Planar Presents The New Runco
by Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 9/7/2007
Denver — Runco executives and new owner Planar used CEDIA Expo to formally kick off the new business relationship that has linked three of the most powerful brands in the high-end home theater display market.
However, the message is very much the same. Runco, Vidikron and Planar will continue pursuing their distinct distribution niches in the high-end display business, but Runco and Vidikron will now have the resources to be even more aggressive.
Scott Hix, Planar home theater business unit marketing VP and GM, reiterated comments made at the time of Planar’s acquisition of Runco and its Vidikron brand, that the new structure will not change Runco’s fundamental business strategies, but will give Runco additional “muscle” to expand to the next level.
 Planar’s Scott Hix (left) and Runco founder Sam Runco used CEDIA to celebrate their new business relationship. |
“If you look at the infrastructure that we now have under Runco, in terms of manufacturing, service, logistics and operations, we truly have the capability, if we do this right, to keep things that Sam has always built into his business model true and add areas that can improve to create truly an international Runco, so our market shares in Europe and Asia can be much as it is here in the United States,” said Hix.
He added that the merger will bring “more than the sum of the individual parts as you see some new innovative categories that we can do with our combined engineering strength.”
Among those new categories is a line of weather resistant flat-panel displays for outdoor applications. For current indoor flat-panel offerings Runco introduced two high-performance 1080p LCDs and one new 1080p plasma display to its flat-panel lineup.
In LCD TV, Runco unveiled its Crystal Portfolio 52-inch CX-52HD ($7,995 suggested retail) and 57-inch CX-57HD ($12,995).
Both offer Runco’s exclusive Vivix processing and scaling that reduces picture artifacts for both native film and video formats.
Integration capabilities include an RS-232 integration and automation interface with discrete on/off, input selection and aspect ratio control.
The CX-52HD incorporates ATSC and NTSC tuning, while the CX-57HD is a monitor-only model. Both have detachable speakers and strong black-level performance.
In plasma, Runco is offering a new 50-inch XP-50DHD, which is based on the platform of the current 65-inch XP-65DHD.
The XP-50DHD ($9,995) features 16-bit digital video processing with 4,096 steps of graduation; discrete multiple aspect ratio control, including VirtualWide for viewing 4:3 content in widescreen without picture degradation; ISF calibration modes; and THX certification.
Runco’s next-generation, external DHD with HDMI digital video controller/processor provides a pure digital signal path and a wide array of video input choices.
The company also showed its first 103-inch 1080p plasma CinemaWall model XP-103DHD (shipping in December at $99,995).
Inputs include DVI with HDCP and RS-232. Runco’s next-generation external DHD features an array of inputs, switching and ViVix II digital video processing technology, which prevents distortion-causing “double scaling.”
In front projection Runco introduced its new entry RS-440 720p DLP model with HDMI connectivity, horizontal and vertical lens shift with long throw, and a long throw model (Runco RS-440LT).
Runco’s new entry 1080p projector, model RS-900 ($8,995), is a single-chip SuperOnyx DLP model available with two lens options, including CineWide with AutoScope. The RS-440 will ship in December at $4,995, and the RS-440LT will ship in December at $5,995.
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