BANGKOK - With the production of cathode ray tube televisions expected to end as early as next year, Japanese manufacturers are hoping to get a leg up on South Korean rivals as customers replace aging TVs with liquid crystal displays in areas such as Southeast Asia and India, where CRT TVs remain popular.

Sharp Corp. stopped making CRT TVs in Indonesia at the end of November and is planning to wrap up its remaining production in the Philippines next spring, putting an end to CRT TV manufacturing by the company.

With two Indian companies converting to LCDs, shipments of CRT sets could hit zero by the end of 2015. CRT sets have retained popularity in areas such as Southeast Asia due to their low cost and durability.

But prices for LCDs have significantly fallen. The average price of a 24-inch liquid crystal TV in Indonesia comes to about $116 US - not much different from a 21-inch CRT set.

Many parts manufacturers are also no longer producing parts for CRT sets.

According to DisplaySearch, a market research company, three million CRT sets are expected to be shipped in 2014 to the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Southeast Asia and India, compared with 28.4 million LCD sets.

Shipments of LCDs to the region are expected to hit 43.22 million units in 2018.

Cathode ray tube TVs use technology invented by German physicist Ferdinand Braun (1850-1918), and CRTs are known as "Buraun kan" (Braun tubes) in Japanese. Mass production was first achieved by an American company in 1946.

Lighted images are produced when a fluorescent substance applied to the glass screen is hit by electrons emitted by a device in the back of the TV.

Worldwide shipments of CRT sets hit 165.93 million units in 2004, about 19 times the number of LCD sets shipped that year.

Japanese manufacturers are trying to position themselves to capture demand generated as consumers replace older TVs with LCDs. They are putting particular focus on sales efforts in Indonesia, where consumers see Japanese brands as trustworthy.

The nation has a population of 240 million and a large potential market. About 70 per cent of TVs there are believed to still be CRT sets.

India has a population of more than 1.2 billion, but local brands are said to be more popular there.

Sharp held an event offering free repairs for its products in the city of Manado in eastern Indonesia in late November.

LG Electronics Inc. of South Korea is challenging Sharp for the position of market leader in Indonesia.

Panasonic Corp. is strengthening its lineup of low-cost products of 32 inches and smaller, hoping to create sales avenues for higher-priced models on the basis of increased brand recognition.

The company currently has a four per cent to five per cent market share in Indonesia, better than last fiscal year's one per cent.

Hiroyoshi Suga, president of Panasonic's local subsidiary, said he wants to boost his firm's market share to the double digits by fiscal 2016 or 2017.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

TV sales are being helped as more Southeast Asian countries convert to digital terrestrial broadcasting.

Thailand began digital broadcasts in April, and countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are set to fully move toward digital broadcasts.

A Sony Corp. representative said the conversion to digital would increase the number of consumers concerned about image quality.

The firm is looking to capitalize on this by focusing its sales efforts on high-end TVs such as 4K TVs and big-screen TVs.