The Resurrection of LCoS

The LCoS Renaissance

After the disappearance of Intel and Phillips from the LCoS manufacturing scene, most consumers wrote off the display technology as a failed experiment. Thomson (under the RCA brand) and Toshiba (which used Hitachi LCoS panels) had already been burned by first-generation LCoS products and wasted no time beating a hasty retreats.

As of January 2005, Current Analysis retail field collectors could locate only a few remaining Phillips 55-inch LCoS-based 55PL9773/17 models left in stores, selling for a close-out price of $1,799. In February 2005, Mitsubishi weighed in with its gargantuan 82-inch WL-82913. At a street price of $14,999, the TV seemed to underscore the point that LCoS was beyond the reach of ordinary consumers and was therefore unsuited to the high-volume retail CE channel.

Finally, as winter turned to spring in 2005, a perceptible thawing of the LCoS market began. The first signs of returning life came courtesy of Sony, which introduced the long-awaited Qualia KDS70Q006, featuring the company’s proprietary SXRD variation of the LCoS process. The April 2005 debut of the 70-inch TV, at an introductory price of $12,999, did little to dispel prevailing attitudes regarding LCoS: too big, too expensive, too late. However, the impressive visual quality of the systems, coupled with the charismatic Sony nameplate, had the effect of reinvigorating interest in LCoS products – even if they still fell short of generating actual demand.

JVC turned on the taps for its own second-generation HD-ILA family of LCoS TVs beginning in May 2005. The company continually pumped out at least one new model each month to the end of the year. Most importantly, the average introductory price of these new LCoS TVs was only $3,200, placing LCoS back within the reach of ordinary mortals. Sony followed suit with two additional SXRD TVs in November: the 50-inch KDS-R50XBR1 and the 60-inch KDS-R60XBR1, bearing average street prices of $3,879 and $4,874, respectively. As the saying goes, we now had a ballgame.

The greater availability of LCoS, bolstered by a staggering 38% drop in the average price of LCoS-based TVs during 2005 – and helped in no small part by the blessing of Sony’s brand name – created a turning point for LCoS on the market. As a result, the technology began to carve out a slice of the U.S. retail business in the latter half of the year. In fact, by year’s end, LCoS had risen from a 0.0% shelf share (the percentage of products for sale in U.S retail chains) to a tie with direct-view LCD TVs in the 40-inch-and-up category. Both LCoS projection TVs and direct view LCD TVs currently stand at about 5% of available product placements among major retailers.