UHD UHD_APRIL 2017 | Page 4

China to dominate 4K, 8K TV shipments

China will continue to dominate the 4K TV market, with 42 % o of all TVs in 2017 expected to ship with 4K panels, according to a white paper – 4K TV and UHD: the whole picture – from IHS Markit.

In 2016, more than 25m 4K TVs shipped in China. By 2020, that number is expected to almost double to 44m, the same as the next two regions( Western Europe and North America) combined. In Western Europe, more than 8m 4K TVs shipped in 2016, forecast to increase to 19m in 2020. North American shipments are forecast to more than double, from 11.7m in 2016 to 25.9m in 2020.
“ China is on a different trajectory to the rest of the world when it comes to 4K TVs,” said Paul Gray, principal analyst, IHS Markit.“ It is getting hard to buy a large screen TV in China without 4K. Japanese set makers also aggressively switched to 4K product ranges, especially in their domestic market, but shipments in Japan remain constrained by consumer preferences for screen sizes too small to support 4K.”
“ Aggressive competition in the LCD display industry is fuelling a pixel race,” Gray said.“ Panel makers have added 8K resolutions to their road maps and product plans, a process that will accelerate as new Chinese LCD fabs start production.”
However, the IHS Markit white paper highlights a few challenges for 8K. The high pixel density demands that either a very large screen or short viewing distance is necessary.
China will dominate 8K shipments as its early-adopting consumers are likely to be eager for new features. 65-inch will be the dominant 8K size, driven by affordable pricing in China. While Japan is planning 8K broadcasts from 2020, for most regions 8K video content will remain scarce for the foreseeable future.
Analyst: UHD not yet mass-market
According to the latest Ultra HD tracking report from Futuresource Consulting, although UHD as a home entertainment format has firmly planted its stake in the market, with strong growth evident from software to hardware adoption, it remains some way off reaching levels of mass-market adoption.
Futuresource Consulting has been monitoring the UHD format for over two years as part of the media and entertainment tracking services. This latest edition suggests that UHD Blu-ray has built a leading position in the software market in 2016, with sales elevated by the disjointed approach of digital service providers including limited availability and marketing of content as well
as poorer quality of playback compared to UHD Blu-ray.
Over the past twelve months, there has been strong progression across the UHD hardware markets, particularly 4K TVs which were prominent within the 2016 Black Friday‘ Door Busting’ promotions, which retailers used to drive consumers into the shops. However, many of the sets on offer had either none or a poor quality / early development of HDR. Nevertheless, the focus from the industry is now firmly on HDR.
“ Unlike the upgrade to UHD resolution, which was a quantifiable improvement, HDR is a subjective feature and the Consumer Electronics Show highlighted this is the key industry focus, as manufacturers are continuing to push the boundaries in terms of peak brightness, peak black levels and a wider colour spectrum represented,”
advises Tristan Veale, market analyst, Futuresource Consulting.
“ Consumers remain largely uneducated about the advantages of HDR and there is a risk of alienating them due to the recent trend of branding displays as HDR compatible meaning ones which can receive an HDR content stream but cannot reproduce it. With this multi-stage introduction of UHD and associated picture improvements, clear information to the consumer is paramount,” he suggests.
Futuresource expects to see the UHD home video market building on the strong momentum of the last 12 months. The firm predicts 8.4m UHD Blu-ray discs to be sold in 2017, equating to 4 % of global Blu-ray sales, with a greater choice of titles, from both independents and major studios. UHD EST format is yet
to gain significant traction, but this could change if major broadcast and telco ecosystem players began supporting and selling the format. Another key platform is the potential launch of a 4K store from Apple. This would certainly be a key game changer in the mass market march for Ultra HD availability, suggests Futuresource Consulting.
Finally, the report tips its hat to streamed movies( from SVoD) as they remained the most commonly accessed source of 4K content, but with a focus on TV product. UHD Blu-rays are considered the crème de la crème, delivering a higher quality experience and a greater choice of films. At the end of 2016, Futuresource reported that globally, 17m households had access to streamed 4K content from an SVoD service with a TV capable of playing it.
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