OTHER TECH

More manufacturers than ever before offer thin LCD TVs. Panasonic makes combi-models that fit a thin, widescreen LCD TV and a DVD player into one chassis, while Sharp and Samsung both offer standalone models. Sharp's Aquos line, with built-in analog TV tuners and speakers, ranges in size from a 13-inch standard-screen model ($1,200) to a 30-inch widescreen HDTV monitor ($8,000). Compare that with the street price of 15-inch LCD computer monitors, now down around $400.

The significant disparity in prices is because there's tougher competition in the computer market, LCD TVs have to meet more stringent picture-quality standards than computer monitors, and far fewer LCD TVs are made in the first place, which means economies of scale haven't kicked in yet. But that could soon change. The total dollar value of LCD TVs sold in Japan exceeded that of CRT TVs for the first time in 2001. Despite opening a new production facility in Japan that tripled its production capacity, Sharp says it still can't keep up with the demand. While the eager acceptance of LCD TVs by Japanese consumers can be attributed mainly to the small size of living quarters there, industry observers are optimistic that Americans, too, will come to favor the slim sets over the next few years.

Currently there isn't much competition between LCD and plasma, the other major flat-panel display technology. In fact, many manufacturers offer both. Plasma TVs are generally 42 inches (diagonal) or larger, while LCD screens are closer in size to standard direct-view sets and top out at 30 inches (diagonal). Although Samsung has shown an experimental 40-inch LCD direct-view TV, the high cost of manufacturing such large panels leaves plasma unlikely to be challenged any time soon at the large-screen end of the thin-panel spectrum. (For more on plasma displays, see "Everybody Loves Plasma," April.)

Most TV manufacturers don't want to see the prices of LCD sets fall as quickly as their counterparts did in the computer world, but they might not have a choice. The appeal of a thin TV you can hang on the wall of your home - or mobile home - is pretty universal. It's just a matter of time before slim TVs will be the norm at every size.