LCD and plasma TVs stand as no exception to those products whose demand has weakened due to the recession. Sharp, Panasonic and Sony are racing to come up with features to distinguish their products from those of their competitors, in desperate attempt toward defending their market shares. Those consumers who do choose to spend money on a TV will have choices, and if they need help deciding on a particular flat screen, they can use their hands. 

Although the majority of flat-screen shoppers make their choice of purchase based upon what they see, Michiyuki Sugino, deputy general manager of audiovisual systems for Sharp, says that they should also use their hands. Anyone who touches the average TV set will feel heat. This heat represents more than working electronic components, though; it is energy that is being wasted, Sugino says. For TV owners, this warmth also represents higher energy bills. Sharp's new 32” D Series Aquos TVs are a bit different. According to Sugino, "The biggest surprise for consumers is when they touch the TV front and back. It's cool. They can feel the difference."

Flat-screen sets similar to the new Sharp Aquos have been tagged with the marketing catchphrase “eco-TV” in Japan. Because they use less energy and cost less to run, they are environmentally friendlier, and according to Emi Nagahara, a product planner for Sony’s TV business group, “[Eco-functions] are a premium consumers will pay for.”

TV purchasers are not the only ones saving, as manufacturers are achieving significant power savings, while staying away from any sacrifices of performance or picture quality. Sony, for example, which became a part of the eco-TV market last summer, has produced a more efficient backlight for its new Bravia VE5 series that uses almost 40 percent less energy than conventional LCD TVs. Additional features include a sensor that turns off the screen when there is no motion detected nearby. This sensor halves the amount of energy used by the TV. Another sensor, a light sensor, can adjust the backlight to ambient room light. The TV also contains an energy-saving switch that cuts all power to the set as if it were unplugged, helping to save energy compared to conventional sets, which waste small amounts of electricity even when turned off, if left plugged in.

Another eco-friendly TV manufacturer includes Panasonic, the Number 1 maker of plasma TVs, which holds a 40 percent share of the market on a worldwide level. Panasonic started selling its 42” Viera V series plasma set in Japan this month. This new set uses 48 percent less power than the product line’s previous generation. Sharp, on the other hand, launched its Aquos D Series in Japan on February 20. The Aquos D Series uses 45 percent less energy than its 2008 version and includes improved power-saving components, such as a modified backlight.  

As far as the cost of these green TVs, Koya Tabata, consumer-electronics analyst at Tokyo’s Credit Suisse, says that Japanese consumers are increasingly concerned with both sticker prices and operating costs. "I used to have a 50-in. Pioneer plasma TV," says Tabata. "It was our heater in the winter."

Due to higher energy prices and an increased number of households with two or three TVs, though, electricity consumption matters more now than it used to. Approximately 10 percent of total energy in the home is used to power TVs. That is to say, an eco-TV can make a difference in the electric bill. The Panasonic V model, for example, uses 200 kW-h, down from 386 kW-h for the preceding generation; this difference could save around $41 a year for the average Japanese household, according to Sharp.

The current economic downturn has placed profit margins under extreme pressure. Furthermore, even those Japanese electronics companies that have shut down factories and cut workers are reporting significant losses. While worldwide unit sales of LCD TVs have increased by approximately 10 percent over the last year, revenues have decreased by around 5 percent, as companies have been continuously forced to lower prices in order to move sets, according to Jeremy Tonkin, a retail analyst with CLSA, a Hong Kong-based brokerage house. Nikko Citigroup analyst Kota Ezawa reports that prices for flat-panel TVs will continue to get cheaper in the U.S. through the month of March. Over the next two years, manufacturers expect overall prices to decrease by 20 percent.

According to Hirofumi Wada, general manager of Panasonic's visual and display business group, in order for eco-TVs to catch on, "we have to develop technology that can improve the eco-function but hopefully won't increase the cost."

"The Japanese consumer is spending," says Tonkin, but "consumers want to buy something cheaper."