Simplay Labs in the News

Best Buy Confirms It's the Mystery Retailer Pushing HDMI Testing

"Inconsistent implementation" of HDMI makes it difficult for Best Buy customers "to trust the standard," Senior Vp- Mdsg. Mike Vitelli told Consumer Electronics Daily. Vitelli confirmed Best Buy is the mystery CE retailer that's warning vendors it will refuse next year to carry HDMI products that haven't been tested and certified for compatibility with other HDMI devices (CED Dec 12 p1).

Best Buy is "continuing to work to provide customers with the best possible home entertainment experience," said Vitelli, a former Sony executive. "One element of this effort involves working closely with our vendor partners on behalf of our customers. This is why we have asked our vendors to unite around HDMI certification. HDMI technology was intended to make it simple for consumers to connect and use their home entertainment products. However, inconsistent implementation of HDMI has made it difficult for our customers to trust the standard."

To correct the problem, Best Buy has asked vendors "to provide proof of testing and certification for all HDMI- enabled products," Vitelli said. The new policy will take effect in spring 2007, he said: "The burden is on retailers and vendors - working together -- to make the transition to HD programming as easy as possible for consumers. We feel the certification requirement is necessary, not only to ensure current customer satisfaction, but also to provide a solid platform for growth into the future."

In recent years, a "customer centricity" campaign at Best Buy has "helped us make changes in our stores and throughout our organization to provide the best possible service to customers," Vitelli said. One of the most "visible areas" of change has been in home theater, he said. Among the results: (1) Extending the Magnolia store-within- a-store concept to nearly 300 Best Buy locations. (2) Renovating 100 non-Magnolia stores "to give shoppers an enhanced home theater shopping experience through expanded selection and new displays." (3) Rolling out Best Buy's HD Advantage offer, giving customers "incentives" to buy HD source equipment and installations along with new TV sets, "so they can get the true HDTV experience that they want." (4) Offering Magnolia "premium home theater installations," featuring over 2,800 installers, at every Best Buy store. All installers are Best Buy employees "trained to provide a top quality end-to-end experience to customers," Vitelli said.

Silicon Image performs HDMI compliance testing and awards Simplay HD certification, said David Naranjo, product development dir.- Mitsubishi. The company boasts over 1/2 the HD TVs listed as certified on the Simplay website. Simplay HD is the kind of certification Best Buy will require of its vendors, though other 3rd-party testing also may be accepted. Simplay HD testing and certification follows HDMI testing, which can take 5 weeks, Naranjo told us. "In the case of SimplayHD testing alone, this can take up to 2 weeks," he said. Simplay has 4 HD testing labs worldwide -- including 2 in China and one at Silicon Image hq in Sunnyvale, Cal. -- and "any one of them can perform the test," he said: "Based upon the location of the product origin, time can also be saved by just choosing the closest testing location." -- Paul Gluckman