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Durabrand is a private label tradename of Walmart, which was introduced in early 1999. It was previously available in the UK through ASDA as a replacement for the Pacific brand name.
Durabrand was first started in early 1999 as a brand only made for Wal-Mart stores as a generic brand for electronics, but has grown to be available near-internationally (due to Wal-Mart's global reach).
Wal-Mart Germany was the first country to introduce the private label with a lineup in Consumer Electronics. Responsible for the first launch in 1999 were Uwe Bremeyer (Senior Buyer Dept. 5) and Michael Werry (Buyer Dept. 5), since 2002 Martin Schulz (Senior Buyer Dept. 5) & Frank Mades (Divisional Merchandise Manager Electronics) for Wal-Mart Germany. The very first product launched was a 120 min Videocassette produced at RAKS in Manisa (Turkey).
The products are marked for only Wal-Mart stores and available in very few other stores than Wal-Mart. Like most generic brands, Durabrand is a chain of different manufacturers. Durabrand is chained with Lenoxx Sound, Alco, Funai (which would also include Emerson, Sylvania, and Symphonic), Orion, Maxell, Resonance, Initial Technology, and many other different companies. The prices of a majority of their products are often considered loss leaders.
Durabrand does have some "company rivals," despite the low prices, their products are matched up between other in-house brands like Wal-Mart's iLo brand (considered as an upmarket brand, offers MP3 digital audio players and plasma video displays), Target's TruTech brand; and to an extent, K-Mart's former Curtis Mathes/White-Westinghouse (in the mid-to-late 1990s) now Home Essentials brand. Due to the fact that all of these are store brands, the stores are often competitive to get buyers to their store brand. Aside from store brands, Durabrand is matched up to Coby Electronics, Jwin, GPX, and other low-cost electronics brands. Durabrand offers audio equipment (CD players, alarm clocks, boomboxes, theater systems) and video equipment (VCRs, DVD players, televisions). However, it has also been lately focused on home appliances such as kitchen equipment, telephones, vacuums, and other general home appliances.
A large D is often found on the front of their products. Silver and black are the predominant colors used on their products.
Magnavox is an American electronics company that since 1975 has been a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics corporation Philips. The predecessor to Magnavox was founded in 1911 by Edwin Pridham and Peter L. Jensen, co-inventors of the moving-coil loudspeaker at their lab in Napa, California, under United States Patent number 1,105,924 for telephone receivers. Six decades later, Magnavox produced the Odyssey, the world's first home video game console.
An RF modulator is an electronic device used to convert signals from devices such as media players, VCRs and game consoles to a format that can be handled by a device designed to receive a modulated RF input, such as a radio or television receiver. Its input is a baseband signal, which is used to modulate a radio frequency source.
Panasonic is the principal brand name of the Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic Corporation. The company sells a wide range of products under the brand worldwide, including plasma and LCD televisions, DVD and Blu-ray Disc recorders and players, camcorders, telephones, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, shavers, projectors, digital cameras, batteries, laptop computers, CD players and home stereo equipment, fax machines, scanners, printers, electronic white-boards, electronic components and semiconductors.
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually referred to as black goods due to many products being housed in black or dark casings. This term is used to distinguish them from "white goods" which are meant for housekeeping tasks, such as washing machines and refrigerators, although nowadays, these would be considered black goods, some of these being connected to the Internet. In British English, they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers. In the 2010s, this distinction is absent in large big box consumer electronics stores, which sell entertainment, communication and home office devices, light fixtures and appliances, including the bathroom type.
A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or audiobooks. CD players may be part of home stereo systems, car audio systems, personal computers, or portable CD players such as CD boomboxes. Most CD players produce an output signal via a headphone jack or RCA jacks. To use a CD player in a home stereo system, the user connects an RCA cable from the RCA jacks to a hi-fi and loudspeakers for listening to music. To listen to music using a CD player with a headphone output jack, the user plugs headphones or earphones into the headphone jack.
A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through an amplifier and two or more integrated loudspeakers. A boombox is a device typically capable of receiving radio stations and playing recorded music. Many models are also capable of recording onto cassette tapes from radio and other sources. In the 1990s, some boomboxes were available with minidisc recorders and players. Designed for portability, boomboxes can be powered by batteries as well as by line current. The boombox was introduced to the American market during the late 1970s. The desire for louder and heavier bass led to bigger and heavier boxes; by the 1980s, some boomboxes had reached the size of a suitcase. Some larger boomboxes even contained vertically mounted record turntables. Most boomboxes were battery-operated, leading to extremely heavy, bulky boxes.
Aiwa (アイワ) is a consumer electronics brand owned and used by various companies in different regions of the world. American and other regions are owned by Chicago-based Aiwa Corporation. Towada Audio based in Tokyo owns the rights to the brand in Japan and other countries, and has been manufacturing Aiwa-branded products since 2017. In Mexico and other countries in Latin America, the rights are owned by Audio Mobile Americas, S.A.
Maxell, Ltd., commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics.
Lafayette Radio Electronics Corporation was an American radio and electronics manufacturer and retailer from approximately 1931 to 1981, headquartered in Syosset, New York, a Long Island suburb of New York City. The company sold radio sets, Amateur radio (Ham) equipment, citizens band (CB) radios and related communications equipment, electronic components, microphones, public address systems, and tools through their company owned and branded chain of retail outlets and by mail-order.
Lenoxx Electronics Corporation was an American distributor of electronic equipment. The brand appeared in the late 1980s as a transportable stereo (boombox) model.
Emerson Radio Corporation is one of the United States' largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912. The company designs, markets, and licenses many product lines worldwide, including products sold, and sometimes licensed, under the brand name G Clef, an homage to Emerson's logo.
Neuros Technology was a Chicago, Illinois–based company that produced a number of audio and video devices under the brand name Neuros. Founded by Joe Born in 2001 as a division of Digital Innovations, it previously operated under the name Neuros Audio. Like Digital Innovations, Neuros distinguished itself by its use of open-innovation and crowdsourcing techniques to bring products to market, as well as by its prominent use of open-source software and open-source hardware. In its development model, end users were involved throughout the product development process from reviewing initial concepts to beta testing initial product releases.
Discman was Sony's brand name for portable CD players. The first Discman, the Sony D-50 or D-5, was launched in 1984. The brand name changed to CD Walkman, initially for Japanese lineups launched between October 1997 and March 1998, and then entirely in 2000. Discman and CD Walkman players are no longer produced.
Philco is an American electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased by Ford and, from 1966, renamed "Philco-Ford". Ford sold the company to GTE in 1974, and it was purchased by Philips in 1981. In North America, the Philco brand is owned by Philips. In other markets, the Philco International brand is owned by Electrolux.
Orion Corp., Ltd. was a Japanese consumer electronics company that was established in 1958 in Osaka, Japan. Their devices were branded as "Orion". The company used to be called Orion Electric, until Brain and Capital Holdings, Inc. acquired it in 2019. From 1984 to their acquisition, their headquarters were based in Echizen, Fukui, Japan. Products manufactured and sold under the Orion brand included transistor radios, radio/cassette recorders, car stereos, and home stereo systems. Before their acquisition, they were of the world's largest OEM television and video equipment manufacturers, primarily supplying major-brand OEM customers. Orion produced around six million televisions and twelve million DVD player and TV combo units each year until 2019. Most of their products were manufactured in Thailand.
Philips Consumer Lifestyle is a subsidiary of the Dutch multinational electronics company Philips which produces consumer electronics and small appliances. It is the only Philips company headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Americas division is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
Luxman is a brand name of Japanese Luxman Corporation (ラックスマン株式会社), a company that manufactures luxury audio components. Luxman produces a variety of high-end audio products which include turntables, amplifiers, receivers, tape decks, CD players and speakers
WOW Sight and Sound was an Australian audio visual retailer. Founded in 2003 with a single store in Townsville, it grew to 15 stores in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
Funai Electric Co., Ltd. is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as Sharp, Toshiba, Denon, and others. Funai supplies inkjet printer hardware technology to Dell and Lexmark, and produces printers under the Kodak name.
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. Use of a VCR to record a television program to play back at a more convenient time is commonly referred to as timeshifting. VCRs can also play back prerecorded tapes. In the 1980s and 1990s, prerecorded videotapes were widely available for purchase and rental, and blank tapes were sold to make recordings.
