UPDATE: Philips DVD963SA U.S. Availability (1 Viewer)

[Eujin]

All you boys and girls eagerly awaiting the availability of the Philips DVD963SA are going to have to wait quite a bit longer.
I just got off the phone with Oade Bros. and they told me they just spoke to their Philips rep this morning. It appears that the 963SA will not be shipping until the "end of December". The players are IN THE COUNTRY as I write this, but Philips wants to clear out the existing stock of 962SA's before they start selling the 963SA--the 962SA costs more and they want to move as many units as possible before the cheaper, better 963SA comes out.
IMHO, this is a bone-headed decision by Philips. If they really wanted to move these 962SA units, you'd think they'd make it available through more retailers--only ones I can think of are Oade, Onecall and JandR. Plus, the people (mostly like us) who even know about the 962SA and 963SA would know to wait for the less expensive, improved product. Well, this just sucks.

 

[KeithH]

Eujin, that is frustrating. Philips should blow out the '962SA and offer the '963SA at the same time. Give the consumer the choice. As you said, many knowledgable folks know the '963SA is coming and will wait it out...or buy an offering from the competition.

 

[stephen_z]

It's also been frustrating to even locate a 962 locally for demo, to get a glimse of the potential performance of the 963. I feel that Philips is losing potential customers by holding back the release in order to clear older inventory (are they doing the same with the old Q50?).

 

[KeithH]

Stephen, good point. I have never seen the '962SA first-hand. I've been to a number of stores in the Philly area, New Jersey, and Delaware and have never seen it. Where is Philips selling this thing besides mail-order dealers? The problem is that the '962SA is not a budget component, so you have to check the mid-to-high-end dealers. Few of these dealers carry Philips components. I only see Philips components at Costco, Best Buy, and Circuit City, and these stores obviously don't have the '962SA.

 

[Eujin]

It's also been frustrating to even locate a 962 locally for demo

That's exactly the major the flaw with Philips' game plan. I too have never seen a 962SA, and the only places I've seen selling them online I can count on one hand. They've got a really nutty distribution network, IMHO. So I guess the wait will go on. I suppose you could mail-order a 962SA and see if the retailer will let you exchange it for a 963SA when it comes out? It's too much trouble to go to for me, as I really want the 963SA for it's DVD performance--good redbook and SACD would be gravy (and only if it was better than my modded Sony 775).