Ultra HD Pricing Scattered on 2013 Inventory Ahead of 2014 Mid-Year Shipments

It’s discount season for Ultra HD TVs as retailers look to flush out inventories of 2013 models, we found in a scan of e-commerce sites Thursday. The clearance section on the h.h. gregg website Thursday had an eclectic assortment of TVs, led at the top end by 55- and 65-inch Sony 4K Ultra HD TVs.

The Sony XBR55X850A was priced at $2,299.99 at h.h. gregg Thursday, the same price as on the Sony website, down from a list price of $4,499, with no customer reviews. Ironically, given negative dealer feedback on the first-generation 55-inch XBR55X900A Sony 4K Ultra HD TV due to its flanking side speakers, the older Sony 55-inch TV was selling in the clearance section for $2,699 with 17 customer reviews.

At Amazon, the XBR55X850A was priced at $2,148.72, supplied by Santa Monica, California-based Video and Audio Center, which has been the pad for various recent high-end TV launches. Sony used Video and Audio Center for the unveiling of its latest 4K Ultra HD TVs Thursday at Video and Audio Center’s new store in Westfield Century City Mall, and the retailer was also the host for the debut of LG’s 79-inch Ultra HD TV earlier this month.

In the 65-inch screen size, the Sony XBR65X850A came in at nearly half off -- $3,299 down from $6,499 -- in h.h. gregg’s clearance section. There were two reviews rating the TV at four and five stars with praise for the picture and one complaint that the smart TV “not that smart.” Amazon was selling the XBR65X850A for $2,999.98 Thursday, with 57 customer reviews averaging four stars out of five. At Best Buy, the price of the XBR65X850A was not revealed until we placed it in our shopping cart because while Best Buy sets its own prices, “manufacturers restrict how we may communicate those prices,” it said. Selling price was $2,999.98.

Panasonic, which has pared distribution for its higher end 2014 TVs largely to Best Buy and its own e-commerce site, showed a $500-off deal on its new TC-58AX800U, now $3,299. No other websites were selling the TV Thursday. The model number came up with Best Buy in a Google search, but the retailer didn’t list the 58-inch model among its Panasonic listings.

Industry watchers forecast that prices for Ultra HD would dip below $2,000 during the year, and LG has done so mid-year. Its UB8500 series TVs have minimum advertised prices of $1,499 for the 49-inch model and $1,999 for the 55-inch unit, which could put more pressure on 55-inch 2013 models still in inventory. The 49-inch 49UB8500 is selling at Crutchfield for $1,499 including a free-year of Netflix. The LG TV has an HEVC decoder for unlocking 4K streams, according to product information. B&H Photo shows the 55-inch LG model as available for pre-order at $1,999, and it’s shown as “temporarily out of stock” at Amazon.

At Newegg, Sharp’s 70-inch Aquos LC70UD1U was advertised at $4,299, some $3,200 off the list price, a higher price than Sharp’s authorized resellers were selling it for. Sharp’s own website showed the model for $3,999.99, down from $5,499. That price was matched by Sears and h.h. gregg, while Amazon carried it for $3,997.99 and Best Buy cart-priced the Sharp TV $3,999.98.

Meanwhile, pricing pressure continues from Chinese TV makers in Ultra HD. A Seiki 50-inch SE50UY04 Ultra HD TV was selling at Newegg Thursday for $699, shown as a $500 discount, but its $699 price was tagged as an $800 discount at Amazon. TigerDirect priced it at $799, a $700 discount, while Seiki’s website, outdated now with a tagline that reads “4K doesn’t need to cost 5K,” didn’t give pricing but instead directed consumers to retailers. TCL’s 50-inch Ultra HD LE50UHDE5691 had a three and a half star rating at Amazon with a suggested retail price of $647.

Big box stores turned to a variety of tactics to lure shoppers into stores during the kickoff weekend to the summer season. H.h. gregg told customers in an email Thursday that it has extended Memorial Day weekend hours and is hoping to jump-start the shopping mood with an extra half hour of shopping Thursday until 10 p.m. The retailer is opening at 10 a.m., an hour earlier than usual, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday.

H.h. gregg was hit hard by winter weather during the first three months of the year, CEO Dennis May said on the latest earnings call (CED May 21 p1), and the company had a loss of $7.2 million for Q1. The headliner TV in the sale is a 2013 60-inch LG plasma, model 60PN5300, marked down $470 to $679. The TV was selling at Dell Thursday for $699, at Sears for $849, at Newegg for $899 and at Tech for Less for $787, we found.

At Best Buy, Memorial Day tech deals were led by $25-$100 markdowns on the iPad Air, which took the price of a 32GB cellular version to $599 with two-year activation, according to the website. In TVs, a Panasonic 39-inch LED-lit LCD TV, available only at Best Buy, got a $100 shave to bring it to $299. A 40-inch Samsung UN40EH5300FXZA on sale was cart-priced at $429, we found.