USDC Teams Up with Industry Partners to Bring Clarity to LCD TV Market

Imagine shopping for an LCD TV at your nearby retail electronics outlet. If you didn’t do your up-front homework, it can be more than a little daunting trying to decide what TV to buy with literally dozens to choose from. Should I stick with the 26-inch or should I spend a few hundred dollars more for a 32-inch? Can someone actually see a difference between a 1600:1 and a 3000:1 contrast ratio? And what the heck is an HDMI input? If this imaginary scenario hits closer to home than you’d like to admit, rest assured that you aren’t alone. What’s more, the LCD industry is teaming up to help make sense of it all for you.

A coalition of display organizations, led by industry veteran Bruce Berkoff, banded together this past January to form the LCD TV Association—a new global, non-profit trade association aimed at helping foster growth within the LCD TV market as well educating consumers on the intrinsic value proposition of the many sizes and types of LCD TVs that are available in the market. Founding group members include Corning Inc., DisplaySearch, LG.Philips LCD, Micronas Semiconductor, Syntax-Brillian Corp., and USDC.

The stated mission of the LCD TV Association is to “Inform, Promote, Improve and Connect.” In addition to informing the public on the myriad benefits of LCD TVs through various forums, and promoting the many wonders of LCD TVs, the association will also work to improve LCD TV features and functions by introducing and promoting new ideas for specifications and inventions that will make LCD TVs better and easier to use. The LCD TV Association will also act as a conduit for the entire industry supply chain, helping to set new standards and initiatives, drive new areas of research and disseminate information through conferences, meetings and other venues. The desired end result of all of this is to foster both cooperation and friendly competition in order to promote industry growth and create better products for manufacturers, consumers and retailers alike.

One of the first goals of the LCD TV Association will be to focus the industry’s attention on actual user needs and the items that affect real world TV performance, rather than what the group calls “confusing specsmanship” or what some might describe as the “bigger is better” argument. That’s a goal that we can all agree is worth our support—providing greater clarity into a flat world.

More information on the LCD TV Association can be found online at http://www.lcdtvassociation.org/home.html