3D COMPATABLE AV RECEIVERS

[masonica]

Panasonic's move of having twin HDMI is very shrewd as it works as both sensible and damn good PR. Now if only we can get the studios to stop with the silly region coding.

 

[wireman]

Andrew Everard:wireman:Do we see B&O succumbing to off-loading product at huge discounts to Comets? Or Porsche off-loading discounted product at The Car Supermarket just to shift it?

Both companies mentioned are arguably niche manufacturers, and of course both have their own dealerships, rather than selling through chains in competition with other brands.
Yes of course. But there must have been a concious decision to position their businesses/brands that way, away from mass-market, thus lessening the impact of direct competition. Perhaps Meridian or even Linn would've been better examples, both businesses who used to be more mainstream, but seem to have worked especially hard in later years to put greater distance between themselves and the larger market.

Andrew Everard: wireman:I could be totally wrong here, but I don't see (for example) Naim buckling under the pressure of now having to compete with the far-east encroaching on their territory.

Again a specialist brand with a loyal dealer-base, and I don't see Sony attempting to tackle Naim in its own market sector. I meant more the way that the two big Korean brands have eroded and overtaken the traditional market-shares held by Sony, Panasonic and the like, and the way that OEM manufacturers are able to offer products at even lower prices.
I see your point, but Naim weren't handed a loyal dealer or user base on a plate - they had to earn it. That Sony and Panasonic (as examples) have 'sat on their butts' and allowed the Korean's to pull the rug out from under them is in my view just poor strategy and management. Surely the Japanese must've seen this coming? Far better perhaps to have positioned their products and brands to command (justify) a price premium, rather than trying to compete head-on with low-cost-base manufacturers? Let's face it, B&O sells on lifestyle and aspiration rather than any real technical merit - and it seems to work for them.

Andrew Everard: wireman:I'm certainly not trying to shoot the messenger; rather I appreciate the insight, even if I don't understand why the mainstream manufacturers are now complaining about the hole they've now dug for themselves!

Trouble is, even they didn't reconise the hole until they found themselves wondering why the sky was just a small patch of blue many miles above them.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. And I always thought the Japanese prided themselves on having vision! Still, if they are happy to knock out a reasonably decent 50" Plasma for under a grand, who am I to complain? I'll be in the queue with everybody else, at least until they give me sufficient reason to justify spending more... and 3D isn't it!

EDITED BY MODS for repeated use of an offensive racial term