Melbourne distributor Samford & Staff are hoping to break into the LCD display market with a $16,000 32″ TV attached to a mirror.
The Company which is known more for the distribution of kitchen appliances, fires and taps have secured the rights to the German ad notam Mirror TV product, a TV mirror system which International Dynamics was originally going to distribute.
Shown for the first time at the recent Designex Expo in Sydney the product is set to be targeted at commercial operations with architects specifying the system however several CEDIA members who saw the product at Designex say that it is over priced and limited in its application. Samford & Staff claim this is not true.
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Len Wallis of Len Wallis Audio said of the product” It looks good but is over priced at $16,000. When I visited the Samford & Sons stand I was told that it was a $4,000 mirror with a TV behind. This is an expensive solution as any LCD TV put behind a mirror will lose some of its viewing quality”.
Another Sydney based CEDIA member who also saw the Mirror TV said “It’s nice but a bit of a gimmick at $16,000. It will be a very small market that buys it”.
Michael Van Ray Marketing Manager at Samford & Staff said” We intend to initially take this product through the bathroom reseller channel as many of these resellers are specifying mirrors up to $4,000. The customers they have are use to buying expensive European appliances”. Michael Lewis of International Dynamics said “we were initally going to distribute this product but we decided not to as it is very limited in the markets that it will appeal to due to the price. We are currently looking at a low cost alternative mirror TV.
Ad notam claim that the mirror TV is based on a new LCD-Active-Matrix that can easily play all current signal sources. Initially a mirror the system at the flick of a switch turns into a multimedia system when you want it to. Specifications for the Tv are:
Dimensions: 2500 x 1100 x 486 mm. Fully movable glass element with integrated ad notam monitor system. No visible cabling. 100% furniture function in space and usage. Electronic protected through Tempered Safety Glass (TSG). New LCD Active Matrix: 32″ / 694 x 389 mm, Diagonal: 81 cm. Integrated TV Tuner. Signal Inputs: S-Video, Composite Cinch Video, RGB, SCART.
For information on the product go to :http://www.mirrorimage.net.au/
