Word: plasma
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Gateway's low-end plasma set, introduced in November 2002, put big-screen and flat TVs within reach for more middle-class families. Its $3,000 model is the leader in its category. "In mid-2002, we saw that the television market was becoming way more digital than analog," says Matt Milne, Gateway senior vice president for consumer products. By going to some of the same suppliers it uses for its PCs, the company slashed prices, and the rest of the industry scrambled to follow. The move could not save the ailing PC company's retail stores--188 will...
...Gateway and Dell are developing strong brands that will allow them to go after other product categories dominated by Japanese makers. American tech companies are working behind the scenes: Corning makes glass for the displays, and Texas Instruments has created a low-price, flat-screen alternative to the biggest plasma-TV sets with its DLP (digital light processing) rear-projection technology. "Just when you think innovation is dead, this shows you that it's very much alive," says Kevin Landis, chief investment officer for Firsthand Funds, an investment firm based in San Jose, Calif...
...Consumer Reports published its first ranking of flat-panel televisions in March, in response to thousands of letters from readers begging for a little guidance, says Gerard Catapano, who supervised the magazine's test. While there were some standouts in each category--conventional TVs, plasma, LCD and rear-projection--there was no clear winner. Each technology has its inherent drawbacks. The best picture-tube and rear-projection televisions, for example, can weigh more than 200 lbs. Plasma sets (named for the pixels of gas in the screen that are turned into plasma by an electrical charge) can sometimes experience "burn...
...question mark is high-definition programming. Not every flat-screen television comes equipped to handle the new HDTV format, which many consumers will want this summer when cable TV goes high def. And there are HD-ready conventional televisions that produce picture quality rivaling that of even the best plasma screens, at a much lower price. On the flip side, an HDTV set can sometimes make regular programming look worse. Catapano's advice: Start with the size you want, and match it to the technology that fits it best. Then it's up to your budget...
Flatness may prove even more important than picture quality in getting consumers to trade up. Best Buy's Simonson notes that until now "the form factor of the television has never changed. It's always been a very big product." The slim profile of plasma and LCD TVs is finally attracting the attention of a group largely ignored by consumer-electronics peddlers: women. "What really makes a $3,000 TV sell is that the consumer can do things with this space that they couldn't do before," Milne says. "It's a furniture experience more than a television experience...