Stereo 3DTV (S3D) is currently one of the hottest topics in the consumer electronics industry and European market research specialist Meko has released a new 3D TV forecast which predicts that around 700,000 sets will be sold in Europe this year. That will rise to 3.8 million in 2011 and 8.1 million in 2012.
“Although there is a lot of excitement about 3D, only about 2% of TVs in Western Europe that will be sold in 2010 will be S3D equipped. The sets will be made available in just the larger sizes (over 32″), will be in the premium model ranges and will not be sold through all channels”, said Goksen Sertler, senior TV analyst for Meko Ltd.
“When there is new technology, consumers also like to reduce their risk so will tend to go for the top brands”, she added. “Compared to markets such as the US, European buyers tend to want smaller sets and so we expect 40″ and 42″ sets with FullHD resolution to be the best sellers. Customers will also be looking for high quality sets that have other features that will keep costs up, such as LED backlighting. That will limit the spread of sets which will typically cost €1,500 or more. However, there will be lots of content, from Blu-ray and Sony’s PlayStation 3 upgrade, and in addition TV stations around Europe will be looking to show sports such as the World Cup in S3D”.
Meko will be hosting the 7th DisplayForum event at the London Heathrow Hilton on the 3rd of November on the subject of 3D TV in Europe.
ENDS
Note to Editors
There are basically two ways to present S3D on TVs, one using ‘shutter glasses’ (backed by most brands) and one using a special polariser film and needing polarising glasses. The glasses for the active system are relatively expensive and are likely to cost €70 or €80 per pair. The polarising solution currently costs more to implement on the set, but uses much cheaper glasses. S3D without glasses is really only currently viable for portable devices with one viewer.
