General Forum

Re: B&O Statement Today

darioazul — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:22:49 GMT

Dear All:

Perhaps the statement is just a way to publicly announce, we are 'circling the wagons.' Tough economic times have brought advances in products from many industries, for example the auto industries is working hard to introduce new products that people want to drive. The number of small, fun, & safe cars to buy is only growing.

It will of much interest to see how B&O will answer. B&O is a great brand but not a necessary. It will have to answer to loyalist and attract new customers that want to open their wallets. It cannot continue to offer subpar technology and expect to succeed.

New customers will not stand for minimal technology at very high prices. The value the company used to offer must be there for new & old customers to appreciate. Looking back the ability to link products was a fantastic idea.

However, with the advent of wifi, the ability to link different products is much easier. As we all know, wifi stiff leaves a lot be desired when it comes to high audio & video quality. This is an area that B&O needs to pursuit. It needs to bring its link system into the 21st century.

Here's to exciting times ahead...

Dario

Re: B&O Statement Today

beocool — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:49:27 GMT

Good news, apart from the job losses.

Re: B&O Statement Today

moxxey — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:30:38 GMT

355f:
I dont doubt at all that the many purchasers on here of the BV7 for example ( i was not mentioning that set as the worst offender but ok we include that to) are delighted with their BV7 and other LCD- its the customer that are not buying thats the problem for B&O now!

Correct, and I agree with that. Snag is, there's nothing we or I can do about that. I've given them my thoughts on 'loyalty' and their UK MD thinks it's a good idea - we'll see what happens.

Re: B&O Statement Today

Alex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:52:10 GMT

moxxey:
Alex:
HDMI may in fact make the image quality worse when watching SD DVDs.
But it doesn't support DVD-Audio either?

No that's handled by the digital coax or the DVD player's built in decoders (which can then be pushed down scart).

DVD-Audio is just a way of saying 24 bit 96 kHz audio stored on a disc.

Re: B&O Statement Today

355f — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:32:54 GMT

moxxey:
355f:

Actually there is nothing wrong with scart. whats wrong is the poor quality of the lcd panels- whats the point of HDMI with panel quality presently being used?
To be fair though, I'm not disappointed with my BV7-40 PQ and, the customer has to be disappointed, to reflect that comment, 355f. I doubt you'd see too many people on here who would be disappointed with their recent B&O LCD TV PQ.

I dont doubt at all that the many purchasers on here of the BV7 for example ( i was not mentioning that set as the worst offender but ok we include that to) are delighted with their BV7 and other LCD- its the customer that are not buying thats the problem for B&O now!

But outside the blinkered world that is B&O ( i think they are moving into the real world now!) the products in vision are an enourmous price for mediocre performance- one only has to look at some of the latest offerings- very technically advanced and a 9th of the price.

Ok we have the B&O style- the integration- the quality- at least on the outside but really it doesnt perform.

And I say this comparing my BV4 with a pioneer k500 I have side by side to it this evening.

The cost is £2550 compared to £11,700 for the BV4 and in video quality the BV4 is pants im afraid by comparison- at these prices would anyone pay 10K more for something thats inferior- whilst I agree with the 'new mission statement from B&O and its future direction- the main reaosn for the downfall of the business is sky high pricing and greed by B&O- 6 times more than it should be- 'designer brand or not!

Re: B&O Statement Today

moxxey — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:49:26 GMT

355f:
Actually there is nothing wrong with scart. whats wrong is the poor quality of the lcd panels- whats the point of HDMI with panel quality presently being used?

To be fair though, I'm not disappointed with my BV7-40 PQ and, the customer has to be disappointed, to reflect that comment, 355f. I doubt you'd see too many people on here who would be disappointed with their recent B&O LCD TV PQ.

Re: B&O Statement Today

moxxey — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:47:59 GMT

Alex:
HDMI may in fact make the image quality worse when watching SD DVDs.

But it doesn't support DVD-Audio either?

Re: B&O Statement Today

355f — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:47:08 GMT

Alex:

What's wrong with Scart? It can carry RGB signals which are as good as SD gets. B&O have good reasons for not moving into the Blu-Ray market yet. I personally have found all Blu-Ray players to be very clunky.

Actually there is nothing wrong with scart. whats wrong is the poor quality of the lcd panels- whats the point of HDMI with panel quality presently being used?

very sad about the job losses but as many things move to outsourcing- many more jobs to go I would think- and many more as dealers give up.

Whilst the future plans look' interesting' how can dealers survive now

Re: B&O Statement Today

Jandyt — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:45:02 GMT

Thanks for posting this nice, easy to follow statement.
My heart goes out to the 165 poor souls who lost their jobs today, in this economic climate, and with Christmas just around the corner.

Nice to see the severing of ties with Samsung, no more half cast Kikinoko/B&O products! It won't be long before BS2, Serene, Serenata and BS6 become collectable.

Andy T.

Re: B&O Statement Today

Alex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:44:46 GMT

moxxey:
Alex:
What's wrong with Scart? It can carry RGB signals which are as good as SD gets. B&O have good reasons for not moving into the Blu-Ray market yet. I personally have found all Blu-Ray players to be very clunky.
Alex, when you pay £2800 out of your hard-earned cash (I won't say 'kids inheritance' - think Dragons Den) and you have to 'make do' with scart, then fine, you're welcome to your purchase.
However, it's the principle more than anything else. I want a HDMI-based updated BC2, whether I need the technology or not. Partly as I might need it in the future and paying near £3K for 2003 technology doesn't make me feel entirely comfortable.

HDMI may in fact make the image quality worse when watching SD DVDs.

HDMI is for carrying HD signals, and this is what it does best. Scart/RGB is for carrying SD signals, and this is what it does best. The upscaling should be handled by the TV, and not by the DVD player (which is what would happen should the BC2 be 'upgraded' for HDMI).

Re: B&O Statement Today

PhilLondon — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:38:39 GMT

A BluRay device would only make sense with a HDMI connection of course.

Scart might still be there for unencrypted (recordable) SD, and AVL and multi room distribution.

Re: B&O Statement Today

moxxey — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:30:16 GMT

Alex:
What's wrong with Scart? It can carry RGB signals which are as good as SD gets. B&O have good reasons for not moving into the Blu-Ray market yet. I personally have found all Blu-Ray players to be very clunky.

Alex, when you pay £2800 out of your hard-earned cash (I won't say 'kids inheritance' - think Dragons Den) and you have to 'make do' with scart, then fine, you're welcome to your purchase.

However, it's the principle more than anything else. I want a HDMI-based updated BC2, whether I need the technology or not. Partly as I might need it in the future and paying near £3K for 2003 technology doesn't make me feel entirely comfortable.

Re: B&O Statement Today

GuyHui — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:20:51 GMT

Fortunately B&O comes back to what they do the best : Audio and Video business segments.

Getting ride of the MP3 players, mobile phones and stand-alone players shows it wasn't worth to invest in those projects. Knowing the fact that the competition offers similar product in design and onboard technology... at a better price (ie. Apple, Loewe, etc.).

I hope B&O will follow this path and bring us more pleasure with its products.

Guy

Re: B&O Statement Today

Alex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:27:19 GMT

What's wrong with Scart? It can carry RGB signals which are as good as SD gets. B&O have good reasons for not moving into the Blu-Ray market yet. I personally have found all Blu-Ray players to be very clunky.

Re: B&O Statement Today

moxxey — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:21:41 GMT

timhanna:
Personally, id love to see a beocentre 2 with built in, updated via net, Blueray player :)

Absolutely Tim. I've been saying the same thing for ages! Instead of looking at new objects, simply take what they've done well (like the Beocenter 2), update with Blu-ray, HDMI and perhaps some kind of ability to link to the B&O wireless network, Airport Express and other devices. Gives us options, at least.

I'm actually quite amazed that the Beocenter 2 hasn't changed much in the last five years. It's one of those products that drives people to realise why it's worth paying the extra for quality, until you realise that the technology is the same as a £20 DVD player you can buy from Aldi.

Instead, we have a near £3000 SCART based basic DVD player. Sure, I'm sure the picture connected to the new BV7-32 or BV8-32 will be fine, but it's hardly technology pushing the bounderies.