Audio Video News

Direct-view sets have supplanted plasmas as the second most popular television category in North America, according to DisplaySearch sales figures quoted by The New York Times.

The surprise occurred in the first quarter of this year. DisplaySearch attributed the strength of direct-view to two factors. Price sensitivity was one. The other, perhaps more interestingly, was the rush among analog-TV owners to buy digital sets before analog broadcasting ceases next February.

Apparently these antenna-dependent analog consumers aren't interesting in the form-factor revolution of flat panels--they're settling for digital versions of their familiar tube TVs, despite the fact that direct-views can't display all the resolution in 1080-anything. On the plus side, tube TVs do deliver superior black level.

While direct-view TVs are thin on the ground at most electronics stores, you can still find them at Wal-Mart. And they still narrowly outsell LCD sets worldwide.