Widescreen TVs gaining momentum
Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, April 27, 2003
High Point — Electronics experts say widescreen televisions, which require wider cavities in entertainment centers, will account for a major chunk of the television market over the next several years.
Flat-screen monitors, in spite of their relatively poor picture quality, will grab a rapidly increasing but still minimal share, predicted Greg Tarr, executive editor of TWICE, a trade newspaper for the consumer electronics business.
"In sheer numbers, analog is still going to rule the roost," Tarr said. "Direct-view CRTs will still sell in the traditional sizes."
But the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio is taking over in rear projection, he added, and all digital sets are going to widescreen. That's an important trend for furniture producers and retailers to consider because digital television will soon be more widely available.
Tarr said the quality of digital high-definition TV is far superior to the current standard, which should stimulate strong retail sales of these widescreen sets.
"The cable operators have now caught the HDTV bug," he said. "They're taking baby steps right now, but within 6 to 12 months you're going to see some pretty aggressive steps from the major cable providers.
"This year will be a big year for adding more digital programming."
While plasma and liquid-crystal-display televisions are growing, they are still a fairly insignificant portion of the television pie, less than 5% or about 1.1 million units projected to be sold this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn.
The true volume is coming from digital televisions, with 3.8 million units projected for this year, and from traditional color televisions, with 2.6 million units projected.
Tarr said that flat screens are selling because of their slim profile rather than for their picture quality.
"It really pushes buttons with women because they've finally figured out a way to get rid of that cabinet that takes up a quarter of the room," he said.
"What knocks people out is this 4-inch deep panel. It looks really slick."
On top of that, the prices for flat screens are falling, with starter units now below $3,000. And Tarr said prices will continue to drop because of new competition, from a source that will not be unfamiliar to the furniture industry.
"There's going to be lots of price aggression starting now with the new Chinese competitors entering the market," he said.
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