Sorry Sony, but it was nice while it lasted.

After Sony took over the number one spot in North American LCD TV sales in the fourth quarter of 2007, Samsung reasserted itself in Q1, retaking the top ranking for the first time since the first quarter of 2007, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm DisplaySearch.

But, according to the report, it was a tight race.  The top three manufacturers -- Samsung, Sony and Vizio -- were separated by less than half a point of unit share of the market at 12.8, 12.7 and 12.5 percent, respectively.

Panasonic continued to reign in plasma TV with a 33 percent share, while Vizio overtook Sony for second place (behind Samsung) in overall flat panel TV sales with a 12.2 percent share. Things continue to go well for low-priced manufacturer Vizio, which posted the strongest year-to-year growth of any top five flat panel TV brand, DisplaySearch said.

With an eye on the growing market for custom installed home theater products, CE manufacturer Pioneer on Wednesday introduced a new Signature Series of monitors based on its KURO line of consumer products.

Designed with scalability in mind, the two new Signature Series Elite KURO monitors -- the 50-inch PRO-111FC and the 60-inch PRO-151FD -- feature multiple connection options, advanced calibration tools and control options not found on its CE products.

Both the PRO-111FD and the PRO-151FD will be available in June at MSRPs of $5,000 and $6,500, respectively.

In addition to the new Elite KURO monitors, Pioneer on Wednesday also announced a pair of new A/V receivers for the custom installation market. The VSX-01TXH and VSX-03TXH -- which will both be available in June at MSRPs of $750 an $1,000, respectively -- feature multi-zone capabilities, dual HDMI outputs and RS232 control support for use with custom home systems. Other models in the Elite line, including the $1,800 SC-05 and the $2,200 SC-07, will be available in August.

In what turned out to be a busy day for Pioneer, the CE maker on Wednesday announced two new 1080p Blu-ray Disc players designed to emulate the "true theater" experience in the home.

Marketed to "film aficionados," both the Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD and the BDP-51FD support 12-bit Deep Color, 24-frames-per-second video output for native film imaging and a deinterlacer that allows standard-def DVDs to be upscaled to 1080p without distortion.

Both models also support all of advanced audio formats on the market, including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD and DTS HD Master.

The Pioneer BDP-51FD will be available this summer at an MSRP of $599. The Elite BDP-05FD; which adds gold-plated connectors, upgraded components and an aluminum faceplate; will retail for $799, Pioneer said.

Yesterday's call for an HD-only subscription package generated numerous letters reminding me that, in fact, DISH Network offers just such a service in its dishHD Standalone package -- currently offering 40 national HD channels for $29.99 per month. According to the DISH representative that contacted me, local channels are even on the offer for an additional $5 per month.


Retail BRIDGE: DISH Network offers an "HD Only" programming package that qualifies for their promotion offering up to three independent HD tuners free to the consumer.

It runs $29.99 per month and locals can be added to this package for $5.00. It includes all of their HD offerings, which are quite extensive and growing all the time.

Sincerely,
Bill Turnipseed


Retail BRIDGE: Hmmm.

Take a look at www.dishnetwork.com for the "ALL HD" programming package at $29.99 + $5 for locals available in most of the country. HD feeds of most-watched SD programming plus all locals in every town available for 35 bucks.

Most of our clients appreciate quality which trumps quantity most of the time. Bargains aren't bad either!

Mel Hirsch
DISH SATELLITE TV
Sedona, Ariz.


And then, of course, the debate over foregoing HD service begun by Dave Easley on Tuesday rages on...


Retail BRIDGE: Mr. Easley may not be ignorant but he is most assuredly wrong in my eyes and I am sure those of many other HD watchers and videophiles.

First of all, in spite of its "demise" there is a ton of readily available extremely high quality HD in the form of the HD DVD's and their players. I recently bought a Toshiba A30 at Circuit City for $130 and I've gotten almost 50 HD DVD's including Planet Earth and many other high quality with average costs per disc approaching $7, the price of a rental almost. The great upconversion of SD DVD's adds to the player's value.

As far as cable and satellite dish HD monthly packages for $20 goes, there is plenty to watch for almost anyone. The problem is that there are going to be too many channels and too much compression, which is exactly what happened to SD stations when the providers decided to get into a "number of channels" war a few years back. What I'd like to see is an offering of a dozen or so "certified" best possible (no compression and no compromise) PQ HD channels as part of any standard HD programming package.

The $20 will go away as a surcharge when there are enough channels, however by then that will just be the normal monthly rate and the PQ will be about as good as SD was a few years ago.

To spend a few thousand dollars on an HDTV and then say SD TV is good enough is ridiculous. Penny wise and dollar foolish. Fact is, SD looks better on a great SD CRT set.

He is absolutely correct about one thing though. Blu-Ray is way too expensive for most of us. As far as player speed and software upgrades goes, my Toshiba A-30, A-2, and Xbox HD Drive all have the current software and are working flawlessly, providing me with great, cheap entertainment.

Bruce Grodner


Retail BRIDGE: Maybe when the average consumer finds out that the can get all the Networks in HD plus a lot of interesting "hidden" sub-channels all for FREE... all with BETTER HD picture quality with a one time investment of $75 (or less) for a antenna, he will say "good bye" to overpriced cable and satellite HD tiers.

If the computer industry had forced the consumer to fund their technical improvements over the last 30 years the way the cable and satellite people have, I suspect the average PC would cost in excess of $10,000.

I wonder if the cable & satellite people will stop charging extra for their digital tiers AFTER Feb 17, 2009?

Bob Stevens
Palm Harbor, Fla.

INDUSTRY -- Who says Cisco doesn't love its distributors? On Wednesday the CE company announced a new distributor awards program that will link co-op funding directly to sales performance at the five largest national distributors -- Ingram Micro, D&H, Comstor, Techdata and ScanSource.

HARDWARE -- Universal Electronics will become the exclusive supplier of IR components for Audiovox's line of RCA universal remote controls under terms of a new partnership deal between the two companies.

AUDIO -- ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre PC playback software on Wednesday became the first computer audio package to receive DTS-HD Master Audio certification.