By Calvin Hsieh, Research Director
Samsung has more than 50 models listed on their US web site, including their latest LED TVs. In order to understand this Samsung’s LED TV positioning in their LCD TV product line, we made a comparison table, shown below. From the specifications and suggested prices, we can make some interesting points:
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Author Archives: Calvin Hsieh
About Calvin Hsieh
Calvin is a Senior Analyst at DisplaySearch. He specializes in TV electronics and the evolution of TVs related to media convergence.
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The Widget Channel: a Trojan Horse?
By Calvin Hsieh, Research Director
At IFA 2008, the idea of a “Widget Channel” designed for TV was introduced by Intel and Yahoo. Samsung has taken advantage of widgets in its latest add-on function named Info Live, available for their A7, A8 and A9 series LCD TVs. The Widget Channel concept is not very surprising if you are familiar with Windows Vista, which has a side bar that lets you select various widgets for information and utilities.
The design does not occupy your entire screen and Windows desktop like a conventional internet web browser; instead, it is possible to concentrate on information from the widget and your application program. Of course, the information provided by the widget is concise, not as intensive as a web page. Continue Reading
The Times They Are a-Changin’ Part 3 of 3
By Calvin Hsieh, Research Director
Back to the influence of Apple TV, Google Phone and Intel Canmore. Let’s now take a look at Canmore CE3100, which was released this September as Intel’s first SoC (System on Chip) for CE products. The amazing thing here is not the performance. Instead, we are starting to think about the possibilities for multimedia convergence. No matter whether this chip is on the STB or TV-set end, it can extend the content source for your TV. Continue Reading
The Times They Are a-Changin’ Part 2 of 3
By Calvin Hsieh, Research Director
The three products mentioned in the previous post (Apple TV, Google Phone and Intel’s Canmore) appear to have virtually nothing to do with today’s TV. That’s because we are still used to talking about TV as a device receiving a signal with a display. If we expand the definition of TV, then the possibilities are broader than ever. Beyond traditional broadcasting, we have many media sources and content available each day for different purposes. Taking this perspective, let’s look at these three products and what kind of sparkle of inspiration we can receive from them. Continue Reading
The Times They Are a-Changin’ Part 1 of 3
By Calvin Hsieh, Research Director
In my opinion, the events in 2008 that will have the most impact for the evolution of Flat Panel Display TVs next year are Apple TV, Google Phone and Intel Canmore. Surprising? In fact, these seem to have nothing to do with LCD or PDP TV. It would probably seem more reasonable if I said DVB-T2, frame rate conversion or even CMMB for China.
The reasons that I selected these three items are not because these companies are already dominant in certain fields or because their new products are so promising. I would simply like to look for something meaningful through these products. When analyzing the numbers of any TV forecast, we can find ASP erosion, slowing growth, fierce market share following the 80/20 rule, and winners “taking all.” All the phenomena are telling us the FPD TV market has become mature and indeed has reached a ceiling or plateau effect. Looking forward to ways to create new growth, we need to make consumers enthusiastic again and inspire them to purchase a new FPD TV. And if they are truly passionate, they will be encouraged to spend money. Otherwise, it might be difficult to have realistic expectations for a brilliant FPD TV future.
