U.S LCD market sucks!

[Deadtrees]

Considering Korea is the home country of top two pannel makers (Samsung, LG) in the world, it's somewhat understandable why they've got more selections of monitors. That would be the only logic I can think of but I know it isn't the case; the U.S market is quite attractive and international companies are dying hard to capture it. Because of that along with other reasons, same stuff from Samsung and LG sometimes cost more in Korea than U.S.

Now, enter the LCD market and it's a different story. Not only U.S market is more limited but also it's more expensive. Think about a monitor like this:

- 24" S-IPS pannel.
- Built in HDTV tunner.
- Built in Speakers.
- Input : D-Sub, HDMI, DVI, S-VHS, Component, Composite, RF Antenna, PC speaker, S/DIF
- PIP (Picture in Picture)
- Remote Controller
- HDCP

How much is it? Only US $620. You don't like it because of it being S-IPS? S-PVA version is available. Do you want TN pannel version of it? Yes, it's availalbe, too.
How about the quality? Koreans are known to be the pickest consumers in the world when it comes down to electronics and if there's a problem, it's out of the market because the competition is too tight.

How about competition? Searching for 24" x-IPS pannel monitors give me 24 results in Korea, price being $350 ~ $620. All those monitors are specialized in different aspects minimzing the pain of giving up some features in favor of other features or paying extra for the features you don't want. You can really pick the one you want.
How about in U.S? You know the numbers and how it is.

How about 24" monitors including all the type of pannels? 163. Now, that's the competition. The competition users can benefit from. Why isn't it here in U.S when the market is so much bigger.
Why aren't there many 3rd-party LCD makers who specializes in making quality monitors like in Korea? Does anyone have any clues?


Update:
Below link is the price search site of LCD monitors in Korea.

http://pc.danawa.com/price.htm...AY&cate1=861&cate2=883
Though it's in Korean, most of terms are in English.
There're scroll down menus to narrow your search results. They're also all in Korean but once you click 'em, you will mostly know what they're about.

 

[pcslookout]

Deadtrees interesting is there anyway to buy a monitor from the US in Korea online and have it shipped ? Would the shipping be worth the price?

 

[waffleironhead]

http://www.pricewatch.com/monitors/

boy that sure looks like a lot of different options to me.

Maybe there are the same amount of options you are just too bigoted to see them?

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
http://www.pricewatch.com/monitors/

boy that sure looks like a lot of different options to me.

Maybe there are the same amount of options you are just too bigoted to see them?

LOL, i wouldn't have thought so until I read the "Koreans are known to be the pickest consumers in the world when it comes down to electronics" part. After that it sounded like propaganda, true or not.

 

[dv8silencer]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees

How about in U.S? You know the numbers and how it is.

No, please tell me.

 

[slick2500]

Am I the only person who doesn't understand what he was talking about?

 

[BassBomb]

I think hes in the wrong country

 

[allies]

I actually agree with Deadtrees. I spent a semester abroad in Korea and the amount of electronics available far surpass US. Also, Koreans tend to be VERY materialistic (not always a good thing) but still quality is expected to be top notch. I didn't really try to find monitors though while I was there, so I don't know how things match up for sure.

I do notice that there are a lot of Americans who get their panties all twisted when there is any negativeness towards our country... freaking open your eyes! (more for P&N)

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: m0mentary

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
http://www.pricewatch.com/monitors/

boy that sure looks like a lot of different options to me.

Maybe there are the same amount of options you are just too bigoted to see them?

LOL, i wouldn't have thought so until I read the "Koreans are known to be the pickest consumers in the world when it comes down to electronics" part. After that it sounded like propaganda, true or not.

Propaganda over LCD monitors?

Korea is known as test-bed of electronics. Manufactures that are not from Korea have been releasing products prior to the international launch to see how it works out. Nikon, for instance, had to come up with a free gift for those who bought one of their cameras a when the international community were happy with the product. It was critical problem that wasn't easy to find but in Korea it was found within a day.

One of the reasons why Koreans are picky is because it's damn hard to return a product not like in U.S. Once you buy something, you pretty much have to stick with it if you want to avoid the hassle of returning or getting refund of the item. The
other important factor is that Koreans like to compare everything. When Koreans meet each other, it's common to ask all the personal and private stuffs. Why? To compare. That's just how things work over there. Since they were young, they get compared to the other children in the school. School mark isn't about your absolute grade but how you performed against others. The idea of comparing everything is just the nature of Koreans.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
I think hes in the wrong country

Yes, I'm in the wrong country when it comes to buying a decent 24+" IPS monitor. And you know what? I'm in Canada to make this matter even worse.
For buying LCD, U.S sucks and Canada is even worse. I really am in the wrong country for that matter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
http://www.pricewatch.com/monitors/

boy that sure looks like a lot of different options to me.

Maybe there are the same amount of options you are just too bigoted to see them?

Your provided search result on 24" Wide screen monitor. 14.
In Korea. 163.

Not only it's more than 10 times less, the options they provide is pretty much nothing compared to Koreans'.
BTW, those options you see on pricewatch monitor section, do you really think of them as 'different options'?

 

[Martimus]

I'd have to agree with you. Finding an IPS monitor is a pain in the butt. It is cool that somewhere has better choices though; that gives me hope that the choices will eventually spill over here.

 

[taltamir]

at least it is not europe... where the numerical price of things is the same as the dollar price, but the cost of conversion is ignored... (aka, GTX280 600$ here, 600 EUR there... but 600 EUR is 980$)

 

[ther00kie16]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees

Originally posted by: m0mentary

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
http://www.pricewatch.com/monitors/

boy that sure looks like a lot of different options to me.

Maybe there are the same amount of options you are just too bigoted to see them?

LOL, i wouldn't have thought so until I read the "Koreans are known to be the pickest consumers in the world when it comes down to electronics" part. After that it sounded like propaganda, true or not.

Propaganda over LCD monitors?

Korea is known as test-bed of electronics. Manufactures that are not from Korea have been releasing products prior to the international launch to see how it works out. Nikon, for instance, had to come up with a free gift for those who bought one of their cameras a when the international community were happy with the product. It was critical problem that wasn't easy to find but in Korea it was found within a day.

One of the reasons why Koreans are picky is because it's damn hard to return a product not like in U.S. Once you buy something, you pretty much have to stick with it if you want to avoid the hassle of returning or getting refund of the item. The
other important factor is that Koreans like to compare everything. When Koreans meet each other, it's common to ask all the personal and private stuffs. Why? To compare. That's just how things work over there. Since they were young, they get compared to the other children in the school. School mark isn't about your absolute grade but how you performed against others. The idea of comparing everything is just the nature of Koreans.

What you said is true for many Asian countries, not just Korea. So it'd be less offending (to some) if you said the Asian market is much more varied, because it is.
For example, everyone knows that Asia has better cell phones than the US. Also, most computer technology doesn't originate in Korea so the other Asian countries get a good dose of early releases and competitive market as well.

 

[taltamir]

aside from the absurdity of calling something like that offending... how exactly is it less offending to group "all those asians" together instead of recognizing there are distinct people? do they all look the same to you?

Politically correct is stupid without being taken to such extremes.

 

[Serradifalco]

Where is the Moderator? This thread should be locked. Not only is it uninformative but it also racist and condescending. This type of discussion had no place in these forums. Enough said!

 

[taltamir]

The term would be ethnicist or bigot. last I checked "korea" wasn't a race.
And "LCDs are cheap in korea" was not a bigoted remark.

i bet you the OP is korean and not a single person calling him racist is.

And it isn't any less informative then most threads around here.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: Serradifalco
Where is the Moderator? This thread should be locked. Not only is it uninformative but it also racist and condescending. This type of discussion had no place in these forums. Enough said!

Originally posted by: taltamir
The term would be ethnicist or bigot. last I checked "korea" wasn't a race.
And "LCDs are cheap in korea" was not a bigoted remark.

i bet you the OP is korean and not a single person calling him racist is.

And it isn't any less informative then most threads around here.

Yup, I am Korean who lived in U.S and now living in Canada.
Thank for saying what I wanted to say. I have no clue why he thinks of me as racist and my thread is uninformative.
I compared the market, gave out examples. I let people know that there should be more choices than we currently do.
How's that uninformative?

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: taltamir
The term would be ethnicist or bigot. last I checked "korea" wasn't a race.
And "LCDs are cheap in korea" was not a bigoted remark.

i bet you the OP is korean and not a single person calling him racist is.

And it isn't any less informative then most threads around here.

I agree whoever is raising the patriotism and claiming this is bigoted is just a jingoist idiot.

i mean its fairly well known that for a lot of things we have the worst selection of stuff.


case in point electronics. electronics there is generally a better selection of in asia. i suppose the thinking is americans will not pay for the specialty stuff.

i mean thats why TN lcds are all over the place here, and in europe IPS and pva displays are easier to find, as america is all about price. its not worth it to these companies to put out 5000 skus that we wont even buy.



look at the car market. in europe and japan there is a much better selection of premium small cars, or hatchbacks. here they do not bring all the variations because it costs too much or americans will not pay $25k for say a premium hatchback (like say a mercedes B class , which is in reality a total ripoff but thats besides the point).


i guess the lesson here, is americans dont care as much about super high quality goods and will not pay extra for the quality. that isnt necesarily a bad thing. we are value concious maybe, i mean people wont buy a $700 24" monitor if they can get a worse quality TN one for $300. (sucks for us enthusiasts) , but that is not bigoted. "americans wont pay for premium stuff" is not really an offensive statement imho.

 

[pmv]

I'm completely baffled as to how anyone can find this discussion 'racist'.

I don't know if the original post is factually correct or not, but _obviously_ some countries have markets that function in different ways to others. I agree with the poster who points out that the US is way ahead of Europe in that. Everything seems to get priced in the UK on the basis of a £1=$1 exchange rate. What's exasperating is that the government actively intervenes to keep this situation going, e.g. when a supermarket started flying jeans in from the US, if I remember correctly buying them _retail_ there, and then reselling them here and _still_ undercutting the local price, the government stepped in to stop them doing it, as they were interfering with the jean manufacturer's right to price-gouge the British consumer.

We keep being told its because the Americans are much more ruthless in looking for bargains, while the British are happy to get ripped off, apparently. Allegedly the Brit consumer wants high-cost 'status' goods. I suppose there are both good and bad sides to that, as hans007 points out.

 

[mmnno]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
http://www.pricewatch.com/monitors/

boy that sure looks like a lot of different options to me.

Maybe there are the same amount of options you are just too bigoted to see them?

Maybe you don't know what the hell you're talking about? This guy is pretty brash but he's spot on about the pathetic availability of decent monitors in the US. And the reason for the horrible market here is the near-99% technological illiteracy of buyers. So if Korea has better choices it's probably because consumers there actually know there are choices to be made.

FYI the monitor he described in the OP is literally impossible to find in the US. You won't find it on pricewatch. There is exactly one monitor in the US that is sort of close, except it's missing everything but a DVI port. And you certainly won't find the same model available with a different panel...without a lottery.

 

[Serradifalco]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees

Originally posted by: Serradifalco
Where is the Moderator? This thread should be locked. Not only is it uninformative but it also racist and condescending. This type of discussion had no place in these forums. Enough said!

Originally posted by: taltamir
The term would be ethnicist or bigot. last I checked "korea" wasn't a race.
And "LCDs are cheap in korea" was not a bigoted remark.

i bet you the OP is korean and not a single person calling him racist is.

And it isn't any less informative then most threads around here.

Yup, I am Korean who lived in U.S and now living in Canada.
Thank for saying what I wanted to say. I have no clue why he thinks of me as racist and my thread is uninformative.
I compared the market, gave out examples. I let people know that there should be more choices than we currently do.
How's that uninformative?

Ok let me explain myself. First of all, I meant people are displaying racism against Asians. My wife is Asian. Secondly, this has become a non-technical discussion. You can't blame me for asking the Mod to lock this.

 

[BenSkywalker]

How about the quality? Koreans are known to be the pickest consumers in the world when it comes down to electronics and if there's a problem, it's out of the market because the competition is too tight.

Kind of curious why you didn't list something that had quality instead of features if this was an honest point? No LED backlight? I guess if you are in to low quality junk with a lot of checkboxes that monitor is probably pretty good, it may even be better then some of the horrid crap TN panels out there, but seriously- an FM tuner on a monitor as a feature.... Let me know when it comes with an 8 track player

 

[God Mode]

So either move to Korea or start a business importing these products into the US. Technology and such takes a backseat compared to price for an average American.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Serradifalco
Ok let me explain myself. First of all, I meant people are displaying racism against Asians. My wife is Asian. Secondly, this has become a non-technical discussion. You can't blame me for asking the Mod to lock this.

I'll allow it as long as the thread continues to have something to do with technology, but we will be watching with our finest electron microscope.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Serradifalco
Ok let me explain myself. First of all, I meant people are displaying racism against Asians. My wife is Asian. Secondly, this has become a non-technical discussion. You can't blame me for asking the Mod to lock this.

I'll allow it as long as the thread continues to have something to do with technology, but we will be watching with our finest electron microscope.

I would hope you would. The comments asking to lock the thread sound bigotted to me, and it actually offends me that someone would be so brash as to ask to close such a thread, and I rarely get offended (I can't remember the last time I did.) So people in Korea are more likely to understand the differences between LCD monitors than people here because they produce most of them there. So what, the same goes for people here in Detroit, who generally know more about cars than the people elsewhere, because most of us have worked for the automotive industry or have close ties with people who do. It is simple and logical, and I see no reason someone would attack the original poster for showing this obvious observation. Please stop attacking this person, or I am sure the mods will be forced to make you.

I am interested in this situation, and I could see a business opportunity by importing quality LCD's from Korea and reselling them here since the quality LCD market is so light here. If I can see that opportunity, someone else might who is more likely to act on it and maybe the US consumer will have a new option to buy quality LCD monitors.