At the same time that mobile terminals such as mobile phones have a "substitution effect" on television, TV products are also striving to penetrate into the hinterland of mobile phone applications, such as "playing a TV", "smart sports and training" and large-screen games, and gradually becoming the "comparative advantage" of TV to attract users to "return", especially game TV, which has become an important branch of the tv industry that has grown rapidly in recent years.
The growth of gaming tv under the catalyst of demand has exploded
According to a data shared by Skyworth, in 2021, the demand for game TV in mainland China will explode, and the growth rate of online retail sales will reach 649% year-on-year; The agency predicts that the retail sales of gaming TVs in the mainland may reach 3.5 million units in 2022.
Behind the explosive growth of game television, it reflects the changes in social needs and consumption habits. As early as the 1990s, TV peripheral games were all the rage, and with the advancement of technology, including stand-alone games, online games, page games and other new models continue to refresh, especially with the emergence of mobile phones, the mobile game industry showed great prosperity. Entering 2020, the stay-at-home life after the outbreak of the epidemic has become the startling agent of the game TV market, as a tool with entertainment, social and pressure relief attributes, games have become the sustained release agent for many people to adjust their lives.
At present, terminal devices including computers, tablets, PSPs, televisions, VR/AR, etc. can support user games, but mobile games represented by mobile phones account for the largest proportion, whether in the family, or in commuting or other journeys, you can play a game at any time. However, the mobile phone screen is small, the game APP installation occupies a lot of space, the performance requirements for the mobile phone are higher, in addition, some games themselves with viruses, plug-ins and other unsafe factors will also affect the operation of the mobile phone, while the mobile game caused by the "low head family" vision, neck and shoulders and other issues have also been paid more and more attention. In fact, according to the "2020 Game TV Development and Purchase White Paper", although mobile games have portable and other characteristics, the scene where users really have centralized and controllable time to play games still occurs in the family, and this time and space distribution feature undoubtedly provides a possibility for "large screen" to replace "small screen" to a certain extent.
Some store guides feedback to the State Grid that during the summer vacation, the sales of game TELEVISION will show a certain proportion of the increase, mainly parents buy to play games for children, "using mobile phones to play games is too hurtful to the eyes, and the TV screen is large, the visual impairment is smaller." At the same time, the use of TV to play games is relatively large, which is convenient for parents to limit the time for children to play games. ”
In addition, with the advancement of 5G, AI, VR and other technologies, the interaction between game TV and external smart devices has also expanded its application space, such as the latest popular somatosensory games, so that users can achieve immersive "fishing", "cycling", "playing ball" and other sports at home, expanding the connotation of the game, but also conducive to the realization of leisure interaction between families.
The new track of the industry to solve the pain points is gradually broadening
According to newzoo statistics, the total revenue of the global mobile game market in 2021 is 90.7 billion US dollars. Among them, China ranks first in the world with revenue of 31.37 billion US dollars.
In July last year, in order to rectify the online environment, especially to curb the heavy game dependence of underage groups, the state suspended the issuance of game version numbers; After 8 months of rectification, the game version number was issued and restarted in April this year, which is undoubtedly a major positive for the development of games and related industries. Compared with mobile phones, the use of game TV can better control the "addiction" of teenagers to games, which is also a "positive externality" in the development of game TV.
However, compared with ordinary functions such as watching TV programs, game operation has higher requirements for device performance, and most game enthusiasts cannot tolerate high latency and poor operability of terminal devices, in addition, screen stuttering will also bring users a bad experience. Due to the weak computing power and small storage space, ordinary TVs cannot carry the demand for high-quality games, which also provides space for the production of professional game TVs.
At present, including Samsung, Sony, LG, Hisense, Skyworth, etc., including mainstream black electricity manufacturers, have launched professional game TVs, but in addition to the above manufacturers, some low-end products that have not yet matured in technology have also flocked to the market under the banner of "game TV", and these products generally have problems such as game screen lag, poor adaptability and poor sound and picture quality experience. For example, whether it is a film and television work or a game screen, the higher the frame rate, the smoother the look and feel, most of the current game resources have provided 60 frames or even higher frame rate of the picture, in this trend, the game TV must provide a high refresh rate of 120Hz, in order to perfectly present the smooth picture of the game, in this cognition, some manufacturers began to "package" parameters, focusing on the promotion of products can achieve a high refresh rate of 120Hz. But in fact, the device only has a high refresh rate is not enough, it also needs to be combined with the screen display, chip decoding, interface input, in order to truly achieve lossless, no Caton screen output.
We know that the game screen displayed by the TV includes every operation of the player, which is actually transmitted by the electronic signal sent by the game host, and only if the interface is matched enough, can the signal transmission speed be improved, the input delay be reduced, and the sensitivity of the operation improved. In esports games, few people use a wireless mouse, which is the truth, to prevent signal input delays, and every step of the operation should reflect the player's true intentions.
In addition, the grayscale response time of the screen display is also very important, in the game, the screen switching is very rapid, if the monitor response time is too high, it is easy to cause the screen to tear or overlap, after manufacturer research and testing, the gray level response time of the game TV is the best state in 1ms.
On the basis of meeting the low input delay and screen grayscale response time, the advantages of high refresh rate can be fully realized. In addition, the sound and picture quality of the product is also a plus for game TV, and the full sound quality and high degree of reduction can increase the sense of immersion.
In recent years, many manufacturers have also accelerated the layout of the game TV field, on April 13, Skyworth TV released three full-channel 120Hz high-brush game TV new products, namely Skyworth Wallpaper TV Q53 series, Skyworth Guardian G53 series and Skyworth E-sports quality master A33 series. The "full channel" mentioned here refers to the three TVs that support HDMI channels, USB channels, network channels and other forms of opening games, whether it is an external hard disk to store games, or directly download game APP or directly play web cloud games, you can enjoy a smooth game texture. In terms of video signal processing, Skyworth adopts a new "V3 full-featured AI chip" equipped with a self-developed AI image quality optimization solution, which realizes the combination of a powerful chip and an optimal algorithm, which can optimize the picture quality of the game screen from multiple dimensions such as color, contrast, and darkfield performance, enhance the picture texture, and perfectly control the needs of large-screen games with a high refresh rate of 120Hz.
Skyworth told China State Grid that the current next-generation game console is accelerating penetration, mobile phone screen projection applications are widely popularized, high-performance TV and PC graphics card compatibility is gradually improving, cloud game market is gradually maturing, these factors are driving the TV to the game's large-screen terminal bearer role evolution, the growth of game TV has been in the outlet period.
Traditional TV companies also have their own advantages when making game screens, taking Skyworth as an example, they have rich experience in adjusting the picture quality. In recent years, Skyworth has broken through the limitations of domestic TV manufacturers traditionally using discs for picture quality adjustment, starting from seven dimensions such as regional light control, noise reduction, color, clarity, MEMC, HDR, and contrast, and gradually built up the "Skyworth 30+ Picture Quality Adjustment Model" and "Professional Picture Quality Test Sequence Library", with a systematic adjustment methodology and a huge original adjustment database, to help the picture quality adjustment team to carry out more targeted adjustment and optimization, so that the chip's picture quality processing ability can be fully displayed.
On the other hand, with the "heart" of Skyworth AI quality engine, Skyworth TV products can search, identify and reconstruct picture images, and optimize picture quality in real time frame by frame. In terms of specific functions, precision smoothing DPCS can achieve 2 to 16 times dynamic color depth compensation in a targeted manner, thereby removing color ramps and compression distortion, so that the picture color transition smoothly; Dynamic target remodeling NR can analyze and track moving objects in a space-time domain that is 3 times larger than the traditional 3D-IIR algorithm, separating them from the background noise, and achieving accurate noise reduction without damaging the image quality. The Super Definition SR automatically boosts the lower resolution to a display closer to 4K, allowing all kinds of source inputs to fully release the screen performance.
At present, the fierce competition in the television industry, the continuous improvement of the concentration of panel and chip supply brands in the upstream of the industrial chain, and the convergence of the core device supply chain have made the television industry homogeneous, and homogenization has continuously triggered a price war between enterprises. At this time, the emergence of game TV is not only the call of consumer demand, but also the opportunity for the industry to grow in the new track of segmentation, whether game TV can help the TV industry out of the current sluggish market environment, we wait and see.