From now on, not everyone can say they are “laser TV”.
Not long ago, China’s first laser TV industry standard “Specification for laser projection display of TV receiving equipment” was officially implemented.
It is reported that the standard was jointly drafted by 25 units including China Institute of electronic technology standardization, Hisense, Guangfeng, Changhong and Xiaomi. According to the standard, laser TV display equipment refers to the display equipment that adopts laser projection display technology and is equipped with special projection screen to display radio and television programs or Internet TV programs.
Previously, the industry standards were not unified on what is the real laser TV. However, after the implementation of the first standard, at least it is clear that laser TV is “ultra short focus laser projector (host) + light curtain”. In addition, it can only use “nit” as the unit to describe the projection brightness.
Recently, Bi Yong, chief engineer of Zhongke Aurora, said in an interview with new consumer daily that the introduction of laser TV industry standards has made a good start for the standardization of laser TV industry. “But in the long run, this is the first step of the long march. The development of the industry needs the dual drive of science and technology and norms.”
However, some people in the laser display industry told the reporter of new consumption daily that neither the so-called “true laser” of Zhongke Aurora nor the “laser projection display specification for TV receiving equipment” jointly launched by the Ministry of industry and information technology and a number of head enterprises recently have mandatory or sufficient binding force in essence, or they can not improve the chaos of terminal marketing in the short term.
The reporter found that due to the lack of unified industry standards, some manufacturers in the market packaged projectors into laser TVs under the banner of laser TVs. Even after the implementation of industry norms, many laser TV brands use the concept of “eye protection” and other visual health for marketing.
who can count as laser TV
Affected by the tide of consumption upgrading, the trend of large screen TV has become faster and faster in recent years. Since 2020, although the retail scale of China’s color TV market has decreased, the sales scale of laser TV has increased against the trend.
Previously, laser display has been established as the key special project of “new display and strategic electronic materials” in the national key R & D plan of the 14th five year plan of the Ministry of science and technology of China, and is recognized as an important technical direction for the development of color TV industry.
According to Tang Jianbo, an observer in the home appliance industry, at present, the manufacturers of laser TV are roughly divided into three camps: first, color TV enterprises such as Hisense, Changhong, Samsung, LG and Haier; The second is traditional projection brands such as Hualu and Appotronics Corporation Limited(688007) and the third is Internet brands such as Chengdu Xgimi Technology Co.Ltd(688696) and pptv.
The analysis report of the technology market of laser TV shows that in 2021, Chinese mainland’s laser TV market shipped 280 thousand units, an increase of 31.9% over the same period, and sales volume was 4 billion 700 million yuan, up 27.7% over the same period last year. At the same time, the head brand effect of the Chinese market is further strengthened, the competitive advantage of oligarchs continues to increase, and the brand concentration continues to improve.
However, the concept of laser continues to generate a lot of chaos.
Through visits to several offline home appliance stores, the reporter found that some brands in the market will confuse the concept of laser TV and laser projector, and many laser TV brands are marketed with the slogan of “eye protection”.
This practice not only damages the rights and interests of consumers, but also causes unfair competition in the laser TV market.
According to the officially implemented specification for laser projection display of TV receiving equipment, laser TV display equipment refers to the display equipment that adopts laser projection display technology and is equipped with special projection screen to display radio and TV programs or Internet TV programs. The standard also specifies that the brightness unit of laser TV is nit, not lumen.
In fact, it is of great significance for the industry to clarify whether the brightness unit is nit or lumen. It is also two significant differences between “laser TV” and “projection”. Lumen (LM) is the unit of luminous flux, which represents the amount of radiant light energy per unit time; Nit refers to the luminous intensity per unit area.
In this regard, Zhong Qiang, Secretary General of the laser TV industry branch of China electronic video industry association, said that with the formal implementation of the first industry standard of laser TV, those products with mixed eyes and poor user experience will be eliminated in the competition of laser TV market.
“At present, laser TV is also booming, but due to the lack of norms, it shows unrestricted savage growth. This helps social enterprises clarify the direction of R & D investment and ensure that the industry works in the right direction, which is of great significance to development.” Bi Yong told reporters.
TV is becoming larger and larger. Is laser TV the solution
In fact, nearly 20 years ago, Thomson of France launched laser TV. However, due to the immaturity of technology and industrial chain, most manufacturers finally choose to replace CRT display with LCD to adapt to the trend of large screen TV.
In recent years, consumers have a deeper demand for large screens. Manufacturers represented by Hisense have found that compared with LCD technology, the price of laser TV of the same size is lower than that of LCD, and it is easier to be “big”.
“The cost reduction path and Prospect of laser display are relatively clear, and the space is also large.” The Research Report of Guosen Securities Co.Ltd(002736) shows that taking Appotronics Corporation Limited(688007) laser TV products as an example, the cost of display chip accounts for about 17%.
But it is undeniable that there are still many “congenital defects” in the laser TV industry.
“For example, although China’s laser technology has made great progress in the past, in terms of batch application and maintaining the consistency of mass production, in the process of engineering development, it is found that the technical state is still a certain distance from the ideal goal in terms of power, electro-optic conversion efficiency, wavelength and service life.” Said an industry insider who asked not to be named.
He told reporters that the proposal of the industry standard is to attract more and more upstream and downstream peers in the laser display industry, because before China’s laser display market really ushers in the outbreak period, the main problem to be solved is to improve the localization level of upstream and midstream core materials and core devices to meet the level of commercial needs.
The above insiders pointed out that the cost reduction first lies in increasing the output power of a single chip and improving the photoelectric conversion efficiency. “In short, it can produce more lasers with less input of raw materials”. However, taking Appotronics Corporation Limited(688007) as an example, the display chip suppliers are mainly foreign manufacturers, and their DLP route display chip is from Texas Instruments, while the 3lcd route chip is from Sony.
Secondly, in terms of scale effect, “with the application and popularization of laser display, there will be more and more industrial chain demand and landing derived from laser display, which means that the cost proportion of lasers, chips, lenses and other upstream components will also decrease”.
In addition, the analysis report of the technology market of laser TV showed that the shipment volume of Chinese mainland laser TV market was 280 thousand in 2021, an increase of 31.9% over the same period, and sales volume was 4 billion 700 million yuan, an increase of 27.7% over the same period last year.
In fact, new display technologies such as OLED, miniled and micro LED are competing for the high-end TV market with laser TV. In the huge TV industry, the scale of laser TV is very small, and it is difficult to build a price advantage in the short term.
According to the data of Lotu technology, the average price of laser TV in 2021 was 16800 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.2%. In terms of price segments, the share of products below 10000 yuan increased to 23.6%. At the same time, the head brand increased its high-end product layout, making the market share of the price segment above 30000 yuan reach 9.8%, with a year-on-year increase of 2.1%. Lotu technology believes that the popularization of laser TV is the key to the market scale.
Guolian Securities Co.Ltd(601456) said that under the technological breakthrough, the localization degree of laser industry chain is expected to increase from 45% – 55% to 75% – 80% in the next 3-5 years, so as to drive the decline of cost and terminal retail price and improve the C-end popularity of laser.
