I heard a rumor that Planar is trying to dump the Runco end of their business. True or false?

Who would buy it?

At $35M I think they [Planar] got slammed!

Retained earnings + assets + projected earnings + reduction/replacment owner/s benifits = value.

Could they have overpaid?

Runco introduced their LightStyle series which is basically the Planar HT line of projectors. They introduced the VX-33D as well which is supposed to slot in between the 22D and 44D projectors. Not only this, but Runco has introduced quite a few new models across its range. A few months before CEDIA I read here that Planar was focusing all their energies towards Runco.

It may or may not be true that Planar wants to sell off the Runco brand but at the same time it doesn't make sense to do it now whilst letting go of IP from Planar to Runco i.e. LightStyle Series.

Runco was quiet since the sale to Planar but now they have introduced a very wide range of products to their existing lines after some time. It seems more like they are back with a bang rather than going out with a bang.

While I have had little personally to say (that's positive) about Runco in the past, it sure seems like Sam was the center of the business. Without Sam's passion and personal involvement, the company would have gone nowhere. I see that in a lot of specialty businesses, and I'll be really curious to see how this pans out.

I had never heard of the Planar name until the purchase of Runco, and frankly, have not heard of Planar on a local level here in Vancouver since I had heard of them.

Planar makes a very competitive 1 chip DLP. One of the best. Its dynamic iris algorithm that Bob Williams advanced over the years delivers great on/off with very little if any visible
artifacts.
Last I heard they were merging Planar into the Runco brand but this was hearsay on my part no official news from the company. Someone else may have more concrete information.

Planar also owns clarity. They are one of the big players in the control room marketplace.

Go into just about any restaurant where the staff order using an industrial touchscreen and you will likely see a planar monitor.

That market is where they got big.

I've said many a negative thing regarding Runco, but there is no way I'd like to see them disappear.

Less completion makes people lazy, competition is the lifeblood of innovation and progress.

Planar also owns clarity. They are one of the big players in the control room marketplace.

Go into just about any restaurant where the staff order using an industrial touchscreen and you will likely see a planar monitor.

That market is where they got big.

That's my "day job" dude! 3M and ELO are the players in touch screen / pads. Who is Clarity? If they own 3M or ELO I stand corrected...

clarity makes 60" (ish) cubes and other products for large command and control walls.

That is my day job type thing...

Shocking if true even in this economy.

I have heard the same rumors. Although as a public company, one would need to discount the rumors to a certain degree.

In any event, aside from the absorption of Planar into the Runco brand and the introduction of new products mentioned above, their LED projector is about to ship and the long awaited revision of the DHD scaler has also shipped. Planar (more known in the military and medical imaging market place) has invested time, money and what appears to be considerable IP into the Runco line and into the LCD/Plasma products. This doesn't include going through every Runco model to the chip level and revising performance and quality. That would seem contrary to stripping down for sale. At this point, only time will tell.

Dizz,

The CLARITY appears to be the devices that make what I call display walls. Like the large LED screens in sporting events. Kinda like the BARCO mini screens put together to make the big screen at the Ford booth at this years car show in Detroit. After all that is YOUR day job.

I was told that Planar cut their teeth in the industrial market and digital signage. The other markets such as desktop monitors, touch screens and home theater are just morphs so to speak.

Many of the displays in airports [arrivals / departures] are Planar.

Clarity also made the 720P Bengal 60" DLP RPTV/monitor, that was only 6.75" deep. It used the iNfocus lightengine, and Clarity build the infocus branded units aswell, at least that's what they told me at the time. There was some relationship at owner/founder level with infocus, with the Clarity guy having a past at infocus, or so I was told. DLP was quite a step for Clarity as they boasted deep mono-sillicon LCD cubes, bashing poly-sillicon, and to a lesser extend DLP, which was hat the main competitor Mitsubishi was using at the time. This was before the com pany was acquired by Planar. And before the boom of video in control rooms. A year or perhaps two later Clarity had a complete 'video' line consisting of DLP cubes.

The Clarities, at least the DLP ones, have had one distinct advantage, their price, being considerably cheaper than Christie, or Barco.

i have numerous walls in my company, i am well familiar.

Planar has built a well rounded family of products that can serve most sides of the display market.

the only supposition i would throw out is that i bet the runco part has the highest overhead and most needy reseller base. so the profitability (margin x units) is likely far lower. so if planar was focusing on being lean and mean... then runco would indeed possibly be in the crosshairs.

Having said that... i doubt it at this point.

i have numerous walls in my company, i am well familiar..

So do I. And once I punch through those walls, why, then I'll be successful. :p

I definitely see more of a Lincoln, Ford than Jag/Ford type merger going on here. The new Runco's are using the standby Planar projector chassis and body that they have been producing for the last several years. With the announcement of a drop in MSRP, a more production grade unit, a focus on trade in and upgrades, I think that Planar is in for the long haul. In fact, I feel from personal experience that Sam let his company get sloppy. The VX-2 chassis were an abortion and Planar bought before that was clear. So, they are doing the right thing in pumping some dollars into inovation and getting as many of their lemon units upgraded as possible and hopefully in a few years, the QC will be what it needs to be to allow an installer to deliver a luxury experience that won't fail or constantly have issues, and also the manufacturing and supply chain advantages to keep the price where it needs to be. The new LED set looks amazing, and is unlike anything I have seen thus far (I would dare say CRT +).

OK then who made the 180' wide bad boy at Dallas Stadium?

I think the "display wall" products are amazing. Great picture quaility.

Mitsubishi.

"The new LED set looks amazing, and is unlike anything I have seen thus far (I would dare say CRT +)."

Flatscreen or projector?

The LED projector that is soon to be released. I am excited to see how much better our experiences are going to get with 240hz and LED being so readily available.

On a sidenote, Planar provides the monitors for the large format EFI Vutek printers for digital signage. They are quite an established brand on the commercial side. Runco should be their vehicle for the residential side which is one of the reasons I think they merged Planar HT into Runco which helps Runco and Planar the company (not the residential HT brand) as a whole.


P.S. Does anybody know what type of projector + screen or LCD/LED screen combination is being used by Sky News in their HQ? That curved screen has gone from big to HUGE in recent years! :cool: One can see the strips in the new screen so I am guessing that perhaps it is a custom made LED MegaScreen.

Boy, did Sam seem to sell at the right time... Maybe he will buy it back at a quarter of the price he sold it for? SJ

Only if he has lost his buttocks in the stock market or real estate market.

The vibe I get is that since CEDIA Planar has decided they have Runco under control, the market figured out and that they will now keep them instead of taking a berating on the sale. I have not heard a sale rumor of late.