Lite-On to Exit Consumer Device Market

[MJA]

"Lite-On IT, the largest Taiwan-based maker of optical disc drives (ODDs), on October 25 reported its financial results for the third quarter of this year, posting a very small net earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.033. The company also announced it has decided to stop production of consumer ODDs, mainly DVD recorders, to be sold under its Liteon brand in the global market, while keeping OEM/ODM production of such products."


a victim of walmart ?




http://digitimes.com/systems/a20061026A7037.html

[budz]

Interesting to see what dvd burner they'll come up since the acquisition of Benq's ODD. I guess Liteon is the victim of wally world's 90 day return policy.

[MJA]

just from the ILO 04 player?

[lordsmurf]

I doubt returns had anything to do with it. From what I know, there really weren't any more than normal.

On the other hand, selling DVD recorders for $69 while everybody else sold for $149+ was probably not the smartest move on their part.

[Nilfennasion]

Can't say as I will miss them. Their DVD drives would not set to RPC-1 status without a crowbar and dynamite.

[satviewer2000]

Doesn't surprise me. I bought a couple of their DVD players and they are the worst I've ever used, even worse than $30 no-name DVD players. Their DVD-HD recorder was also widely panned, with audio-sync problems. Their customer support is terrible. In fact, I don't think they should be producing home multimedia products at all, they should perhaps just produce OEM DVD drives.

[samijubal]

The Wal Mart near me always had plenty of their DVD recorders returned at any given time. They told me they were one of the highest return items they sold. I had a guy in line behind me once that was returning the 5th one of the same unit, all with burner problems. In any other forum they are considered garbage.

[lordsmurf]

LiteOn has long been regarded as a higher quality optical device, and their DVD recorders were pretty decent, especially since they used LSI and were so affordable. LiteOn is the inventor of several key burning technologies, much like Pioneer is.

LiteOn helped pave the way for more mainstream DVD recording, not Panasonic, by pricing them in reach for consumers, often at half the price of competing brands.

Unfortunately, that was more of a sacrifice than anything else, as it did not generate enough profits.

I've never heard of LiteOn being returned more than anything else. That just sounds like more online bitching about something you don't like personally. Skewed viewpoints, out of step with reality. Most DVD recorder returns are because people don't know how to use them, they try to transfer copy-protected tapes, or they use crappy media (Memorex, especially!). It's not the machines themselves.

LiteOn DVD recorders actually made for some of the very best DVD players, in terms of seeing stubborn media, and for playing PAL content smoothly and full-screen with minimal framerate artifacts (in NTSC countries, that is). They did not include whiz-bang DVD player features, but neither do most other recorders.

It's sad to see them go, but I understand why it has to happen. It's a shame they did not try to introduce a "premium" line of machines, ones with higher profit margins and a few more features.

[t j swann]

i've sold lite-on units for years and they have been very reliable. most returns were from idiots who believe the units are defective instead of just reading the owners manual.