SED TV Reviews

Even though the SED TV is not at CES2007, there is still some news. Toshiba is creating a buzz by dropping HD DVD pricing, and really dropping plasma in favour of LCD. However, according to Reuters:

Toshiba said it remains committed to SED and its plan to launch SED TVs in the final quarter of 2007 is unchanged, Toshiba Corporate Senior Vice President Yoshihide Fujii said in an interview with Reuters. Toshiba and Canon are considering delaying or scrapping their plan to build a $1.7 billion SED plant due to the patent dispute with Nano-Proprietary Inc. “I’m sure we will be hitting 3 million in global sales”, Fujii said. “Of that, 2.3 to 2.4 million units will likely be sold in the United States.”
2 million SED TV’s sounds like an awful lot. I’d like more info on those figures.

More from a Businessweek SED TV article:

In recent weeks, Canon and Toshiba have held emergency sessions to consider their options. “It’s as a result of this lawsuit that we are reviewing our plans,” said Canon’s Richard Berger.

Some analysts welcomed the news. In a Jan. 4 report, Merrill Lynch (MER) analyst Ryohei Takahashi noted that a delay, or even cancellation of the new plant, would be positive for Canon because it won’t be affected by near-term losses.

Berger and other officials said the two companies haven’t yet abandoned plans to commercialize SED TVs. But further delays are inevitable. SED is now studying the possibility of small-lot production in July, shipping SED sets to Japanese retailers in late summer. Retailers in the rest of the world won’t get their first batch until early 2008, since SED production isn’t originally scheduled to be full-scale until the last quarter of 2007.

Sounds like they are still on track to deliver by the end of 2007. With the small numbers using current production facilities, I expect most will go to broadcasters and other “pro” users.

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