While consumers look for an integrated control for their
products, manufacturers focus on refining the sensory impact of entertainment.
The Middle East markets have always shown a great demand for high-quality home entertainment products. In the UAE, home entertainment is the next popular option after holidays, facilitated by the availability of world-class retail environment and long summer months.
For people here watching movies with the family ranks very high as a form of entertainment and recreation. Fuelled by consumer needs, new products and innovations are constantly changing the shape, size and performance of home entertainment systems.
According to Ashraf Sajid, General Manager, AV Division, Samsung, "The UAE is a prime market for home entertainment products.
There are high-income consumers who are always keen to invest in state-of-the-art technologies. The market in the UAE is currently growing at 25 per cent and we expect it to reach more than $500 million (Dh1,836 million) by the end of 2008."
Discerning buyers
Vincenzo Ventricelli, Director, Customer Marketing Sub-Cluster Middle East and Africa, Philips Consumer Lifestyle, says the UAE is one of the mature markets in the Middle East and there is a new generation of connected consumers.
"Server-based digital streaming and content sharing of audio/video within the home environment seem to be a growth area and offer opportunities in the near future.
Blu-ray DVD and near-reality gaming are opening up new avenues for entertainment at home.
"Increasing and refining the sensory impact of entertainment is what the industry is moving into. And finally, the consumer is looking at ways to manage and control everything at the single click of a button, which challenges manufacturers to find innovative solutions with universal remote commanders."
Industry experts are also of the opinion that in the UAE people are more informed about what they want to buy and would be quick to point out the difference between a digital TV and a high-definition (HD) TV or between an HD DVD and a Blu-ray DVD format.
An important trend that's being welcomed both globally and in the UAE is the next generation of DVDs, namely the Blu-ray format disc, which can store more than 13 hours of film, compared to the current limit of 133 minutes.
Jacky's Electronics, one of the UAE's multi-brand retailers, has predicted an increased UAE demand for Blu-ray discs after the recent HD-DVD format defeat in the battle for high-definition DVD technology supremacy.
Last month, Toshiba ceased production of its HD-DVD products after major studios and leading US retailers such as Warner Bros. and Wal-Mart favoured Blu-ray discs as the standard for next-generation DVD formats.
Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer, Jacky's Electronics, says, "With the emergence of Blu-ray, it is imperative that customers have access to high-definition TV to enjoy the rich content benefits it delivers."
Blu-ray discs have more than 10 times the storage capacity of existing DVD formats and allow richer, high-definition content and graphics when it comes to watching movies, sports shows and gaming.
Exponential growth
According to Manish Bakshi, General Manager, Ben Q, Middle East and Africa, "The regional home entertainment market has experienced exponential growth in the last few years.
Consumer electronic products such as LCD TVs, laptops, DVDs and home theatre units are in great demand."
The concept of home theatre projectors has grown in recent years as their quality and affordability have made them attractive to millions of people who want the cinema experience in their own homes.
Bakshi says that in the Middle East the LCD TV market is forecast to grow by 226 per cent, with total units shipped increasing to 235,000 by 2009.
The growth in regional LCD TV sales can be partly attributed to the replacement market, with consumers wanting to update their outdated TVs for more stylish and compact models. "BenQs new full high-definition models incorporate cutting-edge technology and futuristic design, which will spur on the LCD TV growth," says Bakshi.
Philips has recently introduced the Aurea flat TV in the UAE market, which uses an innovative picture and sound technology.
"The Ambisound home theatre is the perfect audio accomplishment to give the best cinematic entertainment experience. The new technology is capable of creating 5.1 channel surround sound from just one speaker.
Another important product in home entertainment introduced by Philips is the range of DVD-HDD recorders.
"This range is designed for consumers to do more than just record and playback their favourite programmes. It lets you take full control of your entertainment through a time shift buffer function that automatically records what you have been watching on live TV for the past six hours.
This gives you the freedom to instantly playback scenes that you would like to see again," says Ventricelli. He also said one of the new technologies that consumers would now be able to experience in the Philips new range of audio video players and home theatres is FullSound.
"FullSound technology greatly enhances the sound quality of compressed MP3 audio files creating a symphony-like experience. The music sounds richer, clearer and alive."
At the recently held Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Samsung unveiled the industry's first 82-inch LCD TV panel with ultra-definition (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) resolution at a 120 Hertz refresh rate.
Samsung also displayed a variety of cutting-edge products and technologies such as the world's first blue phase LCD panel, which will offer more natural moving images with an unprecedented image-driving speed of 240 Hertz.
Samsung is planning to soon unveil a 15-inch model of its blue phase LCD panel.
According to Sajid, "Samsung's blue phase mode, developed with an extremely cost-efficient design, does not require liquid crystal alignment layers, unlike today's most widely used LCD modes such as twisted nematic, in-plane switching or vertical alignment".
This new blue phase mode can make its own alignment layers, eliminating the need for any mechanical alignment and rubbing processes. "This reduces the number of required fabrication processes, resulting in considerable savings on production costs.
Additionally, blue phase panels will reduce the possibility of bruising the LCD panel interface whereby pressure on the screen can impair uniform brightness.
Samsung expects to begin mass producing its blue phase LCD in 2011. The LCD panels will be mainly used in TVs that require high-speed video reproduction."
According to Jimmy Patel, General Manager, Jacky's Electronics, "Many new residential projects have built-in home entertainment systems with technologies that are very advanced. Home entertainment solutions together with home automation and security solutions will soon be the norm rather than the exception in new residential projects burgeoning in the UAE.
"With mass market penetration the affordability of such systems will also improve, giving access to quality home entertainment to all."
