Samsung Reportedly Chops TV Prices As Sales Slide

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The television business appears to be in trouble.

In the latest sign that demand is slackening, Vijay Rakesh, an analyst with ThinkPanmure, noted this morning that Samsung has cut the retail price for 32-inch LCD televisions by 15% to $599. He thinks Sony (SNE) and Sharp will follow suit. “Since retail TV inventory is picking up, we expect TV panel pricing to fall sharply in July to keep demand stable,” he wrote in a research note.

Rakesh says checks with electronics retailers find June unit sales were down almost 10% from May. He also notes that inventories of Tier 1 TV makers are starting to pick up. “Rapid price cuts at retail appear to be affecting the inventory price protection from TV OEMs and in-transit value depreciation,” he writes. “Most of the Tier 1 TV OEMs have three to four months of inventory in transit, with current inventory being higher with the slowdown.”

Rakesh thinks TV makers have a dilemma heading into Q3. “If TV OEMs have to cut retail TV prices to maintain demand, we believe that TV LCD panel pricing could see significant price cuts in July,” he writes. “Also, rapid price declines and competition in the LCD TV space is negatively impacting glass demand and sales in the Plasma TV space as sales slow down. The slowdown in demand and inventory picking up at retail could impact the [second half] outlook for panel suppliers and glass suppliers such as Corning (GLW).”

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Samsung Gears Up for New Management Experiment

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The Samsung Group is starting what is seen as a new experiment in management in July. With the resignation of chairman Lee Kun-hee, the country’s biggest family-owned conglomerate will introduce an independent management system for its subsidiaries after dismantling the powerful strategic planning office, which has served as the group's control tower. This marks a sea change in the conglomerate's 70-year history.

Lee Soo-bin, chairman of Samsung Life Insurance, will represent the Samsung Group. Lee Yoon-woo, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, will take charge of big investment decisions and coordinating overlapping projects between subsidiaries.
Reactions have been mixed so far. Some feel the group will be able to improve corporate governance under professional managers, while others warn the group could neglect long-term investments or be exposed to takeover bids by focusing too much on short-term achievements.

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled a series of measures to make management more transparent following a management reform program released in April. Lee Kun-hee, who resigned as chairman of Samsung Electronics, officially retires on July 1. He will be given an office and a secretary as a former chairman.
The strategic planning office, which has been in charge of coordinating projects between subsidiaries, reshuffling the group's top executives, and managing the group's finances, will be disbanded and its functions assigned to individual subsidiaries.
Samsung vice chairman Lee Hak-soo and president Kim In-joo will also retire from active management but remain as an adviser and a counselor respectively to Samsung Electronics.
The dilemma Samsung faced was that although the strategic planning office, as well as Lee Kun-hee, had played a key role in helping Samsung grow as a global enterprise, it had to be closed after massive corruption scandals exposed lack of transparency.
Hwang Young-ki, a former Woori Financial Group chairman, recalls his days as president of Samsung Securities, when “about 70 percent of my duties, including personnel, finance and external affairs, were carried out by the group headquarters. So I was able to concentrate on key duties as CEO.“
That suggests the rapid management style, a key to Samsung's success, its fast decision-making process and bold investment decisions, will probably slow down considerably. Samsung also carried out massive marketing activities through global sports events such as the Olympics, helped by Lee Kun-hee’s membership in the International Olympic Committee. His retirement is bound to reduce such activities.

But Lee Kun-hee can still exercise influence as the largest shareholder. Around the end of this year, when court proceedings in the Samsung corruption scandal are expected to come to an end, Samsung will probably conduct a large-scale personnel reshuffle and restructuring. And when Lee's son and heir presumptive Jae-yong returns from overseas duties in a few years, Samsung's top management will likely be restructured once again.
Kwack Mahn-soon, a professor at Catholic University of Korea, said the group’s restructuring is “an important experiment in introducing a coexistence of owner management and professional management systems. Samsung's reforms will have great implications for other conglomerates as well."

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Samsung New Series TV

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a world leader in the digital television market; and their sole distributor in the Kingdom, United Matbouli Group, are set to debut their latest line-up of Full HD LCD TV’s and HD PDP TVs. The new range, Series 4, 5, and 6, are specifically designed for consumers new to HD entertainment.

“Samsung’s newest LCD technologies and engineering techniques have allowed us to offer attractive HD and Full HD TVs with great features and excellent picture quality,” said Omar Siddiqui, AV Product Manager, Samsung Electronics KSA. “With the LCD HDTV Series 4 AND Full HDTV Series 5 and Series 6, every customer can enjoy a premium high-definition experience.”

Series 5 Full HD LCD TVBuilding on the sophisticated design and performance feature set of the Series 4, the 1080p Series 5 takes the Samsung LCD HDTV experience one step further. The Series had been developed with an array of cutting-edge technology and features that ensure optimal viewing at a great price.

Series 5 Samsung LA32A550 32 inch LCD TV

Only $1239 inc GST

Available in screen sizes of 32, 37, 40 and 46 inches, the Series 5 comes with a Full HD resolution of (1920*1080), a fast 6 ms response time and 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (applicable to over 40’’ models).

Series 5 Samsung LA40A550 40 inch LCD TV

Only $1945 inc GST

Series 5 also comes with Samsung’s Wide Color Enhancer 2 for optimal picture quality and New Clear Panel, which significantly lowers reflection and deeper blacks. The Series 5 leaves nothing to be desired in terms of convenience and connectivity, with a range of HD peripherals such as three HDMI inputs, a 2.0 USB port to enjoy the contents of your MP3 player and digital cameras with a direct TV connection.

Series 4 LCD HDTVThe Series 4 was designed with many of the same high-end components used across all of Samsung’s LCD line-up. Its slim style refreshes your living space and its pristine picture quality offers an outstanding HDTV experience that redefines how you connect to the digital world.

Series 5 Samsung LA50A410 50 inch Plasma TV

Only $1779 inc GST

The Series 4 piano-black bezel elegantly frames a Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (SPVA) LCD panel, which delivers superior picture quality and 178-degree viewing angles from all four axes. Down-firing stereo speakers are completely hidden in specially designed chambers at the bottom of the display to increase audio quality.

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Epson P-3000

Only $517
RRP $599 You save $82

New Epson P-3000 Handheld Multimedia Storage Viewers Feature World's First Four-Color LCD, Delivering More Than 16.7 Million Colors For Industry-Leading Clarity and Detail.

Portable Multimedia Storage Viewers Feature 40-80 GB Hard Drives and Faster Image Processing for Storing and Viewing Digital Photos, Videos and Music Files

Continuing to meet and exceed the needs of digital photographers, photo enthusiasts and business professionals, Epson today introduced its latest multimedia storage viewers, the Epson P-3000. With Epson's exclusive Photo Fine(R) Ultra technology, the P-3000 feature the world's first four-color filter system displaying 16.7 million colors to deliver Adobe(R) RGB color support. The new P-3000 provides a fast, convenient way to download, store and view photos in superior resolution and detail on-the-spot.

Building upon many of the features and strengths of previous Epson multimedia storage viewers, the P-3000 offer 40GB hard drive capacities (respectively) for storing and sharing thousands of digital photos, videos and music files. The P-3000 is designed.

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Yamaha New mini speakers system

Stylish and compact cube-shaped powered speaker delivers good audio quality with amazingly big bass to pump up your portable audio sound. Plug and play for dynamic sound where and when you want it.The most powerful portable USB powered speaker for your home or office.

The compact speaker that expands your audio enjoyment.

High Sound Quality the Yamaha Way.



Yamaha's new SR-Bass technology maximizes internal energy to produce bass that is deeper and more powerful than you would think possible from a compact speaker. The NX-A01 also benefits from Yamaha's long tradition of excellence in speaker design. The speaker unit is a 3cm titanium cone capable of skillfully reproducing the entire frequency range.

Greater Music Enjoyment from iPod and Other Portable Devices

Portable audio players are everywhere these days, not only outside but in the home too. The super-convenient NX-A01 lets you take off the headphones and fill a room with big, high quality, bass-rich sound.

This Compact Cube Fits Anywhere

The NX-A01 is a small cube less than 3.5"(9cm) on each side. And it weighs only 0.7 lbs.(310g). Put it on a table, a desktop or a counter and plug in your iPod, music-capable mobile phone or other portable audio device to instantly fill the room with sound Only $148

The compact speaker that expands your audio enjoyment.

Convenience AND power!

A speaker that plugs into your computer’s USB port is really convenient. But ordinary USB speakers can’t deliver much power: only 0.5W x 2. Yamaha solves that problem with the NX-U10. It can output max. 10W x 2 — 20 times as much power! Your music will sound great, and you can even use it for business presentations in large rooms.

Bass with a punch

Along with the expansive power, you get strong, rich bass. The NX-U10 includes technology, so music, games and even movies sound just as dynamic as they are supposed to.

Handy and versatile

Connecting the NX-U10 to your laptop or other computer is quick and easy. You only use one USB cable — no need for a power cord. Or you can power it from an AC outlet or four AAA batteries. It also has a stereo mini jack, so you can plug in your iPod, game console or other portable device to enjoy bigger, better sound Only $122

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Sony's new LCD TV feature the world's highest level of energy effiency

Sony Japan presented their New 32 inch Bravia LCD TV [JP], claiming it’s the world’s most energy-efficient LCD screen of that size.

The KDL-32JE1 consumes just 89W of electricity per year (momentary power consumption), which translates to a 232% efficiency rating the TV got from the Enegy conservation center of Japan (ECCJ). Usually, a figure of 164% is enough to earn the five-star “Energy Saving Label” from that institute. Sony says they reduced power consumption by enhancing backlight emission and light transmission of optical film.

The TV comes with WXGA resolution (1366×768 ), 2 HDMI ports, 3 Video interfaces, and modem and LAN connection. It offers a contrast ratio of 2,500:1 and a view angle of 178 degrees.

The $1,400 Bravia KDL-32JE1 goes on sale in Japan on July 25th in champagne gold and silver. Sony said they plan to offer it in overseas markets as well but didn’t reveal any details.

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Samsung LN52A750 LCD TV

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LN52A750

If you are interested in a huge flat-panel LCD, then you should give the Samsung LN52A750 LCD TV a try. It has a ig panel, high resolution, widescreen, broad color spectrum and a full HD 1080p resolution that delivers the highest video resolution currently available — 1920 x1080 pixels — scanned progressively with a super-fast 4ms pixel-response time for the smoothest, most lifelike image around.

Also, there’s no shortage of color, brightness, and detail across the LN52A750’s 16:9 widescreen panel — a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) in combination with a wide color enhancer optimizes color reproduction while a 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 500nit brightness level conjure up precise, stunning detail, scene after scene.

Lastly, you can enjoy video from a variety of digital and analog sources thanks to a built-in image scaler and integrated ATSC and Clear QAM digital tuners.

With the Samsung LN52A750, you are given the absolute best in connectivity. Samsung’s LN52A750 features four HDMI connections. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the only interface in consumer electronics that can carry both uncompressed high-definition (HD) video and uncompressed multi-channel audio in all HD formats including 720p, 1080i and even 1080p.

Your incoming media content comes in a variety of sizes, resolutions and formats, and with that in mind, HDMI systems automatically configure to display that content in the most effective format. Since HDMI carries all channels on video and audio, there is only one cable to plug into any HDMI-enabled source and display device.

So, no more complicated cable set-up when installing your home theater system, and no more ugly cable mess behind your components. HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on this single cable. Also, HDMI is fully backward-compatible with DVI.

Also, the LN52A750 comes in packed with the Samsung Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe), an innovative technology that delivers a crisp, lifelike picture that more closely resembles the look of film regardless of the input signals used. Five image processors and a six-times density enhancer ensure the best picture from any source. Plug in your standard DVD player, and the LN52A750 will increase the quality of the picture. This technology guarantees the truest colors and highest contrast, while virtually eliminating digital artifacts.

Picture is only half of the high definition experience. Sound makes it complete. If you don’t have the full surround sound setup, you can still get a rich sound from the LN52A750 with its SRS TruSurround XT. TruSurround is a patented SRS technology that solves the problem of playing 5.1 multichannel content over two speakers. TruSurround delivers a compelling, virtual surround-sound experience through any two-speaker playback system, including internal television speakers and headphones. It is fully compatible with all multichannel formats up to 5.1 channels. Take full advantage of this virtual surround-sound experience with the LN52A750’s built-in dual 10W speakers and integrated woofer.

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K-Touch C280 Uses Canon DIGIC II Imaging Processor

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Samsung seems to take advantage of a partnership with Schneider-Kreuznach. There is no shortage of Cyber-shot branding when it comes to Sony Ericsson cell phones.

Even Motorola is collaborating with Kodak to produce their camera phones. It seems that Canon is tired of everyone else getting a piece of the camera phone pie, so it has lent its expertise for this particular camera phone.

No, it’s not a Nokia or an HTC. In fact, there’s a good chance that you’ve never even heard of this company, but it could prove to the first in a long line of camera phones that feature Canon-sourced technology. The K-Touch C280 is on display at CHITEC 2008 in China and it uses a Canon DIGIC II imaging processor. It’s not quite a Canon camera phone, but it’s getting there.

Among the photocentric features on the K-Touch C280 camera phone are ISO 1600, 3x optical zoom, and an 8-megapixel image sensor. The dual five-way navigation keys are also a unique touch.

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Panasonic PT-AE2000 1080p Projector Review

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Panasonic’s second 1080p projector shares the distinction of being the second Panasonic HD projector I’ve been able to sample. The first, Panasonic’s PT-L500U 1080i LCD projector, was a permanent fixture in my home theater for several years. I always found it to provide great bang for the buck, an area Panasonic projectors have often excelled at.

In this age of 1080p high definition I expected "more" from Panasonic’s latest LCD home theater projector, the PT-AE2000. Not just because the casing is at least twice the size of my old PT-L500U. Enough years have gone by to be able to easily pick up on improved contrast, brightness and features.

On paper the AE2000 projector reads like a champ considering its approximate street price of $2700. It boasts a 16,000:1 contrast ratio, 1500 lumens of brightness, three HDMI 1.3 inputs, and manual horizontal and vertical lens shift. These are specs often aligned with more expensive projectors, yet here they are.

One of the possible reasons why Panasonic was able to bring the price in where they did is the aesthetically challenged casing. If you were to flash a picture of the AE2000 to someone, they’d think you just showed them a black travel case. Its stark box-like visage isn’t much to look at and it is better suited to mount in a wall cavity than have out in the open. At the same time, when a movie or videogame is playing, how often are you looking at the projector? I’ll gladly take a price cut in exchange for a boxy design.

Like the casing, the remote isn’t much to look at but has it where it counts. All the calibration functions including focus are included so you can move around the room and make medications without being stuck to the projector’s case buttons. It also has a learning function which I didn’t test out, but is a nice feature that’ll come in handy in several home theater applications.

Plasma TV, Games Consoles Guzzle Power

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Think your energy bill is too high? Australian consumer agency Choice finds that plasma TV sets and game consoles slurp up astonishing amounts of power.

Australian consumer agency Choice took a look at the amount of power consumed by 16 common electronics devices, including notebook computers, stereo systems, DVD players, televisions and game consoles. And if you think you power bills are too high, you might want to look to your consumer electronics: the agency found that Sony's PlayStation 3 consumed the most power of the devices tested, followed closely by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and plasma televisions—even when idle and not in use. And the PS3 consumed 10 times the as much power as the NIntendo Wii.

The agency's tests found that leaving a PS3 on while not in use over a period of a year would cost about five times more than running a refrigerator for the same period.

Plasma televisions were also revealed to be energy hogs, consuming over four times as much power as a traditional CRT analog television set.

Among computers, the agency found that an Apple iMac—with a build-in LCD display—consumed about two-thirds as much power as a Windows-based PC without any display at all. The study found that the LCD displays in Apple iMacs user less than half the power of their CRT-based predecessors.

The agency recommends consumers turn off devices when not in use, either by putting them into standby mode or—better yet—turning them off at the wall. The agency also recommended upgrading from CRT monitors to LCD displays, recycling old computers, taking advantage of power-saving features in both the Windows and Mac OS operating systems, reusing and recycling ink cartridges, using rechargeable batteries, and reducing print waste by going paperless whenever possible.

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lcd tv | plasma tv | dvd player | dvd recorder | home theater | laptop | projector | wall bracket

Luxury A/V manufacturer and designer Bang & Olufsen says that its new plasma TV, the BeoVision 4, is “self-adapting/calibrating”. Special software and technology, including an integrated camera, measure the colour balance of the screen, then adjust it in order to “compensate for aging phosphors”.

Called “Automatic Color Management”, the patented, self-calibrating process s is quite neat, not to mention futuristic: after every 100 hours of viewing (or as often as the owner likes), a mechanical arm with the camera at the end can be set to swing down from behind the frame of the TV. It measures a test picture of the screen, analyzes colour temperature, and adjusts colours accordingly. In addition to adjusting picture quality to suit various environments, B&O says that the technology also helps to increase the life span of the screen.

President of B&O America, Zean Nielsen, claimed that the BeoVision 4 has been called “Anti-Wrinkle Cream for one’s TV”, which isn’t surprising given that B&O is known predominantly for its sexy and classy designs. Aesthetically on the outside, the frame is curved, and constructed of smooth, brushed aluminum.

The plasma also includes B&O’s patented Automatic Picture Control technology, which adjusts brightness based on ambient room lighting through on optical sensor on the top of the bezel.

The BeoVision 4 is available in a 50” or 65” size, both at full 1080p resolution, for MSRPs of $7,500 and $13,500, respectively. They come in traditional colours like silver, black, and dark grey, as well as some bolder accent choices, like red and blue.

The complementary BeoLab 10 centre speaker ($4,000) has also hit Canadian stores. This triangular-shaped speaker sits below the plasma, facing downward to create an odd, yet artistic, look. Sound is dispersed at a 180-degree angle via the speaker’s Acoustic Lens Technology. It is available in matching colour choices to the BeoVision 4.

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