Now I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea if they have enough factories to handle this or other factors that might come to play to stop this idea but I'm going to say it anyway. I think one way we could drive the HDTV transition forward in less than a year would be giving people a reason to buy a new TV without having to explain picture quality. Giving them another reason that sadly most americans can't resist (and I can't blame them either because besides looks they do have other benefits like space saving).
So with that said because LCD HDTV sets have dropped in price quite a bit and many 30"+ sets have no been sold for less than 700 bucks while 26" widescreen HDTV LCD sets have sold below 500 bucks. Now even if these prices are only black friday prices that does still tell where the prices will be in a few months. We now have more factories making these units and making them better and in more efficient ways to boot. Now as with anything more sales me cheaper prices per unit. Now lets consider from the consumers, retailers and the TV makers points of view for a second.
First from the TV makers point of view. If they can just quit making tube style TV sets and only sell LCD TV sets they might very well be able to get the prices low enough so they would be close to the same price as current tube TV sets at their size ranges of course. Now granted they need to be able to handle the volume but they can ship many more sets at less cost per unit. They also can store many more units in the same spaces they use for tube TV sets today.
Now from the retailers point of view. They also wouldn't be stocking anymore tube TV sets and would now be stocking very thin and attractive TV sets. This means that they can stock and hold more TV sets in the same amount of space as well. They also won't have problems selling these slick TV sets either. If the TV makers just said together to make them all HDTV sets with no analog or EDTV sets than the makers and the stores can just say to the customer that all of these LCD (they say thin TVs) are HDTV TVs. This would simply force the transition because once they are made in volume it won't cost that much more if anything to offer an HDTV over an EDTV for example.
Now the consumers might very well next Christmas go out and buy one of these new sets even if they have a working TV set right now. Look at it from this point of view. I also a customer have a good working TV set and as many HDTV isn't big enough for me to jump to buy a new TV set for a much higher price. Now if that consumer say has a 25" analog set that cost him 200 bucks for example. Lets say that set is two years old so old enough but not too old or too new. Now say if this customer can walk into a store and buy a 32" Widescreen LCD HDTV set for 399.99 or less and this is very very doable at the current system within 8 months I believe. Well I hate to say this but at that price this consumer is getting three very big "important" upgrades. They are first getting a much much bigger screen now that is big enough to show how good HDTV really is. Second they are upgrading to HDTV instead of analog. Now add in the third option which is the fact that these things are very very thin and are easy to move. People how are and will be living in apartments will snag this up in a second because today they would love a big 30+ inch HDTV set but if they move a lot they just can't deal with moving a projection screen or the old tube set. But now they have a big HDTV affordable lightweight set they can carry on their own with great ease that will also fit in small places. Think about how big that would be for a family TV in a small apartment/condo in NY where space is at a premium and money is a big factor.
The botton line is that thin TVs at a very cheap price have many benefits and will drive the HDTV transition and not the other way around. People love HDTV but they only have a great benefit on sets more than 30" in viewing size and until these sizes can become very small, thin, lightweight and cheap enough many people won't see the benefit of upgrading while some can't even if they want too. I'm telling you on a 26" widescreen set HDTV looks no different than digital cable but on a 32" widescreen you can very clearly see the difference and that will be the sweetspot and unlike in the past when 25" sets were the common middleground the 32" will be the common sold set. The 26" will be the cheapest model offered while LCD projectors along with big screens will be the highend sets.
That is my view and I wonder what you all think and let me know if you agree or not with anything I said or better yet please suggest better ways. I hope this gets talked about and gets considered by all parties involved in this business because I think all parties can greatly benefit from this.
So with that said because LCD HDTV sets have dropped in price quite a bit and many 30"+ sets have no been sold for less than 700 bucks while 26" widescreen HDTV LCD sets have sold below 500 bucks. Now even if these prices are only black friday prices that does still tell where the prices will be in a few months. We now have more factories making these units and making them better and in more efficient ways to boot. Now as with anything more sales me cheaper prices per unit. Now lets consider from the consumers, retailers and the TV makers points of view for a second.
First from the TV makers point of view. If they can just quit making tube style TV sets and only sell LCD TV sets they might very well be able to get the prices low enough so they would be close to the same price as current tube TV sets at their size ranges of course. Now granted they need to be able to handle the volume but they can ship many more sets at less cost per unit. They also can store many more units in the same spaces they use for tube TV sets today.
Now from the retailers point of view. They also wouldn't be stocking anymore tube TV sets and would now be stocking very thin and attractive TV sets. This means that they can stock and hold more TV sets in the same amount of space as well. They also won't have problems selling these slick TV sets either. If the TV makers just said together to make them all HDTV sets with no analog or EDTV sets than the makers and the stores can just say to the customer that all of these LCD (they say thin TVs) are HDTV TVs. This would simply force the transition because once they are made in volume it won't cost that much more if anything to offer an HDTV over an EDTV for example.
Now the consumers might very well next Christmas go out and buy one of these new sets even if they have a working TV set right now. Look at it from this point of view. I also a customer have a good working TV set and as many HDTV isn't big enough for me to jump to buy a new TV set for a much higher price. Now if that consumer say has a 25" analog set that cost him 200 bucks for example. Lets say that set is two years old so old enough but not too old or too new. Now say if this customer can walk into a store and buy a 32" Widescreen LCD HDTV set for 399.99 or less and this is very very doable at the current system within 8 months I believe. Well I hate to say this but at that price this consumer is getting three very big "important" upgrades. They are first getting a much much bigger screen now that is big enough to show how good HDTV really is. Second they are upgrading to HDTV instead of analog. Now add in the third option which is the fact that these things are very very thin and are easy to move. People how are and will be living in apartments will snag this up in a second because today they would love a big 30+ inch HDTV set but if they move a lot they just can't deal with moving a projection screen or the old tube set. But now they have a big HDTV affordable lightweight set they can carry on their own with great ease that will also fit in small places. Think about how big that would be for a family TV in a small apartment/condo in NY where space is at a premium and money is a big factor.
The botton line is that thin TVs at a very cheap price have many benefits and will drive the HDTV transition and not the other way around. People love HDTV but they only have a great benefit on sets more than 30" in viewing size and until these sizes can become very small, thin, lightweight and cheap enough many people won't see the benefit of upgrading while some can't even if they want too. I'm telling you on a 26" widescreen set HDTV looks no different than digital cable but on a 32" widescreen you can very clearly see the difference and that will be the sweetspot and unlike in the past when 25" sets were the common middleground the 32" will be the common sold set. The 26" will be the cheapest model offered while LCD projectors along with big screens will be the highend sets.
That is my view and I wonder what you all think and let me know if you agree or not with anything I said or better yet please suggest better ways. I hope this gets talked about and gets considered by all parties involved in this business because I think all parties can greatly benefit from this.
