My Avant was twice the price of an equivalent Sony Wega , the new ones are more like ten times the price of an equivalent Samsung.
No wonder they're not selling many.
I too have preached this many many times here.
Most people even if they have the money won't put 20K on a TV. They just won't. I won't.
How many Avants were B&O selling in 1998? How many BV12, are they going to sell in 2012? Or BV9's in 2009? (was it still in production?)
I actually regret buying my BV10 in 2010. It's not worth the price. The TV itself is nothing but a monitor, the smart part of my BV10 is the Humax WBOX (400 euro) and Mac Mini (550 euro) it is connected to. B&O can't even justify the price to have their own Digital reciever certified in Finland, so you can't use it with coded or pay-channels. According to my dealer when I bought the BV10 the price of this certification is roughly 10.000 euro. Dammit, I could pay it for them. 😂
I'm very interested to see what will happen with Apple on the TV market. It will for sure be something different from the TV we are used to.
I can't understand your point 10% in that Apple would be limiting and somehow keep us from diversity? Apple has indeed been the one, telling the music and movie industry things need to change. And I applaude them for it. Sadly they are still fighting the movie and TV industry.
Think about it this way, the reason to modern "piracy" is much less in the US for example, hit TV shows, and new movies are available right away. In Europe, and Finland especially we are waiting for new movies for about 6-12months. TV shows for years! Now this problem might not only be the TV networks fault in the US, but also the fact that local TV stations simply won't pay the prices asked.
Here we are given a choice.
1. Piracy, it's all available online within minutes
2. iTunes, it's all available within minutes, but it's legal, and you pay as you use.
Sadly, probably due to the extremely complex legislations and royalty-collecting networks on local levels troughout the world, the iTunes content is still very limited here in Finland for example. But I'm sure as the world is getting changed slowly with Apple at the wheel, because they have the influence and the power to change things.
Sofar the change they have done to the Music industry has benefitted me, and I'm sure it has benefitted the average consumer too. DRM was used by Apple in the beginning, not because Apple wanted it, but because the industry demanded it. It was a smart move by Apple and a carrot given to get the music industry to get them aboard.
I'm not sure why so many on this site are so negative towards Apple, but I guess, since there's "fanboys", there has to be "haters".
Apple will change the movie/TV industry just as they changed the Music industry.