CompUSA to Close Over Half Its Stores

As part of a broad restructuring CompUSA said today that it will close 126 of its 229 U.S. stores in the next 2-3 months, including all but 8 in California. All 4 stores in San Diego, where I live, will soon close, as they apparently were among the poor-perfomers. As part of the restructuring, CompUSA will receive a $440 million cash infusion, which may strike some as throwing good money after bad.

Some of you are probably wondering what this has to do with HDTV since CompUSA is mostly a computers/networking shop. And therein lies part of the problem. About three years ago the retailer made a move to enter the consumer electronics market, stocking its stores with plasma TVs and the like in an effort to better compete with Best Buy, Circuit City and Fry's.

That effort has been a dismal failure. I don't know anyone who's ever bought an HDTV at CompUSA; indeed with the name of the store, most people wouldn't even think to look there. The CE and PC retail market segments are so competitive that this company is going to have to seriously rethink its strategy if it has any hopes of keeping the remaining 103 stores open for any length of time.

CNET Not Sold on New Pioneer Blu-ray Disc Player

CNET reviews Pioneer's new BDP-HD1 Blu-ray Disc player and concludes that while the Blu-ray image quality is very high, the machine's DVD unconversion is inferior when compared to competing models. The lack of a CD player and a high price tag of $1,500 also contribute to a rather modest 6.5 out of 10 rating.

Sony Intros Second Blu-ray Disc Player

Sony, looking to extend Blu-ray's reach into the mass market, said this morning that its second BD player will make its debut this summer at a suggested retail price of $600. Among other features including 1080p upscaling for HDTVs that support that resolution, the "new BD unit incorporates BRAVIA Theater Sync utilizing HDMI connectivity, which integrates the operation of the player with a compatible BRAVIA flat-panel LCD television or audio/video receiver. With the touch of a button, you can automatically turn on and switch inputs matching connected devices."

Sony Integrates Component Video, Digital Cameras

As part of a broad series of HD-related announcements today, Sony said its new line of digital cameras will feature a high-def component video cable for easy connection to an HDTV. The cameras can also be used with the new Sony CSS-HD1 high-definition Cyber-shot Station, which comes with the component cable and allows users to to connect the cameras to the station just one time. It will also work as a charger.

Sony's New Internet Video Link to Sell for $300

Sony execs said today that its Bravia Internet video link will retail for $300 when it goes on sale in July. According to the company, "when attached to a compatible Sony television, the module will enable access to Internet video programming, including high-definition content, from providers like AOL, Yahoo! and Grouper, as well as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony BMG Music."

Sony compatible televisions include the recently announced BRAVIA HDTV line including the S-series flat-panel LCD line (KDL- 46S3000, KDL-40S3000, KDL-32S3000 and KDL-26S3000) and the new KDF-37E3000 micro-display, which ship this spring. Other new BRAVIA models supporting the module include the new V-series and XBR flat-panel LCD line (KDL-46V3000, KDL-40V3000 and KDL-32XBR4) and the E-series micro-display line (KDF-50E3000 and KDF-46E3000), shipping this summer.

Sony Unveils New Slimmer Rear-Projection HDTVs

Sony announced today that its new line of LCD microdisplay rear-projection HDTVs will carry the Bravia moniker and will be 22 percent skinnier than the company's old Grand Wega models. At between 12 and 13 inches deep, the 1080p resolution units will be available this summer at as of yet undisclosed price points.

Marriott Installing LCD HDTVs in All Guest Rooms

Marriott International said today that its Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts brands will feature 32-inch LCD HDTVs in all guest rooms by 2009, with approximately a quarter of those installed by the end of this year. In addition to the LCD display, guests will also have access to a digital connectivity panel that will enable them to plug in their iPods, notebook computers, PDAs and other devices into the LCD display.

Among the initial hotels to receive the upgrade are San Francisco Moscone Center; the New York Marriott Marquis; the Renaissance New York Hotel Times Square; the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.; the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center; the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa, Phoenix; the Camelback Inn, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa, Scottsdale; the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel in New Orleans; and the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter.

In the hyper-competitive hotel business, this is a great move by Marriott to distinguish itself from its rivals. As a traveler, would offering an HDTV in your room influence where you stay?

New Canon Digital Camera Records in HD

Canon has intro'd a new $499 digital camera that is capable of recording 720p video. As a sign that the video feature isn't merely for show, the camera can be rotated and used vertically for video or in the traditional horizontal manner for still photos. It will also record what Canon calls CD-quality audio when it goes on sale next month.

More from TWICE.

TV Sales Up Big for Super Bowl

The NPD Group has released point-of-sale data showing that the Super Bowl earlier this month had a dramatically positive impact on TV sales.

TV sales increases in the week before the Super Bowl from previous week
Direct-view CRT - sales up 61%
LCD - sales up 40%
Projection - sales up 25%
Plasma - sales up 23%

Plasma retained the highest average selling price at $1,726. Projection was next at $1,467 followed by LCD at $1,072 and direct-view CRT at $183.

Keep in mind that these figures include both HD and standard TVs.

LG, Samsung Duking It Out Over OLED

The Korea Times ran a piece yesterday detailing how the rivalry between Samsung and LG has extended to OLED manufacturing. While OLED has yet to show up in commercialized television displays, it is expected by some to eventually eclipse LCD and plasma in flat-screen display popularity. Today the technology is mostly seen in smaller devices such as cell phones, MP3 players and car stereos.

ESPN Beefs Up HD Programming

ESPN plans to telecast full seasons of seven different sports in HD for airing on ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD, the media giant said today. All Monday Night Football games, college football games, Major League Baseball games, NBA games, NASCAR races, Major League Soccer matches and NHRA races that air on ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD will be shown in high-def thanks to a greater number of remote production trucks that are now available.

More from Multichannel News.

Sharp Boasts Industry's First Blu-ray Recorder

While there's been a decent amount of activity in the continuing battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray players, one area that hasn't seen much action is in allowing consumers to record HD content to a disc in addition to playing pre-recorded content. Sharp on Friday announced plans to change that through the March introduction of its $1,200 BD-HP1 in Japan that will enable consumers to record TV programming to 25 GB Blu-ray discs - about two hours' worth of HD content. The device will hit U.S. store shelves later this spring.

If you're thinking that the $1,200 price tag maybe isn't as big as you might expect for that kind of functionality, there's a catch: the Sharp Blu-ray Disc recorder will only work with Sharp Aquos TVs!

That's right, you have to get Sharp's version of the combo meal to make the BD-HP1 work. The reason is that it relies on the tuner built into the Aquos LCD TV or an Aquos HD Recorder to eliminate the need for a second tuner in the Blu-ray Disc recorder. That cuts costs, which is good for consumers, but it forces you to buy an Aquos LCD TV with built-in tuner -- not a bad TV to be sure, but a bit limiting if you prefer plasma displays, DLP TVs or Sony's LCDs.

Look for a plethora of package deals combining an Aquos TV with the BD-HP1 to crop up once this thing's available in the U.S. It'll be interesting to see if this helps Sharp capture LCD market share from industry leaders Sony and Samsung or whether it's a mere blip as consumers wait for the format war to resolve itself.

More from TechNewsWorld.

More on the LCD Price War

BusinessWeek runs a piece today further examining the sharp declines in LCD prices brought on by no-name manufacturers who in many cases aren't even really manufacturing anything. You may remember that the NY Times ran a similar piece earlier in the week; the BW article adds some interesting data from market researcher iSuppli. Among the nuggets is the fact that LCD prices are falling 3% to 5% a month and some analysts expect 40-inch LCD flat-panel displays could be had for under $1,000 by Christmas (from an average of $1,600 today).

It is absolutely astounding that there are more than 100 HDTV brands on store shelves today, with the bulk of them selling LCDs. It is getting so simple for a start-up company to assemble a group of suppliers, contract for the manufacturing, and with virtually no overhead or marketing expenses, get their products on store shelves at a substantial discount to the name-brand manufacturers like Sony and Samsung.

As I've previously written in this space, this is a pretty positive trend for consumers, at least from the perspective of their wallets. Less clear is the impact on LCD quality -- the less well-known brands say that their products are every bit as reliable as the big guys, but of course the larger companies disagree. When you read reviews on CNET and other sites, the evidence seems to lean towards the name-brand companies' positions that the more expensive components they use combined with their own technology (the "secret sauce," if you will) is worth the higher prices they charge.

If you have experience with the quality/reliability of lesser-known brands like Westinghouse, Maxent or Vizio, let us hear about it!

Cable One Planning HD Tier

Cable One, a mid-size cable company serving about 700,000 customers around the country, is in negotiations to distribute the HD feeds of a number of networks with plans to group them into a high-def tier similar to ones offered by Time Warner Cable, Charter, Bright House and others. On tap are A&E HD, Discovery HD Theater, Food Network HD, HGTV HD and National Geographic Channel HD. The cabler already offers various local broadcast channels in high-def, as well as ESPN HD, HBO HD, Showtime HD, TNT HD and Universal HD.

According to Multichannel News, Cable One has been installing 5,000 HD-DVRs a month and has about 70,000 total deployed in customer homes.

Sony Overtakes Samsung in LCD Sales

Market researcher DisplaySearch released a report this week showing that Sony was the market leader in LCD revenue sales in the fourth quarter of '06 while Samsung led in units sold. Sony overtook Samsung from the third quarter by increasing its revenue market share from 15.1 percent to 17.4 percent, while Samsung declined slightly from 15.5 percent to 15.0 percent.

Sony also led the microdisplay market with a 42 percent share, followed by Samsung and Mitsubishi.

Panasonic remained the plasma industry leader, followed by LG Electronics and Samsung.

Interestingly, 35 percent of all TVs sold in Q4 were HD, up from 27 percent in Q3. Samsung was both the HDTV and overall TV industry leader.

More 3D Display Action

A San Diego company Neurok Optics has partnered with a Taiwanese-based company called Chi Mei Optoelectronics to begin manufacturing 3D LCD displays. According to TWICE, "the company’s first product will be a 22W-inch LCD monitor capable of displaying 3D images into and out-of-screen when viewed with passive polarized glasses." It is intended to be used with a PC and will retail for $999 when it begins shipping in May.

Even though this is a PC monitor rather than an HDTV, it's only a matter of time before you start to see these in your friends' living rooms, particularly with the related story reported here earlier in the week about the NBA experimenting with 3D viewing for the All-Star Game festivities in Las Vegas next weekend.

Tweeter: We're in the Calm Before the Pricing Storm

Electronics specialty retailer Tweeter said in its latest quarterly earnings call that it expects flat-panel HDTV prices to hold relatively stable in the first half of this year until 1080p plasma models from Panasonic and Pioneer hit the shelves, at which time a liquidation of sorts will take place on the older 768p models. At that point, plasma will be more competitive with LCD, which could lead to price wars in the 1080p product lines.

In its rear-projection business, company execs say that consumers are no longer interested in 50-inch 720p DLP and LCoS models, with most demanding larger screen sizes in the 60- to 70-inch range and 1080p resolution.

HD in 3-D

The NBA is using its All-Star Game festivities in Las Vegas Feb. 17-18 to showcase new 3-D HDTV viewing from Pace Technologies, a company that manufacturers HD cameras. It marks the first time the new technology will be used at a live event. According to Multichannel News, images from two 3-D HD cameras are combined to create a lifelike 3-D viewing experience through the use of relatively stylish 3-D glasses. The idea is to bring the technology to consumers' homes in the "near future"; the NBA will also deploy the technology during some playoff games later this spring.

Old Enemies Working Together on DTV Transition

We're almost exactly two years from the day your analog TV as you know it will not work. On Feb. 17, 2009 the switchover from analog to digital broadcasting will occur whether we're ready for it or not, but there is a somewhat disturbing lack of educating being done to prepare consumers for the switch. The federal government has allocated $5 million for DTV consumer education, money that will be spent by trade groups representing the cable companies, broadcasters and HDTV manufacturers. At present, however, the only plans are for a website. (It should be pointed out that $5 million would buy you a pretty spiffy website.)

The government plans to offer consumers two $40 vouchers to use to purchase digital-to-analog converters that will allow their analog TVs to continue to work after the DTV transition. The trick is that consumers of course will need to know about these. That is why the FCC and Congress are leaning on the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Associations -- groups that have historically not played very nicely with each other. Will this be the issue that brings them all together?

Olevia Rises from Nowhere to Gain Market Share

UPDATE: It turns out that Olevia's normal pricing isn't quite as aggressive as initially reported. The company's 32-inch LCD goes for $600 on CircuitCity.com, compared to $1,000 for a comparable LG model or $1,300 for a Sony. Still a great price, but they should make a few bucks on it. Hence my revised commentary...
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The New York Times runs a piece on Olevia parent Syntax-Brillian today, crediting/blaming the company for the dramatic drop in LCD prices industry-wide. As The Times points out, the price reductions have been great for consumers but terrible for manufacturers that are in many cases taking a loss on the HDTVs they sell. Syntax-Brillian has in fact at times sold their 32-inch Olevia LCD for less than what they pay their suppliers for the LCD panel.

As the article points out, as Olevia's competitors drop their own prices to stay competitive, the difference in price between a Sony or Sharp and Olevia will eventually become smaller, leading many consumers to spend a little more to buy the brand they know.

151 Million Worldwide HD Homes by 2011?

A U.K.-based research firm called Informa Telecoms and Media has released a report forecasting that there will be 151 million global households with HDTVs in 2011, up from 48 million at the end of last year. Currently, 58 percent of all HDTV households are in the U.S. with another 20 percent in Japan.

NBC's Nightly News in HD Debuting Next Month

It's taken the broadcast and cable news networks awhile to come around to the idea, but NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams" will become the first major news program to make the switch to HD, with the changeover occuring sometime in March. The field reports will still be shown in standard-def for at least another year, but this is a good start. NBC's "Today Show" made its HD debut last fall and you would have thought that it would have been easy enough to use some of the same equipment for the evening news program shortly thereafter, but better late than never.

How long will it take ABC and CBS to follow suit, and will this development cause CNN to hasten its well-known plans for an HD feed?

Thanks to TV Week for the story.

Dell to Sell Sony HDTVs Online

In the first major product-related move since Michael Dell returned as CEO to the company he founded two decades ago, Dell is now selling Sony LCD flat-panel TVs on its website alongside Dell's own LCD TVs. Dell said that it will sell other brands as well although further details were not released.

An analyst quoted in the AP story pointed out that Dell's biggest obstacle to selling a large volume of HDTVs is that it has no retail presence to speak of, and unlike with PCs or notebook computers, consumers actually like to see their HDTVs in person before they buy them. It's one thing to shop in a store to figure out which TV you want and then buy it online to save a few (hundred) bucks. But if you can never see Dell's HDTVs in the first place, how would you know how the picture quality, contrast ratios, black levels, etc. stack up vis-a-vis the competition?

I'd never heard particularly favorable reviews for Dell's LCD or plasma displays anyway so maybe reselling high-quality Sony Bravia LCDs is in fact the best way for them to go.

Flat Panel TV Sales Short-Circuit #2 U.S. Retailer

Circuit City, in an attempt to shore up its financials following sluggish flat-panel TV sales last year, announced today that it will close a number of stores and shake up its merchandising team. According to TWICE, "the first phase includes the closing of seven U.S. stores this month; a distribution center in Louisville, Ky.; 62 The Source by Circuit City stores in Canada; and Rapid Satellite, an online seller of DirecTV services that was acquired in 2005 and had since been put on sale."

Suffice it to say that Circuit effectively bet the farm on flat-panel TVs to try and retake market share from industry leader Best Buy (and others). But rapidly falling flat-panel prices have taken their toll on retailers' margins, particularly those that were so weighted towards HDTVs. It seems likely that Circuit will now have to place a greater emphasis on accessories and installation services if it is to have any chance of catching Best Buy.

JVC For Sale

The Victor Co. of Japan, parent company of JVC of America, is on the auction block. Estimates are that the 52 percent controlling interest in the company will fetch nearly $700 million for current owner Matsushita Industrial Electric, parent of Panasonic. Three private equity firms -- one based in the U.S. -- are bidding in the auction, which may conclude its second round by tomorrow.

JVC is one of those old consumer electronics companies that kind of flies under the radar. It makes good products, particularly of the LCD and LCoS flavor, but it definitely doesn't have the brand recognition of longtime Japanese rivals like Sony and Panasonic or even upstart Korean competitors like Samsung and LG. It will be interesting to watch whether the private equity firm that wins this auction can reinvigorate the brand for the long-term or if the plan is to fix it up quickly and sell it off again.

Top 10 Channels Not in HD That Should Be

There are a number of HD channels that are offered to a limited number of viewers (HGTV, Golf Channel, Versus, etc.) that I'd really like to see on my cable system. However, there are a lot of other channels that are not yet even simulcast in high-def that should be -- and here's my Top 10 list (some of these are in development but aren't yet available).

1. Travel Channel
2. FX
3. Comedy Central
4. Fine Living
5. TLC
6. CNN
7. Fox News Channel
8. ESPNU
9. CSTV: College Sports Television
10. History Channel

Judge Orders DIRECTV to Pull HD Ads

A federal judge in Manhattan yesterday ordered DIRECTV to pull ads it had been airing starring Jessica Simpson and William Shatner claiming that its high-definition service was higher quality than that of Time Warner Cable. The dispute revolved around the tagline "For an HD picture that can’t be beat, you’ve got to get DIRECTV," which the company is now prohibited from using.

Time Warner successfully argued that since both its and DIRECTV's HD services are broadcast in 1080i, they are effectively of the same quality. Interestingly, the judge ruled that DIRECTV may continue to run ads stating that its overall picture quality is better than Time Warner Cable's since the satcaster broadcasts every channel digitally, unlike the cable company. Additionally, DIRECTV does not have to run any mea culpa ads correcting the language that the judge struck down, which Time Warner had requested.

Thanks to numerous sources for this story, including Multichannel News.

Hitachi Reports Drop in Plasma Sales

Hitachi said in its latest quarterly earnings report that the division that includes plasma TVs and DVD recorders lost $160 million, leading to an overall 77 percent decline in net income for the company. Hitachi attributed the drop in plasma display sales to falling prices in the wake of intense competition with other plasma makers as well as LCD rivals.

On a positive note, Hitachi also said that it began production of plasma display panels at a new manufacturing plant operated by Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Ltd., which according to the company helped to lower the costs of producing the plasma panels.

Retailers Give In, Slash HDTV Prices for Big Game

Even though they said they would focus on attractive financing deals rather than price cuts to move their HDTV inventories, TWICE reports today that most retailers wound up cutting prices anyway in the days leading up to last night's Super Bowl. Some of the more interesting deals offered to consumers were Sony's 1080p 50-inch SXRD rear-projection HDTV for $1,800 (BestBuy.com) and Samsung's 40-inch LCD flat-panel for under $1,500 (numerous retailers).

If you got a smokin' deal on an HDTV in the week before the Big Game, comment here and let us know about it!

LG's Dual-Format Blu-ray/HD DVD Now Available

The LG BH100, the first combination Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD player that was unveiled at last month's CES, is now available at such retail establishments as Best Buy, Circuit City and CompUSA, the company announced today. The product was honored by numerous groups at CES, receiving CNN's Best of CES, CNET's Best in Show and the Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice Award.

In addition to displaying content in 1080p, the BH100 also upconverts standard DVDs to 1080i resolution.

My bet is that this device will sell very well and stores may sell out of their initial allocations quickly.

HDTV: Too Many Choices?

USA Today ran a piece this morning asking the question of whether consumers are overwhelmed by the choices in size, technology and brand when they are shopping for HDTVs.

To me, that's like asking if there are too many choices when you're buying a car or a cell phone. It's true that it makes consumers do more research initially if you want to avoid buyers' remorse, but the wide array of choices leads to lower prices and better features. Even if the average consumer doesn't want or need all of the funtionality many HDTVs offer, you will need some of it and you might find that a year or two down the road you need more of it than you initially thought (an HDMI connection for a PS3 or Blu-ray player, for example).

So if I could offer some advice, it would be to do your homework before you go down to your local electronics store to educate yourself as much as possible on what's available. You wouldn't rely on a car salesman for objective advice, so apply that same mentality to your HDTV purchase and you'll be fine.

Panasonic Parent Reports Strong Plasma Sales

It's funny how the outlook of a particular market can change from one day to the next based on news from its major players. To wit, yesterday some pundits were starting to author obituaries for plasma displays based on disappointing sales figures from Pioneer Electronics that led the company to put on hold expansion plans for a new plasma manufacturing plant in Japan.

Today, Panasonic parent company Matsushita, the industry leader in plasma, reported that its plasma sales were strong in the last quarter of 2006, contributing to a nice bump in net profit for the company, and that the first phase of its new $2.3 billion plasma plant will be up and running this summer. The plant, incidentally, will be the largest plasma display factory in the world, according to TWICE.

It just goes to show how relying on the fortunes of one company to benchmark an entire industry probably isn't the wisest form of analysis...

DISH Adds A&E HD; Now Offers 31 HD Channels

DISH Network said yesterday that it has become the latest service provider to add A&E HD to its high-def lineup, joining Time Warner Cable, Cox and AT&T U-verse as companies offering the channel in some or all of their markets.

DISH now offers 31 HD channels counting the VOOM 15 suite of networks owned by Rainbow Media. In addition to the standard HD channels like Discovery HD Theater and ESPN HD, DISH Network is one of the few providers to offer Food Network HD, HGTV HD and National Geographic HD.

Pioneer Puts Expansion On Hold After Plasma Sales Drop

Pioneer Electronics said in its earnings report yesterday that plasma sales were off 10 percent in the quarter thanks mostly to a "substantial drop" in OEM sales, and as a result, the company is putting on hold plans to open a new plasma production plant west of Tokyo. Plasma displays represent nearly half of the company's home electronics sales, so while Pioneer would like to increase capacity, particularly on newly announced 1080p models, instead it will spend less money manufacturing PDPs and more on marketing them. Tighter supplies are expected due to the capacity restraints imposed by their current plant operations, which in a time of declining flat-panel prices industry-wide, will make it tough for the company to grow its position in the market.

The interesting part of this is that market research firm DisplaySearch released data earlier in the week that suggested Pioneer was actually doing pretty well based on the number of plasma panels shipped and the rate of growth. Apparently the holiday season was not particularly good for the company.

Canon Intros Second HD Camcorder

For those of you who want to get all of those important family moments in high-def on your big screen, Canon's trying to help you out. The company said yesterday that it has launched its Canon HV20 HD Camcorder, which includes a 10x HD video zoom lens with Super Range Optical Image Stabilization and a Canon True HD 1920 x 1080 CMOS Image Sensor for 1080 image recording. According to Canon, the HV20 HD Camcorder "also features an HDMI terminal for quick and easy one-cable transport of the High Definition video signal to a HDTV."

The HV20 will hit retail shelves in April at a list price of $1,099. It joins several competing high-def camcorders from Sony, Sanyo and other manufacturers.

My question is how long it will take YouTube to support HD video. It's a great site but the video quality is nothing short of horrendous...