Market analyst DisplaySearch concludes in a new report that any success plasma HD sets may enjoy in the future will depend largely on both cutting production and retail costs, as well as technical improvements in the competitive marketplace, and the key issue will come down to “luminous efficacy”—the relationship between brightness and power consumption.
In its 2007 PDP Technology Report, the Austin, Texas-based market researcher said as luminous efficiency improves, higher brightness can be achieved at the same power levels and lower power can be achieved at existing brightness levels.
“It will be critical for plasma manufacturers to increase luminous efficacy to improve their competitive position with LCD TV manufacturers who continue to target larger and larger sizes where the plasma share is highest,” said DisplaySearch. “We believe a doubling of luminous efficacy to 5.0 lm/W will happen this decade and can reduce plasma panel manufacturing costs by 9-11 percent versus 2.5 lm/W costs primarily due to reductions in address- and sustain-voltage levels and resulting increases in circuit integration.” More improvements in luminous efficacy to 10 lm/W could reduce costs by as much as 40 percent, according to the firm.
Beyond brightness, power and costs, luminous efficiency breakthroughs also likely will have positive effects on contrast ratio, gray scale, design tolerances, optical filters, as well as mechanical, panel and circuit designs, it said.
