Sony prices - are you sure??

[admin_exported]

Well, just checking the Sony website for the 46HX903 3D ready LCD, and since last week they've put the pre-order price up to £2599 from £2249.

Are they trying to price it out of it's own market? At least thats one less TV I need to consider.

 

[Anonymous]

As I understand it the price varies by what Sony Centre your looking at, as they themselves can alter the price - Matthew, Grant from Sony please correct me if I'm wrong. When you look at specific products your asked on the website to enter your postcode this will give you your local stores in the area, so if you try different stores I'm sure price's will vary. I have noticed excatly the same thing where I live, although none of the Sony Centres around me have hicked the price up that high!

 

[matthewpiano]

Sadly Sony have put prices up on ALL of the new 3D sets citing higher than expected demand and panel supply issues. Some of them are big increases...

ukpcum1 is correct about different Sony Centres but, sadly, in this case the prices have gone up because the cost price Sony charge the dealers has gone up.

 

[chris hollands]

yea, i have just checked Sony kingston-upon thames for the 46HX903 and it has gone up from £2250 to £2599 , this is ludicrous being that you then have to pay for glasses, a transmitter and the monolithic stand on top of this,you are looking at a total bill of over £3000 !! and then you need a 3d blue ray player. Makes the £2000 i paid for the Samsung UE46C8000 , Glasses pack and 3d bluray player seem cheap in comparison. Think they will lose a lot of business with this move and it is a shame because it is a great looking set.

 

[chris hollands]

Will Sony be honouring the origional price that is was advertising for nearly a month??

 

[matthewpiano]

Anyway who put a deposit on one of the sets up to the point the price changed (on Monday) will have the original price honoured. After that all sales are at the new price.

The Full 3D 40LX903 (complete with 2 pairs of glasses and built-in transmitter) is now £2200, previously £2000.

The first we heard of this was Monday.

 

[bigboss]

.........and people claimed until last year that Kuro was very expensive

. Glad I bought a 50-inch Kuro for £2199 with a 5 year warranty last year!

 

[Anonymous]

Hopefully this latest price rise hammers another nail into the 3D coffin. Panasonic have done exactly the same with the VT20. Were just coming out of a recession and these companies keep hiking up already over inflated prices. Are we now expected to spend around £3K on our new TV, specs and Blu-Ray player and then on top of that start shopping around for a new AV receiver. Should anybody be daft enough to go and do all of that they will find they have no 3D content to watch anyway. They could wait until Sky release 3D channels and then probably have to pay another 3D premium on top of the HD premium and package subscription. Absolutely ridiculous, I hope these greedy companies fall flat on their faces. Rant over for now

 

[Anonymous]

Well I'm sure after this latest price hike, Sony won't be having too many demand and supply issues with this set going forward.

 

[sonycentre]

well all i can say is i think its still a good price for a top of the range 3dtv,Thats the trouble,people wanting things for next to nothing,used to seeing old models for silly prices.i think a lot of people will change there mind when its viewed.but thats just my thoughts.We have already taken a good few deposits from customers,that have been waiting a while.

 

[Alsone]

Daveee:Hopefully this latest price rise hammers another nail into the 3D coffin. Panasonic have done exactly the same with the VT20. Were just coming out of a recession and these companies keep hiking up already over inflated prices. Are we now expected to spend around £3K on our new TV, specs and Blu-Ray player and then on top of that start shopping around for a new AV receiver. Should anybody be daft enough to go and do all of that they will find they have no 3D content to watch anyway. They could wait until Sky release 3D channels and then probably have to pay another 3D premium on top of the HD premium and package subscription. Absolutely ridiculous, I hope these greedy companies fall flat on their faces. Rant over for now

I think they'll have to drop prices soon Davee or that will be it, at least in the UK.

Everyone is now used to paying as little as £400 for a 40" TV (more for the very top brands admittedly - around £800), but the main market is in the hundreds not thousands range.

The initial high price is sustainable for a short while whilst enthusiasts buy up "the latest gear", but as soon as that is over it will be do or die for the manufacturers. If the prices don't reach current set levels within maybe the next 6 months to a year then I see 3D dieing rapidly. The vast majority of the population in the UK are simply not willing to pay those prices for technology anymore.

Take a look at Blu Ray take up - DVD players as low as £20 - fly out of the shops to the general population. Blu Ray, cheapest players around £200 for the last couple of years, take up very slow depsite high numbers of HD tv sets (9 million est (from memory) in 2008).

BTW as an aside, blu ray manufacturers really have no excuse for high prices as I see it. When they 1st came out the rumoured reason for high prices was always the cost of blue laser diodes. Well 405nm diodes are 10 a penny these days yet players persist at high levels. When someone brings out a decent £40-50 player, I see a big change in take up, well assuming they haven't already put the population off too much.

In my opinion, manufacturers really are their own worst enemy with technology what with format wars and wanting to make back all their development costs up front in the 1st few months..

 

[Anonymous]

Grant - I understand you are being loyal to the company you work for, however I don't think paying £2000+ on a TV is people wanting something for nothing, especially bearing in mind the current economic climate! I think where we're all getting frustrated, me especially is that if you compare the price of the set versus the current competition - Panasonic, Samsung, then the price looks anywhere between 15% to 25% higher. I still think the set will be a cracker however am not willing to pay that price for it, especially when last week it was advertised by Sony for £300 less locally.

 

[sonycentre]

ukpcum1,your comments are fine,and yes i do think im my opinion sony undersold some of the tvs last year,I think we all need to remember that companys like sony,samsung,panasonic spend a fortune on r&r,development on new tech...like any new tech there will always be a high price,like another forum member said you can buy tv,s for next to nothing,and the avarage joe bloggs does not care about this and that.That is where we are diffrent.I belive that sony has come back fighting with a great range of tvs,there is something for everyone in this years range.Sometimes people need to look beyond the price.Think of it this way..you spend two grand on a tv you keep the tv for 4 to 5 years..then devide the price...not that much to be entertained is it.

 

[The_Lhc]

Alsone:Take a look at Blu Ray take up - DVD players as low as £20 - fly out of the shops to the general population. Blu Ray, cheapest players around £200 for the last couple of years, take up very slow depsite high numbers of HD tv sets (9 million est (from memory) in 2008).

The only problem with this statement is that I'm reasonably certain it's completely wrong.

If you look at the lifespan of DVD and compare where it was at the same time after its launch, to where Blu-ray is at this point I think you'll find that a) Blu-ray players have come down in price much more quickly than DVD players did and b) blu-ray media is selling more than DVD media was at this point in its life cycle.

Of course DVD players sell at £20 but we're already seeing BDPs at less than £100, DVD players weren't that cheap at this stage in their life.

 

[ear]

it is easy.there is at least some offer to choose from.the company that will lose profits will be the most expensive.For me its clear like water.They cant put rules on me

 

[visionary]

sonycentre:Think of it this way..you spend two grand on a tv you keep the tv for 4 to 5 years..then devide the price...not that much to be entertained is it.

but if the world is going to end in 2012, we won't get 5 years value out of it

 

[Andrew Everard]

S'OK - you'll probably be able to take it on the 'what everyone thinks is going to be a spaceship but turns out to be a car-ferry with ideas above its station' with you...

 

[Frank Harvey]

I agree with the_lhc, and it's a point I've mentioned a few times before. Can't remember where though.

As far as the price hike goes, if Sony has said that they're raising prices due to demand, I'd have thought that's going to be a bit of bad PR for them. I know it happens in other industries on other products, but excessive profiteering from new technology isn't going to go down well.

I would've thought they'd have learned from Fujitsu's and Pioneer's past. Both companies were selling £2,500/6,000 plasmas, and had to cease making them because they weren't making enough money out of them. I'm suspecting they were making enough money, just not as much as they'd have liked. Point is, there is a market for plasmas at this price point, but it's a small one. I think 3D is going to make a blip, at best, to that overall demand. £2k was reasonable for a 42" 3D set (still slighty high in my opinion), but pushing it up by 25% has done the uptake of the format no favours.

If these companies have any sense, they'll be getting people used to these high prices for a short while, then drastically reducing them akin to the reductions on the Kuro panels a year or so ago - demand shot through the roof when they were reduced after the news Pioneer were pulling out of the market. I don't mean this to sound negative, but the general public are like a pack of blood hounds after a fox when they sniff a really good deal.......

Also, as previously mentions, no one has any 3D Blurays, and no one really knows how much they're going to be yet. With the rrp's of Blurays around the £25-30 mark, I suspect the 3D discs will be nearer to these price points, rather than the prices we see online.

Plus, if you can afford to buy a £2.5/3k TV and £60/70 per month for existing Sky services, I'm sure that will be exploited.....

 

[visionary]

Andrew Everard:S'OK - you'll probably be able to take it on the 'what everyone thinks is going to be a spaceship but turns out to be a car-ferry with ideas above its station' with you...

not so sure about that, in "Knowing" the kids only got to take a pair of rabbits

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, but that was going all the way into space; the ones in 2012 were only going for a fortnight in the Med...

 

[Frank Harvey]

visionary:not so sure about that, in "Knowing" the kids only got to take a pair of rabbits

The rabbits were essential to rebuilding the human race - the kids needed to learn from somewhere

 

[Andrew Everard]

FrankHarveyHiFi:The rabbits were essential to rebuilding the human race - the kids needed to learn from somewhere

And anyway, it can get chilly in space...

 

[Frank Harvey]

I thought rabbit's feet were lucky. They've got 4, and they still get turned into Sennheiser's new range being sold on Play for no margin.

 

[DistortedVision]

I was planning on getting the Sony KDL-52HX903 when it was released but won't if the price has been increased. Does anyone know what it has been increased to? I'm hoping the price will drop after the initial demand once its been released.

 

[Anonymous]

That'll be the princely sum of £3200 sir.