IHS shows more positive views on long-term future of the Ultra-HD (UHD) TV format-- the analyst amends its prediction to shipments reaching nearly 5 million in the US alone by 2018.
Since earlier UHD TV forecasts mention global shipments of just 2.1m units in 2017, the improvement reflects a "rapidly improving outlook for the market" the analyst says.
“Pricing for UHD sets is expected to come down dramatically in 2013 and the following years, making them much more affordable for consumers on average,” IHS says. “Just as importantly, UHD TV brands are striving to avoid repeating the mistakes they made with 3DTV—- namely, attempting to charge a major price premium for a feature that lacked sufficient content to generate consumer interest. Recent developments indicate the TV makers have learned key lessons from the 3D debacle that will boost the long-term outlook for UHD shipments.”
However UHD TV shipments will still start small at 200000 units in the US for 2013, or 1% of the US LCD TV market.
According to the analyst the chief driver for improving UHD TV shipments is (perhaps obviously) pricing, with competing panel suppliers (Samsung, LG Display, AUO, Innolux) helping bring about a variety of price points.
Seiki already offers the SE50UY04 50-inch UHD TV in the US at $1500.
Many TV brands are also working on UHD content (either via upscaling or proprietary UHD content), further avoiding the problems faced by 3DTV. Movies in UHD format are already showing up, as are 4K cameras and camcorders, and FIFA might drop 3DTV 2014 World Cup coverage in favour of HD and, perhaps, UHD/4K.
Further aiding the UHD TV cause are delays in the commercialisation of OLED TVs. Supposedly the next big thing in TVs (at least judging from CES 2013) OLED TVs are still to hit the market, "allowing [UHD TVs] to "claim the high-end position in the global TV market."
