Last Friday, LG held a scaled-down version of its 2008 line show at the company’s corporate headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The event was originally scheduled to be held in San Diego in late October, but was postponed because of the severe fires burning around the city.

This modest event took place in a conference room, where several new plasma and LCD HDTVs were on display. Prior to the "unveiling," LG’s Allan Jason, vice president of marketing for consumer electronics, made a short presentation on where LG’s going and how it is perceived in the marketplace.

The average Joe may not realize how heavily invested LG is in plasma and LCD manufacturing, and LG’s commissioned brand awareness studies, conducted by Millward Brown, showed that only recently have consumers become more aware of LG as a TV brand than as a cell phone or appliance brand.

Jason also showed stats for October 2007 HDTV sales that had LG capturing 10% of the LCD market, behind Sony’s 16% share and Samsung’s 15% share, and 14% of the plasma market, trailing Panasonic (46%) and Samsung (17%). The company’s LCD and plasma sales numbers represent a large uptick from September 2007.

LG estimates that LCD and plasma TV sales will increase 26% in 2008, with LCD growing 31% and plasma increasing by 6%. While one-third of flat panel sales in 2007 will be 1080p sets, LG expects that number to increase to 49% by the end of next year.

With that background, it was no surprise that LG showed a bevy of LCD and plasma models, some of which won’t officially be announced until CES 2008. Of the rest, there are four "families" of LCD TVs (LG30, LG50, LG70, and LG71 wireless) and a PG-series of plasma sets (42-inch and 50-inch).

The LG30 models range in size from 19 to 42 inches and come with hidden speakers and three HDMI 1.3 inputs on models 26 inches and larger. LG50 sets offer 1080p resolution in 37-inch, 42-inch, 47-inch, and 52-inch sizes, along with three HDMI 1.3 inputs, a USB 2.0 port for viewing still photos, and ambient light sensing for automatic brightness and contrast adjustments. A gloss black finish is standard.

LG’s LG70 series adds 120Hz refresh, a new "teardrop" design, and one extra HDMI 1.3 input to the package, along with ISF calibration features. Both the LG50 and LG70 have the same hidden speaker design, which may be using a contact audio transducer design since there are no visible perforations anywhere on the front bezel. The LG71 wireless LCD series retains the features of LG70 models and adds 802.11n connectivity to set-top boxes, DVD players, and AV receivers.

While the plasma offerings in Englewood Cliffs were modest, there will be much more PDP product to come at CES 2008. LG will continue to offer a 42-inch PDP for 2008 that will have 1024×768 resolution and a 50-inch product with 768p resolution. Both have the hidden speaker system, a gloss black finish, and three HDMI 1.3 inputs. My guess is, the 42-inch product will be aggressively priced against 40-inch and 42-inch LCD HDTVs before we’re too far into next year.

LG also had its dual-format BH200 Blu-ray / HD DVD player on display. It’s now in retail stores with an MSRP of $999, and supports both the current BD profile and discs with BD 1.1, which should be appearing later in 2008 according to LG. There’s also a LAN interface for HD DVD Web interactivity functions found on titles like Tokyo Drift.

With entry-level HD DVD players priced at $299 and Samsung’s BD-P1400 Blu-ray player available for $399, it’s hard to see how LG can maintain a $200 price premium over the purchase of individual players for each blue laser format. On the other hand, if consumers believe the recent numbers that show accelerated growth for the BD format, perhaps the BH200 is a safe investment no matter which format ultimately wins out.

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