3DTV Shipments Set to Reach 46 Million by 2013, According to GigaOM Pro
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 5, 2009 -
While 3DTV has its skeptics, the giants in the consumer electronics industry see huge potential, according to a new report from GigaOM Pro (http://pro.gigaom.com/2009/10/3dtv-market-analysis). As HDTV manufacturers face shrinking margins and a maturing market, big players like Sony and Panasonic see 3DTV as the way to rejuvenate their TV business. While the market is only in its infancy today, by 2013 up to 46 million 3DTV capable flat-panel HDTVs will head to consumer homes.
“While the initial shipments of flat-panel 3DTVs will be small in 2010 due to premium pricing strategies by the large TV manufacturers, volumes are likely to grow quickly in just a few short years as manufacturers begin to implement 3-D as a standard feature across their HD flat-panel product lines,” said Alfred Poor, author of the report and publisher of the HDTV Almanac.
As 3-D becomes a standard feature with just a slight cost premium in coming years – just as 120 Hz is today — many consumers will opt for 3D-capable TVs even if the majority of the content they watch will be 2-D. However, as content owners and pay-TV operators convert large portions of their back-catalogs of content to 3-D, it’s likely many consumers will watch more and more of their favorite shows and movies in 3-D.
“Just as many consumers are voting with their wallets today for the 3-D version of their favorite movies in the theater, we expect over time that many will choose 3-D for their favorite shows and movies at home as well,” said Poor. “The latest movies and shows will become available in 3-D on Blu-ray, Pay-TV channels and even streaming online, which will help drive consumer adoption of 3D-capable TVs as prices drop in coming years.”
Another significant factor will be the widespread availability of lower-cost active glasses for 3-D viewing. To date, the low number of glasses hasn’t yet resulted in necessary scale in manufacturing to lower their average selling price. In the future,however, high-volumes of 3DTVs will result in the need for millions of glasses, driving down the cost of glasses for the home.
The report, “3DTV Market Analysis: Making the Transition from Cinema to Living Room” is available at GigaOM Pro (http://pro.gigaom.com/2009/10/3dtv-market-analysis). The report includes analysis of the various 3DTV technologies, standards and markets. It examines the HDTV and 3DTV market landscape and includes market forecasts for 3DTV, and strategic recommendations for consumer electronics OEMs, content owners, service providers and retailers.
About GigaOM Pro
As part of the GigaOM Network, GigaOM Pro delivers actionable insights on emerging markets by curating the most relevant news, providing big-picture analysis and in-depth original research reports, and offering interactive engagement with technology insiders. Visit GigaOM Pro today at http://pro.gigaom.com
About Alfred Poor
Alfred Poor is a display industry expert and a member of the GigaOM Analyst Network (http://pro.gigaom.com/analysts/). He writes and publishes the HDTV Almanac (http://www.hdtvprofessor.com/HDTVAlmanac/), a daily compendium of news and commentary on HDTV and home entertainment topics. He is active in the Society for Information Display (SID), and is a former Chair of the Delaware Valley Chapter of SID and of the SID Display of the Year Awards Committee.
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Related 3dtv Press Releases
New 3D TVs by Samsung Launched – Available In Canada This Month
Early adopters can buy a new 3D TV by the end of the month, Samsung said Wednesday, although it remains to be seen how many consumers will be willing to pay a premium for a technology in its infancy.
Samsung is the first major manufacturer to announce plans to launch the new technology in Canada and will sell five LED models of 3D TVs starting on March 26. LED TVs are thinner and more energy efficient than the LCD and plasma models most consumers are familiar with, Samsung says.
The first wave of TVs range in size from 40 to 55 inches and in price from $2,500 to $4,000.
About a week after the LED launch, Samsung will start selling 3D plasmas, including a 50″ for $2,400 and a 63″ for $4,100. By May, Samsung expects to have two 3D LCD models on the market, a 46″ for $1,900 and a 55″ for $2,800.
But the costs go up from there. Samsung’s 3D glasses retail for as much as $250 a piece, plus consumers need a 3D-compatible Blu-ray player (Samsung’s is $400) and a new cable.
Despite the costly initial outlay, Samsung’s director of marketing for consumer electronics says he’s confident about the products’ launch.
“Our original expectation was that this would be a fairly modest launch, just because the retail price points we were talking about … generally makes it a smaller market,” said Robert Gumiela.
“But the response we’ve received from our retailers, the orders we’ve received, have greatly exceeded our expectations and I think a lot of that has been based upon (retailers’) communication with their own customers and clientele saying, ‘This is what I want.”‘
While the lack of 3D content currently available is another challenge for TV manufacturers – Future Shop and Best Buy currently only offer two 3D Blu-ray titles, “My Bloody Valentine 3D” for $35 and “Under the Sea 3D” for $38 – Gumiela said the Samsung TV’s can convert any image into a 3D version.
“It won’t be the same quality as a native 3D-authored Blu-ray image but we’ve demonstrated it and it is a very exciting visual impact,” he said.
Future Shop said it’s also optimistic that consumers are eager to buy 3D products.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty broad spectrum of customers who will ultimately buy these things, they are ultimately at a higher price point but we’ve got to remember these TVs are in their own right premium televisions, they’re top of the line TVs,” said Eric Stockner, director of home theatre merchandising.
He expects prices will come down as more competition hits the market. He said a few more models, made by different manufacturers, should be in stores by June.
Sony was the first major manufacturer to announce its global plans for 3D TV but has only set June as a target date for the sale of units in Japan. A Sony spokeswoman could only say that the 3D TVs will be available in Canada sometime this summer.
Panasonic announced a partnership with Best Buy to start selling its 3D TVs in the United States starting Wednesday. No Canadian plans have been revealed.
As far as TV broadcasters jumping on the 3D bandwagon, Gumiela isn’t too optimistic due to technical limitations.
The amount of bandwidth needed to transmit a high-definition 3D signal into the home is “virtually impossible to do at this time until a new compression architecture is developed,” he said.
David Purdy, vice-president of Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B), is more confident that 3D programming can be beamed into home but concedes it’ll only be in “half-resolution” and not full HD to start.
Purdy said he’s been following 3D technology for about three years and is a believer.
“We don’t have specific timing yet although we absolutely want to make sure our customers get the latest and greatest television entertainment products as soon as they come on the market,” he said.
“I believe 3D is going to revolutionize the way people watch movies and sports at home, it’s going to be a really compelling experience … and I think customers are going to be blown away.”
First Look Preview with Panasonic 3D TV and NVIDIA 3DTV Play
NVIDIA announced 3DTV Play with its partner Panasonic today. 3DTV Play will enable 3D LCD, LED and Plasma TVs, such as those by Panasonic, to play 3D games and Blu-Ray 3D movies from PC to TV using NVIDIA’s new 3DTV software and a NVIDIA GeForce graphic-enabled PC. The software will retail for $39.99. Concurrent with the announcement, NVIDIA showed off 3DTV for the first time on Panasonic’s Touch the Future Tour. GamerLive.TV got an exclusive first look preview of the new technology as it caught up with the tour in Hollywood, California.
2010 3DTV Forecast Report
The Infoshop by Global Information would like to present a new market research report, “2010 3DTV Forecast Report: A Comprehensive Worldwide Forecast of 3D Television Unit Sales by Region and Technology” by Insight Media.
All of the main components for a 3DTV infrastructure and consumer service are either in place or about to be very soon. There will be considerable excitement surround 3D and the use of this content on home TVs in the year 2010. Many TV brands have announced their product lines, which included almost 20 3DTV models for 2010. Moreover, major content creators (e.g. DirecTV, ESPN, and Discovery) have revealed plans to roll out 3D channels and services in 2010 and 2011. Meanwhile, cable operators are also competitively evaluating the roll out of services for 2010 as 3D movies continue to be a major hit in theaters.
This report should interest individuals in business, investment, and product planning. Insight Media’s report provides a regional forecast of 3DTV market for seven global regions. Additionally, the report also includes a breakdown by the range of 3D technologies that can be or will be used for 3DTVs. Some highlights of this report include: total available market; penetration models; market development analysis lists assumptions by year; technology specific price-performance-competitive analysis; consumer expectations analysis; regional and distribution factors; and final forecasts.
