"Right now most of the companies making PDP TVs are probably losing money on them, even with the high prices," Matsuno said. "They have to get to the point where the market size is big enough to absorb their investment in the technology. It's a 'Catch-22' situation."
It is possible to make smaller PDP TVs than what's available in the United States at a lesser cost. A 32-inch model sold in Japan costs about $4,500. But domestic TV watchers who buy premium sets have shown a preference for really big TVs.
"A 32-inch model is probably not big enough to attract the North American consumer," Matsuno said. "The largest PDP possible to make, at least now, is 62 inches. Rear-projection TVs can be made larger than that and are a lot less expensive."
For example, a 70-inch rear-projection TV can be bought for $2,500--one-third the price of even the smallest PDP TV available in the U.S.
A less expensive alternative to PDP TVs will debut later this year, although it's still hardly bargain basement. Thomson Multimedia plans to introduce, late next month under its RCA label, a liquid crystal on silicon, or LCOS, TV that has a viewing area of 50 inches and is equipped for HDTV. The company says it will rival PDP TVs in quality. The suggested retail price for the first LCOS TV--$6,999.
The LCOS is, technically, a projection TV despite its much more manageable depth. It works by emitting a white light from an ultrahigh pressure lamp that goes through a complex set of prisms to divide the light into red, green and blue components. These beams are combined back into a single video projection and then magnified for projection onto a flat screen.
Thomson spokesman Dave Arland said the price of LCOS TVs also will fall eventually. "Right now the technology is so expensive that we are only offering it in this one model," he said. "We think we can expand the number of screen sizes offered and move the cost down."
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Times staff writer David Colker covers personal technology.
