Yes, I do mean LED Backlight. They are more expensive right now, but I think it is because they are new and there are still a LOT of the standard LCD and Plasma sets in warehouses and still being produced. But I expect the price to drop dramatically by next Christmas (2010).
Yes, most HDTV’s look great to most people. That same concept is why I had a hard time, back in the late 70’s getting people to buy laserdisc players. VHS was fine.
But times and sensibilities change. I also have little doubt that, as with electronic vs mechanical tuners on tv’s, the LED backlight sets will be cheaper to actually produce and ship. And there is the power consumption advantage.
I will not be replacing my projector until at least next spring, so I am excited about LED “looking forward”. I think the plasma and LCD will be dropping in price significantly this Christmas, but I also think the LED sets will drop dramatically as the economy continues to decline and the low cost of production causes producers to, for the sake of competition, cut prices on LED sets to the bone by next spring.
We’ll see. I used to sell simple CD players for $1,300, and I watched people pay more for tv’s with remote and electronic tuners than for the tv’s with the mechanical tuners even thought the mechanical tuners were more expensive to produce. I think the LED backlight will completely replace the standard plasma and LCD sets in a year or so.
I also strongly thing Oled or something very similar will become the standard shortly after that. There are reliability problems in manufacturing, but hey, that is why pocket calculators used to be so expensive - so few of the final chips on which they were based actually survived the manufacturing process. But once that nut was cracked, well, the rest is history. I expect the same with OLED. And the power consumption, weight, and cost of production will drop again.
But this is all looking forward 2 to 5 years.
It was not all that long ago that Definitive Audio in Bellevue, WA had a Pioneer 42” Plasma set available for $25,000. I saw it and it looked ok. Too rich for my blood though.
They got cheaper. :)
Nice informative post. With all that considered, I still recommend people buy the largest screen size for their money. All the high tech isn’t noticeable to most people.
When I bought my Mitsubishi 55 rear projection TV on Labor Day in 2000 it cost $4,000. They also had a fancier model for $25,000 at the time.
If you want BIG, Mitsubishi sells an 82 inch DLP TV for under $5,000. I would get DLP, but I don't want to replace the bulb every 1 - 3 years at $200 to $300 a pop.
If you wait, prices do drop a lot. I paid $840.00 for my first VCR and $13.00 per 4 1/2 hour beta tape.
I am waiting for the backlit LED's to drop in price AND the screens to get bigger.