DailyTech - 8G LCD Format War Possibly Resolved

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Hardware 8G LCD Format War Possibly Resolved
Kristopher Kubicki (Blog) - April 11, 2006 8:16 PM

8 comment(s) - last by Houdani.. on Apr 12 at 9:40 AM

S-LCD, AUO and CMO may have kowtowed to LG.Philips LCD

Several weeks ago, we ran a story about a potential format war between the two largest LCD panel manufacturers. The 8th generation substrate sizes from both manufacturers are similar, but ever slightly different -- Samsung has chosen to back 46" LCD TV while LG.Philips LCD opted for 47" LCD TV instead. The obvious problem is that with the top two LCD panel maufacturers disagreeing on standard TV sizes, component manufacturers would no longer have the luxury of using the same components for both competitors, increasing costs.

Digitimes reports that the two major Taiwanese LCD manufacturers, CMO and AUO will back the LG.Philips sanctioned 47" LCD TV size in the existing 7.5G facilities. Furthermore, the site reports that sources claim S-LCD (Samsung / Sony LCD) have opted for the LG.Philips 47" cut as well. Effectively, the all manufacturers have rallied to the 47" LCD size proposed by LG.Philips. Representatives at S-LCD and CMO would not confirm this with us, however S-LCD mentioned to us that they had just signed the letter of intent to build the 8G facility today.

Currently, Sharp is the only odd man out with plans to build 45" LCD TVs in its upcoming 8G facility. AUO just merged with Quanta Display Inc, but plans for an 8G substrate factory are not finalized yet.

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A bit confusing... My take

By ninjit on 4/11/2006 9:21:30 PM , Rating: 2

From what I understand, TV manufacturers want to all use the same size LCD screens, so that they can easily switch back and forth between panel suppliers.

If somebody went with a 47" panel, that only one company manufactured, if anything happened to that source, they'd be screwed, because other possible suppliers produce a different size panel, so their TV models ( plastic housing design, location of components, possibly even the electronic components themselves) would have to be re-engineered to match te new panels.

If everyone agrees on one size (or a few common sizes), LCD suppliers can simply dedicate their lines to those specifications, and compete on quality economies of scale etc.

Similary TV manufacturers can go with any of the manufacturers they choose, without worrying about being physically locked into those components, and then distinguish themselves by other features of the tv, price, warranty etc.

RE: A bit confusing... My take

By hyperbolicparody on 4/11/2006 9:35:00 PM , Rating: 2

For the most part. But remember that a unified and standardized component spec does much more. Having a uniform size lets everyone along the supply chain cut down on the variations in products. While it might not mean much to Sony or Phillips if they spend a few extra $$ on slightly different enclosures, it DOES matter when every last component in the TV has a few dollars added in.

Thousands of components costing a few cents more can add hundreds of dollars to your price tag. It personally doesn't matter much to me whether the bigger LCD TVs are 46" or 47", as long as I see a nice pricetag!

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RE: A bit confusing... My take

By xsilver on 4/12/2006 1:37:28 AM , Rating: 2

although the downside is that most major consumers will not be able to associate a panel manufacturer with a brand

its hard enough already with lcd monitors in trying to find out what type of panel your acer/benq/viewsonic monitors are

some companies may get some odd reputations, eg. xxx brand is crap - except for this model, which is good because it uses xxx panels

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RE: A bit confusing... My take

By Araemo on 4/12/2006 8:12:02 AM , Rating: 2

some companies may get some odd reputations, eg. xxx brand is crap - except for this model, which is good because it uses xxx panels

It's good until they refresh ir and it changes to YYY panels, which suck. (Think Dell. ;) )

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so...

By ksherman on 4/11/2006 8:18:23 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Digitimes reports that the two major Taiwanese LCD manufacturers, CMO and AUO will back the LPL.Philips sanctioned 47" LCD TV size in the existing 7.5G facilities. Furthermore, the site reports that sources claim S-LCD (Samsung / Sony LCD) have opted for the LG.Philips 47" cut as well. Representatives at S-LCD and CMO would not confirm this with us, however S-LCD mentioned to us that they had just signed the letter of intent to build the 8G facility today.

so... they are building the same size LCD? ;-) me thinks it was some kind of typo...

RE: so...

By KristopherKubicki

(blog) on 4/11/2006 8:31:12 PM , Rating: 2

No, the news seems to be that all the major manufacturers will go for 47" LCDs

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what about samsung now?

By Visual on 4/12/2006 5:42:43 AM , Rating: 2

thats a bad news about samsung, right? they are doomed, they are done with, noone will ever make a tv with samsung panels... pity

or not. they can just put all those useless and rejected panels in PC monitors instead, and sell them for $1500 or so :p *hopes*

RE: what about samsung now?

By Houdani on 4/12/2006 9:40:28 AM , Rating: 2

Did you mean Sharp, since they are the oddballs with 45" panels?

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