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Intel To Produce Cheap LCoS Chips
SeattleGameboy writes "NY Times has an article about Intel's plan to produce low-cost liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) chips. This could result in high-resolution 7"-thick rear-projection TV costing around $1000 by next Christmas (not to mention cheap projectors). I guess I can put off buying a new TV for another year ..."
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December 17, 2003
New Intel Chip for Digital TV Could Remake the Market
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 16 - The Intel Corporation is planning to do to digital television what it has already done to computing.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which opens on Jan. 8, Intel is expected to disclose the development of a class of advanced semiconductors that technologists and analysts say will improve the quality of large-screen digital televisions and substantially lower their price, according to industry executives close to the company.
Intel's ability to integrate display, television receiver and computer electronics on a single piece of silicon is likely to open new markets for a class of products - including plasma, projection and L.C.D. TV's - that now sell for $3,000 to $10,000.
Intel, as well as other large chip manufacturers, should be able to expand the benefits of Moore's Law, named for Gordon Moore, a founder of Intel, which accurately predicted decades ago that computer chips would continue to double in capacity roughly every 18 months, while their price would continue to fall.
"I think this brings Moore's Law to digital television," said Richard Doherty, a consumer electronics industry analyst who is president of Envisioneering, a consulting firm based on Long Island. He predicted that the low-cost display technology, which can be incorporated into the traditional rear-projection television sets, could lead to lightweight 50-inch screens only 7 inches thick for about $1,000, perhaps as early as the 2004 holiday season.
Intel's expected decision to enter the television market is another powerful indicator of the computer industry's assault on the consumer electronics industry.
Both Gateway and Dell are already selling large-screen digital TV's made for them in Asia, and Hewlett-Packard has indicated it will also enter the market. Such a powerful marketing and technology combination could blend easily with Microsoft's media center software, which is aimed at using personal computing technology as the heart of home entertainment centers.
The Intel announcement, which is expected to be made at the show by Paul S. Otellini, the company's president and chief operating officer, would come just as high-definition digital television is beginning to take off in the United States.
A spokesman for Intel said the company would not comment on Mr. Otellini's presentation to the consumer electronics show.
This year, the Consumer Electronics Association, the trade group for the industry, said it expected revenue from digital television sets to surpass revenue from conventional analog sets for the first time. In June, sales of digital sets were running 110 percent ahead of sales in the month a year earlier.
The technology Intel has been exploring is known as liquid crystal on silicon. It is one of a number of competing technologies, including a novel approach pioneered by Texas Instruments called digital light processors, or D.L.P.
The Texas Instruments approach involves a silicon chip that has hundreds of thousands of microscopic mirrors that can tilt to reflect light. So far, it has been limited to relatively expensive digital TV's.
By contrast, the technology used by Intel employs vast arrays of tiny electronic shutters that can alter the amount of reflected light, an approach that may allow companies to make big-screen TV sets using rear-projection technology that matches or exceeds the quality of flat-panel TV's at a much lower cost than plasma and conventional L.C.D.
Although Intel is not expected to enter the market for digital televisions for at least a year, Philips Electronics, the Dutch manufacturer, and several American start-up companies have already begun offering liquid crystal on silicon, or LCoS, components and televisions.
"LCoS had a Phase 1 in the mid-1990's," said Sandeep Gupta, chief executive of the MicroDisplay Corporation, a chip maker in San Pablo, Calif., that ha
Isn't the HP MP3130 more than twice as expensive
as the ~$1000 units based on this technology predicted by Doherty?
"several American start-up companies have already begun offering liquid crystal on silicon, or LCoS, components and televisions."
Toshiba has had an LCoS TV out for quite awhile now. I believe Mitsubishi also has one out. They are super expensive though. Native 1080p resolution and really thin though.
Read this to find out...
Actaully, better to buy now in that sense...
The broadcast flag will have no effect on what is currently being made. It will only affect devices that are built to be affected
From what I've read on the AVS plasma forums, burn-in is pretty much a non-issue for typical television watching, especially if you watch 4:3 content in one of the 16:9 stretch/zoom modes the sets support. We have two plasmas in our conference room and they're used significantly with presentations (you know, long-winded marketers that have a logo in the bottom right the whole 3 hour meeting..), and they show no signs of burn in. My concern with plasma is longevity -- there are some concerns about how long a plasma display can last.
Lamping is a serious technology problem for DLP, LCoS and LCD rear projections, and each technology has some particular issues unique to it, such as the DLP colorwheel and LCD reaction times.
I personally expect direct-view plasma to become a more popular option, and a cheaper one. It has a very bright image, is thin, and does not require any lamping. I think in a couple of years 42" HD plasmas will be easily available for $2000 and ED models for even less.
I personally bought a Sony LCD RP. Cheaper than plasma today, and I think a superior image to my eyes than DLP. There really aren't many LCoS sets on the market now, or at least few at a price point competitive with alternatives like LCD or DLP.