Las Vegas, Nevada - For media people and analysts, the opening gun of the Consumer Electronics Show is CES Unveiled, a show-before-the-show in which exhibitors show their wares in table-top style to the press. The format enables a (usually) more relaxed and more in-depth conversation about company plans and products than is possible on the huge and hectic floor at CES proper. (It should be said that, in addition to this CES-sponsored media-only show, there will be independent versions on the following two nights sponsored by Pepcom and Showstoppers.)

The assembled were paying particular attention to a flying-saucer-like hovercraft from Parrot that is being presented as an open platform so software developers will be encouraged to develop games and other applications for it; the "popbox," a $130 set-top box for streaming, downloading, and sharing media to your HDTV set. The other item of interest was a cell-phone-sized radar detector from Pocket Radar for measuring the speed of fast balls, stock cars, and runners.

But from a display and display-centric-product perspective, there wasn’t much to learn at CES Unveiled, with one exception. That exception was Hannspree, the TV- and monitor-making subsidiary of panel-maker Hannstar. Hannspree made a name for itself by producing TV sets in novel cabinets (basketballs, tomatoes, fuzzy animals, licensed characters), which were often beautifully (and expensively) made, and sold in part through company design stores. Whether the company ever made money doing this - even before the economic bubble burst - is questionable. But with that history, where can the company possibly go following the Great Recession?

The answer, according to Bryan Phann, Manager of Product Management for Hannspree North America, is mainstream HDTVs. The company’s CEO, said Phann, expects the company to sell at least 600,000 LCD-TVs in North American in 2010. The company’s strategy is high quality with lower prices than, say, Vizio, while expanding into large screen sizes, up to 55 inches. In short, for its mainstream products Hannspree wants to out-Vizio Vizio. Phann mentioned that in 2009, when this new strategy was initiated, the company sold well through a leading North American retailer, and it is having productive conversations with big box retailers now.

Hannspree is obtaining it’s large panels from LG Display (as does Vizio), with smaller panels coming from Innolux and Hannstar. Phann tried to convince me that Hannspree will be able to obtain large panels from LGD on more favorable terms than Vizio can, despite the fact that Vizio is buying much greater quantities. His argument rested on the relationship Hannstar has with LG. LG buys medium-sized panels from Hannstar and, as Bob Raikes of Meko Ltd. reminded me, LG has a modest investment in Hannstar.

In an era when leading brands are consolidating more and more market share, and are trying hard to break the bonds of commoditization, is there room for a new commodity supplier of LCD-TVs? We will soon see. But whether Hannspree succeeds or fails with mainstream TVs, there is a rich irony in seeing a company that brilliantly differentiated its TV products (whether or not it made money doing so) now entering the commodity wars.