The battle for the living room is fierce, and the laser TV is just on the road

Following the 618 price war, the laser TV industry, which had been quiet for several months, returned to the spotlight of the public. On October 15th, Nuts announced the completion of 600 million yuan in round D financing, led by Ali, with Junsheng Investment, Sanze Investment, Panshi Capital, Guangfa Xinde, Beijing Dongzi and other co-investors.

In connection with the fact that laser TVs have dropped to the "10,000 yuan level" in the first half of the year, in just two years, laser TVs, a high-end product that is still a little unfamiliar in the eyes of users, have become more and more "grounded." Mainstream manufacturers such as Nuts, Hisense, Changhong, XGIMI, Ailowe, Optoma and other brands have become consumers’ attention brands. Behind the thriving, the industry’s "living room dream" has been portrayed more and more beautifully. The story of laser TV It's getting more and more anticipated.

Consumption upgrade, forcing display technology innovation

At present, the Chinese TV industry is ushering in a new wave of consumption upgrades, and many manufacturers are also targeting this opportunity. In 2016, JMGO launched the JMGO S1 and S1Pro laser TVs, and sold more than 2,200 units in a single day during the "Double 11" harvest. XGIMI also launched laser TVs in 2017. The relevant person in charge also stated that from consumption In terms of upgrading, laser TV is the first choice for the upgrade of the living room entertainment center; Hisense has upgraded the laser TV 3 times within 4 years. Behind the active layout of manufacturers is the rise of the middle class, and people have higher requirements for product quality and lifestyle.

First of all, large screens have become the mainstream trend of user demand changes. Consumers are more willing to buy TVs with a larger area when their consumption capacity permits. From 2005 to 2017, the mainstream size of TVs increased from 32 inches to 65 inches. Studies have shown that by 2020, 80 inches or more will become people's first choice for TV consumption.

This is because large-size TVs can not only achieve home theater-level viewing effects, but also serve as an important entrance to the home Internet. The value of the large screen will be further released in functions such as home audio-visual entertainment, news information, online shopping and even social interaction. JMGO U1 fully demonstrates the value of its large screen-emphasizing the ultimate 4K resolution, color and brightness performance on the hardware, equipped with JMGO OS 3.0 on the software, built-in film and television resources such as iQiyi, Mango TV, BesTV, etc. Created a large-screen living room entertainment scene. Obviously, large-screen laser TVs will be the development direction of future TVs. Nuts chose Ali and XGIMI to team up with Baidu, all to meet the wave of laser TVs.

Secondly, when the TV screen becomes large, consumers will also consider the health of viewing. Generally speaking, an excessively large screen will cause the eyes to receive a higher intensity of optical energy, which in turn will cause faster fatigue. When people watch LCD TVs, because they see a large area of ​​direct light, the brightness is too high and dense, and the eyes are very susceptible to strong stimulation.

In a test jointly conducted by the Saixi Laboratory of the China Electronics Standardization Institute and Peking Union Medical College Hospital's ophthalmologists, the laser TV has been certified for its eye-protection function. This is because the light source of the laser TV is located in the laser light machine. After the light machine emits light, it first shoots to the wall or the curtain, and then reflects to the human eyes, so that the human eye is in contact with the light that is at least doubled, and the eyes are hurt. Naturally, it has also become smaller.

Finally, the user's consideration of viewing health will also extend to the comfort of the viewing distance. For large-size TVs, users need to consider whether there is enough space to maintain an optimal viewing distance range. Analyzed from the comfort of viewing distance, 55-inch LCD TVs are best viewed at a distance of 3.5m, while 80-inch products need to be viewed at a distance of 6m, which is difficult for many ordinary families to achieve.

Of course, different display technologies require different viewing distances. For example, 55-75-inch OLED TVs require more than 20% less viewing distance than LCDs. The advantages of laser TVs are even more obvious. The use of reflective optical lasers The minimum viewing distance of TV is 1/4 smaller than that of OLED TV.

From the perspective of the best viewing level, the American Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers believes that the 30-degree viewing angle is the most appropriate, while the traditional Chinese family living room is generally in the range of 3.5 to 4.5m. The best viewing size is calculated based on the 30-degree angle, and the product size Can be expanded to the range of 90-105 inches. And this range happens to be what laser TV can do.

In the living room battle, the laser TV is just on the road

In the context of consumption upgrades, the blue ocean of laser TVs is clearly visible. However, when many manufacturers played the banner of seizing the living room and replacing traditional TVs, the industry was far less optimistic than everyone imagined. The story-telling stage has passed. Moore's Law determines that the laser TV industry needs a technological innovation, but it is not. It's just the innovation of the underlying technology.

In terms of core technology, domestic laser TVs have been "choked" by overseas. Japan, Germany and other countries have the core technology of laser TV, such as the high-power light bulb in the laser TV display solution. Its main manufacturer is in Germany. Another core technology, the lens in the ultra-short throw projection structure, is also an exclusive patent of Japan Ricoh. technology. Many key domestic components, such as optical machines, need to be imported, and the price of domestic laser TVs is generally higher. This is also because the price of imported parts is higher. Even if domestic manufacturers are willing to use domestic lenses for "self-decreasing accuracy", they still have to hand in a copy. Patent fees.

Therefore, independent research and development is particularly important. This time, the nut invested by Ali has completely mastered the two core components of laser TV, and took the lead in realizing the completely independent design, research and development and production of laser TV optics and lenses, breaking the foreign Technology monopoly, and at the same time, performance and other aspects are not inferior to foreign imported products, and Hu Zhenyu, the founder of Nuts, publicly stated that this round of financing will continue to increase R&D investment, and the next goal is to gnaw the hard bones of screens. Hu Zhenyu believes that the screen technology will definitely be broken. The screen must be given away for free in the future and should not be sold as a separate accessory. Presumably, the price of laser TVs will have a huge breakthrough in the past two years.

The AI ​​of laser TV is still pseudo AI. On the one hand, the voice interaction of laser TVs is mostly designed around the "remote control", which does not make the operation of the TV easier. On the other hand, the basic recommendation of content based on big data is essentially just by setting up multiple family accounts. Multi-directional push can't really be a thousand people. What is gratifying is that not only laser TVs, but the entire TV industry has seen this problem more clearly, hoping to further innovate the AI ​​technology on TVs to make TVs more understandable.

Before discussing prices, "cognition" is more important than "marketing"

On the occasion of Double Eleven, Hisense’s 80-inch L5 4K laser TV pre-sale price has been pulled to 21999 yuan, and the nut has achieved a price of 8999 yuan for the 4K laser TV U1 by virtue of its technical advantages.

Obviously, in order to maximize consumer demand for laser TVs, price wars are still the theme of manufacturers. However, regardless of the outcome of the battle, the price war can only make more consumers' impressions of laser TVs stay on the vague application scenarios and obscure parameters, which instead limits consumers' imagination. Moreover, the price of the entire industry will not drop off a cliff in a short period of time. Therefore, rather than cutting prices crazy, manufacturers should still seek other channels to open the market.

From the above, we can also infer that the first way for manufacturers must be to get rid of their dependence on overseas core technologies. The innovation and localization of the core technology of laser TV must be the general direction of the industry's development, because this approach can not only reduce hardware costs, but also establish a sense of identity for the products of the Chinese people. At present, domestic optical manufacturers and scientific research institutions have tried to make changes in this regard, such as changing the short-focus projection method, or independently researching and developing new technologies and hardware, in order to avoid overseas patent restrictions on core technologies. For example, the nut has mastered its own independence. The two core technologies of optical machine and lens, this technical advantage has also brought benefits to it, achieving a price that is difficult to achieve in the industry, so that 1,200 units can be sold within 1 minute of the first launch, creating a market in the laser TV field. Spectacle.

In addition, building product experience channels in offline physical stores is also an effective way for manufacturers to open up the market. Only by carefully nurturing the user's usage habits and taking into account both online and offline accurately and specifically, can consumers' cognition be gradually and steadily established. In order to realize the highest consumer recognition of the product, consumers must have an intuitive and concrete experience of the product, so that they can truly enter the public's field of vision. In this process, offline experience becomes a key part.

This is also the practice of LCD TVs entering the market a few years ago. At present, many manufacturers have sought cooperation from various parties online and offline, and then use the information obtained from offline scenarios to build a data ecosystem to expand more application markets. Realize a virtuous circle in which the market promotes changes in the industrial chain, thereby reducing costs. For example, Nuts has over 1,000 offline stores, and Hisense launched a free trial plan in September and October this year. Obviously, these manufacturers are committed to creating a place where users can experience offline perception and experience the advantages of the product. Consumers really understand, contact and recognize laser TVs.

Finally, manufacturers still have to accumulate technological advantages and think about how to build brand differentiation in customer perception. It is a good choice to use single product linkage to form the advantage of the brand. For example, Apple uses iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to achieve full coverage of the product line, thereby forming a linkage effect.

In the field of laser TV, JMGO has released more than 30 products, including laser TV, home smart micro-projector, mobile portable projection, office business projection, etc. Traditional home appliance manufacturers such as Hisense and Changhong have also adjusted their product structure. This product has undergone a technical upgrade. The brand effect brought about by the linkage of single products makes these manufacturers easily become the first or preferred brands for customers to consume the category.

in conclusion

In the context of consumption upgrades, technological changes are profoundly affecting all walks of life, as is the television industry. Since the development of TV, from black and white to color, from small to large, from thick to thin, from traditional cable TV to Internet TV, consumer demand has driven the accelerated development of TV display technology, and in the process of development, it is inevitable that bottlenecks will be encountered . Laser TV is now at an inflection point from the marketing logic to the product logic. In this change, it is not difficult to predict the path of using technology to "counterattack" the pain points of the industry.