Call for LCD Size Standards

By Rob Hughes

Geek.com, December 18, 2000 - With the great expense of building fifth-generation LCD factories, the call is going out once again for LCD manufacturers to standardize on LCD screen sizes. So far, even in fourth-generation LCD plants that are just barely online, LCD sizes are still not standard.

The LCD industry has seen some standardization occur in the form of electrical and mechanical standards for laptops. This standardization was driven by the Standard Panel Working Group (SPWG), which was in turn driven by the need for the mobile PC industry to have more interchangeable parts.

The new fifth-generation LCD plants will feature one meter motherglass, which will be used to build LCD screens ranging up to 30 inches in size, and possibly a bit larger. The large LCD screens may be targeted primarily at the TV market, making the SPWG the wrong body to conceive of new LCD size standards.

ROB'S OPINION

At this point, there appears to be little hope for standardization of LCD screen sizes in the near future. This is a bad thing for consumers, as it will keep prices high on large LCD panels. Different manufacturers will not be competing directly, but will probably each try to reach different market segments where they can charge high prices for low volumes of LCD screens. For the manufacturers, this may seem like the best way to pull profit out of their expensive LCD factories.

This almost goes back to the days when people would hand manufacture parts for equipment instead of mass producing interchangeable parts. However, it is a bit different because there will be mass production within a specific factory. One company may sign a contract with a large television company to produce 30" LCD panels, and another company will sign with someone else to produce 28" panels. It's a free for all, as the large panels are still very new technology. So far it hasn't paid to follow a standard, but the cost to consumers is expensive LCD screens. I still think LCD technology is too fragile and expensive to replace CRTs anytime soon or even in the future. It's almost as if we're all just waiting for the next technology that will be better and cost less to produce. Here I sit and wait.