Sony renounces rear-projection TVs
RIP RPT
Sony has decided to drop its rear-projection TV business worldwide in order to focus instead on two flat-panel technologies - liquid crystal display (LCD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED).
Sales of rear-projection TVs had been declining recently as LCD TVs gain in popularity and grow in size. Sony showed off a series of OLED-based TVs at CES early in 2007, as we reported at the time.
Its first OLED model went on sale in Japan in December.
In October, the Japanese electronics giant lowered its global sales forecast for rear-projection TVs - which use a projector to create images on large screens - from 700,000 to 400,000, and that figure is down from 1.1m given the previous financial year.
By contrast, it expects to sell 10m LCD TVs this financial year through March, up from 6.3m the previous year.
Sony sells 85 per cent of its rear-projection TVs in the US, and about 10 per cent in Europe, according to Sony spokesman Shinji Obana. Production at the three plants that make the rear-projection TV sets in Japan, Mexico and Malaysia, will be halted.
COMMENTS
right tech for right job
sorry, but when it comes to larger screens, for cost and
bill of materials there are only a few options for larger panels - rear projection or front projection.
when you go above 60" then even 1080p isnt good enough - another jump to XHD technology? yep - pity no consumer kit or digital storage system yet supports it. an LCD 37" or higher needs 1080p but yet we still see people (even on lower earnings) splashing the cash on ridiculous panels in a penis waving competition - 50" panels in a 10ft x 15ft front room? stupid, crazy!
and these panels arent even 1080p - ie any content shown on them is almost as bad as SD CRT
if i was to go for a larger size screen then i would only consider a projection system at this point in time. i've seen the huge plasma offerings - and frankly they'd almost double my nighttime electric bill too!
sticking it to the little guys... again...
Those of us who both a) like Sony products and b) want a TV larger than 50" had better hide the wallet. If you want a 70" Sony in (soon to be the only offering) flat panel, be prepared to shell out $33,000 according to Sony's website. I kid you not.
52" - from $3000-$4600. 70" - $33000. scroll to bottom of page linked below.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=28844
LCOS TOO??
Is Sony also killing off their excellent LCOS sets too, which are variants of rear projection, just without the CRTs??
Bummer
From what little information has been posted, its not clear what Sony is killing. Are they killing just the LCD rear-projection units or the SXRD rear-projection units too? Very different tech and the SXRD tech is also used in their front projectors. Are they gonna kill the front projectors too? And where are the large (60-70") LCD panels to replace the 60-70" rear-projection units? The whole point of the rear-projection stuff was to provide affordable large screens. The largest LCD I've seen at Crutchfield's is just 57" and is double the price of a 60" rear-projection unit. And then there is the question of picture quality -- the SXRD tech results in no discernable gaps between pixels whereas LCD (and plasma too) have a decided "screen door" appearance. But I guess too many people are buying their LCD panels because they are panels and look "cool" rather than for their picture quality. OLED looks great, but its going to be awhile before we see 60-70" panels. Hope my SXRD rear-projection system holds up until then...
Damnit
I'm upset cos when I read 'it expects to sell 10m LCD TVs this financial year', I thought a 10 metre screen would be awesome :-(
