Hi Guys,
My home cinema is about to undergo some major surgery and after trawling through about a billion posts I have finally decided to go for the new 42" Kuro 
The PDP4280XD has got great reviews everywhere and in every shop I went to was clearly better than the other panels around it - both LCD and plasma, and both HD ready and 1080p. Cool, so that helps me ignore the price then. Sweet 
The 4280XD is the most common and in places like John Lewis is £1799 with a 5 year guarantee (and a 1 week wait). Thats what I thought I would get.
Then I saw a SX4280D in Richer Sounds for £1499 (in stock now) but only a 1yr guarantee. A 5 year guarantee is £300 extra... so same price, doh!
I quite like the idea of a long guarantee as this is my first flat panel (its replacing a 35" tosh picture frame CRT) so I am a bit nervous! 
Then to top it all off, my preferred hi-fi shop has a 428XD - this also has a 5yr guarantee and the dull black surround - and a 1 week wait - plus some extra features but costs £100 more:
1. dynamic brightness (sounds like a bad idea to me...)
2. USB slot for photo slideshows (sounds like a fun gimmick)
3. SW output (who cares, I have a great amp)
4. and ISF calibration (umm, sounds posh, but does it really matter?!)
Ignoring haggling and everything else for the moment, is the 428XD worth an extra £100? The ISF calibration sounds like a single use item that I wont really need (based on the reviews of the 4280) and the USB slot is just a gimmick.
Am I wrong about the ISF calibration?
And does the 428XD have any other extra features I've missed that could sway my decision?
Comments from more experienced people would be very gratefully received!
Cheers,
--
Jelly
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=656660
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Which plasma?! Pioneer PDP4280XD, Pioneer PDP428XD or Pioneer PDPSX4280D?!?!
Monday, May 12, 2008
AusGroup Internal Downtrend Resistance
Friday, May 9, 2008
Capitaland Testing Gap Support
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Cosco Symmetrical Triangle
Symmetrical Triangle breakout will show the direction of the next major trend. Breakout above the upper resistance line of the symmetrical triangle will propel price towards $4.00 followed by a test of 200 days EMA resistance line. Conversely, a breakdown below the lower support of the triangle will see a retest of $3.05 support.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sony KDL40D3500 Review
Sony has recently upgraded their D3000 with the new Bravia D3500 series which includes a number of upgrades and enhancements over the previous models, brining the overall spec up to a higher end. The Sony KDL40D3500 is a middle range 40-inch LCD HDTV with a full HD 1080p screen for the highest HD format, offering some great features at a very reasonable price.
The Sony KDL40D3500 might still cost more than some other manufacturers, but they might not be so well equipped as the KDL-40D3500. The KDL40D3500 provides a great high to middle range 40-inch full HD HDTV at around £750 ($1500), much cheaper than their KDL40W3000.
The 40-inch Sony KDL40D3500 provides many great new features commonly only found on top of the range models, such as a full HD screen, 24p support for true film frame rates, a high dynamic contrast ratio of 16,000:1 for superior colours and black levels. Along with Sony’s Bravia Engine to enhance image quality, contrast and reduce noise, and Live colour creation provide very impressive image quality. TrustedReviews say, another benefit of the KDL40D3500: its exceptional sharpness. Fine details are rendered with total, noiseless precision, giving the image exactly the sort of the snap’ we love to see with our HD stuff. Plus the image tends to look more three-dimensional thanks to all the background detail that’s resolved.
http://www.hdtvlounge.net/sony/kdl40d3500-review/
Monday, April 14, 2008
Philips' Aurea LCD TV Shines
Taking 'Ambilight' technology to its most advanced point yet, the Dutch electronics giant Philips has introduced us all to its 'Aurea' technology on an LCD TV.
If the marketing blurb is to be believed, Philips is in the process of creating a sea change in the experience of viewing moving pictures in your own home, with their Executive Vice-President Rudy Provost calmly stating at this years IFA technology show in Berlin that Aurea is about providing - "a totally different home entertainment experience, one that addresses a consumer's emotional wellbeing, as much as providing a great entertainment platform"
In purely technological terms, Aurea technology is a little less profound, being an LCD TV with a luminous bezel which changes colour depending on what the screen is showing, an extension of Philips' 'Ambilight' technology.
Ambilight works by emitting coloured ambient light along the sides of the panel which is reflected on to the wall behind the TV. This 'ambient' light is determined by what is on the TV at any given time and Philips claim the effect is less eye strain with improved colour, detail and contrast.
Aurea builds upon ambilight with a fully back-lit LED which glows through the purpose built frame surrounding the LCD panel. With light actually shinning through the frame, Philips describes the effect as "bringing light and color to life in an unparalleled, highly visual and immersive fashion, drawing the audience into the full emotional experience".
Philips' 42in 42PFL9900D LCD with Full 1080p resolution and 8000:1 equipped with 'Aurea' technology is now available. Early indications are that picture quality is superb, but that the constantly changing frame of light around the screen is not to everyone's tastes.
While it remains to be seen whether or not Aurea can impress in the marketplace, Philips' ambilight technology has developed a growing following with highly acclaimed implementations on many of their LCD TV's.
More for less with Toshiba's 40XF355D LCD
Even at 40in, the 40XF355 sporting Toshiba's ultra-slim 'picture-frame' takes up less space than the companies own 37in C-series LCD TV's.
Certainly with one eye on the visual impact of the 40XF355, the bezel of Toshiba's ultra-slim panel measures a mere 2.3cm wide. The dimensions also have the practical advantage of tempting consumers who would not normally have considered such a large screen.
The Toshiba 40XF355D is certainly not relying on its stunning profile to make its way in the world, as the spec sheet confirms. The 40XF355D sports a 10-bit panel for a broader range of colours along with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. It is generously equipped with 3 HDMI as well as the usual component, Composite and S-video inputs.
As we expected with its similar spec, the performance of the 40XF355D is in many ways like the Toshiba 42X3030D. To get the negative out of the way, colours were often over-saturated with Standard Definition (SD) sources, and although we tweaked settings to achieve good results for any particular source, we could not find a setting we were content with in all situations.
Plug in a High Definition (HD) source however, and it becomes immediately apparent where this TV excels. HD pictures are quite sumptuous, with a sharpness and clarity that places it firmly in the leading pack of LCD TV's in this respect. Fast action sporting or movie action shows just how capable a screen this is. There is almost a total lack of motion judder, with one of the most natural looking fast action displays we have seen. Colours were deep and vibrant with a naturalism that was impressive in all situations whether the scenes were dark or bright.
http://hdtvorg.co.uk/news/articles/2007122401.htmSunday, March 23, 2008
membrane separation technology
- After the bacterial fermentation to ethanol, the ethanol must be separated out of the solution mixture and converted into a fuel-grade ethanol at 99+% purity.
- As syngas fermentation leads to lower ethanol concentrations than corn fermentations, the energy and cost to separate the ethanol from water is proportionally higher. To reduce this differential, Coskata has exclusively licensed membrane separation technology to reduce the energy requirements by over 50%.
- The vapor permeation process is amenable to separating ethanol from biofermentation broth because of the very low solids content of the broth relative to other fermentation processes.
GM, Coskata partnership builds on OSU biofuels research
The Oklahoma State University Biofuels Team’s ability to think small – microscopic, actually – stands to provide great dividends for consumers, a renewable energy company and one of the nation’s foremost automakers.
Biology based renewable energy company Coskata Inc. and automotive giant General Motors announced their cooperative plans to reduce fossil fuel consumption this past weekend, thanks in part to Coskata’s “next generation ethanol” process based on research and technology developed by the OSU Biofuels Team and licensed exclusively to Coskata.
“Coskata’s unique three-step conversion process addresses many of the constraints lodged against current renewable energy options, including environmental, transportation and land-use concerns,” said Wes Bolsen, chief marketing officer and vice president of business development for Coskata.
In the three-step process, carbon-based materials are converted into synthesis gas using well-established gasification technologies. After the chemical bonds are broken using gasification, microorganisms licensed to Coskata as part of the OSU Biofuels research convert the resulting syngas into ethanol by consuming carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the gas stream. Once the gas-to-liquid conversion process has occurred, the resulting ethanol is recovered from the solution using “vapor permeation technology.”
“The Coskata process has the potential to yield more than 100 gallons of ethanol per dry ton of carbonaceous feedstock, reducing production costs to less than $1 per gallon,” Bolsen said.
According to an independent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Coskata’s process – using the OSU Biofuels Team microorganisms – can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 84 percent compared to conventional gasoline.
The process also has no back-end solid waste to dry and handle like enzymatic approaches to ethanol production and uses less than one gallon of fresh water per gallon of ethanol produced, according to Coskata.
Corn-based systems typically use three gallons to four gallons of fresh water per gallon of ethanol produced, and enzymatic approaches can use as much as seven gallons of fresh water per gallon of ethanol produced.
Development of the technology licensed to Coskata is the result of OSU’s longstanding commitment to biofuels development, said Robert E. Whitson, vice president, dean and director of the university’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
“DASNR scientists and engineers have been breeding improved feedstock with an eye toward biofuels development since the early 1990s. Our first cellulosic ethanol team was put together in 1998, and has been making great strides in technology development ever since,” Whitson said. “Biofuels has come into widespread public consciousness only recently, but we’ve been addressing renewable energy concerns for many years.”
The OSU Biofuels Team quickly became a multi-college, multi-institutional effort, with the current team encompassing scientists and engineers with DASNR; the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology; the University of Oklahoma and Brigham Young University.
“We in the division have long believed and promoted that an interdisciplinary outlook is the best way to develop solutions to the challenges facing society, and solving real-world issues is a vital part of the land-grant mission and the reason why OSU exists,” Whitson said.
Vinod Khosla and Advanced Technology Ventures, the leading renewable energy investors in the country, recognized the potential of the work being done by the OSU Biofuels Team and wanted to invest in the technology. The technology was exclusively licensed to Coskata Inc. for the production of biofuels.
The licensing agreement between OSU and Coskata includes the microorganisms used in syngas fermentation, with a companion research agreement for any aspects of the syngas fermentation technology that would aid them in production. Since providing the initial three strains of microorganisms in 2006, Coskata-funded research with the OSU Biofuels Team has provided two additional microorganisms for the company.
Bolsen likened it to “running the Kentucky Derby, with the OSU Biofuels Team helping to put horses in the race to reduce this country’s dependence on oil.”
“Our system is somewhat unique in that we’re not considering a single feedstock or competing with agricultural food, feed or fiber needs; we’re using the entire plant in underutilized biomass,” said Ray Huhnke, OSU Biofuels Team leader and agricultural engineer.
According to Coskata, the proprietary microorganisms do what syngas conversion from chemical catalysis cannot do, which is make a pure stream of ethanol at the lowest cost target in the industry.
In addition, the process is net energy positive, providing up to 7.7 units of ethanol energy per unit of fossil fuel input, compared to 1.3 units provided by corn ethanol and 0.8 units from gasoline, according to the Argonne National Laboratory.
“OSU is proud to be part of a technology that will not compete with food for the production of ethanol,” said Stephen McKeever, OSU vice president for research and technology transfer. “Use of alternative feedstocks such as switchgrass and municipal solid waste will be of ultimate benefit to the consumer.”
http://osu.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=866&Itemid=90
GM, Coskata partnership builds on Oklahoma State University biofuels research
The Oklahoma State University Biofuels Teams ability to think small microscopic, actually stands to provide great dividends for consumers, a renewable energy company and one of the nations foremost automakers.
Biology based renewable energy company coskata Inc. and automotive giant General Motors announced their cooperative plans to reduce fossil fuel consumption this past weekend, thanks in part to coskatas next generation ethanol process based on research and technology developed by the OSU Biofuels Team and licensed exclusively to coskata.
Coskatas unique three-step conversion process addresses many of the constraints lodged against current renewable energy options, including environmental, transportation and land-use concerns, said Wes Bolsen, chief marketing officer and vice president of business development for coskata.
In the three-step process, carbon-based materials are converted into synthesis gas using well-established gasification technologies. After the chemical bonds are broken using gasification, microorganisms licensed to coskata as part of the OSU Biofuels research convert the resulting syngas into ethanol by consuming carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the gas stream. Once the gas-to-liquid conversion process has occurred, the resulting ethanol is recovered from the solution using vapor permeation technology.
The coskata process has the potential to yield more than 100 gallons of ethanol per dry ton of carbonaceous feedstock, reducing production costs to less than $1 per gallon, Bolsen said.
According to an independent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energys Argonne National Laboratory, coskatas process using the OSU Biofuels Team microorganisms can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 84 percent compared to conventional gasoline.
The process also has no back-end solid waste to dry and handle like enzymatic approaches to ethanol production and uses lesshttp://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/GM--Coskata-partnership-builds-on-Oklahoma-State-University-biofuels-research-1928-1/
GM And Renewable Energy Company Coskata Partner On Biofuel Research
The Oklahoma State University Biofuels Team's ability to think small - microscopic, actually - stands to provide great dividends for consumers, a renewable energy company and one of the nation's foremost automakers. Biology based renewable energy company Coskata and automotive giant General Motors announced their cooperative plans to reduce fossil fuel consumption this past weekend, thanks in part to Coskata's "next generation ethanol" process based on research and technology developed by the OSU Biofuels Team and licensed exclusively to Coskata. "Coskata's unique three-step conversion process addresses many of the constraints lodged against current renewable energy options, including environmental, transportation and land-use concerns," said Wes Bolsen, chief marketing officer and vice president of business development for Coskata. In the three-step process, carbon-based materials are converted into synthesis gas using well-established gasification technologies. After the chemical bonds are broken using gasification, microorganisms licensed to Coskata as part of the OSU Biofuels research convert the resulting syngas into ethanol by consuming carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the gas stream. Once the gas-to-liquid conversion process has occurred, the resulting ethanol is recovered from the solution using "vapor permeation technology." "The Coskata process has the potential to yield more than 100 gallons of ethanol per dry ton of carbonaceous feedstock, reducing production costs to less than $1 per gallon," Bolsen said. According to an independent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, Coskata's process - using the OSU Biofuels Team microorganisms - can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 84 percent compared to conventional gasoline. The process also has no back-end solid waste to dry and handle like enzymatic approaches to ethanol production and uses less than one gallon of fresh water per gallon of ethanol produced, according to Coskata. Corn-based systems typically use three gallons to four gallons of fresh water per gallon of ethanol produced, and enzymatic approaches can use as much as seven gallons of fresh water per gallon of ethanol produced. Development of the technology licensed to Coskata is the result of OSU's longstanding commitment to biofuels development, said Robert E. Whitson, vice president, dean and director of the university's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. "DASNR scientists and engineers have been breeding improved feedstock with an eye toward biofuels development since the early 1990s. Our first cellulosic ethanol team was put together in 1998, and has been making great strides in technology development ever since," Whitson said. "Biofuels has come into widespread public consciousness only recently, but we've been addressing renewable energy concerns for many years." The OSU Biofuels Team quickly became a multi-college, multi-institutional effort, with the current team encompassing scientists and engineers with DASNR; the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology; the University of Oklahoma and Brigham Young University. "We in the division have long believed and promoted that an interdisciplinary outlook is the best way to develop solutions to the challenges facing society, and solving real-world issues is a vital part of the land-grant mission and the reason why OSU exists," Whitson said. Vinod Khosla and Advanced Technology Ventures, the leading renewable energy investors in the country, recognized the potential of the work being done by the OSU Biofuels Team and wanted to invest in the technology. The technology was exclusively licensed to Coskata Inc. for the production of biofuels. The licensing agreement between OSU and Coskata includes the microorganisms used in syngas fermentation, with a companion research agreement for any aspects of the syngas fermentation technology that would aid them in production. Since providing the initial three strains of microorganisms in 2006, Coskata-funded research with the OSU Biofuels Team has provided two additional microorganisms for the company. Bolsen likened it to "running the Kentucky Derby, with the OSU Biofuels Team helping to put horses in the race to reduce this country's dependence on oil." "Our system is somewhat unique in that we're not considering a single feedstock or competing with agricultural food, feed or fiber needs; we're using the entire plant in underutilized biomass," said Ray Huhnke, OSU Biofuels Team leader and agricultural engineer. According to Coskata, the proprietary microorganisms do what syngas conversion from chemical catalysis cannot do, which is make a pure stream of ethanol at the lowest cost target in the industry. In addition, the process is net energy positive, providing up to 7.7 units of ethanol energy per unit of fossil fuel input, compared to 1.3 units provided by corn ethanol and 0.8 units from gasoline, according to the Argonne National Laboratory. "OSU is proud to be part of a technology that will not compete with food for the production of ethanol," said Stephen McKeever, OSU vice president for research and technology transfer. "Use of alternative feedstocks such as switchgrass and municipal solid waste will be of ultimate benefit to the consumer."
"OSU is proud to be part of a technology that will not compete with food for the production of ethanol," said Stephen McKeever, OSU vice president for research and technology transfer. "Use of alternative feedstocks such as switchgrass and municipal solid waste will be of ultimate benefit to the consumer."
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/GM_And_Renewable_Energy_Company_Coskata_Partner_On_Biofuel_Research_999.html
Ethanol from Garbage and Old Tires
A versatile new process for making biofuels could slash their cost.
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| Ethanol Factory: Coskata vice president Richard Tobey (above) stands before bales of hay, a feedstock that his company’s new technology can efficiently convert into ethanol. He’s holding the centerpiece of that technology, a bioreactor. Credit: Thomas Chadwick | ||||
| Multimedia
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As he leads a tour of the labs at Coskata, a startup based in Warrenville, IL, Richard Tobey, the company's vice president of research and development, pauses in front of a pair of clear plastic tubes packed with bundles of white fibers. The tubes are the core of a bioreactor, which is itself the heart of a new technology that Coskata claims can make ethanol out of wood chips, household garbage, grass, and old tires--indeed, just about any organic material. The bioreactor, Tobey explains, allows the company to combine thermochemical and biological approaches to synthesizing ethanol. Taking advantage of both, he says, makes Coskata's process cheaper and more versatile than either the technologies widely used today to make ethanol from corn or the experimental processes designed to work with sources other than corn.
Tobey's tour begins at the far end of the laboratory in two small rooms full of pipes, throbbing pumps, and pressurized tanks--all used to process synthesis gas (also known as syngas), a mixture of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. This is the thermochemical part of Coskata's process: in a well-known technique called gasification, a series of chemical reactions carried out at high temperatures can produce syngas from almost any organic material. Ordinarily, chemical catalysts are then used to convert the syngas into a mixture of alcohols that includes ethanol. But making such a mixture is intrinsically inefficient: the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that go into the other alcohols could, in principle, have gone into ethanol instead. So this is where Coskata turns from chemistry to biology, using microbes to convert the syngas to ethanol more efficiently.
Down the hall from the syngas-processing equipment, Tobey shows off the petri dishes, flasks, and sealed hoods used to develop species of bacteria that eat syngas. The bioreactors sit at the far end of the room. Inside the bioreactors' tubes, syngas is fed directly to the bacteria, which produce a steady stream of ethanol.
Coskata's technology could be a big deal. Today, almost all ethanol made in the United States comes from corn grain; because cultivating corn requires a lot of land, water, and energy, corn-derived ethanol does little to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and can actually cause other environmental damage, such as water pollution. Alternative ethanol sources, such as switchgrass, wood chips, and municipal waste, would require far fewer resources. But so far, technology for processing such materials has proved very expensive. That's why Coskata's low-cost technique has caught the attention of major investors, including General Motors, which earlier this year announced a partnership with the startup to help deploy its technology on the commercial scale worldwide.
Sipping Ethanol
Combining thermochemical and biological approaches in a hybrid system can make ethanol processing cheaper by increasing yields and allowing the use of inexpensive feedstocks. But Coskata's process has another advantage, too: it's fast. Though others have also developed syngas-fed bioreactors, Tobey says, they have been too slow. That's because the bacteria are suspended in an aqueous culture, and syngas doesn't dissolve easily in water. Coskata's new bioreactor, however, delivers the syngas to the bacteria directly.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20199/
High-Def Camcorders Go Small and Light
Newest models use flash memory, have high still-image resolutions.
Camcorders don't usually cause much buzz at CES. This year was different, because the products on show could finally capture the imagination of long-wary consumers.
Over the years, camcorders have been of only modest interest to most consumers, due to the devices' bulk and weight. It also hasn't helped that most decent still cameras can take short video clips.
Such resistance could fade now. Sony, for example, debuted two small high-definition camcorders: the HDR-SR12 ($1400), which includes a 120GB hard drive, and the HDR-SR11 ($1200), which has a 60GB hard drive. Both can take 10-megapixel photos--more than enough resolution for you to use the camcorder as your still camera. And, of course, both can record in high definition at 1920 by 1080. Both models will be available in March.
In addition, the two camcorders have another great feature in face-detection technology that automatically identifies up to eight faces and corrects focus, exposure, and color controls for both video and still photos.
Flash Memory Takes Center Stage
Faster operation and the use of flash-memory cards have allowed the major camcorder companies to reduce the size of their products to unheard-of dimensions for high-performance consumer camcorders.
Samsung's SC-HMX20C records video and stills to 8GB of built-in flash memory, instead of to a hard drive or DVD. As a result, the camcorder is smaller than a soda can and weighs only 10.9 ounces. The SC-HMX20C will take removable SDHC/MMC+ cards if you want extra storage.
Flash memory also means that the SC-HMX20C will start up a lot faster than competitors that use other media. Samsung says it will start in under 3 seconds, a claim the company verified on the show floor. Though the SC-HMX20C isn't in the same league as Sony's models on the still-photo front, it can take 8-megapixel stills, which is very good. Pricing is expected to be between $1000 and $1100, and the camcorder should be available in May.
Flash memory, specifically SD Card memory, allowed Panasonic to slim its HDC-SD9 down to a mere 0.606 pounds, or about 9.7 ounces. The HDC-SD9's heavier and bulkier relative, the HDC-HS9, is a hybrid model that can record either to SD (or SDHC) media or to its built-in 60GB hard disk.
Both camcorders have face-detection technology and offer Panasonic's Intelligent Shooting Guide, which will detect when shooting conditions are poor and then show tips on the LCD to help the user correct the error before recording the content.
The two models will be available in March with manufacturer-suggested retail prices of $800 for the HDC-SD9 and $1100 for the HDC-SH9.
nnovations From Canon, Sanyo
Canon, too, has taken the flash-memory route, using what the company calls Dual Flash Memory in its new top consumer camcorder, the Vixia HF10.
Dual Flash Memory allows the user to record to the camcorder's internal flash drive even if they don't have a spare SDHC memory card. This particular model has 16GB of internal flash, the largest capacity seen at CES. A second, lower-end version, the HF100, features an SDHC memory-card slot only.
Also included in the two camcorders are a newly designed Canon 12x HD video lens and a Canon 3.3-megapixel Full HD CMOS image sensor.
Both are expected to be available in April. Prices were not announced.
If weight is a concern for you, Sanyo's new Xacti HD1000 could be what you're seeking in a camcorder.
It weighs just 9.5 ounces and has a total volume of only 16.6 cubic inches, which the company says makes it the world's smallest and lightest digital camcorder capable of Full HD recording (1920 horizontal and 1080 vertical pixels).
How do they do it? If you've been following along, you already know: with an 8GB SDHC memory card.
A Word From a Memory Maker
The majority of the camcorders that drew the most attention at CES were able to shrink because of the use of flash memory, either built in or taking the form of removable SD media. But not just any SD media.
For most of these high-def camcorders to work properly, they must use SDHC cards, which operate more quickly than a standard SD memory card does. SanDisk, a leading SD Card seller, recommends SDHC, which can handle data transfers of up to 40 mbps. The 4GB version retails for $80, while the 8GB version retails for $140.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141238-page,2-c,ces/article.html#Saturday, March 22, 2008
Panasonic TH-42PH10UKA 42" Plasma Display
http://camcorderinfo.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=55232061/st=pop/sv=title
Sony HDR-SR7 First Impressions Review
Panasonic announces two new, compact AVCHD camcorders
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic kicked off its CES digital imaging announcements with two new high-definition camcorders. Eschewing both tapes and DVDs, the Panasonic HDC-HS9 and HDC-SD9 record 1080/24p video directly to SD/SDHC cards.
According to Panasonic, the HDC-SD9 is the smallest, slightest 3CCD 1080/24p camcorder yet, weighing in at less than 0.7 pound. It writes AVCHD video to SD and SDHC cards, storing up to 6 hours of high-def footage to a 16 GB card. With the company's newly announced 32 GB SDHC card, the space doubles to up to 12 hours.
The 3CCD HDC-HS9 can also record footage to SD and SDHC cards, and adds a 60 GB hard drive to provide even more shooting time. While it's not quite as small or light as the SD9, the HS9 can record up to 23 hours of AVCHD video directly to its hard drive, Panasonic claims.
Both camcorders feature Panasonic's Optical Image Stabilization system, 5.1-channel surround sound with a zoom microphone function, and face-detecting auto-exposure systems. They also include Panasonic's Intelligent Shooting Guide and Intelligent Shooting Selection Playback, two features that Panasonic claims can detect various shooting errors like out-of-focus shots or rapid panning, and either warn users about them or skip them entirely. Finally, both models are also Viera Link compatible, letting users connect them directly with Panasonic's new Viera series of HDTVs.
The Panasonic HDC-SD9 and HDC-HS9 ship in March, with suggested retail prices of $800 and $1100, respectively.
Sony gives hard-disk HD camcorders a boost
Sony Handycam HDR-SR12
(Credit: Sony Electronics)It seems like Sony's saved the zing in its camcorder announcements for its AVCHD products, which generally offer significant enhancements over last year's. For one, all the models (like their DVD equivalents) finally support true 1,920x1,080 recording, albeit at the same bit rates as the previous 1,440x1,080 capture. They also mark the addition of Memory Stick Duo support for video--a feature of lesser importance for the hard-disk models than others--which Sony dubs "Hybrid" recording.
The two top-of-the-line models, the SR11 and SR12, both incorporate Sony's highest-resolution 1/3.15-inch 5-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor and the Face Detection capabilities which debut in the 2008 camcorders. Other specs include a 12X zoom lens and 3.2-inch LCD. The two models differ only by hard disk size: 60GB for the $1,199 SR11 and 120GB for the $1,399 SR12. Both are slated to ship in March.
Sony Handycam HDR-SR10
(Credit: Sony Electronics)Replacing the SR5 at the $999 price point, the SR10 keeps the same 2-megapixel CMOS sensor and 2.7-inch LCD of its predecessor, but ups the zoom to 15x. It too should ship in March.
Unfortunately, though the hardware's making some advances, as far as I can tell, the software still remains behind the times.
Canon's video Vixia
Canon Vixia HF10
(Credit: Canon USA)Late to market with its first SD-based camcorders--Panasonic and Sony both announced third-generation models this week--Canon nevertheless makes up for lost time with a couple of attractively specced models for 2008. They join the modestly revved HV30 HDV model and the currently shipping HG10 and HR10 under the Vixia brand umbrella for HD camcorders.
At the top of the product line, the HF10 incorporates 16GB built-in flash memory--the largest capacity we've heard about thus far--and a slot for SDHC removable flash. According to Canon, it records AVCHD video at a maximum bit rate of 17 megabits per second, and can hold up to 6 hours of video, thought that's probably at the lowest bit rate. The new models capture at 1,920x1,080 compared with 1,440x1,080 for older AVCHD camcorders, and support 30p progressive capture.
Canon Vixia HF100
(Credit: Canon USA)The HF100, its less expensive sibling, lacks the internal memory: SDHC recording only. Otherwise, the two are identical, using the same 1/3.2-inch 3.3-megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch LCD, a new 12x zoom lens, a redesigned mini accessory shoe and Canon's SuperRange optical image stabilization.
Canon Vixia HV30
(Credit: Canon USA)Changes to the HV30, the replacement for the HV20, are more subtle. It has a sleeker-looking black body, for one, and now supports 30p progressive mode and the high-capacity BP-2L24H lithium ion battery. If you can find the HV20 for less than the HV30's $999 price, it's not really worth waiting until the end of February when it's expected to ship.
The HF10 will cost $1,099 and the HF100, $899, when they ship at the end of April.
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-1_1-9842073-67.html?tag=moreCanon's new DW-100 DVD burner
Back when all video was recorded to tape, archiving was somewhat simple. If you used a decent grade tape, you could store it for a while and then dub it if you worried about the ravages of time. Now that more video is being recorded to hard-drives and flash memory, computer-phobic videographers find themselves in a slight pickle. To accompany the company's latest HDD and flash camcorders, Canon has introduced the DW-100 DVD Burner. The DW-100 will be able to burn both standard definition DVDs and AVCHD DVDs. The latter can be played back on those Blu-Ray players that support the AVCHD codec. Controls are kept simple, with only a few buttons on top of the burner. When used with Canon's Vixia HF10, HF100, or HG10 camcorders, the DW-100 can also connect to a TV through the camcorder and act as a player. Canon expects to sell the DW-100 for about $270 when it hits stores this April.
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-1_1-9842895-67.html?tag=moreTuesday, March 11, 2008
Philips 42PFP5532D
Manufacturer: PhilipsEAN: 8712581301699
Brightness in Candela/m²: 1500Contrast Ratio (X:1): 15000
Depth in cm: 10.7DVB-C: No
DVB-S: NoDVB-T: Yes
DVD Player / Recorder: NoDVI Interface: No
Electronic Program Guide (EPG): YesFrequency: 50 Hertz
Front AV Interface: NoFull HD: No
HD ready: YesHD Tuner: No
HDMI Interface: YesHeadphone Output: Yes
Height in cm: 70.1 cmHorizontal Resolution in Pixel: 1024
Loudspeakers: with LoudspeakersMemory Stick: No
Number of Scart Interfaces: 2PC-Connection: Yes
Picture and Picture (PAP): NoPicture and Text (PAT): No
Picture in Picture (PIP): NoPower Consumption in W: 250
Power Consumption Standby in W: 0.9Reflection Angle: 160 degree(s)
Response Time in ms: 3RMS Wattage: 20
Screen Format: 16:9Screen Size in cm: 107 cm
Screen Size in Inches: 42 inSecure Digital Card: No
Type of Monitor: PlasmaUSB: No
Vertical Resolution in Pixel: 768VGA / D-Sub Interface: No
Weight in kg: 31.5Width in cm: 104.7
YUV Interface: Yes
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Philips_42_PFP_5532_D__Review_5704265
Will New Blu-ray Drives Suck Your Laptop Battery Dry?
Now that Sony’s Blu-ray technology has won the high-def format war, computer manufacturers must tackle its power-hungry playback performance. Everyone's idle/Flickr
Watching a Blu-ray movie in all its high-definition glory on your laptop may finally become an affordable prospect this year. Just don't wander too far from a power outlet.
With the Sony-backed HD format emerging victorious from a two-year showdown with Toshiba's HD DVD, many laptop manufacturers are now scrambling to add Blu-ray drives in their desktop and notebook lineups. Next month, Dell will even introduce a sub-$1,000 Blu-ray notebook, according to Brian Zucker, a technology strategist for the company.
But the promise of viewing an increasing variety of HD movies on your laptop may be overshadowed by ongoing concerns over the technology's vampiric effect on battery life. Indeed, if the first generation of Blu-ray equipped laptops are any indication, you might not get more than halfway through that movie before running out of juice completely, analysts say.
"Blu-ray battery life is obviously a huge concern," says Yankee Group analyst Josh Martin.
"If you bought an iPhone and you couldn't watch a two-hour movie, which you barely can now, that would be a huge problem," Martin continued.
Granted, batteries suck (along with other annoyances like spam filters and plastic packaging). That's largely because there is no Moore's Law for batteries. If battery power capacity improves 1 percent a year, that's considered pretty good. Batteries are more often afterthoughts for an industry obsessed with cramming as many new features into a notebook as possible.
Introducing Blu-ray drives to the mobile mix certainly isn't going to help matters. For now, the laptop manufacturers that have offered Blu-ray drives have also avoided revealing the precise effects of Blu-ray playback on battery life. That's probably for a very good reason, as some claim battery life can top out at one hour in some cases.
"The laser that runs the show [in Blu-ray players] is a very high-power laser," notes Mercury Research analyst Dean McCarron. That laser is one of the main things that conspire to raise power consumption.
The other part of the equation has to do with the process of decoding data from a Blu-ray disc and turning it into moving images on your screen. When Blu-ray was first introduced, this process was all done in software, which is very taxing on the CPU, eating up processing cycles and power.
"Any time you introduce a new technology like this, the initial products tend to be more power-hungry," McCarron says. "Once you get to a certain point, though, the industry usually starts the refinement process."
That process is actually well underway, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association. "In the first generation of laptops that had Blu-ray drives, [power drain] was an issue," a Blu-ray spokesperson said, "but that's been resolved."
The solution has come by offloading some of the decode process onto other system hardware, namely the graphics processing unit, according Dell's Zucker, who also sits on a committee of the Blu-ray Association.
"We looked at playing DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and our early data showed that it could knock [battery life] down to half when playing a Blu-ray disc," Zucker says. He also points out that the main reason we've only seen Blu-ray drives in high-end laptops to date is because you also need a high-end processor to do that decoding.
"All that's changed now, because we have decode assistance from the graphics core," Zucker says, thanks to sophisticated new graphics cards from Nvidia and ATI.
There are some Blu-ray laptops that have sufficient battery capacity for playback of two movies back-to-back on one charge, Zucker says, declining to give specifics. Two models might be Dell's XPS M1530 and Inspiron 1420, which the company claims will support 4½ hours of Blu-ray playback.
Many analysts contacted by Wired.com note that even though laptop makers will be eager to add Blu-ray drives into their lineups, the desktop will likely remain the logical home for Blu-ray in the near term. On the desktop, most consumers won't have to worry about power issues and will also have larger monitors to enjoy all that high-definition content.
Ultimately, McCarron expects a scenario similar to what happened with the first DVD drives. Substantial power drain will be an issue at first, but the technology will be refined in the desktop and then ported to the notebook, eventually eliminating power-consumption problems.
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/pcs/news/2008/02/bluray_power
Monday, March 10, 2008
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems attempt to integrate several data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.
Origin of the term
The initials ERP originated as an extension of MRP (material requirements planning then manufacturing resource planning).[2] ERP systems now attempt to cover all basic functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organization's business or charter. Non-manufacturing businesses, non-profit organizations and governments now all utilize ERP systems.
To be considered an ERP system, a software package must provide the function of at least two systems. For example, a software package that provides both payroll and accounting functions could technically be considered an ERP software package.
However, the term is typically reserved for larger, more broadly based applications. The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance (one system instead of two or more) to easier and/or greater reporting capabilities (as all data is typically kept in one database).
Examples of modules in an ERP which formerly would have been stand-alone applications include: Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Financials, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resources, Warehouse Management and Decision Support System.
Overview
Some organizations — typically those with sufficient in-house IT skills to integrate multiple software products — choose to implement only portions of an ERP system and develop an external interface to other ERP or stand-alone systems for their other application needs. For example, one may choose to use human resource management system from one vendor, and the financial systems from another, and perform the integration between the systems themselves.
This is very common in the retail sector[citation needed], where even a mid-sized retailer will have a discrete Point-of-Sale (POS) product and financials application, then a series of specialized applications to handle business requirements such as warehouse management, staff rostering, merchandising and logistics.
Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:
- Manufacturing
- Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Management, Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow
- Supply Chain Management
- Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods, Claim Processing, Commission Calculation
- Financials
- General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets
- Projects
- Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management
- Human Resources
- Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering, Benefits
- Customer Relationship Management
- Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support
- Data Warehouse
- and various Self-Service interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees
Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) that followed material requirements planning (MRP).[3] MRP evolved into ERP when "routings" became a major part of the software architecture and a company's capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity.[citation needed] ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management, and human resource management.
ERP systems saw a large boost in sales in the 1990s as companies faced the Y2K problem in their legacy systems. Many companies took this opportunity to replace their legacy information systems with ERP systems. This rapid growth in sales was followed by a slump in 1999, at which time most companies had already implemented their Y2K solution.[4]
ERPs are often incorrectly called back office systems indicating that customers and the general public are not directly involved. This is contrasted with front office systems like customer relationship management (CRM) systems that deal directly with the customers, or the eBusiness systems such as eCommerce, eGovernment, eTelecom, and eFinance, or supplier relationship management (SRM) systems.
ERPs are cross-functional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and information technology, this would include accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.
ERP II means open ERP architecture of components. The older, monolithic ERP systems became component oriented.[citation needed]
EAS — Enterprise Application Suite is a new name for formerly developed ERP systems which include (almost) all segments of business, using ordinary Internet browsers as thin clients.[citation needed]
Before
Prior to the concept of ERP systems, departments within an organization (for example, the human resources (HR)) department, the payroll department, and the financial department) would have their own computer systems. The HR computer system (often called HRMS or HRIS) would typically contain information on the department, reporting structure, and personal details of employees. The payroll department would typically calculate and store paycheck information. The financial department would typically store financial transactions for the organization. Each system would have to rely on a set of common data to communicate with each other. For the HRIS to send salary information to the payroll system, an employee number would need to be assigned and remain static between the two systems to accurately identify an employee. The financial system was not interested in the employee-level data, but only in the payouts made by the payroll systems, such as the tax payments to various authorities, payments for employee benefits to providers, and so on. This provided complications. For instance, a person could not be paid in the payroll system without an employee number.
After
ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly separate applications. This made the worry of keeping numbers in synchronization across multiple systems disappear. It standardized and reduced the number of software specialties required within larger
Best Practices
 | This section does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
 | This short section requires expansion. |
Best Practices were also a benefit of implementing an ERP system. When implementing an ERP system, organizations essentially had to choose between customizing the software or modifying their business processes to the "Best Practice" function delivered in the vanilla version of the software.
Typically, the delivery of best practice applies more usefully to large organizations and especially where there is a compliance requirement such as IFRS, Sarbanes-Oxley or Basel II, or where the process is a commodity such as electronic funds transfer. This is because the procedure of capturing and reporting legislative or commodity content can be readily codified within the ERP software, and then replicated with confidence across multiple businesses who have the same business requirement.
Where such a compliance or commodity requirement does not underpin the business process, it can be argued that determining and applying a Best Practice actually erodes competitive advantage by homogenizing the business as compared to everyone else in the industry sector.
Implementation
Because of their wide scope of application within a business, ERP software systems are typically complex and usually impose significant changes on staff work practices.[citation needed] Implementing ERP software is typically not an "in-house" skill, so even smaller projects are more cost effective if specialist ERP implementation consultants are employed.[citation needed] The length of time to implement an ERP system depends on the size of the business, the scope of the change and willingness of the customer to take ownership for the project.[citation needed] A small project (e.g., a company of less than 100 staff) may be planned and delivered within 3-9 months; however, a large, multi-site or multi-country implementation may take years.[citation needed]
To implement ERP systems, companies often seek the help of an ERP vendor or of third-party consulting companies. These firms typically provide three areas of professional services: consulting, customization and support.
Process preparation
ERP vendors have designed their systems around standard business processes, based upon best business practices. Different vendors have different types of processes but they are all of a standard, modular nature. Firms that want to implement ERP systems are consequently forced to adapt their organizations to standardized processes as opposed to adapting the ERP package to the existing processes.[5] Neglecting to map current business processes prior to starting ERP implementation is a main reason for failure of ERP projects.[6] It is therefore crucial that organizations perform a thorough business process analysis before selecting an ERP vendor and setting off on the implementation track. This analysis should map out all present operational processes, enabling selection of an ERP vendor whose standard modules are most closely aligned with the established organization. Redesign can then be implemented to achieve further process congruence. Research indicates that the risk of business process mismatch is decreased by:
- linking each current organizational process to the organization's strategy;
- analyzing the effectiveness of each process in light of its current related business capability;
- understanding the automated solutions currently implemented.[7] [8]
A disadvantage usually attributed to ERP is that business process redesign to fit the standardized ERP modules can lead to a loss of competitive advantage. While documented cases exist where this has indeed materialized, other cases show that following thorough process preparation ERP systems can actually increase sustainable competitive advantage.[9][10]
Configuration
Configuring an ERP system is largely a matter of balancing the way you want the system to work with the way the system lets you work. Begin by deciding which modules to install, then adjust the system using configuration tables to achieve the best possible fit in working with your company’s processes.
Modules - Most systems are modular simply for the flexibility of implementing some functions but not others. Some common modules, such as finance and accounting are adopted by nearly all companies implementing enterprise systems; others however such as human resource management are not needed by some companies and therefore not adopted. A service company for example will not likely need a module for manufacturing. Other times companies will not adopt a module because they already have their own proprietary system they believe to be superior. Generally speaking the greater number of modules selected, the greater the integration benefits, but also the increase in costs, risks and changes involved.
Configuration Tables – A configuration table enables a company to tailor a particular aspect of the system to the way it chooses to do business. For example, an organization can select the type of inventory accounting – FIFO or LIFO – it will employ or whether it wants to recognize revenue by geographical unit, product line, or distribution channel.
So what happens when the options the system allows just aren’t good enough? At this point a company has two choices, both of which are not ideal. It can re-write some of the enterprise system’s code, or it can continue to use an existing system and build interfaces between it and the new enterprise system. Both options will add time and cost to the implementation process. Additionally they can dilute the system’s integration benefits. The more customized the system becomes the less possible seamless communication becomes between suppliers and customers.
Consulting Services
Consulting team is typically responsible for your initial ERP implementation and subsequent delivery of work to tailor the system beyond "go live". Typically such tailoring includes additional product training; creation of process triggers and workflow; specialist advice to improve how the ERP is used in the business; system optimization; and assistance writing reports, complex data extracts or implementing Business Intelligence.
The consulting team is also responsible for planning and jointly testing the implementation. This is a critical part of the project, and one that is often overlooked.
Consulting for a large ERP project involves three levels: systems architecture, business process consulting (primarily re-engineering) and technical consulting (primarily programming and tool configuration activity). A systems architect designs the overall dataflow for the enterprise including the future dataflow plan. A business consultant studies an organization's current business processes and matches them to the corresponding processes in the ERP system, thus 'configuring' the ERP system to the organization's needs. Technical consulting often involves programming. Most ERP vendors allow modification of their software to suit the business needs of their customer.
For most mid-sized companies, the cost of the implementation will range from around the list price of the ERP user licenses to up to twice this amount (depending on the level of customization required). Large companies, and especially those with multiple sites or countries, will often spend considerably more on the implementation than the cost of the user licenses -- three to five times more is not uncommon for a multi-site implementation.[citation needed]
Customization Services
The Customization is the process of extending or changing how the system works by writing new user interfaces and underlying application code. Such customisations typically reflect local work practices that are not currently in the core routines of the ERP system software.
Examples of such code include early adopter features (e.g., mobility interfaces were uncommon a few years ago and were typically customised) or interfacing to third party applications (this is 'bread and butter' customization for larger implementations as there are typically dozens of ancillary systems that the core ERP software has to interact with). The Professional Services team is also involved during ERP upgrades to ensure that customizations are compatible with the new release. In some cases the functions delivered via a previous customization may have been subsequently incorporated into the core routines of the ERP software, allowing customers to revert back to standard product and retire the customization completely.
Customizing an ERP package can be very expensive and complicated, because many ERP packages are not designed to support customization, so most businesses implement the best practices embedded in the acquired ERP system. Some ERP packages are very generic in their reports and inquiries, such that customization is expected in every implementation. It is important to recognize that for these packages it often makes sense to buy third party plug-ins that interface well with your ERP software rather than reinventing the wheel.
Customization work is usually undertaken as bespoke software development on a time and materials basis. Because of the specialist nature of the customization and the 'one off' aspect of the work, it is common to pay in the order of $200 per hour for this work. Also, in many cases the work delivered as customization is not covered by the ERP vendors Maintenance Agreement, so while there is typically a 90-day warranty against software faults in the custom code, there is no obligation on the ERP vendor to warrant that the code works with the next upgrade or point release of the core product.
One often neglected aspect of customization is the associated documentation. While it can seem like a considerable -- and expensive -- overhead to the customization project, it is critical that someone is responsible for the creation and user testing of the documentation. Without the description on how to use the customisation, the effort is largely wasted as it becomes difficult to train new staff in the work practice that the customization delivers.
Maintenance and Support Services
Once your system has been implemented, the consulting company will typically enter into a Support Agreement to assist your staff to keep the ERP software running in an optimal way. To minimize additional costs and provide more realism into the needs of the units to be affected by ERP (as an added service to customers), the option of creating a committee headed by the consultant using participative management approach during the design stage with the client's heads of departments (no substitutes allowed) to be affected by the changes in ERPs to provide hands on management control requirements planning. This would allow direct long term projections into the client's needs, thus minimizing future conversion patches (at least for the 1st 5 years operation unless there is a corporate-wide organizational structural change involving operational systems) on a more dedicated approach to initial conversion.
A Maintenance Agreement typically provides you rights to all current version patches, and both minor and major releases, and will most likely allow your staff to raise support calls. While there is no standard cost for this type of agreement, they are typically between 15% and 20% of the list price of the ERP user licenses.
Advantages
In the absence of an ERP system, a large manufacturer may find itself with many software applications that do not talk to each other and do not effectively interface. Tasks that need to interface with one another may involve:
- design engineering (how to best make the product)
- order tracking from acceptance through fulfillment
- the revenue cycle from invoice through cash receipt
- managing interdependencies of complex Bill of Materials
- tracking the 3-way match between Purchase orders (what was ordered), Inventory receipts (what arrived), and Costing (what the vendor invoiced)
- the Accounting for all of these tasks, tracking the Revenue, Cost and Profit on a granular level.
Change how a product is made, in the engineering details, and that is how it will now be made. Effective dates can be used to control when the switch over will occur from an old version to the next one, both the date that some ingredients go into effect, and date that some are discontinued. Part of the change can include labeling to identify version numbers.
Some security features are included within an ERP system to protect against both outsider crime, such as industrial espionage, and insider crime, such as embezzlement. A data tampering scenario might involve a disgruntled employee intentionally modifying prices to below the breakeven point in order to attempt to take down the company, or other sabotage. ERP systems typically provide functionality for implementing internal controls to prevent actions of this kind. ERP vendors are also moving toward better integration with other kinds of information security tools.[11]
Disadvantages
Many problems organizations have with ERP systems are due to inadequate investment in ongoing training for involved personnel, including those implementing and testing changes, as well as a lack of corporate policy protecting the integrity of the data in the ERP systems and how it is used.
Limitations of ERP include:
- Success depends on the skill and experience of the workforce, including training about how to make the system work correctly.
- Small enterprises are often undercapitalized & are also not updated about the latest offerings in the market
- Personnel turnover; companies can employ new managers lacking education in the company's ERP system, proposing changes in business practices that are out of synchronization with the best utilization of the company's selected ERP.
- Customization of the ERP software is limited. Some customization may involve changing of the ERP software structure which is usually not allowed.
- Re-engineering of business processes to fit the "industry standard" prescribed by the ERP system may lead to a loss of competitive advantage.
- ERP systems can be very expensive to install often ranging from 30,000 US Dollars to 500,000,000 US Dollars for multinational companies.
- ERP vendors can charge sums of money for annual license renewal that is unrelated to the size of the company using the ERP or its profitability.
- Technical support personnel often give replies to callers that are inappropriate for the caller's corporate structure. Computer security concerns arise, for example when telling a non-programmer how to change a database on the fly, at a company that requires an audit trail of changes so as to meet some regulatory standards.
- ERPs are often seen as too rigid and too difficult to adapt to the specific workflow and business process of some companies—this is cited as one of the main causes of their failure.
- Systems can be difficult to use.
- Systems are too restrictive and do not allow much flexibility in implementation and usage.
- The system can suffer from the "weakest link" problem—an inefficiency in one department or at one of the partners may affect other participants.
- Many of the integrated links need high accuracy in other applications to work effectively. A company can achieve minimum standards, then over time "dirty data" will reduce the reliability of some applications.
- Once a system is established, switching costs are very high for any one of the partners (reducing flexibility and strategic control at the corporate level).
- The blurring of company boundaries can cause problems in accountability, lines of responsibility, and employee morale.
- Resistance in sharing sensitive internal information between departments can reduce the effectiveness of the software.
- Some large organizations may have multiple departments with separate, independent resources, missions, chains-of-command, etc, and consolidation into a single enterprise may yield limited benefits.
- There are frequent compatibility problems with the various legacy systems of the partners.
- The system may be over-engineered relative to the actual needs of the customer.
