Home Media Magazine - May 25 - 31, 2008 - (Page 20)

PRODUCT GUIDE Continued from page 16 HARDWARE www.homemediamagazine.com items such as Blu-ray players. Indeed, The NPD Group reported a 5% rise in first-quarter unit sales of upconverting players, which upconvert standard DVD to high-def resolution. Richard Doherty, analyst with The Envisioneering Group, said too much time was spent fighting the format war versus educating the consumer that the Blu-ray player is more than a movie player. He said the industry has to move beyond the “2.0” moniker — the term used to describe the upgraded Blu-ray players coming down the pike — and focus on the benefits of Blu-ray technology, including improved audio, graphics, picture resolution and interactivity. “You cannot confuse the consumer into thinking, ‘so should I wait for BD 3.0 and 4.0?’” Doherty said. “There needs to be a more consistent message. Fewer than one in 10 Blu-ray players have all the features. The same [goes] for the movies.” Tom Adams with Adams Media Research said the new features would prove important to consumers once they understand them. “There won’t be wider adoption until the message is delivered that there is a new [format] standard out there, and these devices have it,” Adams said. The consumer electronics industry is fighting back with several manufacturers bowing Profile 2.0 and updated 1.1 players that include increased storage capacity, picture-in-picture (Bonus View) and BD Live — the latter allowing connectivity to the Internet. BD Live is considered a Holy Grail of sorts for studios and marketers as it gives them a pathway into a consumer’s living room through the ability to download additional content such as trailers and other bonus material related to a movie. It also enables online shopping and gaming. Consumer electronics manufacturers Panasonic, Daewoo Panasonic DMP-BD50 EMA SPECIAL Cd Repairman, Inc. Introduces EXTRA $300 OFF THE FIX-A-DISC ONE STEP MACHINES The One Step Machines Will Repair Scratched Discs In One Easy Step I Audio Book CD’s I DVD’s (Single & Double Sided Discs) I Music I Games (Game Cubes, Playstation & X-Box) I Each machine comes with enough supplies to repair up to 100 discs I ALL HD & Blu-ray DVD’s ELECTRONIC STANDARD $1,295 $2,295 SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE $995 $1,995 SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE Purchase any model One Step Machine and get $700.00 off of the original suggested retail price. Get free supplies that will repair up to 500 discs with your purchase. Free 2nd year warranty With purchase and payment in full on either model machine. Or let us finance your machine for 6 to 12 months interest free. Please see our Web site for financing information on each machine or call us toll free @ 888-349-3472 and we will be happy to help you with your purchase or visit our Web site www.cdrepairman.com and Sony announced pending launches of 2.0 players this spring, summer and fall. Panasonic’s DMP-BD50 player — available this spring — retails for $699.95, while the earlier DMP-BD30 (sans full functionality) carried a suggested price of $499.95. Other players, including Sony’s BDR-S550 ($499.95) and Daewoo’s DBP-1000, also feature SD memory cards, 1GB of onboard storage, 1080p resolution, True HD and Dolby Digital Plus and 7.1 channel surround sound, among other features. Sony’s ubiquitous PS3 ($399.95) can be retrofitted to 1.1 and 2.0 firmware upgrades. The company said during a recent financial call that 9.24 million PS3s had been sold worldwide through March 31, with another 10 million units projected through next March. Since October 2007, all Blu-ray players manufactured had to be 1.1 compliant, which primarily means including the picture-inpicture option. Among 1.1 players, Sharp’s BDHP50U player ($499.95) and LG Electronics’ BH200 claim to be 2.0-compliant following firmware upgrades. Andy Parsons, SVP of advanced product development at Pioneer, said player adoption would take time and be predicated on criteria most important to consumers. “It depends on the target audience,” Parsons said. “Regarding our 1.0 models, we’ve had no trouble selling them.” Pioneer BDP-51FD Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD Indeed, Pioneer just announced pending launches of 1.1 players, BDP-51FD and BDP05FD — available this summer — with suggested prices of $599 and $799, respectively. Parsons said BD Live (2.0) undoubtedly provides a real difference from standard DVD. Whether it is important to consumers is difficult to judge at this point. “How many people watch bonus features on DVD?” Parsons asked. “Everybody likes them, but not everyone watches them.” He said price is an important component for mass appeal, but warned that prematurely accelerating price declines will hurt manufacturers when margins evaporate as well. Parsons said the drop off in Blu-ray player sales earlier this year was not due to a lack of demand but rather a shortage of devices. “The format war ended in February, and suddenly demand came out of nowhere and our dealers were screaming for players,” he said. “There is a natural curve to price reduction. We are still in the early adopter phase, one-and-ahalf years into this. You can want prices to come down, but manufacturers have to make money.” He said Pioneer’s Blu-ray player prices have dropped significantly, which he said was the result of careful forward-cost averaging and a commitment to larger production volumes over time. “We know we can sell more of them now,” Parsons said. “It takes time to build consumer awareness. Right now things are looking very good. Everybody is very bullish. The mood is very good.” VISA/MC/AMEX/DISCOVER CARDS GLADLY ACCEPTED. PLEASE CALL US AT 1-888-349-3472 TO PLACE YOUR ORDER! WWW.CDREPAIRMAN.COM 20 Home Media Magazine May 25–31, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.cdrepairman.com http://WWW.CDREPAIRMAN.COM http://WWW.CDREPAIRMAN.COM

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Home Media Magazine - May 25 - 31, 2008 Contents News Hardware Commentary TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - May 25 - 31, 2008

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