LCD Market Demand Rapid Growth Brand Development Becomes Mainstream

The large-screen splicing system has become the mainstream of current display video programs in China. Before the big screen in China, it was a scene of three pillars. The three display technologies of DLP, PDP, and LCD each have their own special skills and occupy different market shares. According to relevant survey report data, the market size of domestic large-screen splicing display in 2011 was already close to 6 billion yuan, which is a 40% increase from 2010. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, public infrastructure industries such as electricity, coal, transportation, and communications, as well as public security police, government departments, are still the major markets for large-screen splicing products due to policy investment. According to research data, the public infrastructure industry accounts for nearly 50% of the overall market, and the proportion of police, police, and government departments accounts for nearly 40%.

LCD high-speed growth of LCD mosaic

Currently, DLP splicing relies on the advantages of large size, small seams, digital display, slow brightness attenuation, small pixel gap, suitable for long-time display of computers and still images, etc. It still occupies the mainstream of the domestic large-screen market, but its volume is too large. Disadvantages such as too much power consumption and uneven color allow customers to gradually switch to LCD splicing products. With the improvement of LCD patchwork technology, LCD splicing has many advantages in terms of color display, visibility and sharpness, environmental adaptability, and long service life, which makes the market of LCD splicing screens grow rapidly. According to related industry sources, LCD splice products will exceed DLP large-screen splice products in the next year or two. Relevant data also show that the current sales of LCD splicing is about 2.1 billion yuan, accounting for about 35% of the overall big screen. In the next 3-5 years, LCD splicing will continue its rapid development and the annual growth rate will maintain at 30-50%. Because PDP splicing has its own technical disadvantages and high costs, its market share has been minimal. The LED splicing system has relatively few applications in the field of security monitoring because of its low resolution and high price. However, the application of LED backlight technology in liquid crystal splicing system makes liquid crystal splicing more advantageous, which is one of the reasons for the rising market share of liquid crystal splicing.

Japanese and Korean brands are the mainstream domestic brands gradually developed

At present, domestic large-screen manufacturers are mainly concentrated in the coastal areas. If they are to be subdivided by display technologies, Vivendor, Juyang, Dehao, GQY, Delta Electronics, and Caixun are representatives of DLP manufacturers; LG, Samsung, Sharp, Mitsubishi, NEC, Philips, UOB, BestColor, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Wei Rui, Guantai, and Taixiang are representatives of LCD manufacturers; PDP manufacturers are the only ones of Orion.

With the development of large-screen LCD splicing to the impact of the DLP market, many manufacturers also focus on the diversified development of enterprises, do not blindly composure, and the ultra-narrow LCD panel splicing market's potential to make many companies have invested capital. Such as Sharp launched in 2010, 60-inch LED backlight ultra-narrow edge LCD splicing products, breaking the monopoly of Samsung's market structure; and LG launched in 2011 47-inch 47WV30 series ultra-narrow edge LCD mosaic Samsung's 46-inch LCD splicing screen There was no small impact. With Philips and NEC trying to get a slice of the LCD splicing market and putting it into action, they have launched a corresponding LCD splicing system. These Japanese and South Korean business panel manufacturers have a certain technological advantage, so the products they have introduced have always been the mainstream of the domestic large-screen market.

The above-mentioned DLP manufacturers have entered the LCD large-screen splicing market very smoothly because of their large screen experience for many years. Traditional TCL, Changhong, Skyworth and other well-known household electrical appliance enterprises have successfully penetrated into the large-screen splicing market by virtue of their mature technologies in LCD technology. The gradual development of domestic large-screen companies has made the liquid crystal splicing market suddenly hot and the market competition is fierce.

LCD technology advantages

LCD liquid crystal splicing system has excellent display performance, vivid and vivid screen, 1366×768 high resolution, high contrast, high brightness, high resolution, full viewing angle, full color, stable operation, generally can reach 6 to 100,000 hours Above, the maintenance is simple and the cost-effectiveness has a very high advantage. LCD liquid crystal splicing system adopts industrial control type control or pure hardware embedded splicing technology, input a complete signal, each unit can be regarded as an independent splicing processing system, thus ensuring the clarity of the image and the fluency of the video. LCD display wall high-definition display links and technical processing are concentrated in the LCD splicing processor, LCD splicing processor with high-definition video signal acquisition, real-time high-resolution digital image processing, high-end three-dimensional digital filter and other high-end image processing functions in one, Has a strong processing power.

Speaking of the comparison between the LCD splicing system and the DLP system, Sheng Peiquan, Marketing Manager of Sunny International Holdings Group Co., Ltd., said: “Compared with DLP rear projection splicing products, LCD splicing in color display, visibility and clarity, environmental adaptability and long There are many advantages in service life and so on. However, compared with the stitching gap of DLP rear projection splicing which is less than 2mm, the biggest factor that restricts the development of LCD splicing is the wide patchwork distance. How to reduce the splicing seam of LCD has become the major display manufacturers have overcome. The focus and patchwork distance have also become an important parameter for measuring LCD splicing technology."

Whether the stitching seam is an ultra-narrow frame design is also a technical difficulty, and it will directly affect whether the user uses the LCD mosaic wall display solution. LCD uses a backlight tube as a light source, and its edge is generally wider. The border width of a 46-inch ordinary LCD screen exceeds 30 mm. If used for splicing, the splicing gap is at least 60 mm, which will seriously affect the visual effect. Accepted. So now many LCD splicing companies have adopted the unique narrow edge design of the DID LCD screen. The minimum splicing gap is only a few millimeters, and it can completely guarantee the complete presentation of the picture. There should be some new patchwork techniques in the future, but patches will not be too small in a short time. Because of the shrinking seams, we must also consider the stability of the product. If you leave the product performance aside, the patchwork seam can certainly be made smaller, but after all, the product will involve application and installation. If the patchwork is too narrow to bear the weight of the product, it will cause problems such as light leakage and affect the use.

DID is Samsung's LCD screen technology, in fact, in addition to the Samsung DID LCD screen, the manufacturers with upstream screen resources such as LG, Sharp are also very optimistic about the prospects of LCD splicing, have in recent years have launched their own technology splicing screen, such as LG The IPS panel splicing screen introduced has the functions and advantages such as LED backlight, Shine-out, and narrow seams. Compared with Samsung's DID ultra-narrow edge LCD splicing system, it is not weak at all.

LCD LCD splicing development opportunities and bottlenecks

opportunity

In recent years, with the domestic investment in basic industrial construction such as energy and transportation, and the continuous advancement of industrial automation and informatization, the demand for large-screen splicing industrialization applications has steadily increased, and large-screen splicing needs for applications such as surveillance, command and dispatch, and video conferencing have increased. Explosive growth. From the application perspective, many domestic industries have entered the era of LCD. Because liquid crystal display is a fairly mature technology in the electronics market, compared to the traditional large-screen splicing technology, the application level, technology application, and public awareness have unique advantages, so the market development can only be so rapid.

For the opportunities encountered in the development of LCD liquid crystal splicing systems, Cheng Yueyu, manager of display and storage products at Tianjin Tiandi Weiye Digital Technology Co., Ltd. stated: “With the arrival of the high-definition era, the display technology will surely turn toward the large-scale construction of domestic smart cities and safe cities. LCD digital image processing, traditional CRT analog display technology will gradually be replaced by liquid crystal."

bottleneck

Although the LCD splicing system has satisfactory figures in terms of market size and annual growth rate, there are two main reasons that hinder the development of the LCD splicing system. One is the market chaos competition; the other is the technical defects of LCD splicing itself.

At present, the core panel technology of the LCD splicing system is mastered by panel makers such as Samsung, SHARP and LG. Most manufacturers only do machine integration and engineering services. Of these, 70% of the profits were taken by panel makers. Therefore, some large-screen manufacturers can only take advantage of prices when facing such companies as Samsung, SHARP and LG.

Furthermore, the low threshold of LCD splicing and the excessive number of participants have led to vicious competition and the appearance of mixed quality has caused the industry to be in a mixed-fighting stage. According to statistics, there are about 1,000 participants in the large-screen splicing industry, and there are hundreds of them on the scale. The gap in strength between them is very different. This leads to the uneven quality of products, coupled with the lack of uniform standards for the industry, and many small and medium-sized enterprises. Businesses can't keep up with after-sales services, lack systemic application development, and poor implementation capabilities of solutions. The industry is very chaotic. For the chaos of the industry, Liu Haiyu, LCD product director of Vtronix Visual Technology Co., Ltd., said: “The competition of too many camps will inevitably bring about a new round of reshuffling. Finally, multiple manufacturers with core competitiveness will re-define the market share. ."

Another bottleneck in the development of LCD splicing is the patchwork problem of LCD splicing walls. Although the LCD splicing products are widely applicable to monitoring applications and information display applications in traffic management, command centers, control centers, police stations, buildings, subways, shopping malls, supermarkets, etc., the problem of overseam stitching has been the splicing of liquid crystals and other splicing. The weakness of technology competition. Even if a series of technologies such as high-performance network mosaic processing module design, border compensation, dynamic optimization, and anti-aliasing are integrated, the goal is nothing but to weaken the separation phenomenon between the seams and enhance the overall sense of the spliced ​​screen. Although Samsung has already patched the seams to 5.3mm, the stitched joints still fail to meet the true “seamless” patchwork requirements. Therefore, the liquid crystal splicing wall can not be completely seamless splicing is its most obvious flaw, is a bottleneck to hinder the development of liquid crystal splicing technology, and is also the main reason for the liquid crystal splicing wall can not completely overtake or even eliminate the DLP splicing wall.

Obviously, continuously shrinking the joints of the LCD splicing system, or even fully achieving "seamless" splicing, is the development direction of many LCD splicing system manufacturers.

Diversified technology becomes a prerequisite for actual application requirements

The ultra-thin, narrow-edge liquid crystal splicing wall has gradually exhibited diversified technical features, such as 3D, touch, full HD, and intelligent technologies. However, for some conceptual technologies, are there more gimmicks than actual application requirements?

LG Electronics (China) Co., Ltd. Senior Manager of Commercial Display Division Guo Wei optimistic about the diversification of LCD splicing technology development: "Diversified technology development is the inevitable trend of the development of LCD splicing products, LCD splicing wall technology after years of rapid development, It is becoming a mainstream product in the splicing market, targeting the smart city, the application trend of the Internet of Things, and the diversified needs of users, LCD splicing products have become a necessary solution by combining various new technologies to become a diversified solution, and can further enhance the application of products. The application scheme replaces the hardware as the main form of products and services, including touch and integrated applications.” Tang Xiangen, a technician at Samsung DID Technology also said: “Diversified technology development can bring a wide range of market applications and increase products. The scope of application and expansion of sales can further reduce costs, but diversification needs corresponding technical support, which will further polarize the market, and powerful companies will go a step further.”

“The diversification technology is a good thing, because it meets certain market-specific needs. But it's not that the new technology or function is as complete as possible. On the contrary, the more comprehensive the function is,” said Pei Peiquan, market manager of Sunny International Holdings Group Co., Ltd. One will affect the stability of the product, and even human error will occur during operation, and the second will affect the price of the product.For example, in some monitoring projects, there will be many users who will not be realistic about the camera. The function is proposed to be deleted. Therefore, the diversified technology of the large screen must be combined with the actual situation, and related technologies are developed for the needs of users."

I believe that the application of splicing large screens needs to look at the needs of the industry. It is also a security display. If it is not a screen displaying high-precision traffic maps, then the requirements for patchwork seams will be reduced. That is the 6.7mm and 5.3mm ultra-narrow edges that are currently cost-effective. LCD splicing is the perfect choice; some important port, airport, logistics platform, pure security display requirements, show a few fixed static screens a year, that LCD splicing big screen is irreplaceable products. For example, HD-SDI HD LCD monitors, 3D naked-eye LCD screens, touch interactive whiteboards and other products released by Taixiang before and after the 2011 Shenzhen Expo were all highly valued by the merchants. Some of these new product developments were technological innovations, and some were lead generations. Peers, and some are the market pioneers of popular path, only the real needs of the market can bring products from the sample room to the market application.

The main application fields of diversified technology development of LCD splicing large screens are information release, video surveillance, and command and dispatch. Excessive emphasis is placed on the requirements of display. Similar 3D, touch, and intelligent technology development has certain added value. Reflected, but the actual application is not ideal.

With the popularity of IPC network cameras and high-definition video surveillance gradually favored by the public, the system requires the resolution of the display terminal must reach a certain accuracy. Full HD is definitely the hard standard for the large screen market at the moment. At this stage, only LCD splicing can achieve full HD. Therefore, the LCD splicing system will develop with the development of high-definition.

3D technology is currently showing little value due to the source or image source acquisition equipment. At present, large screens generally support refresh rates above 120 Hz. In principle, 3D can be achieved, but the actual display effect is scarce. The touch technology is only suitable for single screens, because the liquid crystal splicing is generally high in height and large in size, and it is difficult to implement touch applications. Intelligentization is definitely a future trend. There are few specific applications currently, and many back-office equipments are needed.

User demand-oriented system design, simplification, user-friendly operation, opening up to the user's system construction and application function redesign are the technological development directions that large screen companies need to consider. For the field of security video surveillance, the product display effect is the core demand. From the product level alone, higher display parameters and better display results are the trend of technological development. From the perspective of display solutions, if information requirements for user information in the industry are tapped, the information that customers need to see on the LCD splicing screen in a timely manner may be a focus of future industry development.

Big screen manufacturers' brand development is the mainstream

At present, the main technologies of domestic ultra-narrow-slice LCD splicing systems are concentrated in the hands of foreign manufacturers. As a result, domestic assembly machines flood the market and the homogeneity of products is serious. Under such circumstances, how to grasp their own brand positioning in order to achieve brand The value and the development of market channels that have their own advantages are currently the mainstream development direction for large screen manufacturers.

Homogenization may occur in all highly competitive industries. The homogeneity of the liquid crystal splicing industry is mainly the homogeneity of the LCD panels, but the homogeneity of the panels is not the same as the homogeneity of the splicing system. In fact, due to the level of technology, Quality control and other manufacturing differences in manufacturing levels, LCD splicing market products in the quality, there is a big difference, with the advantages of upstream panel resources and a long period of display production experience of the manufacturers of product quality is more trustworthy.

According to Tang Xiangen, a technician from Samsung DID's technical department, “The large-scale investment in the production line of LCD panels with a size of 46 inches or more requires huge capital investment. The cost of R&D is even greater. There are not many manufacturers in the world, and this market has been over-invested in China; Powerful companies do not need to build LCD panel production lines themselves. They can deepen the development of their own image processor chips, similar to Apple's mobile phones, and even if many hardware products such as screens are not produced by themselves, they can also make high-quality products.”

The development of market channels needs to be combined with the characteristics of the manufacturers themselves. The ultimate goal is to realize the mutual win-win of the manufacturers and the channels, and to provide better products, more convenient channels and more thoughtful services for the majority of engineering companies and customers. For example, in 2011, LG and Dehao jointly promote the marketing of large-screen splicing products. LG has the advantages of a complete industrial chain, superior product advantages and brand advantages. Dehao has a wealth of channels and customer resources, and industry-leading solutions. And many years of successful engineering case experience can achieve resource optimization and complementarity.

At present, the scramble of the liquid crystal splicing industry makes the quality of the products in the market uneven. Many small and medium-sized enterprises cannot keep up with the after-sales service, lack systemic application development, and have poor realization of the solution, making customers face greater difficulties in selecting products. Risk; In addition, the vicious price competition makes the overall industry in a state of low profit or negative profit, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the LCD industry as a whole. But fierce market competition will cause those companies that value brands, technologies, products, and channels to gradually grow. In the future LCD splicing market, those who have the advantages of a complete industrial chain, continuous technological innovation, strong overall service capabilities, and custom solution customization capabilities Strong manufacturers will eventually become winners.

The realization of brand positioning and value takes a long time to see the effect. Market-based segmentation can be used to delineate its market scope and increase the added value of its own brand. In fact, the large-screen splicing system has now become a branded development trend, and the industry threshold is gradually increasing. Large-screen companies want to become bigger and stronger, and stand out in the fierce competition. The development of branding is the only one that can go. road.