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Budget Brand Manufacturer Funai Adds CinemaNow
Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 05:00 PM ETTags: Funai, CinemaNow, Industry Trends (all tags)
Funai, makers of a wide variety of budget line home theater products, are adding CinemaNow to their new products.
The name Funai might not be entirely familiar to most, though the brands they produce products for certainly are. Those lower end brands Wal-mart carries like Emerson and Sylvania? That’s Funai. Looking at a new Philips or Magnavox? You’re looking at Funai. Best Buy’s Insignia brand? You guessed it: Funai.
In order to up their competitiveness this holiday season and address “the emerging market demand for direct access to Internet movie downloads from connected devices,” Funai will be adding access to Sonic’s CinemaNow movie service.
Mark Ely, VP of strategy for Sonic is understandably optimistic about the agreement. “It certainly does bring us a much broader reach into the marketplace,” he quips. While CinemaNow is already available through some LG Blu-ray players, the inclusion of the service into these widely carried brands could translate into big numbers for CinemaNow.
Source: Video Business
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Funai Reluctant To Answer Your Warranty Call?
Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 09:00 AM ETTags: Funai (all tags)
How does Funai handle warranties? It appears they don’t.
Consumer Electronics company Funai, maker of Sylvania and Emerson TVs, seems to have a fairly unique plan in place for handling customers with questions on their warranties. Calling customer service will get you the number for the team in charge of warranties. Calling that number however, is a whole different story.
“On Thursday, July 23rd, I called Sylvania Customer Service and they gave me a number and said I had to speak to the people in the warranty division,” say a pair of disgruntled Funai customers in a letter posted on The Consumerist. “I called the number all day on Thursday and kept getting a message that said “If you know your party's extension, press 1, or press 0 for more options.” Every time I hit 0, it would repeat the message.”
A phone tree that leads nowhere is frustrating, but that’s not the end. “I called customer service again after I got home and they told me that there had been problems with Warranty's phones and to try again Friday… they told me that they really could do nothing and I had to keep trying that number, that it was fixed.”
Quite a bit of runaround over a $400 television. As of yet, Funai has not produced a response.
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CES: Funai's Sub-$300 Blu-ray Player
Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 11:00 AM ETTags: CES 2008, Funai (all tags)
Funai has announced that it will unleash its first Blu-ray player for the North American market sometime this spring.
The discount manufacturer (which is a leading supplier to Wal-Mart) distributes products under its own name as well the brand names of Sylvania, Symphonic and Emerson.
Specs for the company's NB500 series Blu-ray player were still sketchy at press time, but a company press release promises 1080p output via HDMI 1.3, Profile 1.1 support and 5.1 Dolby Digital.
Funai says it will begin production in the first quarter of 2008, and plans to begin selling the player at retail stores during the second quarter. The retail price is projected to be under $300.
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- Related links:
- Funai to Introduce Blu-ray Disc Player to North American Market [Press Release]
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