GuanHua Corporation (GHGH)

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hope this will help alittle. but not related it to augc company but related it to our product. if we ever producing t.v.s



Bigger TV Screens, Lower Prices

By Catherine Holahan
BusinessWeek Online

'Tis the season to go high-definition, if prices for big-screen TVs are any guide. As the weather gets colder and the holidays grow near, competition among television manufacturers is heating up. A price war between makers of plasma and liquid-crystal display (LCD) TVs has pushed prices to their lowest point in years.

Wide-screen, 50-inch plasma televisions from makers such as Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard can be purchased online for less than $2,000 this holiday season. In the days before Thanksgiving, Sony's entry-level, 50-inch LCD was listed as low as $1,348, and Samsung's 50-inch Digital Light Processor (DLP) set was advertised for $1,135 over the Net. As recently as two years ago, 42-inch sets were selling for prices in the neighborhood of $4,000 (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/4/05, "Your Next TV,").

On average, HD television prices have declined 50% over the past two years, according to ConsumerReports.org. Since August, the average price of screens in the 40-to-44-inch range has dropped roughly 9%, to about $1,900, according to Pacific Media Associates (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/04/06, "Big-TV Battle: LCD vs Plasma"). "The bigger they are, the faster they fall," says Paul Semenza, an analyst at market research firm iSuppli in San Jose, Calif.

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TVs

New Technology Paves the Way

And big is the name of the TV-making game these days, especially when it comes to the factories that produce the machines. "What has happened over the past year is the factories have grown big enough to make these big panels efficiently," Semenza says. "Up until a year ago, you couldn't make 40-inch panels [and larger] very efficiently."

Another reason for the price decline stems from the technological advances that help LCD manufacturers produce large screens at comparable cost to plasma. DLP technology adds even more competition, paving the way for firms such as Vizio to enter the market traditionally populated by Sony and Toshiba.

Another contributor to price declines is overall quality of screens. Most high-end televisions are capable of producing a beautiful picture with 1080i resolution, the format used by high-definition broadcast networks, says Semenza. As a result, television manufacturers need to differentiate on price. Retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores are also cutting prices to get customers into their stores.