Chapter 892 Selling Point
The follow-up meeting did not last long and ended after more than an hour.
After the meeting, Song Chaoyuan brought Qin Zhengguo and Li Daqi to his office here. Although Song Yuanchao had been to this office only a few times after completing the acquisition, his office was the best and most luxurious one here because it was where Liu Cixin's office used to be.
" Please sit down. What would you like to drink?" After entering the office, Song Yuanchao threw the notebook in his hand on the table and asked casually.
"No more drinking. I've already drunk a bellyful of water in the conference room." Qin Zhengguo waved his hand, sat down on the sofa , took out two cigarettes and handed them to Song Yuanchao and Li Daqi, then lit one for himself.
After taking a puff of cigarette, Qin Zhengguo said to Song Yuanchao, "Yuanchao, at the end of the product test just now, you asked the technical staff to solve the error correction problem. I understand what you mean about the error correction requirement, but what the technician said is also right. It is not impossible to force error correction technically, but it is achieved on the basis of sacrificing the life of the laser head. If we want to achieve the level you require, I am afraid it will affect the product quality, right?"
"Zhengguo, I also want to ask this question, but it was difficult to ask because there were too many people around. Yuanchao, what exactly do you think? Product quality is the life of an enterprise. Don't you always say that quality comes first? Why are you suddenly using this method now?" Li Daqi couldn't help but interrupt and ask.
Song Yuanchao smiled and asked the two people: "Let me ask you, if there are two identical VCD players, one of which can only play undamaged discs, while the other can play severely damaged discs with the same effect as intact discs, which one would you buy?"
"We understand this principle, but the problem is what I just said, strong error correction will damage the laser head!" Qin Zhengguo frowned.
"Hahaha!" Song Yuanchao laughed and asked, "Since you mentioned this question, then let's not talk about the error correction issue for now, and just discuss the life of the laser head. Then let me ask you, what is the normal life of an ordinary laser head? If strong error correction is used, how much will the life be reduced? If the life is calculated in minutes or hours, what is the service life of the entire VCD?"
This question left Qin Zhengguo unable to answer for a moment, and even Li Daqi was not very clear about it. The two looked at each other.
Seeing their expressions, Song Yuanchao immediately told them the answer. The laser heads currently used are all imported products, and their lifespan is usually around 15,000 hours, which means that the uninterrupted playback lifespan is around two years.
The lifespan of a better quality laser head will be about three years, but this lifespan is calculated in terms of time. Shenghua is already developing its own VCD laser head. In fact, the technical content of this thing is not very high. It is not difficult to make this thing with Shenghua's current technical capabilities. Of course, it will take some time compared to the current progress.
But Song Yuanchao knew that even if Shenghua localized its laser head products, they would still be inferior to imported products in some aspects, and their service life would be much shorter. But even so, there would be no problem with the normal use of the product, because electronic devices like VCDs could not be played 24 hours a day after consumers bought them home. At most, they could watch a movie for one or two hours a day, and even during festivals, they would only watch for half a day.
Using this method to infer, the actual service life of a VCD's laser head will be greatly increased. Even if the life of the laser head is shortened by powerful error correction technology, in the actual use of the VCD, problems with the laser head will not occur until at least two to three years later or even longer.
With the advancement of technology and the faster pace of electronic product updates, the lifespan of products like VCD players will not be too long in the market. Moreover, although VCD technology is good, it has inherent disadvantages. The most critical of these is that the storage time of the disc is limited. A normal movie cannot be stored on one disc and must be divided into two discs. Therefore, in actual use, you have to play one disc before switching to another to continue playing. It has to be said that this is not a very friendly process for the movie-watching experience.
Song Yuanchao was very clear that the subsequent successor to VCD would be DVD products with larger capacity and better clarity. From this point of view, VCD was just a transitional product.
In other words, the vitality of VCD in the market will not last long, and it will not be like some previous electronic products, such as semiconductor radios, record players, etc., which can be used for more than ten or twenty years. In the future, when DVD appears, VCD will become a thing of the past like the VCR that is about to be eliminated.
Song Yuanchao doesn't think the life of the laser head is a big deal because when the laser head reaches the end of its life and the machine can no longer play, it will have been many years. By then, the historical mission of the VCD player will have been almost completed. Next, Shenghua will replace the VCD with a more advanced DVD player to complete another upgrade.
What if it is damaged during the process? Shenghua has a warranty policy for its products. Shenghua is responsible for the warranty within one and a half years after the purchase of the product. Replacing a laser head does not cost much. After the warranty period is over, if the consumer is willing to pay for the replacement of the laser head, there is no problem. At that time, a price that the consumer can accept will be set. There is no problem in technology.
After listening to Song Yuanchao's explanation, Qin Zhengguo and Li Daqi suddenly realized and their previous doubts were swept away. At the same time, they laughed and scolded Song Yuanchao for being a profiteer who could even come up with such a trick.
"This is not a matter of unscrupulous businessmen. Think about it, consumers buy this thing to watch movies, and it is impossible for ordinary consumers to collect this kind of movie like ordinary CDs. Generally, they will exchange them with each other to watch."
"Just like the current videotape rental industry, the VCD rental industry will also emerge. In the circulation of films among many people and in many links, wear and tear is inevitable. If there is no strong error correction capability, many films will not be able to be viewed normally if they are slightly worn, which is a huge defect for the product."
"This problem does exist." Li Daqi nodded in agreement: "If I were a consumer, this would definitely be my first choice. If the borrowed movie could not be played on my own machine at home, I would definitely have an opinion."
"That's right, that's the truth. We should look at the problem from the perspective of consumers. Sometimes consumers' opinions are the key to determining the survival of a product!"
"Okay, your reasoning convinced me, I agree with you." Qin Zhengguo nodded with a smile, then thought for a moment and said, "By the way, there is another tricky issue regarding aiding North Korea, which is the source of the film."
"VCD is a new product. We can't just leave it at home to watch after it's launched, right? Although our VCD can also be used as an ordinary CD player, its real function is to watch movies and entertain like a videotape."
"At present, we are able to obtain very few film licenses, and these licenses are also obtained through Luo Yang's company. In the entire market, such a small amount of licenses is no different from a drop of water in the ocean. If there is not enough film source, the market promotion of VCD will be very difficult. No matter how good the product is, no consumer will buy it!"
Qin Zhengguo's concerns are also Li Daqi's concerns, and he also mentioned this issue.
At present, Shenghua has only obtained a few authorizations in the film and television fields, including karaoke. These authorizations seem to be a lot, but in fact they are nothing. Moreover, everyone has different preferences for watching movies. Some like to watch gun battle movies, some like comedy movies, and some are more interested in art movies.
There are also mainland films and Hong Kong films, as well as overseas films such as those from Europe and the United States, etc., all of which are copyrighted.
As for mainland movies, Luo Yang has channels in this regard, and the mainland does not pay much attention to these copyrights. You can get the copyrights by spending a little money and then operate it through Luo Yang's company.
But there are troubles in Hong Kong and overseas. Although Luo Yang's company in Hong Kong is doing well, it has only owned a few film and television copyrights after all because of its short history. If he wants to get more copyrights in Hong Kong, he has to talk to TVB, ATV, Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, Cinema City and other companies. These companies are not easy to deal with. Even if the movies and TV series have been released or broadcast many years ago, once they find that they can be sold for money, they will never miss the opportunity to make money.
It is very difficult to do this through normal channels, not to mention that Shenghua is an industrial company, not a media company. Even Luo Yang never thought of obtaining copyrights in this way, because the cost of such an operation is too high.
Overseas, there are several main profit points for film and television products. Apart from the profits from the sales of some derivative products, such as the profits from dolls and theme parks, which are the most representative Disney products, the usual profits are reflected in the box office (ratings) and videotapes.
The box office is the simplest reflection of this. After a movie is released, how much box office revenue there is, what is the share ratio between the distributor and the theaters, and finally how much profit do the investors . Although these vary in amount, they all have a ratio.
As for the TV station's TV drama ratings, they are mainly based on advertising revenue before and after the broadcast. Although the method is slightly different from the box office, it is not difficult to understand conceptually.
In addition, there is the subsequent long-term income after the release and broadcast, and video rental is a very important point. Although the income from video rental is not as obvious as box office, the benefits obtained from video rental are actually a long-term and relatively stable income. Some movies or TV series do not get much return in the actual box office and ratings, but they make a lot of money in the later video revenue. This situation is not uncommon.
Europe and America, especially the United States, are already very mature in this operation. There are also many similar operations in Hong Kong and other places. However, as for the box office share, the revenue of videotapes also has two types: share and buyout. If Shenghua wants to achieve the same goal, it is equivalent to competing with these traditional industries.
Shenghua would never do such a thing, which is why Qin Zhengguo expressed his concerns. Shenghua has also been communicating with the videotape industry recently to see if they are willing to convert the copyrighted videotapes they have into VCDs and put them on the market. Unfortunately, the feedback was not so good. When VCDs were not officially launched, the other party did not care about this at all.
