Pioneer to Ship Five Blu-ray Decks Using Decoders Developed With Sharp

Pioneer will ship its first Blu-ray players by mid-year using decoders it jointly developed with Sharp, including a 3D-ready model, Russ Johnston, vice president of marketing and product planning, told Consumer Electronics Daily.

Pioneer will have “at least” five Pioneer and Elite brand Blu-ray players bearing the first decoders to emerge from its joint venture with Sharp that began operations in October with 450 employees. Pioneer owns 60 percent of the business, which is based in Kawasaki, Japan. Sharp also is expected to field Blu-ray players using the decoder, but a company spokesman declined to comment. The joint venture also will sell chips to other companies, Johnston said. The specs on the new Pioneer Blu-ray players haven’t been finalized, but its new AV receivers feature HDMI 1.4 connectors and Bluetooth.

Pioneer most recently sourced decoders from Renesas and earlier Sigma Designs, but found both chips positioned its brand at the high-end of the Blu-ray player market, Johnston has said. Other decoder chip suppliers include Broadcom and Panasonic. Renesas merged its chip operations with NEC last fall (CED Sept 18 p4).

The new Blu-ray players will be key for Pioneer, which last year dropped plasma TVs, leaving it with AV receivers, speakers, headphones and mobile electronics. Whether the Kuro brand used with plasma TVs will be found on Blu-ray players using the new decoder chips hasn’t been finalized, Johnston said. Pioneer’s goal is to sell mid-priced Blu-ray players targeting specialty retailers, but also have models for Best Buy and other national chains, Pioneer officials have said (CED Sept 18 p5).

The Blu-ray players will join Pioneer’s recently released AV receivers that feature HDMI 1.4 connectors, Dolby ProLogic IIz and priority Pioneer Front Wide processing. The new line includes the VSX-520-K ($229) and VSX-820-K ($299) 5x110 watt 5.1-channel AV receivers and three 7.1-channel models. The 7.1-channel AV receivers are priced at $399 to $749 with the high-end model adding THX Select 2. Pioneer uses Marvel and Anchor Bay for scaling chips in its AV receivers, Johnston said.

In addition to the AV receivers, Pioneer also will ship iPod docking products in May aimed at three distinct customer segments, said Johnston, who declined further comment. Pioneer also will expand its offerings in headphones, starting with 15 to 20 models that will ship mid-year, including ear buds, wireless, noise cancellation and sports models, Johnston said. Pioneer fields about 65 different headphones in Japan and will seek to bring that experience to bear in the U.S. market, he said. “You can always bring product over, but there has to be a strategy behind that in packaging, branding and consumer marketing,” Johnston said. “The goal is to have a significant line-up of products. We sell all kinds of configurations in Japan and we'll be looking at all of them."

Pioneer also will seek to expand use of technology developed for its high-end TAD products to more mainstream devices, Johnston said. Pioneer began the process last fall with in-wall and in-ceiling speakers and will eventually move the technology to floorstanding and bookshelf models, Johnston said. “We'll continue to explore other opportunities” for TAD, Johnston said. “It’s going to be important for us to have that technology in other speakers. We want to continue to drive our brand in the speaker category."

The new products will be central to Pioneer’s efforts to maintain its base of 700-800 Elite specialty AV dealers, some of whom wavered in their support after Pioneer dropped plasma. To more effectively reach its dealers, Pioneer dispensed with direct sales, ending a 24-year run, and has begun signing independent rep firms.

Pioneer began tests with rep firms last year and formally added five in January. Two new groups were recently added to cover Florida and southeastern U.S. including Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, Johnston said. Pioneer expects to have 15 to 16 rep firms in place by late April, including one on the west coast that will be responsible for national accounts including Amazon and Apple as well as warehouse clubs, should any deals arise. Pioneer doesn’t sell products through warehouse clubs, but is seeking a rep company with experience in that channel, Johnston said. Western Sales and Marketing in Newport Beach, Calif., is handling Pioneer products from southern California to Arizona, while St. Paul, Minn.-based PowerPlay Marketing is responsible for Best Buy.

Before adding sales reps, Pioneer was a “a little too thin and didn’t have enough coverage,” Johnston said. “We had some holes and there were marketplaces where one person was covering more than three or four states. It was a little difficult for us to achieve our objectives, not having enough service in the market place."

In addition to changing its sales strategy, Pioneer is consolidating and selling facilities. Pioneer sold its 24-year-old Pomona, Calif., plant that assembled plasma TVs in January to Andam Properties. It moved sound engineering operations from Pomona to offices in Long Beach, Calif. It recently combined its Long Beach locations, moving out of leased offices to a building that also contains customer service and warehouse space, Johnston said. The combined location will house Pioneer’s AV, mobile audio and automotive OEM businesses, he said.