Canon, Toshiba to Build SED TVs, Available Late '07

[Damion Chaplin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Toshiba+set+to+build+55-inch+SED+TVs/2100-1041_3-6122031.html?tag=nefd.top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Toshiba+set+to+build+55-inch+SED+TVs/2100-1041_3-6122031.html?tag=nefd.top</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Toshiba plans new 55-inch televisions using a technology it says will provide better performance at a price competitive with liquid crystal displays and plasma units. The company has made some manufacturing breakthroughs on its surface-conduction electron-emitter display, or SED televisions that will allow it to come out with televisions that will be competitive in price to large LCDs, Naoaki Umezu, Toshiba's chief specialist on SED, said during a hallway conversation with reporters at Ceatec, a high-tech trade show taking place here in the Tokyo area this week. Umezu would not reveal what Toshiba and partner Canon have changed in the manufacturing process. He also said that SED televisions will sell at a premium over LCDs because they will provide a better viewing experience. Nonetheless, "it will be competitive with LCD," he said."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/sedtv.jpg" /> <br /><br />As if consumers didn't have enough trouble deciding (or figuring out the difference) between LCD and Plasma (amongst hundreds of other acronyms), along comes another: SED. Promising a better picture than LCD, SED will apparently fill a price point slot between LCD and Plasma. In my opinion, we don't really need another type of TV right now, though if it creates competition, and the lower prices that accompany it, that can only be a good thing. So, anyone waiting with baited breath for SED? Anyone? :wink:

[Jason Eaton]

Honestly? After settling on my current HD Plasma the entire HD display race has evaporated from my thoughts. Baring some sort of catastrophe or tremendous break through, I will be out of the market a good number of years.

Until HD sets start reaching disposable pricing levels I think the market will slowly eat itself in todays economy. There will be small surges in sales that are fueled from time to time as certain price points are reached and new customers take the plunge but over all as middle income salaries get stretched sales will slow down despite new technologies.

I think an interesting poll might be to ask how many HD televisions sets people own. I would be surprised to see any large response outside 1 or at most 2 (computer monitors don’t count).

[bryhawks]

Here's what I'm waiting for: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/10/04/brightside_hdr_edr/1.html

I'm curious to see SED's contrast since it's supposed to be so great, but the Brightside technology applies to LCD screens and is a patented dynamic matrix LED backlight system that is apparently unbelieveably amazing. Since I don't own an HDTV but will buy one within the next two years, here's hoping...

[BubbaJon]

>> So, anyone waiting with baited breath for SED? Anyone?
I worked at a company that did pioneering work to bring this sort of technology to market several years ago. Think ultra thin CRT with all the advantages a CRT offers in the way of contrast, viewing angle, and color.
Added to the mix is increased ruggedness, decreased power consumption and unlike LCD's does not depend on a backlight which can cause uneven lighting. Bring 'em on!

[Felix Torres]

Bated breath?
My lungs aren't that good.
You do realize this annoucement is spin, right?
What they're announcing is yet another delay in manufacturing. This time to late 07. Which means we're not seing any SED sets in northam until 08 at the earliest.

The problem SED faces is the same one Intel ran away from when they ditched their LCOS effort; the HDTV market is a fast moving freight train, and if you're not already in the market today, you won't be able to catch up to where its going before it gets there.

So far, every time they make one of these "breakthrough" announcements of how close they are to getting to market, they move the intro date further and further into the future. Every year its "just a year away".

Last year, SED was going to be ready early this year. Then they got to CES and saw the resolution and pricing of the models on display and moved the intro back to late 06 so they could reconfigure their designs. Now they've moved it back a whole year. (Apparently they were not ready to compete with 1080p LCDs at $2000 or so.)

At the rate at which the market is moving, by next spring they'll find some other way they need to improve their designs (I'm guessing total brightness or dynamic range, as those are the areas that LCDs are targetting next) and they'll delay the intro "just a bit" to mid 08. Or maybe they'll give up by then.

The tech may or not be worth pursuing (it has some significant advantages over Plasma, but Plasma isn't the core of the market anymore and I'm hearing it suffers some of the same burn-in issues as plasmas and some of the refresh rate issues as CRTs) but for it to be practical, it has t be competitive to build and competitive to sell against LCDS as well as plasmas.

And the game is getting awfully late for an all-new tech to get on the playing field; the bar of what constitutes a "premium" set is getting constantly redefined so that what appears to be a reasonable premium product today may look like an entry-level product by 08. Not only are LCD-vendors ramping up to really big volumes and reaching economies of scale that are running their per unit costs down the learning curve in typical semiconductor industry fashion, but LCDS are already cheaper than plasma at all sizes under 46" and the new designs are starting to go beyond addressing the weaknesses of LCD tech (black level, response time, etc) and looking to improve on competing technologies' strengths, with new backlighting and refresh technologies and, by 09, probably with next-gen onboard video processing. We're already seeing stuff like triple-framing cadences replacing 3:2 pull-down for movie content and multi-spectral backlight channels. This is forcing competing techs to improve or move down the price curve or just walk away.

Canon and Toshiba have a lot of money invested in SED but these constant delays don't inspire much confidence in their ability to deliver a competitive product in a timely fashion.

Its worth considering that the HDTV market is moving *away* from early adopters/ premium buyers as the core of its market and into mainstream territory. By early this year 25% of US households had HD sets; by next spring, we'll be looking at something around 40% and by the time these announced SEDs arrive penetration is going to be in the 50% range so SED's potential audience will not be first-time buyers but rather upgraders. And that requires a product that isn't just head and shoulders above what is available now (that would likely be entry level by 08 ) but better than the best offered at the time.

And that's a tall order for an unproven tech coming of the classic electron-beam-and-phosphors tech of the CRT era. Expectations of absolute brightness, resolution, and refresh rates are moving into dangerous territory for CRT-derived techs to keep up.

If I had to bet, I'd bet that at some point next year, Toshiba and Canon cut their losses and walk away.

0.02$ 8)

[Jason Dunn]

Actually, I was waiting for SED to hit the market - I still think highly of my DLP, but I was thinking of an upgrade sometime in 2007, and SED TVs were something I'd look at. The truer blacks and brighter picture were appealing to me, but they'd have to be priced right for me to upgrade. Sadly, I think Felix is right - the window is closing and SED is very late to the party...

[Felix Torres]

I still think highly of my DLP, but I was thinking of an upgrade sometime in 2007

Your timing is looking pretty good.
You did hear about TI's new triple-DLP engine for 07, no?
There should be at least a couple of implementations that team it with LED light sources at (more or less) reasonable prices.

Its a Red Queen's Race out there.

[tstall2]

I am actually very excited about this technology. From what I have been reading, the differences in picture quality over current HD (plasma/LCD/DLP) is dramatic. I am fairly happy with my 3 year old ED plasma, but could see myself upgrading in a couple of years and moving the plasma to the play room. I can't really justify (or afford) an upgrade currently, so I'll wait until it's truly worth it and I think this technology looks very promising.

[Philip Colmer]

I'm definitely waiting for this technology. It is supposed to offer the best quality picture, ahead of plasma and LCD.

I'm not sure about the thoughts of vapourware. I was recently in China and there was an article in a newspaper there about how new production lines are being built for SED screens, with the aim of having mass production up and running in time for the '08 Olympics.

Just as the '06 World Cup helped with HD sales, I think that the Olympics is going to give it a really big push. Hopefully, by then, the UK will have more HD material being broadcast and it will be worthwhile moving up from SD. Also, Sky might have their second generation HD PVR by then.

I'm not in a particular rush any more to move to HD - the lack of broadcast material and the Blu-Ray/HD DVD fight have put me off at the moment - so I'm perfectly happy to sit back and wait for SED to see if it does live up to the claims.

--Philip