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Hitachi is Done Making TVs, Shifting Focus to Projectors and Components
Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 10:00 AM ETTags: Hitachi, Industry Trends (all tags)
The long term goal for Hitachi is to move out of consumer electronics and into infrastructure systems like power and rail.
It's been a few years since Hitachi has made their own TVs for sale in the U.S. but the company has been keeping things going in Japan, at least up until now. Over last weekend Hitachi announced that they'll be quitting the TV game.
Hitachi will still be selling TVs under the Hitachi name in Japan, but they'll be outsourcing the manufacturing to a third party. They haven't yet said who that will be. The sole TV manufacturing plant won't be shutting down though. It will instead begin focusing on projectors and home theater components as well as television repairs.
Source: TWICE
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Hitachi May Exit TV Business
Thu Aug 04, 2011 at 10:00 AM ETTags: Hitachi, Industry Trends (all tags)
At the very least they'll be scaling down and outsourcing manufacturing.
Hitachi has been in the TV business for a long time, but that may end up changing soon. The company is considering what to do about its lacking sales and two options are being considered: outsourcing, or closing its doors.
Hitachi isn't the first name people think of when discussing high quality TVs and, to be honest, it's probably not the second or third either. That reputation, or the lack of a reputation, probably hasn't helped Hitachi stay in business.
The other thing that may end up driving the company out of the TV business it's been in for 55 years is competition. Specifically, competition from Korean manufacturers like LG and Samsung. Their low costs allow them to price TVs low and keep profits high.
Source: Engadget
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New York Sues Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and LG Over Price Fixing
Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 02:00 PM ETTags: Samsung, Sharp, LG, Hitachi (all tags)
It's not the first allegation of this nature to hit the companies, and it may not be the last.
The consumer electronics industry, like so many others, is frequently embroiled in law suits. The latest though, is of particular interest. It's not a business to business suit as is typical, but an instance of a state taking the companies to court.
Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Attorney General, filed suit against Hitachi, LG, Samsung and Sharp on Friday over allegations of price fixing. "Our investigation shows that an illegal cartel eliminated competition in the marketplace for LCD screens, made its own secret decisions to boost prices, and then took steps to make those high prices stick," he explained.
Cuomo is looking for some cash out of the group to help make up for the thousands of monitors bought by the state in the last ten years, when this arrangement was apparently taking place.
This isn't the first time the companies have been brought up on price fixing charges, and several of them have pleaded guilty in the past.
Source: Market Watch
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Hitachi Launches a New Line of LCD Sets
Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 09:00 AM ETTags: Hitachi, LCD (all tags)
Among the entry level sets is a pair of LED backlit TVs and a surprisingly cheap 55" LCD.
Hitachi may not be at the top of your brand list when shopping for a new HDTV, but if you're looking for something on the less expensive side, Hitachi's got it.
Among the assortment of televisions Hitachi is bringing to market this summer, two really stand out. The first is the UltraVision LE46S704. The LE46S704 uses LED edge lighting to illuminate the screen. It's capable of 1080p/120Hz and it's Energy Star 4.1 compliant. You can pick this 46 inch set up for $1,499.
If you're not as concerned about the backlighting, you can step up to the UltraVision L55S604. It's got four HDMI inputs with Instaport technology, which enables faster switching between inputs. It does 1080p/120Hz and it's even got CONEQ to simulate surround sound. The 55 inch S604 has an MSRP of $1,699, while the 46 inch step down runs $1,199.
Source: eCoustics
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Dell Takes Sharp, Hitachi and Toshiba to Court
Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06:40 PM ETTags: Dell, Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, High-Def Retailing, Industry Trends (all tags)
The LCD cartel is going to see its day in court thanks to Dell’s allegations of price fixing.
Dell has sued a total of five companies with allegations of LCD price fixing. The suit deals with LCD monitors for computers, but out of the five companies being brought to court, three of them – Sharp, Hitachi, and Toshiba, also make LCD televisions.
In 2008, Sharp and LG got into some trouble over fixing prices and were forced to pay over $600 million in fines, so they’re no stranger to the charges.
The charges simply state that the five companies have gotten together and agreed on a set price for their products. Setting the price, Dell says, eliminates competition and maximizes the prices of monitors, causing the consumer to pay an unfair price.
Dell has not stated publicly what kind of damages it is looking for, and there’s no telling what the results of this suit will be. You can bet that the companies in the suit will be under close scrutiny for their LCD monitors and televisions in the future. Expect to see some prices start to shift.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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Dell Takes Sharp, Hitachi and Toshiba to Court
Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06:40 PM ETTags: Dell, Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, High-Def Retailing, Industry Trends (all tags)
The LCD cartel is going to see its day in court thanks to Dell’s allegations of price fixing.
Dell has sued a total of five companies with allegations of LCD price fixing. The suit deals with LCD monitors for computers, but out of the five companies being brought to court, three of them – Sharp, Hitachi, and Toshiba, also make LCD televisions.
In 2008, Sharp and LG got into some trouble over fixing prices and were forced to pay over $600 million in fines, so they’re no stranger to the charges.
The charges simply state that the five companies have gotten together and agreed on a set price for their products. Setting the price, Dell says, eliminates competition and maximizes the prices of monitors, causing the consumer to pay an unfair price.
Dell has not stated publicly what kind of damages it is looking for, and there’s no telling what the results of this suit will be. You can bet that the companies in the suit will be under close scrutiny for their LCD monitors and televisions in the future. Expect to see some prices start to shift.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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Wireless HD Coming from Hitachi, Panasonic, and Toshiba
Tue Feb 02, 2010 at 04:00 PM ETTags: Hitachi, Panasonic, Toshiba (all tags)
All three companies are developing wireless chips for the 60GHz frequency.
Judging from the number of announcements from companies working on wireless high definition in the last few years, you’d think we’d have it by now. And technically we do, it’s just not at a price most people are willing to pay.
While wireless HDMI is easy to dismiss, the option to go wireless with a TV can’t be overlooked. Getting rid of the need for wires allows incredible freedom of placement for a television, though the need for power, and the cost and reliability of wireless HDMI units are still limiters.
From the looks of things, the technology is finally ready for mass production, as Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba have all stated that they’re working on wireless chips of their own. Each company is independently working on semiconductors, says one Hitachi engineer, to avoid having to rely on third party manufacturers.
There’s no word as to which company is going with which wireless standard, WiGig or WirelessHD. Either way, the 60GHz spectrum will allow transfer rates as high as 1.5 gigabits a second without interference from other wireless devices.
Even at a 1Gb/s transfer rate – about two thirds of the maximum – a full audio CD could be transferred in about five seconds, while a full movie could be sent in nine. Blu-ray discs have a 54Mb/s transfer rate, and even at the proposed 8x read speed, they’ll only need 288Mbps. If 60GHz streaming works in the home like it does in demos, and the costs aren’t prohibitive, we’re in for a treat.
Source: Tech On
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New Hitachi HDTVs Feature 500GB Hard Drives
Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 02:00 PM ETTags: Hitachi (all tags)
Three Plasmas and two LCDs hit Japanese markets next month.
While there is no confirmation of plans to market any of the newly announced XP035 televisions outside of Japan, also known as the Wooo line, the prospect of the new hard drive sporting displays will certainly pique some interest.
With a pair of LCDs at 37” and 42” and a trio of plasmas at 42”, 46” and 50”, Hitachi is looking to cash in by combining technology and essentially eliminating the need for a DVR. The 500 GB hard drive will reportedly hold approximately four hundred hours of high definition content. The units will also support downloads from various sources.
A translated version of the product’s info sheet reveals a ship date of September 10th, but pricing and international availability are not discussed.
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Hitachi Develops 100GB Blu-ray Disc
Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 02:31 PM ETTags: Industry Trends, Hitachi (all tags)
It's not ready for primetime quite yet, but Hitachi says it has developed a Blu-ray disc with twice the storage capacity of a BD-50 disc.
Although other companies (including TDK and Panasonic) have developed similar prototypes, each have required a specially developed optical head in the player to read the disc.
By contrast, Hitachi's new four layer disc is believed to require only a firmware update to be compatible with existing drives.
According to a report from PC Pro, the manufacturer is working to stabilize signal quality before considering a commercial roll-out for the new discs.
Like the 51 GB HD DVD disc currently in development by Toshiba, it's expected that if Hitachi's 100 GB Blu-ray discs do hit the market, it will be for data storage use to begin with (and not movies).
PC Pro reports that Hitachi is also developing an eight layer disc that would hold 200GB of data.
Thanks to Alistair for the tip!
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- Related links:
- Hitachi showcases 100GB Blu-Ray disc [PC Pro]
- Earlier on High-Def Digest:
- Report: DVD Forum Approves 51GB HD DVD
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