P.S. Make that 1M Cdn or, better yet, Zimbo.

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Greetings Nabi,

Scammed! Hardly. (you should look up the term: A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle) We’ll see you in a year or so. No scam involved. Look, everyone knows that prices keep falling, and products keep improving in the tech world. I can’t restate the obvious constantly. Still there are market dynamics that can be “read”. One of those things, for example, is “year end deals” – when the next generation hits, there are normally great deals on “last year’s” models. Unless the manufacturer timed it well, so that their dealers run out of stock pretty much simultaneously with the first of the new shipments.

The other thing, which I mentioned, is the impact of Fiscal Year ends. When there’s budget money to spend, before a manufacturer’s year ends, then sometimes you’ll see an advertising blitz, or a bigger rebate, or whatever they feel is the best use for that money. I believe, in the case of the Sanyo, that, that is the case. The whole rebate was put together in a very short time, this month.

Could Sanyo decide to start their new FY off with the same rebate? Sure, but will they? Probably not. Could I be wrong? Yes. However, I figure Sanyo will be working with all new budgets and corporate directives, all affected by the tighter economy, especially in light of their being purchased by “Panasonic” (Matsushita), a few months back. So you never can tell.

Of course next year, if a projector like this is down close to $1000, I suspect you’ll be looking at projectors comparable to the higher end models (ie. JVC RS10, RS20, Sony – VW70, etc.) and saying “I’m outa here until they come down to $1000. We always want better for less, and the nice thing about home theater projectors, is that the price performance curve is very steep. Consider what you would have paid 30 months ago, for a projector that performs like this one. And guess what, nothing around 2.5+ years ago, could touch the Z3000’s black levels. They wouldn’t support 24fps, HDMI 1.3 for Deep Color, etc. But, don’t worry, prices will fall.

Meantime, I’m sure that old Sony Trinitron of yours will hang in another few years, with your digital converter box, so you can still watch TV.

I like to tell a story, that goes back a bit. Back then I had a good friend, looking to buy his first computer. (timeline about 1987-8). Back then I was everyone (of my friends) computer expert, having entered the “PC” market in ‘78 managing the first computer store in Philadelphia, for several years. Anyway, I suggested he buy a Mac back then. My friend, however said something like this. “Too expensive, and all I keep reading about is how each year they get better and cost less. I’ll wait until prices stop falling.” Well, my particular friend has always been technology challenged. He waited, and waited. Didn’t buy his first computer for about 6 more years. His first was a Windows 3.0 if I recall. Well, my buddy, started with Prodigy, back then, eventually switched to AOL, and has probably been online every day since. (He’s still technologically challenged, but how hard is it to surf the internet, just don’t show him a spreadsheet). The point is, there is always something better and less expensive down the road. Meantime, don’t miss out on all the fun!

So, anyway, I hope you already have a projector, because, if not, you don’t really know what you are missing. My best guess is that you won’t find the Sanyo for less than it is now, until right before, (or after) Sanyo releases it’s replacement (Sept. or Oct.)! Time will tell!

Last thought! Best I can tell, the home theater projector market is doing pretty well, considering the recession. People may be cutting back on a lot of things, but this is supposed to be (under normal economic times) a fast growing segment. Best I can tell, it is still growing, though slowly. I base that on feedback I get from dealers, and manufacturers, traffic to my site, clicks outbound, and that our advertising revenues are growing. All of my dealer advertisers are still spending what they did a year ago, or spending more. In other words, I believe that home theater projector unit sales will be up this year. Oh, not the 20-30% of previous years, but enough for smart manufacturers, to plan production wisely, and move product through the channels. By the way, my money is on the economy bottoming out before year end. But, what the hell do I know.

I’ve been self employed most of my life, and count this as the fifth recession I’ve had to deal with, and lost one business to one of the recessions, so I pay attention. I don’t think this one will be worse than the one Carter left us with, back in ‘82. Forget the “depression talk” junk out there. That’s all leftover from the presidential campaign. Notice the folks in power have spent the last two weeks talking about how “fundamentally sound” the economy is, the same folks that said just 4 months ago. “Failed policies, we are headed into a major depression.”

We shall see. Anyway, see you in a year. Best of luck, with what you are watching content with these days. -art
PS. that was fun!