A Big Match Is Coming Up in the Digital TV Market

A big match between 30-inch CRT TV screens and LCD TV—

The 32-inch super slim screen CRT (cathode-ray tube) TV is expected to make a great hit in the market early next year. It has a thickness of 38cm, as slim as a LCD TV and better screen quality.

LG Philips Display and Samsung SDI announced their systems are ready for mass production of the 32-inch CRT display Tuesday. Now, a big match between LG and Samsung is expected at the launch of their new TV models in January next year.

The price range is from \1,200,000 to \1,300,000, half the LCD TV price (approximately \2,900,000), which is highly likely to attract many practical consumers.

Meanwhile, the Display Bank, a research institution exclusively concerning domestic displays, estimates that the price of the 32-inch LCD TV panel will drop to $550. The TV price is usually set at the level of two and a half times its panel price so that the TV price will eventually drop to $1,380 (or \1,500,000), a competitive price against the 32-inch CRT TV.

“We will focus on selling LCD TVs with a smaller than 40-inch screens, and PDP TVs with larger than 40-inch screens,” said LG Electronics` president Baek Woo-hyun.

Clash between LCD TV and PDP TV with around 40-inch screens—

Now, the price gap between the LCD TV and PDP TV with the 42-inch screen is large, around \8,000,000 and \5,000,000, respectively.

Bae Chul-han, the executive vice president of Samsung SDI, said that he would lower the 42-inch PDP TV module from the current $1,000 (or \1,050,000) to $600 late next year through reducing costs, suggesting a sharp price drop. If so, the PDP TV price is expected to drop from the current $4,000 to $2,500 (or \2,500,000).

When the seventh generation production line of Samsung Electronics starts in the first half of next year (January to June), the 40-inch LCD panel price is also likely to fall from the current $1,700 to $1,000. Samsung Electronics forecasts that the 40-inch LCD TV price will drop to $2,500.

Do-Young Kim nirvana1@donga.com