Samsung heads to China for joint partnership, while LG holds large-scale event in Paris


Rival giants LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics are looking for overseas opportunities to gain ground in the competitive global 3-D television market.

LG Electronics, the world’s No. 2 flat-screen TV maker, said Friday that it held an event in Paris called “The Biggest 3-D Experience Ever” on Thursday, which enabled people to see and experience its Cinema 3-D TV.

With plans to launch the 3-D TV in 15 different European countries between April and May, employees of the company’s European headquarters, offices and sales groups all gathered in the French capital.

At the event, more than 1,400 people watched a 3-D movie on a giant screen to show the differentiated technologies of its 3-D TV. Participants included actress Sophie Marceau and movie director Claude Lelouch.

LG uses the passive 3-D film-type patterned retarder (FPR) technology method for its TV, claiming to offer a better 3-D experience for it gives brighter and clearer vision without generating flicker and cross-talk, such as image ghosting.

“We’re planning to deliver the message to European consumers that we hope a greater number of people will watch 3-D contents in a more comfortable and enjoyable fashion through our technology,” said Byun Kyoung-hoon, executive vice president of the home entertainment unit at LG.

The company expects to increase the share its 3-D TV holds in the European TV market to 20 percent this year, while further increasing its goal to 30 percent next year, its officials said.

 

They also said it plans to dive into the Middle East and African markets by May.

The world’s top flat-screen TV maker Samsung Electronics, meanwhile announced Thursday that it had held a separate event named the “Full high-definition 3-D Partners’ Day” in China. The event, participated in by major TV makers in Japan and China like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, TCL and Hisense, agreed to jointly target the Chinese TV market with their active 3-D panel technology.

Samsung has downplayed its local competitor LG’s efforts to go with the passive shutter glass 3-D display, saying many global players are moving away from the passive method since problems could occur with picture quality for large TVs.

The partners plan to organize a joint marketing campaign to promote the active 3-D method and Samsung will introduce its 3-D panels to Chinese manufacturers in May, its officials said.

Market research institute DisplaySearch said the European 3-D TV market will see strong growth in 3-D TV sales, jumping to 15.3 million units in 2012, from 7.1 million units this year. It further projected that total sales of 3-D TV will to 30 million units in 2014.

However, it also reported a clear need for the industry to further educate consumers on why they would want to switch to 3-D TV.


By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)