Sony Unprepared for Flat TV Demand
207763
Sony, the world's largest  consumer-electronics group, is having trouble meeting soaring  demand for flat televisions as its assembly lines did not gear  up quickly enough, a senior official said on Friday.
621539
(InfoWorld) - Even if you bought a TV in the last several months you may already feel like it's out of date. Your shiny new flat-screen arrives, you hook it up to the antenna and the first thing you see is a commercial for a bigger, better model. It might even have a cheaper price. It's the way things seem to work these days in the world of TVs. Things aren't likely to change any time soon. The latest buzz is around "100Hz" or "120Hz" technology, which relates to how often the image on the screen is refreshed or redrawn. The technology is already appearing in TVs, and if you haven't seen promotional stickers for it yet you probably will soon. Most TV sets today refresh the picture either 50 times per second (50Hz) or 60 times per second (60Hz) depending where in the world you live (different regions use different color formatting.) That rate is fine for most images, but when it comes to fast moving shows like sports events the images can appear blurry on an LCD (liquid crystal display) TV. Doubling the rate at which images are displayed, to 100 or 120 frames per second, makes for a better, more high-definition picture. The need to improve LCD TVs has been especially acute because their chief competitor, PDP (plasma display panel) TVs, don't have the same blurring problem. Compounding the issue is that screen sizes are getting bigger, so any imperfections are more noticeable, said Mina Naito, a spokeswoman for Sony. PDP makers have trumpeted their advantage for some time, but things may be about to change. Compared to previous LCD panels, the new 100Hz and 120Hz models are "a big improvement," said Hisakazu Torii, a TV industry analyst with DisplaySearch in Tokyo. Prototype panels with the faster refresh rate began appearing last year. At the FPD International 2006 show in Yokohama in October, Samsung ElectronicsÂ demonstrated images and text scrolling across just such a panel, and they appeared to move more smoothly than on existing LCD TVs. Then at theÂ Consumer Electronics ShowÂ in Las Vegas in January, Sony announced a 120Hz model with the Samsung screen for the U.S. market. The 70-inch LCD TV is launched this month and carries the hefty price of $33,000. Samsung plans a 70-inch set, also based on the Samsung panel, which will go on sale in the first half of this year. Competitors including Victor Co. of Japan (JVC) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) are also promoting 120Hz sets in Japan. The latest company to join the party isÂ Sharp, which last week said it would put five sets in its Aquos range on sale in Japan from March. The price runs from Â¥500,000 for a 42-inch model to Â¥1 million for a 65-inch model.
448051
By ELLIOT SPAGAT    COSTA MESA, Calif.  -- Few people took notice when Sony Electronics Inc...
365807
But Sony's LocationFree TV and other devices show there can still be stumbling blocks to a total HD experience.
80607
Sony blames the trend towards flat screen televisions for the loss of 300 jobs in south Wales.
62246
JAPANESE giant Sony has denied a report it plans to withdraw from the plasma television business but said its priority in flat-panel TVs remains in liquid crystal display (LCD) sets.
149429
Nielsen Media Research has  estimated that more than 13 million U.S. households are  ill-prepared for the digital TV conversion next year.
489130
Sony denied a newspaper report on Monday that it would quit the plasma television business and focus its efforts in the flat-screen TV market on liquid crystal display and
190190
Sony Corp.&#39;s recent decision to move away from plasma TV operations is a reflection of how harsh the market for flat-panel TVs has become.
283634
(InfoWorld) - Sony is aggressively promoting high-definition televisions (HDTVs) to consumers and soon it will have a range of digital still cameras to match. Many of the company'sÂ new Cybershot cameras, which will hit global markets in March and April, offer an output for HDTVs. Most current digital cameras support the ability to view pictures on a television set, but this is almost always at standard definition, which is close to VGA resolution of 640 pixels by 480 pixels. More often than not, the original image is much higher quality, so a better image could be displayed on an HDTV if the camera were capable of generating such a video image. That's what Sony has enabled its new Cybershot cameras to do. "We are strongly promoting the importance of high-definition quality," said Kiyoshi Shikano, corporate senior vice president of Sony Marketing (Japan) at a Tokyo news conference Wednesday. "Here in Japan penetration of HDTV is going up every day. It's now almost at 30 percent of households so because of that we're encouraging people to watch digital still camera pictures at the level of high-definition rather than standard level." An additional cable will be required for the high-definition connection. The VMC-MHC1 cable will go on sale on March 9 in Japan for Â¥4,935 ($41) and will connect a Cybershot to a component level input on a television. It can also connect the CSS-HD1 docking unit to a television set. While in the dock the battery in the camera can also be recharged. The HDTV output is available on the DSC-T100, T20, W200, W90, W80, H7 and H9 models. The flagship model of the range is the T100, which combines a slim body with an optical 5X zoom and 8.1-megapixel class image sensor. It has a 3-inch display and will be available in Japan and the U.S. in March for about Â¥50,000 and about $400, respectively. Â
195155
JVC (6792.T) on Sunday unveiled an  LCD TV less than 3 inches thick, calling it the world's  thinnest flat-screen television, as the Consumer Electronics  Show began.
376533
Sony Corp. (6758.T) said on Monday  U.S. sales of electronics have been better than expected so far  this holiday shopping season, fueled by demand for flat panel  televisions and digital cameras.
644411
Sony Corp has denied plans to exit the plasma television business. The company plans to focus on the flat-panel TV market on liquid crystal display and rear-projection models, and analysts say that this would be a logical move.
492760
TOKYO - Sony Corp is attempting to claw back market share of the domestic flat-panel TV market with the launch of eight new televisions.
721372
Sony Corp. plans to retreat from the plasma television business and focus its efforts in the flat-screen TV market on liquid crystal display and rear-projection models, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported on Monday.
512953
Falling prices may be making flat-screen televisions more appealing to consumers who covet the latest in technology, but analysts warn companies producing them will have to adjust quickly or risk losing out.
51532
Sony is dropping its money-losing rear-projection TV business to focus on two flat panel technologies -- liquid crystal display and organic light-emitting diode.