SAMPO leaving North America

[musher70]

Sad news to announce, Sampo is leaving US market, so
any1 looking for a great player for $69, order one today,
the new 612(n) plays almost anything, has region hacks,
though no macro-hack, the regular 612 does, but its
hard to find one under $200...Retail $69...the 620/660/631
models have macro hacks,the 631 was a consumer
reports best buy for 150$,check this link for more info...

http://www.area450.com/

[clayts]

As our news tends to be pretty fast moving at Area 450, here's the article in full:

The sad news that we'd secretly been dreading finally became reality this week when Sampo America confirmed with Area 450 that they'd taken delivery of the very last DVD players to be badged with the company logo last Friday.

Whilst the company had wanted to at least retain a budget player as part of their product range it became clear that the cut-throat competition was making it untenable for Sampo to continue offering cheap players without compromising on quality, something which they have never wanted to do.

The last players to arrive at Sampo's Californian base, a supply of DVE612(N) decks, have already been sold on to an authorised Sampo dealer, meaning the company's supplies of DVD players are now completely exhausted.

Sampo first made in-roads into the US market in 2000, with the launch of the DVE620, 625 and 660. Quickly gaining a reputation of superb functionality, the players took America by storm not least because of their price, their ability to play both CD-Rs and CD-RWs filled with .mp3 or video CD material and their hackability, enabling owners to play discs from any region.

The player that changed the company's profile in the US was the revolutionary DVE631CF, launched in the Fall of 2001. Featuring a Compact Flash card reader, the player received a lot of positive publicity as well as receiving a CES award for innovation. Coupled with a push by a newly-appointed PR company, the player started appearing at well-established on-line retailers like Amazon and buy.com, coupled with attractive rebate deals. Whilst it looked as though the company were about to cross over to mainstream status, it seems to us that they frustratingly missed out on an ideal opportunity to launch their products on the street, where sales were more likely to translate into overwhelming and, in our opinion, much-deserved success.

Production of Sampo DVD players had, by this time, mostly shifted from Taipei, Taiwan to Shanghai, China following the inauguration of Taiwan into the World Trade Organisation, meaning Taiwan companies could take advantage of cheaper premises on the mainland. Indeed, the last DVE631CFs rolled off the Taipei production lines in April 2002, with that factory moving over to plasma display production.

2002 saw a plethora of new Chinese-built models, but sadly, for once, it appeared that the company had over-saturated the market with sales of some decks ultimately being very disappointing. A new karaoke deck, the DVE662, emerged whilst the previous model, the DVE661, was still available and unsurprisingly sales faltered. Additionally, the company's first superb-looking Progressive Scan deck, the DVE681P, was completely over-shadowed by the rave reviews being heaped upon the DVE631CF. Eventually the unit was sold at just $149 by the company in its last days, despite being the company's premium deck.

The launch of the slimline DVE612 in early 2002 was a success however. Replacing the troublesome DVE611, the first deck to roll off the Shanghai production line, this new unit was a cut above the normal budget players found piled high in supermarkets, often without any form of display on the facia of the player. The company advised us in November that despite other models being withdrawn, the DVE612 was to be carried over to 2003, with the possibility of a replacement entry level deck at some stage.

However, the replacement arrived sooner rather than later with the launch of the cosmetically similar DVE612(N) in December 2002 featuring cheaper components under the hood, but much improved functionality over the original model. In the scheme of things, we felt that Sampo had re-captured the essence of a good budget deck once again - good all-round features, a remote control handset hack and improved menu systems to match the improved compatibility with a wide variety of file formats. Sadly, the DVE612(N) has turned out to be a very limited edition deck, and no more are expected into the US.

Whilst naturally we are saddened by the decision taken by Sampo to no longer sell DVD players in the US we totally empathise with their reasoning. To us, the whole essence of the Sampo DVD experience is that the company have never scrimped on quality. Whilst their players have not necessarily been either earth-shatteringly brilliant or competitive, price-wise, you knew that the money you were spending was being rewarded by a player that was well-crafted, adaptable and, most importantly, great fun to own. We'd rather Sampo go out on a high (and the editorial team all think that think the DVE612(N) is the second best player Sampo have produced, after the DVE631CF), than compromise on quality and end up churning out second-rate players at ridiculously low prices.

So, a dignified exit for Sampo DVD in the United States - just the way we like it. And remember, there's still the recordable DVD deck to look forward to later this year, so it's not quite the end as we know it...

Area 450 is here to stay however : our remit now is plain : "clone spotting" ! With the swathe of new models pouring onto the Taiwan streets from the company, it's almost guaranteed that some or all of these units will appear somewhere in the world - get familiar with the new look decks and keep those eyes peeled : we're relying on you !

Please take part in our poll and discussion on our Forum here - we'd love to know what our visitors think of the decision taken by Sampo America.

Meanwhile, here's our rather crude league table of Sampo America DVD players released over the years, in order of brilliance :

1. DVE631CF (2001) - had Sony et al panicking on its release, a true revolutionary player
2. DVE612(N) (2002) - a real return to the good old days by Sampo
3. DVE620/625/660 (2000) - the players that started it all off
4. DVE612 (2002) - the original version that made us coo
5. DVE681P (2002) - massively under-stated Prog Scan deck
6. DVE661 (2001) - silver karaoke beauty, modelled on the 620 series
7. DVE662 (2002) - a bridge too far : US just wasn't ready for it
8. DVE611 (2001) - under-achiever, blighted by early production faults

Any comments, please feel free to post here, or e-mail the '450 team at administrators@area450.com.

The recordable unit will be DVD+R/+RW and is set for release in May. Sampo America are now focussing on their new range of plasma/LCD display products, as well as their TVs - see the original November 2002 interview here.