Despite the weakening economy here in the US and elsewhere, people are -- as predicted -- still showing interest in HDTV. Shortly after seeing what a nice Q2 the plasma sector had, DisplaySearch has revealed that TV shipments in general were way, way up in said quarter. In fact, North America saw the biggest year-over-year increase (28%) since the outfit started tracking TV shipments in 2004; then there's the 26% quarter-over-quarter growth, which is equally impressive. LCD TV shipments rose 52% compared to last year while PDP shipments shot up 34% in the same period, and it's safe to say that Samsung has the most to gloat about. It was the leading overall brand with shipments of its sets surging to a record 19.1% of all shipments in North America during Q2. Anxious to see who took the proverbial silver / bronze? Check out all of the stats in the read link below.

Oh, how quickly the mighty have fallen (again). Shortly after Matsushita dropped to third in plasma shipments in Q1, the outfit has leapfrogged both LG and Samsung SDI in order to claim the gold in Q2 2008. The outfit's revenue share skyrocketed from 29.4% to 36.8%, showing a 23% year-over-year improvement. Also of note, 1080p PDPs saw remarkable growth (54% year-over-year) this quarter, which were reportedly driven by sales of 46-inch models. Looking at Matsushita in particular, over 43% of its plasma shipments in Q2 were 1080p, and overall it "accounted for over 70% of all 1080p PDP shipments." Anyone taking bets on who comes out on top in Q3?

Perennial display industry prognosticator DisplaySearch has looked really deeply into its crystal ball, and has come back with OLED TVs and mini-note PCs as the big growth sectors. Over the years 2007 - 2015, DisplaySearch pegs sales growth for OLED TV at 167-percent and mini-note PC at 74-percent, both outpacing even the golden-egg-laying goose that is the digital photo frame. On the large scale, we agree that OLED looks like it will be the future, but putting numbers on an 8-year span is a bit of a reach; or at least that's what laser TV and FED are hoping.

The term "widescreen" is one of the most notoriously confusing monikers this side of Full HD used to describe a display's specifications. Widescreen generally translates to a 16:10 aspect ratio when discussing computer LCDs (monitors or laptop displays) or 16:9 if your talking about the living room TV. Of course, it can also refer to the 2.35:1 ratio often used for films or something entirely different if you're Apple touting the wonders of your new widescreen iPhone. Fortunately, we're trending towards at least some convergence around the 16:9 aspect. DisplaySearch predicts that by 2010, 16:9 panels will make up 90% of new laptop displays and 67% of new monitors. Acer has been at the forefront of this transition with products like its Gemstone Blue laptops and the Acer P224W monitor pictured above. The move is being driven by panel manufacturers' desire to maximize production efficiency -- something they should have realized before the glass sizes diverged in the first place. Regardless, the end result should be more pennies saved by you, Joe Consumer, and that's a good thing.

For now, the HDTV market is doing just fine as-is. We've still got stragglers seeing the light on a daily basis, and the looming DTV transition is probably pushing sales somewhat as well. However, according to Calvin Hsieh, DisplaySearch's Director of Research, the market is set to peak between 2009 and 2011. In order to grow beyond then, he suggests that the sector will have to focus on "enhanced features for TVs, such as higher resolutions, expanded broadband infrastructure, internet connectivity, versatile applications and interactive capabilities to meet the needs of the connected digital home." Hard to argue with any of that, no?

[Via The New York Times]

Not so long ago, the good people at DisplaySearch were forecasting good times for plasma. But there's no way around the first quarter of 2008 global sales numbers that show LCD outsold plasma by an 8 to 1 margin. Take a breath -- those are global sales numbers -- but it still isn't the most encouraging news for plasma fans. Worldwide, plasma has a frenemy in good old CRT, though, which actually edged out LCD on its way to the highest sales volume. Click on through for all the numbers, but globally it looks like this: LCD is taking over, plasma is moving into a very small niche, RPTV is all but gone and CRT is going down with a fight.

Just days after Sony vaulted to the top of North American LCD sales charts, DisplaySearch is now reporting that worldwide shipments of LCD TVs have overtaken CRT TVs for the first time in the history of the universe. More specifically, LCD TV sales rose some 56-percent year over year, and 47-percent of the world's TV market is now held by said technology. Reportedly, the transition from CRT to LCD was seen as a logical one, considering that it could extend down to sizes smaller than 20-inches and satisfy desires for large-screen sets. We know you're just itching to go diving head first into more numbers on the subject, so feel free to toss on those wire-rimmed glasses and hit the read link below.

[Via TGDaily]

For the statistics freaks out there, you're sure to love this one. After DisplaySearch churned out a plethora of data surrounding Black Friday sales in the HD realm, Video Business took the liberty of breaking it all down for easier digestion. Interestingly, some 600,000 DVD players were moved while only 57,000 high-definition players were sold during the week ending November 24th, but less shockingly, (cheaper) HD DVD players made up 62-percent of that 57K. Nevertheless, Blu-ray hardware grabbed 52-percent of the revenue, even though it sold substantially less units than HD DVD. On the software side, BD titles made up 72.6-percent of all high-definition movie purchases, while HD DVD claimed the other 27.4-percent. We know, numbers only say so much, but it doesn't really look like any recent trends shifted over the US' biggest shopping holiday of the year.

[Image courtesy of SmackShopping]

Research firm DisplaySearch compiled its global numbers for Q3 2007 and found unit sales up 18% and revenues up 17%, quarter-over-quarter. People all over the planet are buying sets, and flat panel sales are particularly strong. The sales aren't just in small panels, either: even though the average panel size is 27-inches, panels in the 40 - 47-inch class experienced the fastest growth in both units and revenue and now account for almost one-third of TV revenues. Not surprisingly, the "1080" moniker is hot in Japan and North America, posting huge gains for both LCD, plasma and microdisplay sets that flaunt the spec. Manufacturers and retailers have to be happy about the this -- the premium cost of 1080 sets helped to hold the decrease in year-over-year average sale price (ASP) to just 1%. More numbers than you can shake a stick at after the link.

DisplaySearch has issued a report that adds to the good outlook for the future of plasma displays. After poring over the numbers and taking a tour of Panasonic's Plasma Display factories, the firm cited motion performance, cost, and "luminous efficacy" among the technology's competitive features. The motion performance is something we've covered before, with the best PDPs besting even the latest LCDs, even if only by a bit. But what got the analysts really excited is the increased luminous efficacy coming to PDPs in the future. Obviously, more brightness per Watt will result in more energy efficient and cooler-running PDPs, but we can also look forward to increased performance in bright settings and better lifetime and reliability. And of, course, more torchy torch modes! Seriously, we hope the report is on target -- more competition is always better for consumers.

Despite what we say, many people wait till the holiday season to buy and HDTV -- more specifically Black Friday. There are a few strategies that work, and Consumer Reports' Electronics Blog has a couple of pointers for this holiday season. While the theme to finding a bargain seems to 720p, they really seem to believe Plasmas might offer the better bargain. In fact, DisplaySearch believes you'll be able to find a 42-inch 720p Plasma for as low as $599 on Black Friday, which seems pretty crazy. This is not to say that there won't be any great deals on LCD TVs, but just like that normal debate goes, it's really about size since there aren't many Plasmas under 42-inches. No matter what you end up picking up, you can rest assured that although you missed another entire year of HD, you most certainly saved yourself some money.

In case you hadn't heard, CRT sets are on their way out, and LCD is the display technology that will replace them in popularity. According to to market research firm Displaybank, the LCD portion of TV shipments will grow from 38% this year to 66% by 2015. By our math, that's close to 2-out-of-3. Chalk that growth up to a blanketing of the market -- LCD already has the less than 50-inch market pretty well sewn up, and is already making inroads to larger sizes. We love us our plasma (even at less than 50-inch sizes), but on the showroom floor LCD's are compelling for many consumers. No matter how you slice it, consumers are going to benefit -- put the Displaybank numbers against DisplaySearch numbers on market value for LCD's, and you can see that LCD prices are going to come down even further.

With all the great things we hear about OLED TVs, it's understandable to think that the next display technology is here. Ultra-thin dimensions, eye-popping contrast ratio and low power consumption, what's not to like? The technology does have some big uncertainties, however. According to the link, the most significant isn't display lifetime, but market potential. DisplaySearch projects huge growth for OLED TVs, with a market of $37 million in 2008 to $884 million in 2011. That would outpace the predicted 15% growth in LCD TV demand over the same period. Rosy for OLED, right? Not so fast -- the total market for LCD in 2011 is expected to be $92 billion (with a "b"). When considering these projections, it's easy to see why the president of Samsung SDI says OLEDs are "ideal for portable displays," but holds off on making any TV display commitments. The fact that Sony is committed to producing a set makes OLED more promising than some other next-gen technologies, but we're not throwing out our plasmas and LCDs yet.

It looks like the Blu-ray / HD DVD format war isn't about to end soon. Worse still, it's hard to separate real information from rhetoric on the state of the battle. We're hoping that some things come to light on October 10 though, at a panel discussion on HD media formats at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference. The session, titled "The Format War Is Over! No Wait, This Just In...", is the conference opener, so you know they've lined up a good panel. There are heavyweights representing both formats, and promised topics of discussion include some pretty pointed questions: "Is consumer adoption where the industry expected, and what will it take to motivate more to buy?"; "Will the Paramount defection prolong the format war?"; and "When will the collective power of the 190 Blu-ray Disc companies actually begin to demonstrate its clout?" We're pulling for the moderator to keep the panel honest and on-point. Any predictions on what will come out of the session?

In the kind of comeback that might make many Olympic competitors look twice, Sony has leapfrogged everybody and become a leader in the LCD market, as rated by DisplaySearch. Powered by their BRAVIA line and their partnership with Samsung, they went from an 8.7% market share in the third quarter of 2005, to a market leading 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Suddenly Dwyane Wade scoring his teams last 17 points FTW (for the win) doesn't look so tough.

Why did they go so far so fast? Focusing on sizes above 32" more than their competitors, they had 900% growth in 40", and 175% growth at 32", in comparing sales over both quarters Who lost? Sharp, who went from first to third in total units due to supply problems despite the high quality of their AQUOS line. It's pretty obvious why Samsung and LG are investing so heavily in increasing production as well, whoever makes the most can control pricing and sell the most.

We'd say consumers are winning however, as LCD prices continued to drop an average of 16% in the fourth quarter alone. Any HDBeat readers go out looking for an AQUOS this Christmas and come home with a BRAVIA instead?