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Rise of the Small Brands
gbobeck writes "Yahoo News is running a story looking at smaller brands in the marketplace. The article discusses the increase of numbers of people who are choosing to purchase lesser known brands of electronics. The bottom line is the major electronics makers still dominate the market, but collective presence of lesser-known brands has helped keep prices down while boosting product choices."
Screw the big guns, let the little man take a piece
The products are perhaps not the cutting edge stuff, but you can rest assured that you're buying a name brand and all the piece of mind that that gets you. Not crap like Akai or Vizio. I'm talking Sorny, Magnetbox, and Panaphonics.
Lite-On deserve a mention here; at a time when Plextor was the the only writer in town, Lite-On released cheap 32x and 40x CD-Writers which could rip damaged CDs that nothing else would rip or even play. Before long, as prices fell, I was building a Lite-On into every customer's system.
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
...it's just branded differently. Take Radio Shack for example, all of their stereo stuff called Optimus was really Pioneer. All of their Realistic scanners were really Uniden....yadda yadda..TV's were RCA.
I'm willing to bet it's just like laptops, only a handful of places make them, and they are customized and rebranded per customer request.
Hell, i'm sure the same goes for generic food in the supermarket.
Too bad TFA didn't mention anything about the response time or brightness of the other brands. Basically, you get what you pay for. Cheaper brands will have cheaper components and lower specifications than many name-brand companies. Being a non name brand company doesn't help with the cost of manufacturing electronics.
A while ago, one of my friends wrote a paper that used the term 'lesser known'. His Professor was of the opinion that it's read as 'less known'. Any thoughts ?
Of course, there is always the occassional flair of inspired creativity. I was in Asia recently and brought back a $5 'PolyStation' for a friend as a gag gift. It was a PS1 shell with about 500 NES roms built in - hilarious.
A-Bomb
That's all I need to know. Will you marry me?
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
The internet has made it much easier for these smaller companies to actually sell these devices without having to have massive global production and distribution mechanisms in place. However, smaller volume also means it is MUCH harder to get good reviews on the products. There are web boards, but they can easily be co-opted
So is it even possible to find an honest place for reviews of not so mainstream products?
Monstar L
We keep seeing examples of how open source software is changing everything and benefiting consumers, but there is no reasonable equivalent in the hardware arena. If the market trends toward closed, DRM-encumbered environments continue, what are we supposed to do? Where does the hardware equivalent of linux stand today?
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
Well, the Internet thinks it's "lesser known" by a landslide.
less known vs. lesser known
Keeping in mind that correct grammar is itself "lesser known" on the internet, small fragments of sodium chloride are suggested for consumption.
A few years back at any rate. A Toshiba or other quality brand was still well over £100 but I could buy a 'Yamada' for £30 and it played more disks and had more different types of output than I'd ever seen before....
Cheap unknown brand = Better in this case
collective presence of lesser-known brands has helped keep prices down while boosting product choices.
And this is news due to why? I am guessing it was produced by a pup younger than I whom just now came to the realizations required to decide that big names do not have a stronhold over price.
Historically speaking there has always (by always I mean the last 15 - 20 years) been the Everex's, Sager's, Strongarms (you heard me right), Bosers, Magitronics (many times these guys had custom boards built). And in the way back days there was Orbital, Zip, and Jesus. Oh and umm, heh, Acer. There are at least 100 others that none of us have ever heard of for we used them exactly once. But it is nothing new.
The idea that this drives the market is just a fact that the bigger names have had to deal with for a long time, some time shortly after Compaq produced the 386 (thats right, Compaq was once small time).
Flag me as Insightfull. Or overrated. Or both. Its the way I feel.
Damnit, now I have to go RTFA. See what you made me do?
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
Merriam-Webster (click lesser[2,adverb]) uses "lesser-known" as an example of how to use "lesser".
Or tin deep in this case, rather. I had my revelation when I opened up an HP computer, only to find that they used exactly (and I MEAN exactly) the same components that were used in a low budget "brand" (you know, one of the kind that gets sued for being labeled "no name"). Exactly the same (crappy) components.
It's the same with dishwashers, washing machines, microwaves. Brands only slap a nice cover around it, the insides are more often than not just bought, not made by the brand company.
What you get from a brand name is the service. And considering the service of some brands *coughsonycough*, I'm better off with a "generic" brand. Breaks down just as fast, has exactly the same nonexistant service, but I pay about 2/3 of what that brand name gadget would've costed.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Since brands can be counted, the correct term is 'fewer known'.
Otherwise, it's 'lesser known'.
There is no construction 'less known' unless it's some archaic UNIX command.
I worked for a major mid-price consumer electronics company ... the same factory made multiple brands for us, with the only difference being the feature set and the case.
It seems to me that traditionally smaller companies worked well by providing electronics that were meant for certain markets, not the "mass-market" type. I'm one of those crazy people who still clings to an audio compenent system (have you tried to buy a stand-alone tuner lately? *sigh*). Those companies have done well in meeting the demands of consumers who want something more than the latest whatever at Best Buy (with rebates, of course). I should think this is where they should focus their market.
--- There is a man in a smiling bag.
I like small brands, but not the ones which want to compete on price. I like the ones who step out of the mass market pricing. Take MP3-players for instance. There are only four major components in MP3 players, e.g. the soundchip, and when you produce one for the mass market, it's about economics and juggling with costs and prices. You end up with an endless stream of MP3-players from companies who buy these components of just a few competing factories, and actually they end up all being the same. There is not much difference in hardware quality between the iPod and the low market "fantasy brand" players. They are buying the same components, to compete.
Now if they left that paradigm, and choose components based on quality, it gets interesting. In my MP3-example, I'd like to buy an MP3-player which boasts a better sound chip, which would require more power, which would mean a really expensive battery, which would mean it would never have been made by Sony for the mass market.
2) Retail is more powerful, and more "refund-friendly". If you shop at Tesco in the UK, they typically will do a return with no quibbling. So, you know that if it doesn't work, they'll take it back real simple.
3) Cost of electronics. People will take a risk on a £30-40 DVD player, particularly if it's a second one for their bedroom. And they've learnt that a lot of the low-brand stuff is more than good enough.
...is on the DivX page.
Ofcourse these are the smaller brands that at least have the courtesy to properly license something, not the "ripped in china"-stuff with the trademarked logo's overwritten with a black marker ("dolby technology licensed ? me not know").
Offtopic, I know, but:
By analogy with 'less-travelled' etc., it should really be 'less-known'. However, for whatever reason, 'lesser known' (hyphen optional) is the standard form when known is an adjective -- not when it is a verb. Thus it is correct to say:
The lesser-known option is, of course, less known than the alternatives.
"Lesser used", again, is just about acceptable as an attributative phrase ("the lesser used construction is 'lesser used'") but not really as a predicate ("'lesser used' is the less used construction").
This goes back to the fact that 'lesser' is an adjective and 'less' an adverb.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
At least with the kitchen towelling you are better off buying the non-value version - it is more expensive but also has more sheets and works out at exactly the same cost per sheet, but for a better quality product (it's thicker).
My favourite was their value Gin _before_ they stuck the blue and white stripes etc. on it - it used to be just a completely plain white label with GIN written in big sans-serif font in the middle. Very to the point, very 1984.
Whoops, make sure to check 'post anonymously' - yes, good.
"Known" as an adjective is absolute, like pregnant. There are only two states: known and unknown.
;)
Little-known and lesser-known exist purely as shorthand ways of saying how many people have the knowledge in question. They're quirks of the language, as illustrated by their opposites "well-known" and "better-known" rather than "great-known" and "greater-known" (or even "much-known" and "more-known").
I'm just trying to imagine the reaction if I called someone a lesser-pregnant girl
No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
It used to be you could associate a certain level of quality with a particular brand. But then the top brands started adding low end "consumer" models and maybe splitting out so called "prosumer" stuff at the way overpriced high end. Add to that the big chain discount stores getting custom manufactured models with even lower quality to keep the price down. What you end up with is a situation where brand has no meaning whatsoever.
Big consumer electronics corporations have something to protect: they give what you pay for.
If you buy say a product from "name your small brand here" with the very same set of features as product X from "name your BIG corporation like Samsung here" you can expect better quality from the latter.
Why?
Because features mentioned on the box with a small brand are just that: features. They don't guarantee anything, apart from the time when you actually see a certification label on the box. You can expect that some of the feature will work and that's it.
Buying from a big corp is different: they are much more certification prone and the certifications you see on the box will actually be tested thoroughly! They may be foul scum in some (sony) cases, but will not throw their brand away (and their liability for the grabs) for a small product.
That doesn't mean that they won't sell you crap, its just that in that case, the crap will not be labeled with a lot of certifications and you know you are actually buying crap because it's so darned cheap.
There is probably a good formula for this, but in general:
1 cheap+big brand-certifications on the box=product with no extra features, "crap"
2 cheap+small brand-certifications on the box=lot of extra features, only they don't work all the time, "crap"
3 expensive+big brand+certifications on the box=extra features that work 99%, "good"
4 expensive+small brand+certifications on the box=extra features that work 99%, "good"
Which doesn't say you couldn't be totally happy with 2, you still can but you will have to be lucky.
Food is not an binary product, the quality can vary widely between 'excellent' and 'not fit for human consumption'.
Sugar is perhaps the simplest. During production you end up with several different crystal sizes. This is a 'good' thing as some industrial uses require smaller or larger sizes. Sugar coating on a cookie for instance is usually far larger then then the sugar that is used inside cake.
The 'top' brands of sugar for household consumption come in a size that can still easily desolve in coffee/thee.
Get the 'cheap' brand and you never know what size you are going to get. One day it might be so small it is almost powdered sugar the next time it is 2 crystals per pack.
Same with peas. The quality brands label their cans according to the size and mean it. The 'cheap' brand can have giant peas for chernobyl or so tiny they could be the balls of a mouse.
Of course the real quality of the product is exactly the same.
The 'cheap' food brands are often the lesser choice using the ingredients that are the wrong size or color or are just surplus.
Soap is even simpler. There the cheap brands are just the old production plants. Today's cheap soap was yesterday's top brand.
There are of course exceptions to this. Some 'house brands' are really entirely different products from their brand name competitors. They just can be cheaper because they combine their advertising with store advertising while the brand name needs very costly commercials just to advertise one product.
Then again the lesser choice being the lesser brand is not unknown in IT either is it? Weren't Celerons just regular intel chips wich had an error in one of the caches leading it to be disabled? In fact aren't all chips of a generation of the same design and the clockspeed difference is just that some chips just come out better then others?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I've used off-brand computer parts/equipment where it makes sense to do so, and have never had a problem. My Actiontec wireless access point is four years old and has always worked great with all brands of wireless NICs. I've used Hawking switches and hubs. StarTech is great for network cards, add-on port cards.
What you have to watch out for is the online retailers. Pay attention to the customer ratings.
In a nutshell, in my experience it matters less what brand of equipment you buy, and more who you buy it from.
Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
That's why I'm planning to leave as soon as I can... America is going to die if something isn't done to stop the spread of pessimism and apathy in the united states. People need to start standing up for their RIGHTS again, not just saying "WEll, I'm not doing anything wrong, what do i have to worry about?"
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
Maybe you should consider that the division in question wasn't the black-and-white "known" vs. "not-known", but rather "known a greater or lesser number of people".
Does EVERYTHING have to be an "X" vs. "not-X" anymore?
And WTF are we wasting time arguing semantics when what's really important are the merits of well-know vs. less-well-known brands, anyway??????
My main reason for buying "no name" brands is simple. They usually work better.
:)
For instance one of my mates had a Sony (Spits on floor in disgust) DVD player which cost him over £ 200 and was feature packed but was fussy as anything when it came to discs i.e. It wouldn't play most DVDRs, it didn't play XVid AVIs, it didn't like MP3s on a DVDR (happy on CDR though), it stalled on scratched pressed DVDs etc. etc.
In contrast the £ 29 "no name" DVD player I bought from ASDA will have a go at anything you put in it. It's not as feature packed, build quality isn't as good, the picture and audio are not quite as good (but not by that much), it's kind of ugly but who cares. It's game as hell. I've even though about putting one on my old 7" singles in there to see what it makes of it
Quite frankly I'd expect the complete opposite results as I'd expect the more expensive model to feature a superior drive mechanism and error correction algorithms etc. etc. but my (limited I know) experimentation has conclusively proved otherwise.
After we performed a small head to head test my mate sold the Sony at a car boot, bought one of the "no names" and is now "happy as Larry".
Coupled with the rate of technology turn over I'd say that unless you've got a specific "professional" requirement for a real top quality piece of kit get the "No name" version.
After all most of the basic components are churned out of the same factories anyway.
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
Both my 51cm CRT TV and DVD Player are "Centrex" branded (from china) and work great. My MIDI music keyboard is a Radio Shack.
My VCR is a Magnavox.
Is anyone aware of a site that compares the small name and big name stuff in one place? Also noting which of the small names belong to the big name companies and generally consist of rebranded identical products?
I know I have dealt with small name stuff that is considerably higher quality than the name brand stuff in terms of durability, reliability, and predictability as far as behaving with the standards. Smaller companies don't have the luxury to foist unwanted crap onto their consumers like the big ones, and they don't typically spend the big money on marketing. Sometimes they really are cheap crap, but sometimes they use better design and better components because their lack lumbering marketing department allows them to have a better profit margin.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
Personally, I think that's a big part of the problem. Too many idiots think that means standing up for THEIR rights, and be damned to everyone and everything else.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Everything you see on electronics shelves today is exactly the same thing, although different brands are packaged in different VISUAL packages. There are only a few companies, for example, that make LCD panels: Samsung, Sharp, and Panasonic, let's say. Samsung makes the LCD panels that go into umpteen different brands of monitors and TVs, and Samsung gets this kind of market penetration not just by selling a panel, but by also providing a reference design that makes the "manufacturer" of the TV or Monitor able to turn around and get to market within about 60 days of purchasing the design and panels. All the "manufacturer" has to do is come up with the chassis and button layout, and a remote control maybe, and they're done.
This is the same for things like DVD players - where one company might make an incredibly mass-produced all-in-one DVD SoC, and sell it for $0.60 with a reference design to any tom, dick, or harry who wants to sell a DVD player for $19 at Best Buy.
All the big brands really do is charge more for their name and maybe a better warranty insurance policy, and massively buggy software that is the result of them trying to restrict or restrain the native features of the device they are selling.
When it all boils down, though, if you look at two 37" LCD TVs with the same native resolution and same features, you can bet they are identical except for the plastic case. They may even run the same software that was packaged with the reference design, in which case you should just buy on price.
But my plextor two last plextors have broken (last one under warranty), but my 2nd DVD writer is a Lite-On and it's still going strong for a couple of years.
I think Lite-On is a good second choice, and if Plextor doesn't get their act together, I may not buy another.
Besides providing news from many sources the internet also gives consumers many new methods for picking and choosing how to spend their money.
Just as we no longer have to rely on a local newspaper or broadcast television for information about the world around us we no longer have to rely on salesmen or friends for consumer product advice.
Another good side is that problems surface faster because of the net. Bad products and companies are spotlighted much faster than old methods. Consumer groups spread information between themselves directly and indirectly about whom to trust and not trust.
If anything the net is making it easier for consumers to make intelligent choices. Having the information by itself isn't the key, its having access to the opinions of others on how valid the information is that works in the long run.
On a side note, gaming the system is alive and well and has removed the validity of some sites for tracking how well one place does versus another. I find consistency among many different forums to be a better indicator as to which small companies to trust. (ex: ResellerRatings used to be a great source - but not they are corrupted by too many bogus positive and even negative reviews)
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Om
I have always wanted to start an American based electronics company to compete in the market. I am still short on funds, business plans, goals, industry connections and many other critical resources...
One thing I am not missing is the name and slogan:
"CrapTec - Just as crappy as the other guys, but for about 15% less in price."
This helps put to rest the idea that the U.S. economy can survive (some used to say prosper) by leveraging its established brand names and outsourcing the work.
One or two decades ago people used to buy brand-name stuff for (perceived) quality and reliability. These days everything's manufactured to be disposable and/or obsolete 6 months after the warranty expires, so it just doesn't matter that much any more. The lesser-known brands are usually good enough; you probably won't be using the product for very long anyway.
The bottom line is the major electronics makers still dominate the market
There are still major electronics makers that actually make electronics products. I thought most of them had hollowed out to the point that they were little more than a brand name with a sales force. That's pretty much the case in the US anyhow.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
...you will find that in many cases especially at the "lower to mid end", the guts of the brand names and those of the small names are the same. For example, in DVD players, the Denon 1920 has the same internals as a certain Sylvania model. In the lower price ranges, most big names outsource their production to the same companies who also assemble/manufacture for the no-names.
I want to know who actually manufactures the parts. Years ago, the Compudyne store brand monitors were Korean Design Systems (KDS). Today, CompUSA sells Norwood Micro parts. Who actually makes those? Does anyone know of the Circuit City or Best Buy store brands, and who makes them?
like 2 wheeled cars versus 4 wheeled cars? choose bicycle and be earth-friendly
"I don't have a good way of judging quality or long-term reliability, so I'm looking at all brands," he said. "And nowadays I believe that most companies have got the quality and technology up to a good level or they wouldn't be in business."
There's the core problem: lack of buyer knowledge, or at least the lack of motivation for buyers to do some proper research before making a purchase. THAT is why these companies are doing business.
When I went to buy a new high def TV, I did research into the technologies available first, then looked at what manufacturers were doing a good job in the technology of my own choice. I eventually settled on a DLP from Samsung, not only because of the quality of the television but also the fact that I wasn't having to sell a kidney to buy it. It was a good balance for me, and not every salesperson will make that choice properly for you.
Part of that decision also was that lesser known brands may or may not be around if say the cheap TV I got from them breaks in a year. The company's support could be unproven, or nonexistent if the company itself fails to prosper. In essence, think of your wallet now and in the future.
Anyway, it worked for me at least, and didn't take a whole lot of time. I did some Googling, talked to some folks at various electronics places including customers and salespersons, and made my own decision about what would satisfy my own requirements.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
oh, shame on me
The cheaper panels have more defects, less stringent quality control... Actually that's pretty much the definition of any brand... The quality control, attention to detail.
Having said that I just bought a Durabrand CRT TV. Works, does what I want... I wouldn't buy a cheap noname LCD panel though without checking for dead pixels.
Deleted
In this disposable market there's also the fact that people are less looking for a company that is going "to be there" in 5-10 years; they don't care. Their DVD player is going to be long gone by then. For most items, the repair cost almost exeeds the purchase cost of a new unit a few years down the road. People don't invest in their products anymore. The saying that with this brand you get good aftersale service and with that brand you don't is less true than it was. The gap is closing because many manufacturers trow the defective product in the garbage and give you a new one instead and that; every manufacturer can do. Those details are already settled when they sign a deal with a big retailler.
I'm on the verge of picking up a 26" Syntax Olevia HVX LCD TV(Hopefully around $500). They're getting rave reviews from all over the place as far as quality at such a low price.
Check out FatWallet for more info.
- R
Yes, american people! Stand up for your rights! This will also make America a golden land for lawyers! Oh, wait...
So say we all
Actually, I think there can be degrees of "knowing". For instance I think you know Sony "more" than you know Harman Kardon, right?
Generally (there are exceptions) high end comnsumer products are just shiny packages on fairly junky stuff. Low end (or used) Professional stuff is generalyl much better, often cheaper, and usually much better built. Go to a good professional catering shop for pans that will outlast you and are better designed and cheaper than anything in consumer shops. Not available in a range of colours though. Same with audio equipment, cameras and so on. Things that people use every day are just better made.
Cheap disposable consumer products are great if you want something cheap. But there is no point in Bang and Olufson.
One problem with no-names is when you find something great, you often can't find it again.
My first MP3 player, a tiny, no-name, flash jobby with 256MB that I bought three years ago for less than $100, is still one of the BEST MP3 players I have ever seen. Great quality, great interface, great software. And I cannot find another one, or an updated model with more memory. I would love to have the 1GB or 2GB version of this player, which allowing for flash prices, would probably be under $100 as well.
I still keep using this little one, even though I have several larger MP3 players now. The duct tape holding the battery compartment closed (due to dropping it a few too many times) just adds to its charm.
http://www.realmeme.com/roller/page/realmeme?entry =the_cultural_diffusion
"mainstream culture should shrink as fringe cultures spawn and grow"
As time passes, products have a tendency to become commodities. The important thing is standards. As long as a CD, or broadcast, or music file format is an established standard, just about anyone can manufacture a product that's competitive. But big manufacturers will always try to convince the public that there is some additional value to a product having a big-name brand associated with it. And people being the sheep that they are, they'll succeed.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Yes, of course, you're right. We should take our example from the Islamic world and torch buildings and murder people and call for holy war over the publishing of a few cartoons.
And before you rush to tell me that that's not the policy of the entire Islamic world, I can assure you that Guantanamo is loathed by a substantial number of us yanks as well. Extremists of ANY bent are to be loathed.
I buy Apple because the name/logo/symbol implicitly and reliably means something about the product experience. I don't buy HP any more (despite working there for 10 years and leaving on good terms) because now their brand implicitly and reliably means something negative about the product experience which it didn't mean 10-20 years ago. I just got my first IBM/Lenovo laptop and it's everything HP used to be without the parochial BS that HP used to represent nor the overpriced/undervalued products it sells today.
The insistence of the consumer electronics industry to kow-tow to the smaller entertainment industry and not address basic customer product utility and usability is mystifying and the inevitable end-game that will result is like watching an automobile crash in slow-motion.
Pioneer never made anything for Tandy. Genexxa and Optimus both made really cheap stuff - name one double tape deck with full logic control like on Pioneer's models.
Sounds like you are in deep denial. You are possibly right that Pioneer didn't make Genexxa and Optima stuff, but I'm VERY sure that the same Taiwanese company made components branded with all three names (Pioneer, Optima and Genexxa and I believe Realistic as well). As one reader pointed out replacement parts for some stuff from Radio Shack would sometimes show up with a Pioneer logo somewhere on ot. Furthermore I've seen things like remote controls for Radio Shack-branded stuff that worked with better-known brands like Pioneer--and these were NOT programmable or multi-function remotes. Even many years ago a stylus or drive belt from some Realistic turntables would've been interchangeable with some Pioneers as well.
The Radio Shack brands and other cheap stuff is not always just re-badged Pioneer of course, but it is common for them to come out of the same factory and share some of the same components, and entry-level Pioneer might be identical to high-end Radio Shack. It's been like that for decades--brand names really haven't meant a thing since the 1960s ended. It doesn't matter what industry--electronics, food, clothing, etc--all the brand stands for is marketing and the logo displayed on the merchandise and at very most perhaps an extra stage of quality control.
Don't worry, you'll adjust to reality soon enough. I came to accept reality many years ago when I pulled the Blaupunkt stereo out of my car to change the lightbulb that illuminated the instrumentation. Inscribed on the back was the phrase "made in Taiwan". How's that for "German quality"?
You know, consumer electronics didn't have to be commodities. There could be enough differentiation between brands to let the consumers chose one of them, instead of chosing prices.
But the greed eats everything. I'd be happy to spend another $0.5 to have a motherboard with good capacitors, or another $5 to get a power supply that really resists an electric transient. But the manufactors needed get those $5.5 to themselves, using the hight prices to get highter returns. Well, if they can't sell me some quality products, I'll chose based on price, and won't trust their PR.
I guess most people think the same way as I do.
Rethinking email
PolyStation "a gag gift"? Sounds like a wonderful gift!
The PocketNES method will let you use fan translations, more extensive mods, and even full-scale homebrew in addition to normal commercial ROMs.
Brands like MacGIMP and XDarwin have seen a lot of success with zero advertising dollar output. Who would have thought five years ago that you could reach 500,000 software product consumers without having to advertise? It's all in the product positioning and passive brand building methods. The market is pull, now, not push, folks. Just ask CraigsList.
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
Oppo gets raves for their 971 deck from a number of reviewers, apparently keeping up or even outscoring heavy hitters like the Denon 5910, even though the Oppo's price is less than CA state tax on the Denon.
Kiss Technology make kick-ass DVD/DivX players and PVRs. They also were the first brand to sell a DVD player that could read MP3s.
I have a Polaroid flashlight, a Sunbeam lavalamp nitelite and a Bell+Howell nose hair trimmer.
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
www.alibaba.com and you can see where a great many of the "original" products come from. It's sometimes amusing to look through the various "in the style of" copy products on there, there's something for everyone, of course, buyer beware.
I work in a consumer electronics repair shop, and I can tell you from experience that there is another side to buying those smaller, cheaper brands (especially if we're talking about big-ticket items). That lesser-brand plasma TV you just got from Wal-Mart might seem to perform as well as a major brand name, and for less money; but what happens when this thing has to make it's first trip to the repair shop? With the major brands me and my fellow technicians get plenty of support from the manufacturers (schematic diagrams, tech bulletins, timely repair parts orders, excellent higher-level tech assistance, etc.). With a lesser-brand manufacturer this type of technician support may be wanting (or even lacking), and this lack of support will always increase turnaround time. These factors may not mean much to the consumer until they call our shop wanting to know why their DLP has been in the shop for two months and counting (or why it has to go to the shop again after already having been fixed two weeks ago). All this may not seem like such a big deal at the time of purchase, but that warranty is going to expire sooner or later - and that repair bill will then come out of your pocket. Believe me, this is something many consumers just do not consider when deciding on a purchase; and when they get upset later down the line (usually for the aforementioned reasons) it is myself and the other techs who get left with the task of explaining these issues to an often irate customer. The choice is yours: you can pay for quality support now, or you can save on a cheaper brand and still end up taking it in the shorts anyways later on.
This space for rent!
You absolutely pay a premium for a brand name like Sony or Toshiba. And often the components and factories are one and the same as the "off brands". However, this does not mean the the devices are the same quality! Sony can and often will sit their own QA staff to pick and choose the devices that are the best looking off of the factory line. They pay a few bucks more per unit, but they'll get the best of the product. This doesn't guarantee quality (nor make the off-brands any lesser quality) per se, but Sony is playing the odds.
Remember, Sony has to support this stuff for 5 years, plus they have an brand and image to maintain. The off-brands don't have to worry, if things go wrong, they can disappear into the void.
In short, on a $100 DVD player, it doesn't really matter, what have you got to loose? On a $2000 TV, I'm going with the big brands.