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NESDA President’s Article
On November 12th and 13th 2003, I
attended the Inaugural HDTV Forum held in
Marina Del Rey, California. The conferences
main sponsors were CEA,
DisplaySearch, and Insight Media. The
focus of the conference was to take a look at
the “entire” supply chain for HDTV content
development and delivery. I emphasize the
word entire because as usually is the case,
the service industry was not factored into
their thought process. I felt then as I do now
that it is our job to help these entities realize
just how important a role we play when consumers
are making their buying decision. I
decided at the start of the conference that it
was my job to start this thought process
rolling and help all concerned start to realize
our importance to them. There was so much
valuable information discussed during this
two day conference and I will be sharing
much of it with you in future articles. I
would like to list several of the sessions presented
and perhaps we could post them to
the NESDA Online Forums for discussion.
We could easily take a poll to see which sessions
you would like to see discussed in
future articles. Here is a listing of some of
the sessions presented:
• HDTV Status and Outlook
• HDTV Content When is it Coming?
• HDTV Distribution: Broadcast, Cable or
Satellite?
• Selling HDTV to Consumers
• Front Projection HDTV: Will it Dominate
the Projection Segment?
Be a Part of the Future
By Brian Gibson CET, NESDA President
• Rear Projection HDTV: LCD, DLP,
LCOS, or CRT?
• Projection Engine Challenges
• Alternative Big Screen Displays: Can any
Challenge?
• LCDs: The Dominant TV of the Future?
• Will the CRT Survive the HDTV Era?
• How Fast will PDPs Grow?
• HDTV Electronics: Converging TVs,
Monitors and Projectors
That was an enormous amount of material
that was covered during the two day conference.
There were two separate tracks
offered and you could only attend half of
what was being presented. I gathered a great
deal of information during the conference
and I look forward to sharing it with all of
you. If we have great interest in a few of the
topics we may even be able to have the content
provider provide a guest editorial.
Many of us in recent years questioned
whether HDTV would ever become a reality.
The fact is it has arrived and is spreading
like a wildfire. It has the potential to offer us
a new lease on life if we handle it properly.
We will most certainly all need to “kick it up
a notch” as my favorite chef says. People
who spend world class dollars for these new
and fabulous products expect a much different
experience when making their purchase.
They certainly don’t expect to hear that
“parts are not available” or “we can come
take a look at it next week.” They don’t
mind spending the big dollar; they already
proved that with their purchase. Perhaps it is
time for us to reflect on some of our own
recent service experiences and ask ourselves
if we are doing all that we can to provide
world class service.
Recently a friend was sharing a story
with me about a furniture delivery that he
received at his home. The company was the
one of the largest advertisers in the area.
They spend a fortune telling you about what
a fabulous experience you will have shopping
at their stores. All that hype was
destroyed in one New York minute when the
delivery personal proceeded to track mud
and snow all over his new carpets. It is winter
here in New England and the weather is
certainly a factor in servicing in client’s
homes. Our personnel have always been
instructed to either take off their boots or put
down a tarp. They also know better than to
set down a tool box onto floor without first
placing protection under it. This may seem
off topic to you but what I am trying to show
you here is that our people have a whole different
perception of your company when
you act as a professional. It’s an inexpensive
way to show you really care and impress
them. Perhaps this is another topic that we
could chat about on the NESDA Online
Forums.
We all need to hone our skills and learn
new ones in order to survive the bumpy road
ahead. The need to diversify has never been
more evident than it is right now. As the cost
of all the new technologies continues to
decline, the number of people who can
afford to obtain them will be on the rise.
That spells opportunity in a major way.
Installing and or servicing home theaters is
already a huge business. This is only one of
many disciplines that we as servicers can
learn to supplement of shrinking income
and prosper in the future.
Please let me know if there are any topics
listed here that you would be interested in
learning more about. As always all my best
and keep up the fight to save our great
industry.
Samsung Introduces World’s Largest LCD-TV
Samsung unveiled its new 57” TFT-LCD
for High Definition (HD) TV at CES 2004.
The 57” prototype represents the largest
possible size for a fifth-generation glass
substrate. Offering full HDTV functionality,
the 57” model features Samsung’simproved
PVA (ITO Patterned Vertical Alignment)
and advanced polarizer technologies to
achieve a 1000:1 contrast ratio.
With its latest largest-ever model,
Samsung now offers TFT-LCD TVs from 15
to 57 inches.
Samsung will also showcased an 80”
PDP TV at CES 2004. Its 80-inch screen is
the largest ever in its category. A brightness
of 800cd/m2 and the contrast ratio of 2000:1
were also achieved.
All SAMSUNG flat panel TVs feature
the company’s patented Digital Natural
Image Engine (DNIe) technology.
10 — February 2004