Why am I so dubious of the hype?

[Cogito]

I just stubbled across this site. Some interesting stuff. This article is a hoot!


http://consumerist.com/2010/01/comp...case-charges-3000-markup-and-gets-caught.html

 

[Cogito]

Oops! I see that this is being discussed elsewhere

 

[glum]

Where?

 

[Cogito]

Right here

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=275275

 

[ke4mcl]

nice! im not surprised. folks buying based on brand and not paying attention to whats in the box.

 

[hytiger]

I'm amused that people are so shocked about this!
It's what companies do, supply what the consumer wants at a price they are willing to pay... as with many products, only a few companies make certain items, then other companies use those sub assemblies in their own products, or just do a rebranding exercise on an existing product.
Take flatscreen monitors & televisions for example, how many different brands are there? guess what, there are only a handful of companies with the highly specialised, complex & VERY expensive plants to build those panels, so the reason you can buy such amazing devices so cheaply is that so few factories are mass producing panels for hundreds of different brands.
Sharp, Samsung and LG Philips are the biggest panel makers, but how many people go & pay double the price of these brands to get a fancy brand name on the case???
For anyone whose just paid a small fortune for a huge Sony TV, congratulations, you've just bought a Samsung

 

[carbonman]

For anyone whose just paid a small fortune for a huge Sony TV, congratulations, you've just bought a Samsung

I'm not a big Sony fan despite owning a Sony CRT TV (wife paid for it) and a Sony HDD DVR (bought it for the wife's daily soap opera recording).
While all the television manufacturers buy their imaging panels from a small number of LCD and plasma screen manufacturers, one of the things that differentiate one brand/model from the others is the proprietary electronics that run the image processing. I'm certain that some of the panels are built to a particular design spec to take advantage of these specialized technologies.
The auto manufacturers do the same thing, sometimes only rebadging the car for their product line and leaving everything else the same. Still, getting blatantly screwed on a product isn't right.

 

[automojo]

Re-badging has gone on for years-perhaps not to this extent.
Usually they will put a tweak here or there, to some it may be worth it, others not.
Nothing illegal about it- but it pays to do your home work.
Anyway most of us wouldn't spend that kind of cash on a Bluray player anyway.
If you can afford the Lexicon, than it's probably not that big of deal-think Cimiron:thmbsp:

 

[bastek]

There was a time when the Chinese use to clone successful American designs. Now its the other way around. The only difference is Chinese charge a lot less, not 7 times more for their clones. And claiming that your product is superior and Made in America when its a whole untouched Chinese player inside your aluminum box that's a shame.

 

[AnalogDigit]

Nothing new. It has been going on with video and audio equipment for decades.

 

[Bigerik]

That is really, really sad.

 

[wajobu]

I guess that's what's meant by "value added" I agree, sad, if true.

 

[gonner]

welcome to capitalism

 

[sfox52]

Buyer beware still applies, as always.

 

[Cogito]

I guess the real issue here is that no significant improvements were made, yet the price was increased rather dramatically. It's a good player, but no way worth the asking price.