Win a Samsung LCD HDTV Model-LE19R86 + SONY Blu-Ray Player Photo courtesy of TheSun.co.uk
Yep, you read that right. Still reeling from my Polaroid LCD TV problem, I somehow had the luck of stumbling into this Sun contest that is giving away a brand new Samsung LCD HD TV (Model Samsung-LE19R86) and a Sony Blu-Ray player! Now I’m more depressed. It would have been good tidings for me if I was a UK resident as the competition’s only open to them. Bummer. Deadline for joining the contest is April 6.
LCD TV Sales are up in US and UK
Speaking of Samsung, I hear that despite the dreary worldwide economic conditions they are still selling products! Well, apparently, the LCD TV segment in the U.S. in general is still doing good despite the upheavals in our financial markets. Samsung is still leading the pack with a market share increase of 5% which brings it to 26% market share! That is double the market share of its closes rival Sony at 13% market share. This market report indicated that the LCD TV market grew by about 20% in January and February on year! That’s just amazing.
LG Electronics, in Europe, likewise reported positively with a whooping 50% in sales!
Where can you attribute this surge in sales? According to CEO of Samsung, Lee Yoon-woo, it can be explained by the huge reduction in prices of the LCD TVs. The VP for LCD Division of Samsung, Scott Birnbaum, on the other hand, used a bit of psychology in his explanation:
“People are trying to replicate that movie theater experience,” Birnbaum says, driving them to buy bigger and bigger TVs. Bigger TVs have always been considered better, but when a TV gets larger, the quality of the image has to increase too, or the picture looks grainy and suffers from motion blur. “Now companies are doing 120 and 240Hz refresh rates, and doing three interpolated frames for every real frame you’re seeing” to get quality up to par with size, Birnbaum says. That quality improvement is driving consumers to upgrade from older flat-screens, or winning over reluctant tube-TV owners.
I kind of agree with both explanations but I have another one. People are buying up LCD TVs because of the bad economy! As I have pointed out in my previous post where I called on everyone who had the cash to buy a new TV this year, flat screen TV prices are cheap because of the speculation that demand will drop. So when people saw how much they dropped, people bought TVs because they don’t have anything else to do but stay home and watch TV to ride out the depression! 
Now, has anyone seen a cheap Panasonic Neo PDP Z1 or Philips 37PFL7603D? I’m thinking it’s one of those or I’m off to UK to join a contest…
Recommended read: Why Are Samsung’s LCD TV Sales Still Booming?
March 31, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Sorry you are not a UK resident but I am so I will enter the competition – thank you for the pointer. Meantime keep up the good work.
)
April 15, 2009 at 3:59 am
Samsung LN52A650
I’ve been doing the research and visiting the brick and mortar locations and I’ve concluded the Samsung features are the best on the market currently. I’ve been concerned about the auto shut-off problem I’ve been reading. I called Samsung Customer Support and was told it is not an issue but they didn’t mention the firmware update which is indeed posted on their Web site today. Go to the Samsung Web site and look under “SUPPORT/NEWS & ALERTS” – A650 Series LCD TV Auto Off Firmware Update. A small number of Samsung A650 series LCD TVs turn off automatically. The following models are affected:
* LN40A650A1F
* LN46A650A1F
* LN52A650A1F
Samsung has released a firmware update that fixes the problem. If you have one of these models, Samsung recommends that you install this firmware update on your TV, even if you are not experiencing the auto off problem. If you have a USB memory drive, you can download the firmware from our website. For complete instructions on downloading and installing the firmware update, go to [...]. If you do not have a USB memory drive, Samsung can send you a drive containing the firmware. To have a copy of the firmware sent to you, call Samsung Customer Care at 1-800-Samsung (1-800-726-7864). Have your model and serial numbers on hand when you call.
April 22, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Many smart online shoppers have taken a real interest in the Samsung LN52A650 LCD HDTV and for very good reason as the Samsung LN52A650 LCD HDTV is one of the first LCD HDTV to offer a 50,000:1 contrast ratio! Still, most have made the same mistake when purchasing their Samsung LN52A650 LCD HDTV. Continue to read on to discover what that mistake is.