From Matt Brennesholtz…

We saw an early version at CES, and a later version at a Vizio press event in New York in June. But on Tuesday in Taiwan, Amtran Technology, the Vizio affiliate that makes Vizio-branded TVs, unveiled a production version of the 55-inch LCD-TV with direct white LED backlighting.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor

Vizio intends to ship two to three million LED-lit LCD-TVs in 2010, said Amtran chairman Alpha Wu. Remarkably, that would be 20-30% of Vizio’s total shipments in 2010, industry sources told Digitimes’ Siu Han and Yvonne Yu. That’s for all of Vizio’s LED-lit TVs, both direct-lit and edge-lit. The 55-inch will be shipped at a rate of roughly 10k units per month total to the North American and Taiwanese markets, Wu said.

This isn’t new, but it’s worth recapping (as Wu did in Taiwan) that the 55-inch uses an LG Display panel that features direct backlighting with of 960 white LEDs. The frame refresh is 240Hz, and the set has a claimed [dynamic] contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.

Wu said the price of the 55-inch LED TV will be under US$2,200 in the US market. Previously, the price goal had been stated as $1999.99. Interestingly, the price in Taiwan is targeted at NT$119,000 (US$3,640), but promotional pricing could be 20% less, said Wu. The US price is about half that of LED-lit TVs currently for sale in the North American market. Wu didn’t say so, but most of those units are made by Samsung.

A 47-inch direct-LED-lit model will be introduced to the US market at the end of 2009, Wu said, and Vizio plans to launch a full line of LED-lit TVs in 2Q’10 with sizes ranging from 22 to 55. Models with small to medium screen sizes will use edge-lighting, he said, which is consistent with what we were hearing as far back as CES.

The BLU used in the 55-inch costs 20 to 30% more than a CCFL BLU, Wu said; he expects price difference to drop to less than 20% in 2010. The BLU price difference for small- to medium-size TVs will be less than 10% in two years, and LED backlighting will start taking over that market, he said.

Vizio was the LCD-TV US market leader in 2Q’09, and their predictions of sales and introductions have proven reliable over the last few years. With the company pushing the price of TVs with LED backlighting down so aggressively, there is likely to be an "LED TV" in your future sooner than many industry-watchers would have guessed even a year or so ago.