LAS VEGAS | Exhibitors at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show, which officially began Thursday, appear determined to not let the recession slow down the stream of new gadgets and software.
But one of the big focuses of the show is a consumer device that predates the others — the television. TV makers are adding such features as streaming Internet movies and 3-D, betting they can keep consumers away from basic, no-frills sets.
The manufacturers are fighting an unhappy trend. DisplaySearch, a research firm, forecasts that global sales of LCD TVs, the most popular kind, will fall 16 percent in 2009 to $64 billion. That would be the first sales decline since the technology debuted in TVs in 2000.
To entice consumers, manufacturers are touting relatively inexpensive advances — including top-line and value-priced TVs that connect to the Internet.
Such TVs started appearing a year ago with limited functions, like being able to display news and weather reports. Now, back-end systems and for streaming movies are coming together.
For instance, LG Electronics Inc. and Vizio Corp. announced that some of their TVs will be able to show video from Netflix Inc.’s streaming service. LG said the service would add $200 to $300 to the price of a TV. Panasonic Corp. and Sony Corp. televisions will show videos from Amazon.com Inc.’s Unbox service.
Yahoo Inc. is emerging as the leading provider of other Internet data services, through its Widget Engine. Sony, LG, Toshiba Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. all plan to introduce TVs that can grab Flickr photos, YouTube videos and news.
Two other new features cut across the top-tier models: improved handling of fast-moving scenes and reduced power use.
Last year, manufacturers touted sets that display 120 frames per second, for sharper and smoother action and panning scenes. TV signals and discs have only 24 to 30 frames per second, so the sets compute more frames to stick between the existing ones. This year, most manufacturers are raising the bar to 240 frames per second, but not by computing more new frames. Instead, the backlight will switch on and off quickly, fooling the eye into perceiving even smoother movement.
Manufacturers also have jumped on the opportunity to get their sets certified under the new, much tougher Energy Star requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In November, the agency introduced limits for the power use of switched-on TVs. The old rules only specified the amount of power TVs use in standby mode, with the screen off.
The goal for the Energy Star program is to recognize the most energy-efficient products, those in the top 25 percent of a category. But most new TVs announced at the show will meet the requirements, so the EPA probably will have to raise the bar.
Sony introduced what it called its “first green line” of LCD TVs. The Eco Bravia models will use 40 percent less power than last year’s models, exceeding the latest Energy Star requirements. Samsung and Panasonic announced TVs with similar cuts in power consumption, without branding them as “green.”
Samsung, the world’s largest TV maker, is making a big push in LCD TVs that are backlit by light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, rather than fluorescent tubes. This is less radical than dispensing with LCDs to use a different technology known as organic LEDs, yet it promises power savings, eye-popping colors and contrast.
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