Sony has announced they are no longer going to be making rear projection tvs (sxrd, lcd) in order to focus on oled and direct view lcd. It stands to reason they are no longer going to be putting research money into making new sxrd or lcd chips which seems to signal an end to their front projection line. Has anyone heard of this coming or know any concrete info on their FP wares?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071227/ap_on_hi_te/japan_sony;_ylt=Ai.RdmblZgMJQTCBUkBjsWsjtBAF

I heard they were getting out of electronics all together. Latex is where the money is at

Unlikely.

RPTV is substantially lower margin than either flat panels or FPTV.

Cheers,

Yea, Sony will put their bucks into large up to 12 foot wide 2:35 LCD panels and forget about front projection SXRDs SXRD goes the way of SACD!!!@@@

Not another one of these threads! :eek:

Sony was the RPTV market leader last year at ~40% market share.

This year hey expect to sell 10 million LCD flat panels up from 6 million last year.
This year they expect to sell 400 000 RPTVs (SXRD and LCD) down from 1 million last year, and they will still be the market leader!

The RPTV market is dying fast!

Unlikely.

RPTV is substantially lower margin than either flat panels or FPTV.

Cheers,

Margins on most flat panel lcds are being eroded as well due to fierce competition. The article claims that lcd sales have contributed to red ink as well. Although the RPTV margins were low, the volume allowed them to amortize over a large run the development of the projection chips and other technologies. Since Sony doesn't use third parties for either their lcd or sxrd projectors, it does seem to make the low volume front projector market vulnerable.


Not another one of these threads!
I'm sorry if I'm calling a false alarm or if this has been covered before. It just seemed Sony being finished with rear projection was fairly big news that might have larger consequences.

lasers!

Doesn't Sony sell a lot of business projectors? I doubt that they would get out of that market.

They sure seem to sell lots of projectors to Universities, 100's per campus.

So does this mean no more VLP WV-???


Djoel

Given their RPTV business has helped subsidize SXRD development this can't be good news.

Mind you, since I think of Sony as the second Satan after Microsoft, a certain amount of schadenfreude swells in my chest.

Mind you again, given I am considering buying a VW60 a certain amount of trepidation swells alongside.

I don't think Sony will exit the HT front projection market. They were there from the days of the triple tube.

Just remember, as long as there is a market, someone will provide the goods... if not Sony or Sharp, it will be someone else.

Both Sony and Sharp makes tons of business projector models. So, they will continue to invest in FP technology...

It is possible that DLP and SXRD technologies have reached their pinnacle...

HD2+ to DC3 difference was not noticeable on the XV-Z12000 and the Mark II.

Home Theater Magazine review of the Black Pearl mentioned just an incremental improvement between it and the Pearl.

So these two technologies may not need a whole lot more investment in core technologies, the improvements may come in the form of cheaper production processes, panel alignment technologies etc. that can ported over to other FP platforms.

If anything, I suspect that projector prices will drop in the coming years as long the greenback holds its value. Our biggest concern should be about the greenback and not Sony or Sharp :D

BarkingArt
Good to know lasers are coming.
My guess is that Sony stays with sxrd but when they switch to laser illumination they will brand new TVs as laser TVs and sxrd rptvs. Remember that Sony is also using sxrd for digital cinema. If Sony abandons another cinema technology they will have below zero reputation in that market.
Hopefully laser+sxrd is big news at CES.

Sony sells a 60 to 1 ratio of 'business' projectors to 'home theater' projectors.

Why would they stop front projection? The home theater market is a small percentage of there sales. Sony FP will continue.

Business projectors are becoming (already are?) a commodity; accordingly, the profit margin is minimal. Without RPTV SXRD and DLP will develop at a much slower rate since the cost of development could not be "subsidized" through volume sales. If DLP continues in the RPTV market, then its development at the consumer level should continue ate a more manageable level. However, it was LCOS (and its relatives) that forced DLP to produce 1080P at a more reasonable rate, and without them DLP may go back to its lazy days regarding pricing (if they make any dramatic improvements in the next 3 yrs).

Sony sells a 60 to 1 ratio of 'business' projectors to 'home theater' projectors.

Why would they stop front projection? The home theater market is a small percentage of there sales. Sony FP will continue.All their business projectors are LCDs!

TI is DLPs and DLPis are TI. DLp chips are the reason for TI's existence. So we can expect further DLP chip improvements. The DC4 is starting to flow but within a year and one half there will be a DC5 and then a DC5.5. Those chips are under development.


Can we expect a better SXRD chip? That is the issue. The stuff surrounding the chips, whether DLP or SXRD or whatever, will continue to improve.The basic SXRD chip is still behind the JVC latest DLIA chip. Sony caught up a bit with the chip set in the VPL-vw200. They probably did so by copying what JVC did in the RS1. But JVC improved on its basic chip in the RS2 and Sony is behind having to use in the VPL-vw200 a DI to equal the on/off CR spec.

Can we expect Sony to spend the big bucks on SXRD chip develoment to chase JVC?
I suspect not!

"DLp chips are the reason for TI's existence."

I thought DLP was single-digit % of TI's sales.

mark haflich
The clever thing for SONY to do would be

1 4-panel sxrd engine: further panel development not really that important and they can focus on how to control the panels
2 Laser illumination: they can skip the mechnical part of DI

TI is DLPs and DLPis are TI. DLp chips are the reason for TI's existence.


Come on! DLP is a nice snack for the TI shareholders but do you have any idea of the comidity chip manufacturing business they do? They are just as big as National Semiconductor.

TI is DLPs and DLPis are TI. DLp chips are the reason for TI's existence.
Which is exactly why I have encouraged them to purchase Microsoft's big cash cows, Microsoft Paint and Solitaire, so they don't have all their chips in one basket.

Q you dolt! You ruined my secret business plan!!!!

I think the million dollar question will be "What happens to FP pricing and chip R&D?". Without RPTV to subsidize R&D, will there be longer product cycles? I have a feeling prices may stabilize or even increase a little.

I think the million dollar question will be "What happens to FP pricing and chip R&D?". Without RPTV to subsidize R&D, will there be longer product cycles? I have a feeling prices may stabilize or even increase a little.

This is precisely the issue. RPTV sales dropped by about 50% this year and are expected to drop 50% again next year. The business projector market has not been driving advancement, only old products. It was the RPTV sales that were driving the R&D to develop microdisplays.

I wonder what TI's DLP, JVC's LCOS (already in big trouble with JVC's problems overall), and Epson's HTPS groups are going to be doing. When market sizes drop by 50% per year, you can expect massive layoffs, cutting of budgets, and the like to re-align the business with the market realities. All this is pretty distracting for any new product development.

This is also a big problem for laser development. Lasers kept being delays and now are too late to save RPTV as very few will chance trying to revived the RPTV market even with a Laser TV marketing spin. Without the RPTV to drive the laser volume, it severely hurts the chances for Lasers in front projectors.

I used to be on of the big the optimist on Laser TV, but it now looks like the reality is that it may take a long time to spin up in the market, if ever. I wish I had better news to report.

Speaking of DLPs I know Toshiba had discontinued their latest line of 1080p DLP tvs ahwile ago. They were actually very nice with very good picture Q. Weren't out that long either... :eek:

We will all be a lot older when ( I mean if ) FP sees laser technology.

Sony is working WMD's I knew it all along!

~Bobby

It's ironic that the color tracking and primary points of Sony's last SXRD RP are almost perfect as calibrated by the factory. What a nice legacy: get to the top of your form then call it quits. :(

Sony KDS-50A3000 RP: $2.5K
"The set's color performance was close to ideal out of the box in the Warm2 color temperature setting, but was further improved after calibration. In the Normal setting the color gamut was virtually ideal."
http://www.guidetohometheater.com/images/archivesart/1207sony3000.fig5.jpg