If someone were to ask you which company was the top selling LCD manufacturer for the second quarter of this year, what brand name would you say? Sony? Samsung? Sharp? If you were to say those names, you would be… WRONG! The top selling manufacturer for the second quarter was in fact Vizio which saw sales in North America rise 76.4 percent over the first quarter.

According to iSuppli, the company shipped 606,402 LCD TVs in North America during the second quarter - up from 343,704 units in the first quarter. Overall, Vizio’s market share in North America rose to 14.5 percent - up from 9.4 percent in the second quarter.

The company went from fifth place to first place during the quarter passing the likes of Samsung, Philips, Sharp, and Sony.

According to Riddhi Patel, principal analyst at iSuppli, “Vizio’s success is mainly due to the company expanding its retail presence to Wal-Mart and Sears at the beginning of the second quarter”. There’s nothing like high volume channels and cheap prices eh?

It should be noted that the overall LCD market also grew during the second quarter increasing from 3.7 million units to 4.2 million units.

Now the bad news.. and it’s not for Vizio. Sony slid to sixth place as LCD shipments actually declined to 263,377 units from 412,323 units in the first quarter. That’s a drop of 36.1 percent.

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Technorati Tags: Vizio, LCD TV

Sharp Electronics is introducing a new full HD, 1080p line of LCD TV’s called the D64U series. This new lineup features a thin, lightweight “slim-line” design offering a significantly smaller footprint than previous AQUOS TV sets. The new D64U lineup consists of the following models:

• 65 inch LC-65D64U
• 52 inch LC-52D64U
• 46 inch LC-46D64U
• 42 inch LC-42D64U

Sharp claims the new D64U series is the thinnest large screen flat panel television in the industry nearly 25 percent thinner than previous AQUOS models and also 20 percent lighter than previous models. Sharp achieved the smaller form factor by re-engineering the circuitry layout inside the panel and cutting the overall number of parts.

Features of the new Sharp D64U LCDs include:

• Full HD 1080p picture
• Utilizes Sharp’s proprietary Advanced Super View (ASV)/Black TFT Panel with multi-pixel technology
• Dynamic Contrast Ratio of 10,000:1 with enhanced picture contrast technology
• Enhanced Fine Motion video circuitry delivers the fastest pixel response time of 4ms
• Utilizes Sharp’s proprietary 4 wavelength backlight system to round out enhanced specs, providing deeper more vibrant reds
• 176 degree viewing angles
• Three side terminal inputs - One HDMI. one component, and one composite
• Rear has two HDMI, one component, two composite, one S-Video, a dedicated PC input, and RS-232C for system control
• HDMI support is version 1.3

Pricing and availability for the sets are as follows:

• LC-65D64U will be available in September; pricing is to be announced
• LC-52D64U will be available in August for a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $3,799.99
• LC-46D64U will be available in August for an MSRP of $2,699.99
• LC-42D64U will be available in August for an MSRP of $2,099.99

Thanks to Akihabara News for the pictures

Technorati Tags: Sharp, D64U, LCD TV

Matsushita Electric Industrial, the parent company of Panasonic, has announced that they will launch a new 37 inch LCD TV in September - modifying their original policy of only selling LCD TVs for the 32 inch and smaller TV market. Matsushita was attempting to segment the market by reserving plasma television sets for those who wanted larger form factors and keeping the LCD market down at the low end. Unfortunately this policy resulted in Matsushita missing out on the growing demand for large screen LCD TV’s with companies such as Sony and Samsung eagerly fulfilling the consumer demand. Matsushita’s attempt at market segmentation was doomed to fail as LCD panels dropped in price and consumers increasingly saw less of a difference between plasma TVs and LCD TVs. It all boils down to money for Matsushita of course. Plasmas have higher gross profit margins than LCD panels so why not try and sell plasma displays right? Unfortunately it appears this decision has backfired on them and Matsushita now finds itself needing to catch up in the LCD market.

The new 37 inch LCD TV will be unveiled in Japan on September 1st for a price of $2508 (300,000 yen). No word on actual specs at this time but for that price, it better be a 1080p display.

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Technorati Tags: Matsushita, LCD TV

Sharp Electronics has filed a lawsuit here in the U.S. against Samsung Electronics accusing the company of infringing upon its LCD patents. Sharp claims that Samsung is infringing on five of its LCD patents including one related to enhancing display quality. The infringing products range from Samsung televisions to monitors to mobile phones that include Samsung LCD modules. There’s no word as to how much monetary compensation Sharp is looking for from Samsung. According to News.com, Sharp is the third largest LCD TV manufacturer behind Samsung and Sony.

[Check  it out]

Technorati Tags: Sharp sues Samsung, LCD Televisions

OK - so tell me that you wouldn’t want one of these new Sharp Internet Aquos systems (i-aquos)? The company has announced 16 new versions of the Internet Aquos system spanning a G series and a D series. The new G series is broken up into the GX line which features:

LC-52GX3W, LC-46GX3W, LC-42GX3W and LC-37GX3W

LC-52GX4W, LC-46GX4W, LC-42GX4W and LC-37GX4W

LC-52GX35, LC-46GX35, LC-52GX45 and LC-46GX45

and the GH line which features:

LC-32GH3 and LC-26GH3

LC-32GH4 and LC-26GH4

The G series feature full HD displays (1920 x 1080) and are designed to be slim and compact.

Three other new models makes up the D series which include:

LC-32D10, LC-26D10 and LC-20D10

These new displays work in conjunction with three PCTV systems - the PC-AX120S, PC-AX80S, and PC-AX60S - all of which come with a remote control and Windows Vista Home Basic. Curious though why the OS doesn’t come with Home Premium or Ultimate - considering you’ll need that to get Windows Media Center going.\

[Check it out via Akihabara News]

Technorati Tags: Sharp, Internet Aquos

Akihabara News reported on three new LCD HDTV sets from Samsung over the weekend known as the “Bordeaux” lineup. The three new sets will be available in Japan and include a 23 inch, a 32 inch, and a 40 inch LCD panel. All of the LCDs have:

• 1366 x 768 resolution
• 8ms response time
• 8000:1 response time
• 550 cd/m2 brightness
• Samsung’s Digital Natural Image Engine
• HDMI

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Technorati Tags: Samsung, Bordeaux, LCD TV

The folks at Akihabara News are reporting that Sharp will be the first company to market a THX certified television set in the form of the Sharp T-series. The new LCD lineup will feature a 65 inch model and a 52 inch LCD. Features of the new Sharp LCD HDTV sets include:

• 350 cd/m2 brightness
• 2500:1 contrast ratio
• 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 120Hz ASV panels
• 3 - 1080p HDMI ports
• 1 - DVI port
• 2 - Firewire ports
• IrSS and Ethernet ports

The 65 inch (LV-65TH1) is expected to go for $11,599 while the 52 inch (LV-52TH1) is expected to sell for $6873.

[Check it out via Ubergizmo]

Technorati Tags: Sharp LCD TVs, T-Series, THX certified LCD

LG has announced a new LCD HDTV series called the LG LBX. The LBX features:

• New stylish design
• Glossy black finish (reminds us of the finish on Samsung LCD HDTV sets)
• 1080p support and 120Hz LCD panel with TruMotion technology
• Entire line features the Super IPS panel, XD Engine, and TruColor with 92 percent of the NTSC color spectrum

CrunchGear is reporting that the new LG LBX will appear in September with the following sizes - a 42 inch, a 47 inch, and a 57 inch set. Prices are $2499, $3299, and $4499 respectively.

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Technorati Tags: LG, LBX, HDTV, LCD Television

It’s been a few days since I last posted here on KrunkerHD - I’m going to try and catch up a bit here. According to Akihabara News, Toshiba introduced four new Regza HDTV sets in France. They are as follows:

Model 26A3030DG (26 inch display):

• 1366 x 768 resolution
• Brightness of 500 cd/m2
• 700:1 contrast ratio

Model 32A3030DG (32 inch display):

• 1366 x 768 resolution
• Brightness of 500 cd/m2
• 950:1 contrast ratio

Model 37A3030DG (37 inch display):

• 1366 x 768 resolution
• Brightness of 500 cd/m2
• 1000:1 contrast ratio

Model (42A3030DG (42 inch display):

• 1366 x 768 resolution
• Brightness of 500 cd/m2
• 1000:1 contrast ratio

Other common features include:

• RGB, S-Video, HDMI, YUV, PC D-Sub 15 pin, Component, and Composite inputs
• Digital audio output, RCA audio output

These displays should be available in France in July and August.

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Technorati Tags: Toshiba, Regza, France, LCD TV

If you happen to live in Taiwan, you’ll be happy to hear that Sony has released up to 9 new LCD television sets for that country. The LCD’s range in size from 20 inches to 46 inches with most due out in August. Here’s the information from DigiTimes thus far:

Sony G3000 20 inch model:

• 20 inch display
• 170 degree viewing angle
• Sells for 19,900 yen
• Available August 3rd

Sony U3000 26 inch model:

• 170 degree viewing angle
• Sells for 24,900 yen
• Available August 3rd

Sony U3000 32 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Sells for 29,900 yen
• Available August 3rd

Sony U3000 37 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Sells for 49,900 yen
• Available August 17th

Sony D3000 32 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Live Color Creation
• 10 bit panel
• Bravia engine
• Motion Flow
• Sells for 49,900 yen
• Available August 3rd

Sony D3000 40 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Live Color Creation
• 10 bit panel
• Bravia engine
• Motion Flow
• Sells for 69,900 yen
• Available August 3rd

Sony V3000 32 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Live Color Creation
• Bravia engine
• Sells for 39,900 yen
• Available July 23rd

Sony V3000 40 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Live Color Creation
• Bravia engine
• 10 bit panel
• Sells for 59,900 yen
• Available July 23rd

Sony V3000 46 inch model:

• 178 degree viewing angle
• Live Color Creation
• Bravia engine
• 10 bit panel
• Sells for 89,900 yen
• Available July 23rd

[Check it out]

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