzed by my colleague Paul Gray of DisplaySearch) all have more potential on large television sets. And large screens are an aspirational purchase. Half of consumers cite upgrading to a larger screen as a purchase motivator.
But the combined forces of the analog cutoff and low pricing attracting late adopters, the recession, and early adopters searching for sets for their bedroom have increased the popularity of sub-$500 TV sets and smaller screen sizes of 32 or fewer inches. It’s not just a question of big screen-enhancing technology costs coming down far enough to supplement these sets; it’s whether they are relevant at all.
Clearly, integrating DVD or Blu-ray drives is one exit from the commoditization jungle that takes a cue from the old CRT world. These drives may be supplemented by Netflix or other streaming services that could have even more value for smaller TVs as they are more likely to be in rooms where consumers may have a network connection. Further down the road, whole-home video distribution technologies such as WHDI may also have potential to bridge high-definition video between video sources in the home theater and those around the home.
Tags: 3D, flat-panel TVs, resolution, screen size
Consumer Technology | Ross Rubin, Executive Director, Industry Analysis | 
October 21, 2009 2:16 pm
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By Thin TV Fan, October 21, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
Sadly the thinning down of today’s flat panel TVs has taken a toll on the quality of the audio output. Nobody seems to have figured out how to get decent sounding audio out of the tiny speakers that are being shoe-horned into hidden nooks on the back or bottom of the new crop of skinnier TVs. to make matters worse, most of the small and medium sized sets that are destined for use in secondary rooms like the the bedroom and den will NOT be hooked up to an external speaker system. And with the trend towards “connected” TVs, it is likely that these sets will see increased use for music and video content.