Rebecca Day

ORLANDO -- Allowing some “cautious optimism” due to an improved stock market and a “bottomed out” housing sector, Jim Ristow, executive vice president of Home Entertainment Source, greeted independent CE dealers at the group’s 2012 Summit at the Marriott World Center Monday with an urgent call for reinvention. “The world is changing and HES dealers have to change with it,” Ristow said, citing the rapid proliferation of the Internet in research and shopping, falling video prices, shifting demographics and new product platforms.

Facing “tough” challenges in its consumer and OEM businesses, Universal Electronics is looking to up-sell opportunities in its broadcast subscription business to cash in on advances in technology, CEO Paul Arling said Thursday on the company’s Q4 earnings webcast.

The hard drive shortage stemming from Thailand floods along with “continuing difficulties in China” led to 15 percent fiscal Q1 2012 revenue drop in HP’s Personal Systems Group (PSG), said CEO Meg Whitman during the company’s earnings webcast Wednesday.

The CE industry is in the early stages of a “major growth cycle” driven by Blu-ray and network-connected devices, said DTS CEO Jon Kirchner Wednesday during the company’s Q4 2011 earnings webcast. DTS is in a “strong position” to take advantage of emerging opportunities, Kirchner said, and the company expects DTS growth rates to “substantially exceed those of our primary competition in the audio space over the next 3-5 years.” Chief Financial Officer Mel Flanigan said the company believes its network-connected device business could reach a compounded annual growth rate of 40 percent or higher through 2016 as the company expands to penetrate a “much larger total addressable market."

The hard drive shortage took a toll on Dell’s Q4 profit and margins, the company said in its fiscal Q4 earnings webcast Tuesday. Although consumer revenue was up 2.7 percent for the year, in line with expectations set a year ago, Q4 results “were mixed,” said Steve Felice, chief commercial officer. The U.S. market accounted for most of the margin weakness, with a decline of 15 percent, Felice said.

DTS said Sharp is the first company to incorporate DTS 2.0 Channel and DTS 2.0 + Digital Out, which will roll out this quarter in Sharp PRC-model connected TVs. DTS 2.0 + Digital Out allows content encoded with high-level DTS audio to play back through two-channel sources without additional equipment, according to Chris Lang, product specialist for DTS. TVs with HDMI or digital outputs can send the digital output without decoding it for playback through a receiver, Lang said. The technology was originally designed for digital media players, Lang told us, and will be included in more TVs as they include DMP functions. Lang said the technology is designed for use in Asian markets including Korea and China. In those countries, content is available in DTS, Lang said, and can be transferred to a TV using a USB transport. A company spokesman said DTS is talking to other manufacturers about incorporating the technology but nothing else has been announced at this time. A spokesman for Sharp told us DTS technology will not be incorporated in Sharp TVs for the U.S. market.

Apple iOS-based control company Savant Systems acquired lighting control company LiteTouch, the companies said Tuesday. The purchase gives Savant a lighting control platform and “best-in class” keypad for residential and commercial control applications, Savant said. The LiteTouch keypads support a “wide array of controlled devices, including other lighting systems, but Savant will continue to work with approved third-party lighting companies, according to Executive Vice President Jim Carroll. Dealers have been asking for lighting control and integrated keypad products that work with Apple iOS devices “to manage and control a vast array of connected home and commercial technologies,” he said. Despite the trend in the custom electronics field away from dedicated controllers, Carroll told us Savant also sees the trend of dedicated touchpanels “as a dying business, but keypad interface is critical” for simple, familiar one-button interaction. “It is quick, easy access,” he said. “The tablet/control market is still growing,” he said, but Savant will “push the envelope by developing new and innovative apps for portable devices.” The LiteTouch brand will bring Savant “more visibility” in the electrical designer/builder community, and the company is looking at additional areas for expansion including smart energy and audio/video, Carroll told us. No jobs are slated to be eliminated as a result of the purchase, Carroll said, and LiteTouch operations will continue at the company’s location outside of Salt Lake City. Both dealer bases will receive product training on each product line, Carroll said, and LiteTouch dealers will be given the option to become Savant dealers. “Eventually, training will become seamless for both brands under the Savant umbrella,” he said. No product redesign is required since LiteTouch was already an approved vendor, Carroll said, adding, “Savant will continue to innovate around the LiteTouch brand.”

Amid the widely publicized success of Kindle Fire during the holiday selling season, Barnes & Noble “maintained or slightly gained share” in the e-book space during its fiscal third quarter ended Jan. 28, said BN CEO William Lynch on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. Citing data from the industry and “some of the largest U.S. publishers,” Lynch said BN’s e-book market share is now in the 27-30 percent range, “a substantially higher share than BN has ever maintained in the physical book market."

CE retailers jumped on the Presidents Day holiday weekend sale bandwagon to move big-screen flat-panel TV inventory, we found in a search for deals Friday. Best Buy offered free shipping on all sets and discounts range from 5 to 25 percent from everyday prices, according to the website. Among the better deals on big-screen models was a Samsung 55-inch UN55D7000L LED-lit LCD 3D TV down from $3,099 to $2,399. The LG 55-inch 55LV5500 smart TV was cut from $2,099 to $1,399 at Best Buy.

Many 3D glasses have taken a much-needed price plunge at retail, but it’s a confusing landscape of pricing and model options for consumers, we found Thursday in a scan of 3D glasses listings at Amazon. Glasses are listed according to TV model years for active glasses that have to be paired with a TV for the IR or Bluetooth signal, but even some passive glasses that don’t have to be paired with a passive TV were listed as compatible only with certain TVs.