BeoVision Contour

Oh, yes, i forgot you have the BL8000.

i don’t have Beolabs connected to my BV 10, the TV is in « stand alone » mode so the Contour is perfect.

Anyway, i saw a BV Horizon 48 for circa 3300€, a good price i think

Steph:

Oh, yes, i forgot you have the BL8000.

i don’t have Beolabs connected to my BV 10, the TV is in « stand alone » mode so the Contour is perfect.

Anyway, i saw a BV Horizon 48 for circa 3300€, a good price i think

Not sure I’d regard that as a good price.

The panel is really not very good, and Android OS on those TVs is not good.

You’d really really need to like the design to buy a Horizon these days

This discussion for some reason reminds me of a funny story with my grandmother.

She wanted to buy a new tv, so we went to the store and they showed us the best tv they had (a LG with a thin silver/aluminum frame). The picture was impressive.

Then my grandmother made the request that made me just walk out and leave her at the store alone:

“Can you turn it off, so I can see if it how it looks when it is off?”

Fair question.   That's exactly I was asking myself when I integrated LG C9 and the Stage. 

leosgonewild:

“Can you turn it off, so I can see if it how it looks when it is off?”

So your grandmother is the perfect customer for a Harmony!

moxxey:

Sandyb:

Removing the surround capabilities on the Contour is a shame, but is just about justifiable on what is supposed to be a stand alone unit.

It's also an entry-level B&O TV and we forget this. The more features you add, the more it adds to the cost, which we seem to forget, too.

I'm happy with the Contour as it stands. Good design, reasonable price, does what we need for a standalone TV. Lower expectations and it's a fine TV. We also spend so long debating something which is on the market. It's not going to change. Surely we have better things to be doing?

If you want more, move up to the Eclipse.

This is where I and many believe that you are wrong. We’re not asking/expecting more added features. We just don’t want to loose any features from a B&O “entry level” tv. If you compare the specs to the Horizon we have lost functionality and it is what many find unacceptable - firstly in a sense of perceived lack of value and secondly the lack of integration with speakers that we as customers already own and use. The expectation hasn’t been set by us the customer it’s been set by the previous entry level TV by B&O.

It may be on the market but that doesn’t we as consumers don’t have to be happy about it. We just have to look at the changes that happened post release on the Balance.

Sycamore:

This is where I and many believe that you are wrong. We’re not asking/expecting more added features. We just don’t want to loose any features from a B&O “entry level” tv. If you compare the specs to the Horizon we have lost functionality and it is what many find unacceptable - firstly in a sense of perceived lack of value and secondly the lack of integration with speakers that we as customers already own and use. The expectation hasn’t been set by us the customer it’s been set by the previous entry level TV by B&O.

It may be on the market but that doesn’t we as consumers don’t have to be happy about it. We just have to look at the changes that happened post release on the Balance.

I don’t disagree - not sure where this idea that a 5.5 grand TV should be bare bones just because they sell more expensive ones.

There are two metrics for assessing a new TV. How does it stack up within their range (and by extension what the brand has offered before), and how does is compare against other offerings in the market.

On both the Contour fares only so well. Features that were present, even in their cheapest prior Tv (Horizon) have gone, and the value proposition looks ever more of stretch. Hell, B&O sell the unbundled parts on a Stage stand for a good deal less.

The design (and it does look nice in some colours) may be worth the extra 2-2.5k for some, and for others the more limited nature of a standalone unit will make the premium unjustified.

But I completely reject the idea that we should be happy expecting less.

And also the idea that an aluminium frame should be worth 2-2.5k is also a stretch - its not as if the design concept is anything other than highly simplistic.

Anyway, i do wonder if this is the last small (by modern standards) TV that they ever do.

If I may, let me offer an alternative positive narrative for the Contour’s speaker/ sound expansion decisions:

If you review the sound design of many current B&O audio only products—A9, Balance, Edge, Shape, M5, M3, etc, you see they are beautiful sounding products lacking traditional stereo-imaging approach.

Even the Beovisions of recent past and current models are presented as whole sounding products with no expansion “demands.”

Perhaps it is our older perspective of the need for multiple speakers that is coloring our perspective.

Recently, I went I to a B&O store in NY and auditioned all the audio products for combined use with a new, non-B&O TV for my daughter. I found the Stage was a terrific vision sound companion AND a more than satisfactory music-only sound system. I ended up buying my daughter a 65” GX with Oak Stage and having it installed for her by certified B&O installation techs.

When I listen to my older BV bedroom TVs—BV8-32, V1-32, BV10-32 and an Avant 32, they are quite balanced sounding and do not need more for casual, background listening.

Bravo B&O! I look forward to replacing my almost 10 yo BV9 with a 77 Harmony soon.

Barry

kuyttendaele:

 

B&O is waaaaaay to small to request such adaptations of LG screens. I guess adding the B&O app in the OS was done after numerous and long negotiations. Adapting the core OS for an extremely limited amount of screens is just not reasonable for LG. We're talking about some 1000's screens on a total volume of probably a couple of million that LG produces.

We're living in a totally different world than 30y ago. At this point there are 1 or 2  factories supplying the whole world with LG screens and B&O is just a tiny customer of LG. The fact that B&O is paying (more or less) the regular price for the screens says it all.

Actually, the screen part of the first generation Eclipse is custom made by LG for B&O and is sold in a B&O box. It cannot be used as a stand alone TV as it has no speakers and requires the Sound Center for its operation. The case is also custom made in order to fit easily at the top of the Sound Center.

The B&O specific menus such as the PUC and sound settings are integrated in WebOS and the TV starts with Bang & Olufsen on the screen. So, for the first Eclipse a significant amount of customization was made by LG (except for the electronic curtains). 

Now, it appears that the same functionality can be achieved with a stock LG TV and the B&O app, resulting is cost reduction.

Regards,

Jean

 

I just caught up on yesterday’s podcast and agree entirely with Miki.

Beautiful design and craftsmanship. Given the feature set, it is too expensive. For the price they’re charging, it should have Powerlink capability, or at least WISA to enable adding extra speakers. Maybe a motorized floor stand too. 

I know for many like Willie, it would go in a small room or bedroom and a stereo or 5.1 system isn’t in the plan. But for others, it is good size TV for a small living room, such as in Europe, where it may be nice to add small, additional speakers. 

It will sell. But it would sell better if the price were reduced given the existing feature set OR if additional features such as PL were added at the existing price.

My two cents.

I don’t think it will sell, not at that price. In fact I think it will be a complete disaster. Very pessimistic I know but that is my honest feeling about this product. I do hope I am wrong for the sake of B&O and their longevity.

As with many B&O products price is not the first consideration for most buyers; however, it's one thing having a top of the range priced TV with all the bells and whistles and another that lacks either functions that make the value proposition appear worthwhile or an upgrade path to sell more speakers (this makes no commercial sense at all).

With several recent products I am starting to believe that there is a tendency for the normal B&O 'tax' to increase to a level where some may start to feel they are being price-gouged because the belief is that loyal fans (such as myself) will pay almost anything.

I sincerely hope I am wrong.

 

 

I don't think the price is outrageous.

The Contour costs 40.000 DKR, which includes the wall mount and a Beoremote.

The cheapest Stage cost 11.000 DKR

A 48" CX panel cost 10.000 DKR

Beoremote cost 2.200 DKR

The wall mount is about 5.000 DKR (The Contour floor stand is 7.600 DKR and the Stage floor stand is 5000 DKR)

Which equals 28.200 DKR for a DIY solution. In other words the B&O frame and packaging costs  about 12.000 DKR (1600€).

1600€ is not cheap, but it is not expensive either. It does however give your a solution which feels complete, and all cables are neatly tucked away.

If you want a wood cover, that will increase the price point about 900€. 

 

 

 

Mikael:

I don't think the price is outrageous.

The Contour costs 40.000 DKR, which includes the wall mount and a Beoremote.

The cheapest Stage cost 11.000 DKR

A 48" CX panel cost 10.000 DKR

Beoremote cost 2.200 DKR

The wall mount is about 5.000 DKR (The Contour floor stand is 7.600 DKR and the Stage floor stand is 5000 DKR)

Which equals 28.200 DKR for a DIY solution. In other words the B&O frame and packaging costs  about 12.000 DKR (1600€).

1600€ is not cheap, but it is not expensive either. It does however give your a solution which feels complete, and all cables are neatly tucked away.

If you want a wood cover, that will increase the price point about 900€. 

 

 

 

I agree a 100% as earliere said I paid 1000€ for the ALU cover on my Eclipse, and most members have done that.

And by the why, what is the alternative? Yes many cheaper solutions but nothing that have this finish and materiel.

B&O makes something no one else does, off cause it is not cheap.

I simply failt to understand many of these argument....

Over the last years many have complained about B&O outsourcing the production to other countries and closing down a great deal of the production in Struer/Denmark - in order to save costs and to be combatable with other brands.

Now we see a Beovision (the Contour) with a massive part of the product being developed, designed and manufactured in Struer. 
Can it really surprice anyone that this will come at high cost - aren’t people aware of the costs for labour in Denmark?

Personally I am not surpriced that the frame, the stand, the wooden frontcovers etc would be this expensive.

If people want this sort of material and quality made in Denmark, this is what the will have to pay.

The BV Contour is at the same time an electronic product and a piece of art, a well designed (ok, there might be different views here) tv for those who prefer a complete and finished all in one solution.

We are not talking about an entry level B&O product - at least I have never heard B&O talk about the Contour this way.

They simply want to offer a complete and stunning product for those who want/need a smallish tv, that can fit into their otherweise high standart designed living space - something for those who don’t want the mess of a black screen with a soundbar underneath and/or don’t feel a need for having external speakers.

We simply should be glad that we now have yet another offer.....one more solution to choose from, when we are looking for a tv with an excellent (multiroom) sound system built-in.

MM