| DaleB |
Posted on Wed, Dec. 17, 2003
Intel planning flat-panel TV chip
By Jon Fortt
Mercury News
Intel plans to unveil a chip that could enable a new type of flat rear-projection TV that delivers a better picture at a lower cost.
The move fits into Intel's strategy of looking for growth beyond its core business of making microprocessor chips that act as the brains of personal computers, into making chips that advance the digital lifestyle in items such as cell phones and handheld computers.
According to consultant Richard Doherty and another person familiar with Intel's plans, the Santa Clara chip maker is expected to give details at the Consumer Electronics Show, which begins Jan. 8 in Las Vegas.
An Intel spokesman said the company's policy is not to comment on unannounced technologies.
Today, the rear-projection TV business is dominated by Texas Instruments and its digital light processing (DLP) chip technology. Flat-screen televisions based on DLP are typically more than 12 inches deep and can cost between $2,000 and $10,000. But the combination of Intel's new chip and new TV-slimming technology from projector company InFocus could narrow the TV's depth to eight inches, and drastically slice the cost.
``We think that Intel is going to try to leapfrog (Texas Instruments) with a more attractive-cost chip and a higher-resolution chip,'' said Doherty, director of research at Envisioneering Group in Seaford, N.Y. ``We believe from the Society for Information Display chatter that Intel is going to have a non-moving-part chip, and it could perhaps halve the cost of rear-projection TVs within a year or two.''
Intel's new chip is based on a technology known as liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS), which works differently from DLP chips. While DLP chips use a million tiny mirrors that tilt to create an image, LCOS uses tiny crystals that sit on top of a mirrored surface, but do not tilt -- making it theoretically cheaper to mass-produce.
Intel has talked about its work on such chips that manipulate laser light, mostly for use in the communications business. In combination with fiber optics, the chip could send data over long distances using a technique called dense wave division multiplexing. That business has been slow lately, and Intel's research with light also has been applicable to rear-projection TVs, where light from a chip gets magnified and projected onto a big screen.
``Intel's been expanding out into other areas,'' said Rob Enderle, founder of Enderle Group, a consulting firm. ``They've gotten out of the failed strategy of building consumer electronics. I think they've realized that their specialty is building chips.''
Mercury News Staff Writer Mike Langberg contributed to this report.
Contact Jon Fortt at jfortt@mercurynews.com or (408) 278-3489. |
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| Lance Crowley |
Checked out TI's DLP TV's at Great Indoors in LV. They had DLP, plasma, and LCD TV's in the 60" range setup near enough to really do a comparison. The LCD set was in the $12k range, the plasma in the $8k range and the DLP in the $6k range. Very little to choose from. The DLP set was about 18" deep (my guess) and the other sets about 4" deep. The other thing I noticed was that the DLP had less persistence than the other two sets. This makes for a much sharper screen when viewing fast moving action. Asked the salesmen for the contrast ratios for each of the sets, he didn't have the numbers. I think the Sony is about 3000 to 1 and the DLP set had to be very close, if not the same.
This new chip from Intel may make big screen TV a real choice. |
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| BlueStreak |
I'm in the process of finishing my basement and have spent the better part of two weeks wiring for everything (TV, Stereo speakers, accent lighting, phone, network, etc.) however I know no idea what kind of big screen to get. The more I read the more confused I get. And when you're going to spend 3k+, you better make damn sure you know what you want. Plasma, rear projections, rear projection LCD, DLP, etc. I'm thrilled to see prices continuing to come down.
My head hurts.... |
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| DaleB |
quote:
Originally posted by BlueStreak
I'm in the process of finishing my basement and have spent the better part of two weeks wiring for everything (TV, Stereo speakers, accent lighting, phone, network, etc.) however I know no idea what kind of big screen to get. The more I read the more confused I get. And when you're going to spend 3k+, you better make damn sure you know what you want. Plasma, rear projections, rear projection LCD, DLP, etc. I'm thrilled to see prices continuing to come down.
My head hurts....
That's why I am waiting to see how this Intel pans out. Supposedly they will run for 1/3 the price and even have a superior image. Even if that didn't happen, by the end of 04 look how much cheaper the others will be. And hopefully improved to where the black level in the picture rivals CRT technology, then they will have "arrived".
Right now the best to compete with CRTs in that area are in the 7000 to 10,000 dollar category. And that's a new lower price! |
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| MDteX |
Here's a forum I go to. I've been studying hard about plasmas lately. Thinking about getting one. I think I'm still 1 year away though. The problem is display technology is one of the fastest changing technologies out there. That make's it hard to pull the trigger. With the full switch to HD delayed once again (mid 2007) it is a difficult decision.
http://www.avsforum.com
In particular the forum dedicated to plasma and LCD technology.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/foru...p?s=&forumid=40 |
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| Lance Crowley |
| I've got the same problem, when to "pull-the-trigger". With HDTV not fully straightened out and the major changes coming in the technology it seems to me to be best to wait. There's always the tomorrow will be better problem, but, with the prices for what I want well over $7k I think waiting to get everything sorted out is worth it. |
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| zafer |
By Richard Waters FT.com, 20:50 BST Aug 15, 2004
Intel has scrapped the launch of an ambitious technology it once claimed would halve the cost of large-screen televisions before the end of this year.
The initiative was central to the chipmaker's efforts to catch up with and eventually leapfrog rival Texas Instruments in making the core components for large-scale projection televisions.
While the immediate plans have been put on ice, Intel said that it was still committed to using the technology and believed it would become important in the consumer electronics business. The screens would be competitors to LCD flat screens, the current darling of the technology sector, which is being boosted by billions of dollars of investment by US and Asian manufacturers.
The aborted launch of the TV technology is the latest mis-step to dent Intel's reputation for engineering prowess and has raised questions about its strategy in a number of specialised chip markets.
The US chipmaker made waves in the consumer electronics sector when it trumpeted the potential of the new TV technology at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
Speaking at the time, Paul Otellini, Intel's president, predicted: "This will change large-screen television economics."
The technology, known as liquid crystal on silicon, or LCOS, involves mounting a thin layer of liquid crystal silicon on a number of transistors. The device acts like a mirror, bouncing back light directed at it and using the transistors to manipulate the reflected light into an image.
David Mentley, an analyst at Stanford Resources, said the effort of combining both traditional chipmaking and optical technologies on a single device had made LCOS a difficult technology to master and had led to disappointments from a number of chip companies. Intel said that it had decided to hold back from launching the technology until it could be sure that it would produce "clear product differentiation" from rival technologies.
Mr Mentley said that Texas Instruments had stolen a lead in the large-screen TV business with chips known as digital light processors. Along with a separate technology used by Sony known as polysilicon transmission displays DLPs had established a strong position in the projection TV market.
That made it difficult for LCOS to break in until it could demonstrate a clear product advantage at a lower cost. For big screen televisions of 36in or larger, flat screen sets already outsell conventional cathode ray tube sets.
LCD panels made by manufacturers including Sharp, Samsung and LG-Philips are also expected to fall in price as production is increased.
Find this article at:
http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft-co...4A5007AE9901%7D |
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| DaleB |
It's amazing the vast resources Intel has. They have fumbled numerous times and still remain the big gorilla.
I had hoped more than once AMD would trounce them at some level and give them more serious competition, but the big I always seems to pull out of any delayed presentations, law-suits, retractions, poor business decisions, etc. etc. Of course, having Gates in your corner certainly helps. |
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| mdx99 |
I ordered a 42" sony plasma TV that should be coming in 2 weeks,
Getting ready for HDTV! |
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