See the attached article. Clearly the more expensive brands are beginning to find things a bit tough. Again this goes to show that the quick pace of technology changes can make it difficult for smaller AV companies to compete.

What hope B&O ?

On a different note I was told yesterday that BS5 has been cancelled. Is this correct ?

 

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST22772520080304

 

 

Awwwww. What a shame.

As for the BeoSound 5 rumor, no it has not been cancelled.  

According to this post they cancel 42´´, but will continue with bigger screens.

Then decisions are being made fast. Just a few days ago they were downscaling and letting the plant the bought from NEC go but would go on manufacturing. The Kuro campaign didn't land enough customers, then.

Too bad, because it will frighten off others who aim for the premium level of performance. How many remember SONY's Qualia range?

Let's hope it doesn't mean they'll stop continuing development of the Kuro screens, they are exceptionally great -- who makes them for Pioneer doesn't really matter, as long as the result is premium.
(Very few people know that it's Samsung that's building Bravias, for instance, though to SONY's spec's. And I'm not saying that Bravias are premium LCD - just that customers don't really care about manufacturer.)

@Daniel - yes, it's a little unclear. Reuter's usually don't get their wires crossed, though.

 

so does that mean that since samsung make bno's screens , sony's are to a higher standard ?

Flappo The Grate:

so does that mean that since samsung make bno's screens , sony's are to a higher standard ?

Don't forget that Samsung supply the Apple LCD panels, too, after Apple invested $150 million in their LCD plant a few years ago.

Well certainly surprising they have pulled out of manufacturing the panles seen as they where in the plasma market early guess they should of focused more on selling to third parties like sharp does with it's lcd panels. I think the reason sony uses samsung panels was that they were late o the flat screen market and didn't want to play catch up sony are now spending a lot on oled technology and panels so they should be well placed for what comes after lcd and plasma lets hope B&O switch's to oled as fast as possible when the time comes.

moxxey:

Flappo The Grate:

so does that mean that since samsung make bno's screens , sony's are to a higher standard ?

Don't forget that Samsung supply the Apple LCD panels, too, after Apple invested $150 million in their LCD plant a few years ago.

 

very interesting , mr bond

are you thinking what i'm thinking ? 

Bravia panels are made by Sharp, not by Samsung...

You're quite right, I stand corrected. Well, that suddenly improved my impression of Bravia - was told it was Samsung, and should have checked.

I hope B&O takes lessons from this. Pioneer sold much less then they expected. But due to their high prices compared to the competition and despite their better looks and picture quality, they didn't succeed. So If Pioneer can't with asking more then 5000 euro for a full HD plasma with stunning picture, can B&O still charge more then 15000 euro for just a good picture? I doubt it.

Bingo:

I hope B&O takes lessons from this. Pioneer sold much less then they expected. But due to their high prices compared to the competition and despite their better looks and picture quality, they didn't succeed. So If Pioneer can't with asking more then 5000 euro for a full HD plasma with stunning picture, can B&O still charge more then 15000 euro for just a good picture? I doubt it.

Ah, what's happening is that Pioneer is reducing its commitment to creating its own plants, but are continuing with the manufacture of large plasma panels meeting their Kuro specifications.
They've simply found that it's uneconomic to have their own plants. This raises "can they keep their solutions proprietary" issues, but nonetheless probably makes financial sense, given the complexity of establishing such plants.

But you're right. Image quality is a really hard area in which to be asking a superpremium price these days, given the high quality of much less expensive panels. 

does B&O ever put sales figures in it's financial reports? or do we just not get sales on specific products. Then we could at least see how many TV's they are selling.

The number I heard during our visit in Struer was approx. 100k TV's across all models per year.

Karsten 

kawo:

The number I heard during our visit in Struer was approx. 100k TV's across all models per year.

Karsten 

 

it's actually better than i thought but im sure they could hit 200k if they reduced the price a bit/well alot so they weren't 7 times the price of similar size screens 

They should lower the price drasticly in my opinion. No one can take a brand seriously who charges prices that were common seven years ago for plasma televisions:-) The market has changed, you know..

kawo:

The number I heard during our visit in Struer was approx. 100k TV's across all models per year.

Karsten 

I appreciate that B & O reduce manufacturing costs by buying in their panels from Panasonic,and Samsung,but without cross subsidy from other parts of their business operations can their TV operation be viable with alleged annual sales of only 100000 units?

It is claimed that Pioneer's latest declared annual sales were 468000 TVs.

Flappo The Grate:

moxxey:

Flappo The Grate:

so does that mean that since samsung make bno's screens , sony's are to a higher standard ?

Don't forget that Samsung supply the Apple LCD panels, too, after Apple invested $150 million in their LCD plant a few years ago.

 

very interesting , mr bond

are you thinking what i'm thinking ? 

 

Actually, Samsung only supply some of Apple's LCDs - for example, the small LCDs used in iPods and a very small fraction of those panels used in iMacs and portable machines. When I was working at Apple, which was recently, most panels used were from Chi Mei, or LG. This is partly due to increased Mac sales, meaning additional suppliers are needed, but I suspect mostly to increase margin - Chi Mei panels are almost certainly cheaper than Samsung - even taking into account Apple's relationship with Samsung. Sadly, the Chi Mei panels are noticably poorer image quality and seemed more prone to failure.  

Back on topic, I have a Kuro myself (having reluctantly decided against B&O because of very poor price/quality ratio) and it's fantastic. I suspect the best TV available right now. It's really funny, as a B&O fan, to hear people saying how expensive/poor value Pioneer sets are - these people would probably keel over and die if they knew how much a B&O TV costs!

Pioneer NOT pulling out of plasma!

OK, Pioneer fans, you can breathe easy: contrary to rumours circulating earlier this week, Pioneer is NOT pulling out of the plasma market. It's just 'restructuring'.

 

In an official announcement today, Pioneer stated that it's going to continue with production of its upcoming (9th) generation of plasma TVs as normal. But thereafter it intends to outsource the production of the core plasma panels to another party, most likely Matsushita.

HOWEVER! The announcement is at pains to clarify that this outsourcing for gen 10 and beyond does not mean future Pioneer TVs will merely be rebadged versions of another manufacturer's TVs. Rather the plan is that Pioneer will simply be procuring panel modules into which it will then incorporate the various proprietary technologies that have given rise to the current award-winning KURO TVs.

Fingers crossed these plans all come to fruition, and that we can continue to get our hands for years to come on what are for my money currently the best flat TVs in the business.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/shownews.php?id=9500

 

 

Greg:

When I was working at Apple, which was recently, most panels used were from Chi Mei, or LG. This is partly due to increased Mac sales, meaning additional suppliers are needed, but I suspect mostly to increase margin - Chi Mei panels are almost certainly cheaper than Samsung - even taking into account Apple's relationship with Samsung. Sadly, the Chi Mei panels are noticably poorer image quality and seemed more prone to failure.

So, it's actually the Apple fans who are being charged way over the odds for inferior panels

Bingo:

Pioneer NOT pulling out of plasma!

OK, Pioneer fans, you can breathe easy: contrary to rumours circulating earlier this week, Pioneer is NOT pulling out of the plasma market. It's just 'restructuring'.

 

In an official announcement today, Pioneer stated that it's going to continue with production of its upcoming (9th) generation of plasma TVs as normal. But thereafter it intends to outsource the production of the core plasma panels to another party, most likely Matsushita.

HOWEVER! The announcement is at pains to clarify that this outsourcing for gen 10 and beyond does not mean future Pioneer TVs will merely be rebadged versions of another manufacturer's TVs. Rather the plan is that Pioneer will simply be procuring panel modules into which it will then incorporate the various proprietary technologies that have given rise to the current award-winning KURO TVs.

Fingers crossed these plans all come to fruition, and that we can continue to get our hands for years to come on what are for my money currently the best flat TVs in the business.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/shownews.php?id=9500

 

 

 

Its the same situation for the new oled screens. Most major manufacturers have joined together so that the technology can be developed in a more cost effective way. The lessons were learned after the demise of SED, Which was a superior technology to LCD and plasma but pricing meant it would neevr be a major competitor to established technology