San Juan Capistrano, California, USA – January 23, 2013. Hitachi and Epson earned the top two spots based on their overall composite ratings in the 15th survey of North American projector dealers conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the worldwide market information experts on front projectors. The survey, which was conducted during November – December 2012, is the authoritative source of independent, unbiased ratings of large-screen displays manufacturers by dealers in the US and Canada.

The survey ranks 21 aspects of marketing support, products, and after-sale support according to their importance to dealers. The 2012 survey showed that both Professional and Consumer dealers ranked Quality and Reliability to be the most important factor when considering a projector vendor. Dealers then rated their key suppliers on each of these aspects. Ratings were based on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good). Manufacturers with high scores on the more important aspects posted higher overall composite scores than those who scored well on less-important aspects. The report includes numerical ratings for each manufacturer for each aspect. This data can help manufacturers learn whether efforts to improve certain aspects are yielding results, and to see where they stand relative to their competitors.

For the 2012 Dealer Survey, PMA is giving awards to the two companies with the highest composite scores. These top-rated overall brands are:

• For dealers serving the professional market: Hitachi
• For dealers serving the consumer market: Epson

It is interesting to note that this year’s winners were also the two same two companies who had large gains in their overall composite score when compared to PMA’s 2010 Dealer Survey rankings. On  the professional side, Hitachi’s composite score improved by more than 60 points and on the Consumer side, Epson’s composite score rose by nearly 100 points when compared to their scores from two years ago. Strong contenders were NEC, who took the number two spot for Professional projectors and Sony, who had the second highest overall composite score for Consumer projectors.

“The relationship between manufacturers and their dealers continues to be a major factor in the success of the manufacturers,” says PMA Vice President Linda Norton. “We’re proud that we were able to undertake this massive survey project again, as it provides valuable information for the projector manufacturers. Our survey provides direct feedback that points to the aspects of the manufacturer relationships that dealers view as most important and measures how well manufacturers perform on those aspects. We are honored to recognize the 2012 award recipients for their outstanding accomplishments in the projector industry.”

Professional projector dealers taking the survey ranked Product Quality/Reliability, Good Price/Performance and Return/Repair Programs as the most important aspects of the dealer/manufacturer relationship. Christie had the best scores for Quality/Reliability and Good Price/Performance while Hitachi had the highest score for Return/Repair programs.

Consumer projector dealers taking the survey ranked Product Quality/Reliability and Ease of Doing Business as the most important aspects of the dealer/manufacturer relationship. Sony received the top score for both in PMA’s 2012 Dealer Survey.

Honorable mentions go to BenQ and Optoma, who were the “most-improved” projector manufacturers. Their scores landed them on the Top 10 Composite Rankings list, for both Professional and Consumer models in 2012.

NOTE: This information may not be used for advertising or other promotional use without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.

About PMA

PMA specializes in worldwide front projector market information, including New Era (sub-1000 lumens), Mainstream (1000-3999 lumens), and High-End (4000+ lumens) categories. Their Industry Service family of publications provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates (sell-in data and forecasts) on front projector markets, event-driven Alerts and blogs on new products and other key industry developments, and biennial Web surveys of North American dealers and end users (including organizations and individual consumers). Their Tracking Service family of monthly reports offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, true volume-weighted street prices, and inventories of front projectors sold by leading North American retailers, dealers, and distributors. PMA was established by Dr. William Coggshall, who was a co-founder of Dataquest (now part of Gartner) and helped start the syndicated high-tech market information business. The company’s US headquarters is located at 25852 Avenida Cabrillo, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675. Phone: 1+ (949) 493-4601. Website:  www.pacificmediaassociates.com