LCD Projectors: HP, Sony

In a split decision, Hewlett-Packard and Sony Electronics shared the top honors in the digital projector category of the 2005 CRN Channel Champions Survey. Solution providers judged Sony’s projectors slightly higher than HP’s on technical criteria, while HP nudged ahead of Sony in channel-program satisfaction. They tied overall at 80.2.

To muddy the picture further, neither vendor in the tight race earned the highest satisfaction rating on technical criteria. That honor went to InFocus. InFocus could not match either of its rivals in the breadth of their channel programs, however, and slipped into a runner-up position with an overall rating of 79.7, just a half-point behind the leaders. ViewSonic was third with 78.5, followed by Samsung with 75.1, and BenQ and LG Electronics, which tied for fifth with 71.

Solution providers gave Sony superior marks over HP in the technical areas of resolution accuracy, brightness and color accuracy. Sony’s technical satisfaction rating of 89.9 was 1.3 points ahead of HP.

“Sony is one of the top channel players with good margins,” said Mike McNeil, director of marketing for PC Mall, Torrance, Calif. “The brand sells itself, and I don’t see any returned units.”

HP’s strength was its consistently higher scores in eight of the nine channel areas. Its strongest performance was for consistency of channel programs, where it came in 1.9 points ahead of Sony, and vendor support over the life cycle of a project, where it beat Sony by 1.2 points.

Gene Hanchar, director of product marketing for reseller Insight Direct USA, a unit of Insight Enterprises, Tempe, Ariz., said HP has a strong brand and he expects its new mp3220 projector to be a winner. It has a footprint about the size of a magazine without sacrificing any features, Hanchar said. “It’s hard to find a digital projector this powerful at such a competitive price,” he said.

While HP and Sony share top honors, the biggest winners in this category are the solution providers. Such a tight competition means solution providers have several strong brands from which to choose.