Hammacher Schlemmer Will Be First to Carry DXG 3D Camcorder

Hammacher Schlemmer in July will be the first retailer to carry a 3D camcorder that DXG unveiled in New York Tuesday, Paul Goldberg, the manufacturer’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, told Consumer Electronics Daily. The DXG-321V -- believed to be the first consumer model in the U.S. from a major manufacturer to shoot 3D images -- will cost $599.99 and come bundled with a separate, 7-inch LCD “media player” monitor that uses parallax barrier autostereoscopic technology for viewing images in 3D without special glasses being required, DXG said. It didn’t identify the company supplying the display.

A select number of additional retailers that Goldberg didn’t name will carry the camcorder probably starting in September or October, Goldberg said. The camcorder will only offer SD resolution, but Goldberg said DXG will ship a 1080p 3D camcorder and accompanying 1080p display. “The goal would be to start some shipments” of that model in December, he said. More details on the HD model will probably be provided in September, he said, saying the price wasn’t yet known.

DXG will offer the initial camcorder with the monitor because “there aren’t a whole lot of people with 3D displays out there right now, so we want to make sure that the consumer has something that they can see” the 3D images with, Goldberg said. The camcorder’s 3.2-inch flip-out viewfinder also doesn’t require special glasses for viewing in 3D. Video shot in 3D can also be viewed on 3D TVs from manufacturers including Samsung and Vizio, but Goldberg said seeing the images in 3D on those sets would require whatever special glasses they require -- either active shutter or passive ones, Goldberg said. The model can also take 5-megapixel still images in 3D and 2D, he said. Hammacher Schlemmer didn’t respond to a request for comment by our deadline about why it decided to pick up the product.

The 3D camcorders represent a departure for DXG, which has focused on value-priced products. The pricing might not be such an easy sell for DXG, even if rival camcorders that have yet to be announced will likely cost more. “We always have concerns,” Goldberg said. “But I think that what we're looking at now is really trying to get to the front of the line and we're now selling to early adopters. There’s not a whole lot of 3D camcorders out there right now that people are actually shipping. There’s a lot of people talking about stuff, but not a whole lot of people shipping anything, at this price point anyways.” DXG is “going to test the market and we're going to see how well the response is to it,” but “there’s a lot of buzz associated with 3D” now, he said.

Panasonic unveiled a “Full HD” 3D camcorder at CES in January, but that model was billed as a “professional” model and will cost $21,000 when it ships this fall. The $599 FinePix Real 3D W1 that Fuji shipped last year shoots video, but is mainly a digital still camera (CED Jan 15 p5). Fuji markets its camera with a $499 3D photo frame.

DXG’s first 3D camcorder is the only model in DXG’s new camcorder line that isn’t HD, Goldberg said. Otherwise, the company eliminated SD from its other camcorder lines after fielding two such models in 2009, he said. There seems to be little reason at this point to field an SD model when DXG can offer HD models -- the 720p DXG-5B6V in its QuickShots line -- at only $79.99 this year. “What we discovered is that, for the most part, the consumers were looking for entry-level … high-def, and all the products do 640x480 anyway, so if that’s what you like to do you have that option with our products anyway,” Goldberg said. “We could sell them 720p at basically the same price point that we had last year at 640x480.” When you get under $79.99 for a camcorder, “it’s what we call chozzerai,” junk in Yiddish, he said, adding, “We really didn’t want to play that game … Part of what we're trying to do is demonstrate that we have high quality products” and “we're trying to sell a better value to the consumer -- and to really go much below $79.99 is probably not something that we wanted” to do.

DXG’s new line of 1080p Luxe camcorders will be exclusive to Home Shopping Network starting June 5, Goldberg also said. The company already started shipping new 720p Luxe models to other retailers. The Luxe line, introduced last year by DXG and targeted at women, opened “a new channel for us,” Goldberg said. JC Penney started selling its first Luxe camcorders in December and Kohl’s picked up the line this year, he said. Toys “R” Us also started carrying the Luxe camcorders last year, but has expanded its offerings in 2010, he said. Other new retail accounts for DXG this year include Nieman Marcus and Sears after adding Kmart in 2009, he said. While all seven models in last year’s Luxe line were 720p, DXG is fielding nine 720p units and seven 1080p units in the huge line for 2010, he said. The company is also not dropping last year’s Luxe models because “they still sell like hell,” he said.

The company’s new Pro Gear line of camcorders includes four 1080p models, priced $199.99-$329.99, with more “bells and whistles” than some of DXG’s other models, Goldberg said. They are targeted at consumers who already owned a camcorder and are now looking for a new model with more advanced features, he said. But they're still less expensive than rival models, which is important because “we're still in a recession,” he said. Jeff Shu, DXG vice president of engineering, compared the resolution of his company’s camcorders to that of costlier models from rivals including Canon, claiming DXG’s products are offering comparable quality for a much lower price. Also new this year is touch-screen functionality on all ProGear models and all the new 1080p Luxe models, Goldberg said.

DXG’s new Sportser line of camcorders expands upon the two models it fielded last year that were targeted at active outdoor consumers. Whereas a model from last year required a separate case for it to be taken underwater up to 15 feet, the waterproof models in the Sportser line can be taken underwater up to 10 feet without the need for a separate accessory, Goldberg said. The line’s four models include two 720p units at $129.99 each and two 1080p units at $149.99 each. They will ship in about three weeks, Goldberg said.

The manufacturer has sold 2.5-3 million camcorders in the past seven years in the U.S., Goldberg said. Its sales results, however, are rarely reflected in NPD’s market share data, possibly due in part to the fact that the research company doesn’t get data from all the retailers that sell DXG products.

DXG sales so far in 2010 are probably four times better than they were in 2009, Goldberg said. Last year was “difficult,” in large part because many retailers spent much of early 2009 trying to get rid of the huge inventories they had left from holiday season 2008, he said. Retailers were more conservative with their purchases in the 2009 holiday season, so they weren’t stuck with large inventories this year, freeing them up to buy new products, he said. “I hope it’s going to continue,” he said of the improved sales, but noted there were still many months remaining in 2010.