Author: Avi Greengart

Audio / Industry

And Now We Have a Post About Silly Names

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Speakercraft_logo_1  Fst-logo-2 I promise something more substantive in a different post ( <– that's just a writing flourish. No actual promise is intended or implied), but I wanted to pass this along. I get press releases every day about companies introducing new products, changing management, or using technology. Many of them are incomprehensible – it's as if PR people speak a different language. Here's the headline from one that crossed my inbox this morning:

Leading Architectural Audio and Video Supplier Builds on FST GUI Technology 
for New Streaming Media Product Line

 

Who? What? After reading the press release a couple of times I think I understand what's going on: SpeakerCraft is branching out from crafting speakers and is building a streaming media system (just the sort of thing I focus on in my Digital Home research service), presumably to get audio to their in-wall speakers. OK. But to do so, they needed a way to quickly create a user interface for their gadget, and they turned to FST.


Here's where things get silly. It seems that the folks at FST are either: 12 year old boys, refugees from movie production companies, or high. FST stands for Fluffy Spider Technologies. FST's flagship product is the FancyPants platform and its Ruthlessly Efficient runtime environment. What the hell?


That is all.

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Audio / Industry

NHT Leaves, Returns; Miss Them Much?

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Nht box-20 NHT (aka Now Hear This) has been a respected mid-tier speaker manufacturer based in the U.S. since 1986, but as the recession hit earlier this year, they chose to shut down product development and manufacturing, take some time off, and approach the market fresh. They weren't bankrupt – at least not yet – they just saw their distribution channel erode as independent dealers and custom installers went out of business, and their price points crept up to the point where they were out of line with economic realities. Some of this was driven by rising commodity prices, some by a disconnect with changing consumer priorities.

Somehow I missed this story. Anyway, after just a few months off, they're back.

They've shrunk their product line nearly in half, and are selling and distributing online-only. If this sounds similar to the Outlaw model, it is, only NHT isn't just selling direct, you can buy from amazon, Audio Advisor, OneCall, and a few others. This eliminates dealer reps, salespeople, and lots of shipping, so prices are down 20% as well. They're killing all print ads because the goal of print ads was to drive prospects to the dealers, though they will do online advertising because they need to drive sales somehow.

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Games / Industry / PC Convergence / Television

E3 Wrap-Up

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

E3 header - full I'm in charge of Consumer Devices at Current Analysis, which is actually composed of two separate groups: Mobile Devices and Digital Home. I've been in charge of the devices portion of our Digital Home service since the beginning of this year, and while I intend to continue posting here about home theater, I thought I'd plug noteworthy Digital Home reports on this blog as well. This year's E3 (the electronic gaming show) crossed over both of my coverage areas. I stayed home this year – I'm on the road a lot as it is – but Bruce McGregor, our Senior Analyst, Digital Home was there live. This isn't a new console year, but there were multiple announcements around new services, and Bruce wrote up announcements from Microsoft and Sony, while I covered the PSPgo.

(The report links require paid access to Current Analysis' syndicated research service; journalists who need free access should contact me and we'll get an account set up for you.)

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E3 2009: Sony PSPgo Doesn't go Far Enough
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E3 2009: Sony Offers More Movie and TV Show Downloads for Its PS3 and PSP
Devices
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E3 2009: Microsoft Shows Off Several Xbox 360 Upgrades to Embolden Its Place in the
Living Room
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Industry

Regional CE Stores Picking Up Where Circuit City Left Off

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

6-New-Store-HP Yesterday's WSJ had an article (subscription required) on how regional consumer electronics stores are thriving despite the economy. The keys to success seem to be a) taking advantage of the demise of Circuit City, and b) the use of a trained, commissioned sales force. I can't help but point out that one big reason that Circuit City died was the move away from its own trained, commissioned sales force to lower paid, non-commissioned shift workers. Of course, Wal~Mart's spokesperson is quick to point out the flip side: many consumers are doing their research online and hate pushy commissioned retail salespeople.

The Journal doesn't talk about the smaller, specialty A/V retailer, but based solely on the number of local stores that have gone out of business over the past year (Rabson's, I'll miss you), that segment of the business isn't going to pick up any Circuit City leftovers. So how will the remaining stores survive? One way is to hold special events to drive traffic to the store. Frankly, I'm surprised this is the first time I'm seeing this: one of the local high end A/V stores is having three manufacturer reps come to do a dog-and-pony show (this link is to a similar past event) and is advertising it by buying email lists from one of the home theater magazines. Will this be enough? I hope so.

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Uncategorized

Vizio is Smart, Consumers Are/Aren’t Idiots

- by Avi Greengart - 5 Comments.

LogoVizio
The New York Times is reporting that Vizio is getting out of the plasma TV business and focusing solely on LCD. That leaves only Samsung, LG, and Panasonic as plasma TV brands in the U.S., and both Samsung and LG have been shifting more of their lines to LCD. Vizio's rationale is clear: consumers prefer LCD. Why do consumers prefer LCD? Because it's the brighter technology on the showroom floor. Of course, the showroom floor is hardly representative of a consumer's home, and every expert agrees that plasma TVs offer better picture quality than LCD.  I've yet to find any disagreement on this issue, even from manufacturers of LCD sets: plasma TVs have richer colors and better black levels, both of which factor into a better picture. LCD is brighter, which makes it… brighter.

So what's going on here? The showroom is different from the living room:

  • In a store, there are lots of TVs vying for attention. In the home, there's usually just one in any room. When consumers look at 12 big screen TVs next to each other, the brightest picture draws the eye. Manufacturers have known this forever – they used to ship all their tube TVs set to insanely bright levels that were completely innappropriate for actual use just so that when a retailer unboxed one to put it on display, that set would "pop."
  • In a store, the lighting is usually garish flourescent. In a home, the lighting is usually softer. Brighter TVs do perform better than plasma under harsh lighting conditions. Therefore, if you're putting a TV right next to a sunny window without blinds or curtains, an LCD is a better choice than a plasma. (An even better choice would be to buy a window shade.)
  • Another factor in LCD's rise over plasma was that LCD sets had a short-lived resolution advantage over plasma about three years ago. The sales help at retail often is not capable of properly assessing a customers needs and matching it with a specific product (if they were, they'd be in product development or marketing, not retail). Given the tortured technical jargon vendors use to promote consumer electronics, consumers (and confused retail personnel) are easily enticed by bigger numbers in the specs. 1080p is a much bigger number than 720p, and bigger is better, right? This phenomenon also explains the abundance of 10 and 12 megapixel cameras when, if all else is equal, a 6 megapixel camera actually takes better pictures.

So, are consumers idiots? They're pushing a terrific, less expensive technology off the market in favor of one that's not bad, but costs more and isn't as good. Another way to look at it is that consumers aren't idiots at all – they're accurately evaluating the product in its retail environment. Either way, Vizio is smart. It's building what sells. Now, you would think that this is a pretty basic insight: consumers buy at retail, the retail environment favors technology A over B, therefore, to succeed, focus on technology A. It is basic, but apparently, it's not obvious. I can't tell you how many times I talk to my clients in the mobile device world who simply choose to ignore the retail distribution reality, and suffer becasue of it.

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Uncategorized

We Wish You a Happy Super Bowl XLIII

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Super bowl xlii
Oh, why is this Sunday different from all other Sundays?

  1. On other Sundays we care about a team playing, on this Sunday we just hope the game is worth watching in the fourth quarter.
  2. On other Sundays we dip only once, on this Sundays we dip wings and chips and salsa and fries and maybe a few veggie sticks and franks n blankets. (Plus hot dogs and hamburgers, but you don't dip those, though you do slather them with condiments.)
  3. On other Sundays we TiVo the commercials to skip them, on this Sunday we TiVo the commercials to rewind them and watch them again.
  4. On other Sundays, a projection system with a screen measured in feet and 2,000 watts of surround sound is an extravagance, on this Sunday, that is why the Super Bowl observance is at your house.

And when the TV broadcaster asks the MVP why he is celebrating, the MVP will respond, "because the God passed over the other team and took me out of this game with a strong arm."

Happy Super Bowl

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DVD

Blu-ray Not Dead?, Part Whatever

- by Avi Greengart - 2 Comments.

CNET lists 9 Reasons Why Blu-ray Will Succeed.
Jeremy Toeman says CNET is wrong.
Jeremy is right.

Look, it's a great format, and I certainly try to rent Blu-ray (from Netflix) and buy Blu-ray discs in the rare cases where I'm buying. I'm even upgrading a few discs from DVD to Blu-ray: Groundhog Day is coming out on Blu-ray on January 27! We watch that one at least annually. When Star Wars comes out on Blu-ray, yeah, I'll buy it yet again even though the DVD is pristine. The thing is, even CNET admits that the only reason a consumer would buy Blu-ray is for picture quality, and, I'm sorry, that's not a good reason for most consumers to upgrade. Upsampled DVD looks very good  on nearly any television – even big HDTV sets. Move to a projector/screen combination, and the difference becomes obvious — which is why I'm renting/buying Blu-ray discs myelf — but no matter how inexpensive 1080p projectors get, that's still a niche market because projectors require setup and light control. DVD player penetration is pretty high (80%), and there's just no reason to upgrade even when you add an HDTV to the equation.

-avi

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Audio / Displays / Industry

Post CES Thoughts and Unintended Poetry

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Ces
As usual, I attended CES 2009 and spent a lot more time talking with mobile devices vendors (my day job) than home theater. This was a good strategy for anyone this year because the Palm pre stole the show, but there were still plenty of thin LCD TVs, 3D TV, mobile TV, and a few speakers and receivers sprinkled throughout the sprawling show floor. I didn't make it to the Hilton, where most of the high end audio was housed, at all. Still, it's hard to avoid home theater when you have to attend press conferences from Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, etc. and walk the show floor.

After talking to the Dolby Mobile folks, I was pressed into sitting through a terrific demo of Dolby IIz, which adds a (derived, not native) height channel. I've been using Yamaha receivers for years that perform the same trick, so I could certainly appreciate the notion – Dolby seems to be going more for sound placement (i.e., making it sound like the helicopter is hovering above you), while Yamaha is intended for room augmentation (i.e., making it sound like your room is bigger). The 9 minute demo certainly sounded great, but if I listened to my own home theater at those volume levels I'd be deaf before the end of the movie.

I also saw the latest generation of DLP in both super-large format (Optoma's HD8200 projector) and small (TI-powered pico projectors for use with cellphones were everywhere). I stopped by the Optoma booth to see the pico projector, and stayed for a short demo of the HD8200 on a 2:35 screen in a completely dark room. They were playing a clip from I Am Legend, a movie I have only seen in projector demos, so I know the clip well. Contrast ratio and black levels were insanely good, but there was weird artifacting that appeared just before fast motion content that drove me crazy. It could be an issue with the setup, the source, or a bug in a preproduction demo unit, but if I had bought that system, I'd be returning it.

Finally, at the Sony press conference the swag was an eco-friendly bamboo fiber bag, which feels like silk and is apparently intended to be used (and reused) for grocery shopping. Or something. When I unpacked it after the show, I noticed that the care tag is unintentionally poetic and hilarious, a sort of bad translation haiku:

CAUTION
Do not close to fire
Only for shipping bag
Hand wash
Washing will shirink slightly
Only non-chlorine blench
Wet dark cloth will fadeing
The color will fading under sunlight or fluorescence for long time

Profound.

-avi

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