‘The Sixth Room’

Growth in Outdoor Entertainment Segment Leads to SunBrite Expansion to Retail

June 14, 2012 by Rebecca Day|Top News

LAS VEGAS -- All-weather TV company SunBrite TV quietly launched a retail distribution program through P.C. Richard & Son stores in New York, Consumer Electronics Daily has learned. Tom Dixon, vice president-marketing at SunBrite, told us at Infocomm Wednesday that he “couldn’t confirm or deny” reports that P.C Richard stores are selling the company’s outdoor TVs, in deference to the retailer’s wishes, but the P.C. Richard website listed 21 models of SunBrite TVs Wednesday. The entry-level $1,495 model was discounted $100 to $1,395.97.

Dixon said the goal of SunBrite’s recently launched Signature series TVs is for retail distribution through independent electronics retailers with “knowledgeable salespeople, sufficient store traffic” and on-staff or third-party custom installers equipped to run electrical wires and connection cables to outdoor locations. He said the products will also be sold to do-it-yourself consumers through retail stores and that the TVs are already available to consumers online through a number of e-commerce sites.

The Signature line rolled out in April at $1,495 for a 32-inch model, versus $2,795 for a 32-inch model in the professional series that includes aluminum bezels. SunBrite was able to shave prices by shifting to a “design breakthrough” moving from the protective glass used to cover the LCD panels and the aluminum bezel to an injection-molded impact-resistant resin cabinet. SunBrite beta-tested the 46-inch Signature model last summer and launched it at CEDIA in September prior to releasing the full lineup of screen sizes in April, Dixon said. Within 60 days of introduction, the Signature model was “half of our sales,” he said, “so we knew we were on the right track."

When we asked if the expansion to brick-and-mortar retail was in response to contraction in the custom installation channel, Dixon said it was more a response to the outdoor entertainment boom that’s emerged from the slow housing market. People are staying in their homes longer and looking for ways to make the most out of the space they have, he said. “Outdoors has become the sixth room,” he said, citing exploding sales in luxury outdoor grills and kitchen appliances, including $4,000 pizza ovens.

SunBrite’s biggest challenge in the consumer market is “mindset,” Dixon said. Consumers have a hard time reconciling a TV in an outdoor setting since water and TVs don’t mix, he said. SunBrite has been selling outdoor TVs since 2004, he noted, and uses special sealing, gaskets and stripping to protect the electronics inside. To keep the TVs from overheating, the company designed in cooling vents, which vent to the bottom, unlike conventional TVs that vent to the top of the bezel. A microfiber gasket is added “to keep the spiders out,” he said.

Dixon wouldn’t give a target for the number of dealers the company wants to add, stressing “quality” over “quantity.” Dealers will have access to all the products in the Signature series line, which ranges from 32- to 65 inches, as well as pro TVs if they want them, he said. The 65-inch model just launched at $5,995, he said, joining the 46-inch model at $2,795 and the 55-inch model at $3,995. The TVs come with a 2-year warranty, he said. SunBrite is planning a Wi-Fi model in 2013, he said.

Infocomm Notebook

Mitsubishi is at Infocomm getting reactions to the company’s 55-inch laser-lit LCD displays that went on sale to the consumer market in Japan earlier this month. The displays were first shown at CEATEC last fall (CED Oct 4 p3), said James Chan, vice president-marketing for Mitsubishi Electric Visual Solutions. The Japanese version uses the panels in a 55-inch TV that incorporates a Blu-ray recorder for roughly $4,788, he said. Following the company’s exit from the flat-panel market in the U.S., there are “no plans” to bring the laser- and LED-lit LCD TVs stateside, but the technology could come to the U.S. in the form of monitors, Chan told us. Custom installers or dealers who wanted to buy the monitors and add a set-top box would be able to do so through the company’s regular channels, Chan said, if the company decides to bring the monitors to the U.S. Mitsubishi demoed the hybrid monitor next to an LED-only version for reaction, and Chan said early feedback was positive regarding color gamut, but whether the monitors could survive the price premium necessary for the product to be sold in the U.S. remains to be seen. Chan said Mitsubishi used to be “siloed” in five product lines but the company is going through a reorganization to take advantage of cross-selling opportunities among the different categories. Also at its Infocomm booth, Mitsubishi showed its 92-inch DLP TV as an option for the digital signage market. Last year, Mitsubishi showed the 92-inch model as a whiteboard option for the education market but found “the screen was not that sturdy” in a “rowdy” student environment, Chan said.

Epson launched four projectors in its PowerLite 1700 series of ultra-portable projectors at Infocomm, starting $150 lower than last year’s models, Brian Savarese, product manager, told us. Models include the $649 PowerLite 1751 and 1761W, which deliver 2,600 lumens of color and white brightness, and step up to the 1711W ($999) and 1776W ($1,099), at 3,000 lumens, he said. All the models are WXGA and incorporate HDMI, with the top three projectors adding built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, he said. The company also announced a free Android app, which will control all Epson wired and wireless projectors from a smartphone or tablet, to follow the iOS app launched in January, he said. All four projectors pack automatic vertical keystone correction, and the top-of-the-line 1775W adds automatic horizontal keystone correction as well for easier setup, Savarese said. Regarding price pressure in the projector market, Jason Meyer, product manager for consumer projectors at Epson, told us Epson’s average selling prices are “clearly higher than all our direct competitors” but that the company has seen a big decline in ASPs over the past 3 years driven by “what’s going on online.” Fifty-five percent of the consumer projector market sells through e-commerce now, he said, driven by sub-$400 projectors that are driving down ASPs, he said. Epson has propped up ASPs, he said, through a stratified product portfolio that separates product lines by distribution channel. “We don’t sell the same products in stores that we focus on online,” he said, citing the low-cost VS series that’s sold online only compared with the EX entry-level line for brick-and-mortar stores. The strategy is to “protect dealers,” he said. The price delta between the two product lines, based on resolution, is about $100, he said.