[opendtv] DTV product line transitions point toward 2009 deadline
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 15:03:06 -0500
It appears that LG's strategy is that if you want a recording device or
an STB, they will sell you these only if they both come in the same
cabinet as the DTV monitor. Ah, so that's the reason for yanking back
all their separate STB and DTT recording products. No components of any
sort allowed. One would think this makes it especially easy for the
competition, during the transition years. Strange marketing strategy
from LG. Let's see how the marketplace rewards them.
Also, this says the analog shutoff date is set in stone: 17 Feb 2009.
Who are we to argue? Stone.
Bert
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http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/howto/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=3D18=
1
401652
March 01, 2006
DTV product line transitions point toward 2009 deadline
By Edward F. Moltzen
Now that the transition date to digital TV is set in stone,
manufacturers and integrators have a clearer path on which to plan their
product and sales strategies.
Last month President Bush signed into law the Digital Television
Transition and Public Safety Act, which sets a solid date of Feb. 17,
2009, to switch to digital signals from analog. That's not to say
manufacturers and integrators have been sitting idle as they've waited
for the date. Most major TV vendors already had begun ramping up
high-definition TV and digital product lines in anticipation, while
integrators have seen an increase in the number of home networking,
storage and display solutions they've installed to increase their
customers' ability to access, distribute, store and view the additional
content that IPTV services are expected to bring into the home.
"Being as large as we are, we do have products on the
consumer-electronics side that are starting to move in that direction,
and we've already launched [HDTV] products on that side of the house,"
says Andrew Weis, marketing manager for Samsung's Information Technology
Division. On the commercial side, Samsung has a 19-inch, HDTV-ready
display, which will be followed by more, Weis says. "You'll start to see
us putting more and more of those products into the marketplace to help
the channel adapt to those changing market conditions."
After several years of debating the cut-off point for the
analog-to-digital conversion, some were frustrated at the lead time
advocated by other industries, including network TV affiliates, which
sought a later date. "I'm certainly disappointed to see the date pushed
out further," says Jim Hargate, president of Hargate Theater Vision, a
Palm Desert, Calif.-based integrator. "If it was a hard date of 2007, or
something like that, it would mean everybody would have to get going."
Besides Samsung, other manufacturers have debuted new products,
including:
* Panasonic's new 56-inch PT-56DLX76 and 61-inch PT-61DLX76. They
include an integrated SD Card slot and photo viewer, PC inputs and the
TV Guide On-Screen Electronic Program guide.
* Toshiba is attacking the market with both a new HD projector lineup as
well as new HD DVD players. The company's TDPMT700 HD DLP and TDPMT800
HD DLP and TDPMT200 ED DLP front projectors began shipping earlier this
year.
* Hewlett-Packard has unveiled the HP Pavilion 50-inch HD plasma TV,
with integrated front SD Card and PCMCIA card slots and a street price
set at less than $4,300.
* LG Electronics has set out a road map for 2006 that includes HD
displays of 55, 47, 42, 37, 32, 26 and 23 inches, including three LCDs
with built-in hard drives and DVRs. Company executives are pitching the
more advanced systems as an early form of a home server, capable of
storing home videos and photographs, as well as entertainment video.
* Pioneer Electronics has targeted its new release at the high-end
market and plans to ship its PRO-FHD1, 50-inch plasma with high
resolution and HD in May. It has a suggested street price of $10,000.
Pioneer also plans to ship in June a DVD player based on Blu-ray Disc
technology at a suggested street price of $1,800.
Franco Vada, president of Modern TV Sales and Service, a San Jose,
Calif.-based integrator, says manufacturers, especially Samsung and LG,
seem ready for the digital TV transition. "I think some manufacturers
are, really, putting all their marbles in HD," he says. "A lot of the
manufacturers are already moving away from analog sets faster than we
thought they would."
One of the biggest issues he has encountered has not been the
formalization of a digital TV transition date nor the new technology
integrated into systems. It has been prices. "The price drop has been an
issue right now," Vada says. "We were making good profits, per set, as
of last year. But now we see dramatic drops in the price of the HD
sets."=20
While many units offer increased functionality such as built-in drives
or DVRs, Vada says the added complexity and risk of failure has
increased with these new offerings. "Obviously, when you have a DVR
inside of a set, you have an item that could fail, and [that will prompt
consumers to] bring the set into a service center for repair," he says.
"As a retailer, that does add profitability to a unit, though. I'd
rather sell one with a built-in DVR, because I'll make more profit on
it."
While margins on HD TVs have decreased as the complexity has increased,
sales have remained strong and many who are investing in new home
technologies are transferring the savings they realize on HD systems to
other components of an integrated home. "If we were selling a plasma for
$6,500, that would [make it] very hard for someone to dish out $5,000
for a good sound system," Vada says. "Now that the TV set is down to
$4,500, they can take that extra money and put it into wall speakers or
a hard drive for the sound system."
Other integrators say margin erosion has been offset by significant
growth in sales volumes. Hargate says he's been lucky to be operating in
a region of the country undergoing significant growth.
Research firm In-Stat predicts that by 2008 some 100 million homes will
have one form of digital TV, digital DTH. Another firm, the Leichtman
Research Group, released data last year that found the average HDTV unit
sold for an average of $1,600--a drop from the $2,400 average price a
year earlier. The firm also found 18 percent of current HDTV owners were
likely to buy another unit over the course of the next year, and 11
percent of non-HDTV owners "express some likelihood to purchase an HDTV
set in the next year"--provided it costs $1,000.
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