Tru2way Stumbling Blocks

The new tru2way technology that was set to allow manufacturer to make set-top boxes and built-in tuners that would work with any cable operating system isn't growing the way the industry predicted. A new research study by ABI Research is predicting that only half of all cable customers will have tru2way by 2013. What's causing the delay in what should have been a widely anticipated development?

Commercials Are "Excessively Noisy or Strident"

Don't hate me. It's just my job, and they make me do it. Yes, I am one of those cursed recording engineers who mixes television commercials, and mixes them to be as loud as possible. It's not my fault, it's just the way it is.

You know how loud and startling the jump in audio levels can be between your favorite TV show and the commercial break. You want to believe that the ads are much louder than the show, right? I've known all along that it's not the case, but a new report is backing me up.

There's a peak loudness level that commercials can't exceed, so most commercials compress the dynamic range. The differences between the loudest part of a voice-over and the softest are minimized, and then the flattened out track is pushed right up to the limit. Why do I do that?

90% of Sony Products to be Networked By 2010

We reported last week on Sony's initiative with bold business plans to carry through 2010 and beyond. What got lost in the shuffle was Sony's commitment to make 90% of its electronics network-enabled by 2010. That means your computer talks to your television which will talk to your digital camera, wirelessly. Not a bad thing at all. It looks good on paper, but how will they actually make it happen?

CNET Dishes On Dynamic Contrast Ratios

If you missed the latest podcast from our friends over at CNET, I'll fill you in. Eric Franklin and Dong Ngo have a lively conversation about one of the latest marketing ploys, or as they put it, "company shenanigans."
The ploy? Dynamic contrast ratio.  Oooh, sounds impressive. Kinda like contrast ratio, only more, well, dynamic. Unfortunately, this falls into one of those misleading specs — the kind that have no meaning in the real world. What is this sexy spec, and why is it so misleading?

As Eric Franklin explains, contrast ratio is a real measurement. A luminance meter measures the difference between the darkest black image on a monitor showing a black image and the brightest white. It should be noted that he deals mostly with LCD computer monitors, and that's his field of reference. A typical LCD monitor will have a contrast ratio of 1,000:1.

All is good and well until manufacturers started touting their more impressive dynamic contrast ratios of 5,000:1 or higher. What is this magical dynamic contrast ratio?

Is Toshiba Re-Inventing DVD?

The Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war may be over, but reverberation from the battle lingers on. In particular, tgdaily has called our attention to the fact that the DVD Forum (chaired by Toshiba — its only remaining member?) has released a new DVD logo. "DVD Download DL" seems to verify that Toshiba has no intention of going quietly into the night, and either letting the DVD revenue stream dry up, or be taken over by Blu-ray.

Instead, it seems likely that Toshiba will introduce an internet-enabled DVD player this fall, trying to steal some thunder from Blu-ray's much-heralded interactivity capabilities. This could be considered as either sour grapes, or a brilliant idea. The installed base of DVD is huge (while BD is relatively puny), so it makes sense to keep pumping the DVD well with new ideas. If interactivity is indeed what customers want, then connected DVD players could provide that. But if customers believe Blu-ray is the One True Future, then why the heck would they buy yet another DVD player?

Blockbuster Bails on Circuit City Buyout Bid

Talk about a slap in the face. After making a bid for Circuit City, supposedly for over $1 billion, Blockbuster has changed its mind. Siting "market conditions," Blockbuster has withdrawn its $1.3 billion bid. There's no word yet from Blockbuster's Carl Icahn who had previously stated that he would buy Circuit City himself if Blockbuster couldn't secure financing. Perhaps he's taking a closer look too, and not liking what he's seeing. What made Blockbuster step away from the negotiation table?

TiVo Selling Demographic Info: Big Brother?

This is kinda creepy. TiVo is partnering with TRA, specifically TRA's Media TRAnalytics research service to license, market, and sell information about how you watch TV. TiVo will sell the data from your household, namely viewing, demographic and purchasing data, albeit anonymously. Whatever. It's still creepy to think someone's watching what I'm watching. Even creepier that they care. Read your privacy notice carefully . . .

Sony's "Hancock" at Home

Why won't Sony's CEO Howard Stringer make up his mind? First, he claimed movie downloads would never take off. Now, he's changed his tune entirely. Sony's hoping Will Smith's latest release, Hancock will change the way we watch movies.

Netflix Profiles Back On Track

The Netflix queue system was a complete mystery in the past until Sound & Vision peaked behind the curtains to see how the system worked. Unfortunately, Netflix planned on nixing one of its best features — separate user profiles that let shared accounts create separate queues. An online storm followed this announcement, and after careful consideration, Netflix has changed their plans. 

Mitsubishi LCDs With 16-Speaker Array

Mitsubishi is making some big splashes in the HDTV pool. They just announced some exciting news, which includes 3-D DLP packages with new screen sizes. But, perhaps the most exciting news is in the LCD line.

Mitsubishi is releasing two new sets: the LT-46149 is the 46-inch model with a suggested retail price of $3,299, and the LT-52159 in the 52-inch version, retailing for $3,699. What's so exciting about another LCD television?

Hey, Can You Help Me?

So it's not just me. Seriously, whenever any of my friends need advice on what stereo/MP3 player/home theater speakers/car stereo/bicycle/television they should buy, why am I first on their speed dial? Apparently, the folks at Gizmodo have the same problem.

Sony Downloads — Not So Fast, PS3

Okay, so maybe when Sony reported that they were planning on downloads for its PS3 platform, they were a little optimistic. Turns out, they're only able to confirm that they can only offer downloads from one movie studio. Wanna take a guess at which movie studio that is?

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, in HD

Finally, the execs at CBS have come to their senses. Or perhaps their higher-ups threatened to vote them off the island if they didn't do this. After 16 standard-def seasons, the new season of Survivor, based for the first time in Gabon, will be in high definition. Survivor will be shot with Sony's new XDCAM HD camera systems. See why the XDCAM was the ideal choice for Survivor.

Champagne Dreams — Onyko TX-SA706X

Champagne dreams and caviar receivers . . . you know what I'm talking about. The new Onkyo TX-SA706X is a "champagne"-colored A/V receiver. They can call it what they want — I think it's a gilded gold receiver with plenty of processing power, if only for the Japanese market. The TX-SA706X is a 7.1 channel beauty that pumps out 200-watts per channel. What lies beyond Goldilock's facade?

S&V Road Trip: SVS

Gasoline may be expensive as hell, but summer’s arrival means road trips (just ask AAA). Heeding the season’s call — or rather that of Ron Stimpson, SVS’s co-founder and Director of Product and Marketing — I grabbed some CDs, hopped into my wagon, and zipped through the green fields of Northeastern Ohio for a visit to the company’s speaker production facility.

Pioneer shows Hollywood the truth about TVs

Pioneer has opened a special showroom at the corner of Hollywood and Vine to show Hollywood professionals what their works really look like once they get into someone's home.

The Kuro Loft gives "the industry" a chance to look at six  flat-panel TVs at once, so the makers of your favorite movies and TV shows can see how different TV designs affect what their audience sees. Those are Panasonic and Samsung plasmas on the left, Pioneer Kuros in the center, and Samsung and Sony LCDs on the right.

Sony's New ES Receiver Lineup

Sony's acclaimed ES (Elevated Standard) high-end product line just got three new A/V receivers, all supporting 1080p/24 video signals and the latest high-resolution audio formats. Packed with features, these new Sony ES products are just what you need to complete a high-def home theater system. 

All three have decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHS, DTS High Resolution Audio, and DTS HD Master Audio. On the video side, all three use Faroudja DCDi Cinema Technology to upscale all video sources to 1080p through the HDMI ports. 

All three have Sony's Digital Media Port that lets these receivers connect to Sony's optional accessories, available and sold separately, including an iPod dock and Bluetooth adapter. All three are Sirius and XM Connect-and-Play ready.

Keep reading to for specifics.

Satellite Satisfies in Service Survey

Obviously, there's no love lost between most customers and their cable companies. In fact, there's no love lost between a cable company and itself, either. So it's not surprising that more people are satisfied with their direct broadcast satellite providers than cable providers. This is according to a new survey by Beta Research Corp., a market research firm out of New York.

Universal Wants "Wanted" Blu to be Wonderous

Universal Studios is betting that Wanted  is going to be the Blu-ray release that's going to explode the Blu-ray business. Universal's Craig Kornblau has been quoted as saying, "What The Matrix did for DVD, Wanted could do for Blu-ray." Although the trailers look hot, putting this much pressure on a Blu-ray release, even before the theatrical release is a bit optimistic, don't you think?

42GB Super DVD -- Coming Soon?

Here's a mouthful. A team from the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials at the Tohoku University announced that they've discovered a way to increase the storage capacity of a standard DVD to 42GB. They can also multiply the storage of a CD by 9 as well. Is this a new format coming to do battle against Blu-ray?

Blu-ray Hacks Begin: Region-Free Player

Before Blu-ray has even been completely accepted into American households, the hacks have begun. Bluraymods.com is selling two new products: a completely region-free Panasonic Blu-ray player that they've modified, or a do-it-yourself kit that lets you alter the internal coding to allow the same Panasonic player (DMP-BD30) to play Blu-ray discs from any region. But it ain't cheap.

Pioneer's Plasmas with Media Receivers

Pioneer's four new 1080p plasma Kuro sets are tall, dark, and thin; who could ask for anything more? Two of them come with a really hot separate media receiver — a 4-port HDMI external switcher. The only problem is that they're only scheduled from release right now in Europe, with no mention of a US release. Darn. They're still worth a closer look.

Pioneer LCD Kuros Hit Europe

Following the successful release of the new lines of Kuro plasma sets, Pioneer is making the same commitment to LCD. Well, committing to Europe, at least. Those lucky folks across the pond will be seeing three new Kuro LCDs ranging from 32-inches to 46-inches.  Although they're Pioneer Kuro-branded, it is known that the screen is produced by Sharp. While we won't see them until August, the specs look good.

Pioneer's New Center & Bookshelf Speakers

Pioneer is revealing a new center channel and bookshelf speaker designed to match the S-3EX speakers revealed last year. Together, they'll make a kick-ass home theater system that will put most home-theater-in-a-box sat/sub system to shame. What makes them so special?   

Sony "Me Too!" Movie Downloads for PS3

Playing catch-up with other download services, Sony just announced it will make downloads available on Playstation 3 in the US this summer. Sorry friends in Europe and Japan, you're going to have to wait for information on when you can start downloading. Insiders knew that downloads of TV shows and movies were coming soon, but pushing it up to this summer is a big surprise. But, Sony's a big movie studio too — could it have been that difficult to get that contract worked out?

Streaming NetFlix Over Xbox 360

It's not an officially sanctioned marriage, but more like common law. With a little effort, you can stream NetFlix movies over your Xbox 360 video game console. It isn't even really a hack — just a clever application of a Vista Media Center plug-in. You'll need: an Xbox 360, Windows Vista PC, NetFlix account, and a free Windows Media Center plug-in called vmcNetflix.

DTS and Linear Acoustics Getting Olympic Gold

DTS better book some tickets to Beijing. First class, all the way. NBC just selected Linear Acoustics to supply its UPMAX:neo mixers which feature DTS surround sound technology for the 2008 Summer Olympics, beginning 8/8/08. This follows NBC's commitment to provide high-def coverage of the entire Olympic experience, and it just makes sense that the sound will be 5.1.

VIZIO Hitting the High-Def Notes

VIZIO is known for affordable televisions, but they're adding features and specs to a newly announced product line that should start the big name brands to take a look. Three new sets were introduced, all 1080p resolution and 120 Hz processing. Two are LCD, one is plasma, and all have a new stylish look with piano-black bezels.

VIZIO's "Budget" Plasma TVs

If you've been holding back on upgrading to digital, take a peek at these two new plasmas from VIZIO. The VP422 is going to retail for $799, but the VP322 is a more enticing $599. Both have a contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and three HDMI inputs, including one mounted on the side for a game input. Why not pull out the plastic today?

Comcast Center's 10,000,000 Pixels

While we've been poking fun at Comcast lately, you have to be impressed with this latest feat. They've bestowed the Comcast Center in Philadelphia with a 2,100 square foot media wall with five times the resolution of current HDTVs. Designed for them by Barco, the system, complete with a custom control room, cost the cable mogul $22 million. Hmmm, I wonder where they got the money from?