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LCD makers probed for pricefixing

arstechnica.com — LCD makers are somewhat alarmed that LCD prices are falling faster than expected, but were they so alarmed that they decided to pricefix their products to combat it?

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 13, 2006

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  • ZenMojo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Imagine how much they would cost now if they didn't collude to keep them high?

    Think of it this way. Your HDTV might be 600 dollars by now if these companies hadn't kept them at $1000.
  • cr125er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Come on, they gotta price fix.

    I mean for *****'s sake, it's a LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY.

    That sounds expensive. Price fix-worthy expensive.

    I mean liquid is only a couple bucks a gallon, but crystal? Get the ***** outta dodge. Crystals are like gold. If I had a crystal for every time I heard about a price fix story that unfairly made a manufacturer look like a money whore, well, I'd have an LCD.
  • Railer, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21In ten years these products have dropped 20,000 for a LCD TV to less than 1000 now. Wow if this is price fixing they should really talk to the oil companies, those guys know what they are doing.
  • DeathBorn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12So THIS was what prevented me from buying a wall-size LCD for my evil lair! Blast you, LCD makers, BLAST YOU!
  • detrate, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12I hope that's a typo because it's a horrible joke
  • aacidusX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Olevia, Insignia, Westinghouse
  • carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8yep, because having so much of the earth being made of quartz crystal makes crystals hard to come by.
  • mattvilla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Those greedy bastards. Who's worse is Apple. About 2 years ago the 20" Cinema Displays sold for about 1200 and now they sell for 700. But a comparable Samsung monitor sells for 30% less for about 500 dollars.
  • colklink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Sounds more like the customers were the ones getting "probed".
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I want my $5 30", damnit!
  • Psych77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@trer You need to learn the definition of price fixing. This isn't about the manufacturers charging the most they can, it's about them keeping pricing artificially high by agreeing as a bloc as to what pricing to use. Normally competition would drive prices down. By agreeing on pricing between manufacturers they effectively stop competing on price.
  • cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Given the chance, _I_ would sell my LCD at the most competitive price I can handle, that way increasing my overall customer base and improving my reputation, which could influence success of future products, directly improve market share all in one go . All companies are out for a profit, mostly through fair trade rather than extortion. (well, ideally)
  • Y0tsuya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Since I'll be using the monitor for 5-7 years"

    You think 5-7 is long? I'm still using a 20" CRT I bought back in 1993. Watch it every night in the den when I get home. Yes I play games one it, and yes it looks perfectly OK to me. LCDs on the other hand, tend to fail in the timeframe you mentioned. I've gone through a few LCDs for my PCs. After a while they just plain don't work anymore.

    To think something will last 5-7 years so therefore you'll have to spend alot on it reflects sadly on the quality of these things.
  • JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Are there any manufacturers out there today that sell pixel perfect LCDs for a premium price? On top of that, has anyone encountered 19-21" LCDs that can display 1920x1080 resolutions or higher?
  • manageMyRights, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As a computer monitor the difference between 1920x1080 and 1680x1050 will be VERY obvious even at 19inches. I can certainly tell the difference on a laptop, even with a 17inch screen because you lose so much screen real-estate.
  • JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Westinghouse: http://www.westinghousedigital.com/category.aspx?prodcat=LCD+Monitors

    The best resolution I see there is 1680x1050.

    Olevia has 2 20" models that I can see. One is 800x600 and the other is here... http://www.olevia.com/jsp/products/otherModelspecs.jsp?pid=LT20HVK ... also 800x600. The rest seem to be huge TVs.

    I can't seem to find a central monitor page for Insignia so I have no idea.

    To clarify, by pixel perfect I mean the manufacturer will guarantee to have *no* dead pixels/pixels stuck on and charges a premium for this guarantee. Most manufacturers have policies such as "No more than X adjacent dead pixels or 10 dead pixels total" etc.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Depending on what brand you buy you can get decent deals on large display LCD screens. I got my Viewsonic 37" for 1000$US (with taxes) recently, and I know that now with holidays the holidays you could get a 32" LCD from MDG for 700$US if you are in luck.
  • lorensingley, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Damn you LCD makers. If not for your meddlin' pricefixing, I could be watching a 16:9 HD movie right now. Instead I am stuck with a TV that sends out a horrible 16kHz "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" when I turn it on, not to mention the static crackling when I turn it off.
  • JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Why do you want a 19" 1080p display? At that size, I dare you to tell a difference between 1080i and 1080p"

    I have nothing to lose (that I know of) by gaining resolution on a smaller display. I have a usage life for monitors of about 5-7 years, and because of that, It'll set me up for future video formats, future games, etc. I'm pretty sure the differences will be noticeable once an HD player can play 1080p natively instead of upconverting and compression artifacts aren't as big an issue. Since I'll be using the monitor for 5-7 years I'm willing to pay a premium for a perfect screen -- something which was a given with CRTs.
  • ScottMaximus1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Why do you want a 19" 1080p display? At that size, I dare you to tell a difference between 1080i and 1080p
  • motivr, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4I love my new LED display
  • mozartsgokart, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3vizio, hhahaa, might as well burn your money. I wouldn't be caught dead with that POS.
  • specv, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3$700 gets your a above average 37 inch 1080i LCD (vizio a private label samsung)

    cant complain about that price
  • kylehanks, on 10/12/2007, -12/+6There is nothing wrong with cheap LSD
  • trer, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0If it was YOU making the LCD TVs, you'd want to charge as much as possible.

    Why do people always whine when others take an advantage that they'd themselves would take if they had the same chance?

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