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Posted

Aussies choose LCD TVs over plasmas

Asher Moses

March 16, 2007 - 12:22PM

Sales of LCD TVs are massively outstripping those of plasma sets as Australians rush to embrace high-definition gadgets, new figures from market watcher GfK have revealed.

In the fourth quarter of last year, 188,933 LCDs were sold compared to just 85,565 plasmas, GfK analyst Angus Macaskill said in a phone interview.

It is a massive turnaround for LCD, whose second quarter 2005 sales of 35,657 trailed plasma's 42,074 figure.

GfK's numbers were based on sales data provided by about 95 per cent of electronics retailers in Australia, including all of the major department stores, Mr Macaskill said.

"Obviously, people that have a sole interest in pushing plasma might disagree, but if you look at growth rates in this technology, since the start of the year the story's been all LCD," he said.

"Have LCD TVs won? Well it seems to me that they certainly are winning significantly."

He said the larger variety of LCD screen sizes was one of the factors attracting consumers to the technology.

"Price is obviously a factor [too], although the prices of plasma have come down even faster than the prices of LCDs, but [are] obviously starting from a higher point."

Separate figures compiled for GfK's Sony High Definition Benchmark report, released yesterday, found HD products now represent more than half of the market for consumer electronics in Australia.

This is despite the fact that Australian TV broadcasters have yet to fully embrace HD programming.

Total sales of HD hardware - including LCD TVs, plasma TVs, set-top boxes, games consoles, DVD hardware and camcorders - jumped 130 per cent to almost $500 million between the fourth quarter of last year and the same period in 2005, the report found. Non-HD sales declined by 17 per cent.

"High definition products are keeping consumer spending on electronic digital products on the boil," the report's author, Mr Macaskill, wrote.

Of the HD hardware sales, 89 per cent were either plasma or LCD TV sets.

But while HDTV penetration is strong, most free-to-air television programs and all Foxtel broadcasts are still shown in standard definition. This is partly because free-to-air broadcasters in Sydney and Melbourne are only required by law to air 20 hours of HD programming a week.

A full list of the HD programs shown each day on channels Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS and ABC can be found here.

Regardless of the broadcasters' reluctance to provide more HD programming, the new high-definition disc technologies, Blu-ray and HD DVD, are sure to push HD further into the mainstream.

Sony's Playstation 3, which goes on sale in Australia next Friday, is widely expected to spark a HD-buying frenzy as it has a built-in Blu-ray player.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/home-theatre/au...3722711373.html

Posted

I thought LCD would have outsold plasma by more than that. They're a small screen technology at the moment so it's only natural that they'll sell more. I bet that ~50" LCDs aren't outselling 50" plasmas though. The last line gives away that this is just a piece of Sony-paid propaganda since they don't have any Plasma manufacturing capabilities.

Posted

Could it also be that LCD has a higher definition, plasmas do not have 1920 x 1080 outside of the lab (if there). Certainly at given price points there are better Tvs in LCD than plasma. There .... that should get comment!

Posted
Could it also be that LCD has a higher definition, plasmas do not have 1920 x 1080 outside of the lab (if there). Certainly at given price points there are better Tvs in LCD than plasma. There .... that should get comment!

I think you will find Pioneer and Panasonic have 1920 X 1080 plasmas available right now.

Posted
Could it also be that LCD has a higher definition, plasmas do not have 1920 x 1080 outside of the lab (if there). Certainly at given price points there are better Tvs in LCD than plasma. There .... that should get comment!

If people buy a display based on resolution being the most important factor for a good quality picture they are fools.

There is a saying that a fool is borne every minute, I’m sure its true and manufactures and marketers know how to take advantage of that.

Posted
If people buy a display based on resolution being the most important factor for a good quality picture they are fools.

There is a saying that a fool is borne every minute, I'm sure its true and manufactures and marketers know how to take advantage of that.

I was just going to say "because they are stupid" but you have done it even more eloquently!
Posted

Well you all fell in didn't you!! I wanted to see what you butt headed people who back one technology would say. Couldn't resist could you?

I wasn't saying that resolution was everything only that plasma lags behind. Technology problems at higher resolutions and too costly. "Pioneer and Panasonic have 1920 X 1080 plasmas available right now" maybe but at what price? The vast majority of plasmas can only do what is unacceptable mid resolution.

If resolution was not important then why do we have the ever upward push by all manufacturers? Why do we have so called 'high resolution' TV broadcasts then? Why didn't we simply stick with CRT in black and white?

Posted
Well you all fell in didn't you!! I wanted to see what you butt headed people who back one technology would say. Couldn't resist could you?

Were's that banana thread.... :blink:

Posted
Well you all fell in didn't you!! I wanted to see what you butt headed people who back one technology would say. Couldn't resist could you?
Flag as trolling?
Posted

Resolution is important. The problem is that a lot of people seem to put resolution right at the top of their list and picture quality is a long way down the list. Then when they get their TV home, they say "What's all of the fuss about?" in regards to HD. There's plenty of examples of that on this forum.

Posted

More small LCDs than small plasmas on the market, bigger numbers of smaller TVs sold -> more LCDs than plasmas sold?

It'd be interesting to see a market analysis by size of screen, I'll bet plasma is ahead in 40"+ (where LCDs are more $ and arguably have worse PQ).

Posted

digitalj,

I always look at who sponsors or pays for surveys, advertising, publications and web pages before I put them forward as 'gospel' to illustrate a point. I think you should too. Who sponsors that page? The manufacturers pushing plasma ... surprise, surprise, surprise (as Gomer Pile said!!). And their findings, drum roll Harry, plasma, plasma, plasma. The title tells you the bent behind the site, plasma -lcd.

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