Bowers & Wilkins Newest Home Theater Offerings

B&W has a great-looking new line of home theater speakers with a subwoofer to match. The CM Series can be purchased separately, but put together the floorstanding towers, stand-mounted bookshelves, center and sub for a kick-booty total package.

The speakers are all available in a variety of wood veneers. Unlike other systems, even the center and subwoofer can match.

The floorstanding CM9 is a 3-way design with a 25mm dome tweeter, 150mm Kevlar FST midrange, and two 165mm paper/Kevlar bass driver. The CM5 is the 2-way bookshelf/stand mounted speaker. It uses a 25mm tweeter that matches the tweeter on the CM9. The CM5 has a 165mm Kevlar midrange/bass driver. The MC Center 2 features an FST midrange driver and the same 25mm dome tweeter as the other speakers.

The subwoofer is the ASW 10CM. It's powered by a 500-watt amplifier with a 25cm paper/Kevlar cone.

The whole series will be available in October. The CM9 will retail for $1,500, the CM5 is $750, the center speaker is $1,250, and the ASW 10CM will run $1,500.

Keep reading for info about another new subwoofer.

Rotel's New Roundup

Unless you're into custom home theater installations, Rotel might be a company that's a bit off your radar screen. They don't advertise much, aren't in the big-box retail outlets, and let's be honest, their products are a bit pricey.

However, Rotel is stepping it up with a whole new crop of products, all ready for the Blu-ray/digital revolution. The 15 Series of products includes the flagship RSX-1560 7.1 channel AV receiver. The RSX-1560 is a Class D amplifier with 100-watts per channel, four HDMI1.3 inputs, 1080p/24Hz Faroudja processing, and for custom  installations, 12V assignable triggers. The RSX-1550 uses class A/B power.

Plus, there are other new receivers, processors, preamps, amps, and more.

Get Ready to Stock Up on Disney on Blu-ray

We've known for a while that Disney has been planning on its first Blu-ray release, Sleeping Beauty, to hit the streets on October 7. Finally, we have word of some of the other classics that will be coming out over the next two years in the Platinum Collection.

Considering that Disney had been releasing the classics at a rate of about one per year on DVD, this is a windfall of titles, each of which will be available for a limited time.

JVC's First Blu-ray HTIB also has DivX

JVC is making a somewhat tentative step into the Blu-ray world with the new NX-BD3 home theater system. The NX-BD3 is a 2.1 channel system.

Why not jump in with a full 5.1 system to really show off the audio benefits of Blu-ray?

Perhaps because the NX-BD3 doesn't have DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD. Maybe when it gets released to the US market, that little oversight will be corrected. (Along with adding Profile 2.0 . . .)

Back on track, the NX-BD3 does include DNLA support and DivX certification, with playback of the format from CD or DVD.

From DivX.com: "The demand for DivX video playback in living room consumer electronics encouraged us to consider it as a checklist feature for our next generation home theater system," said Hiroshi Nishiumi, Deputy General Manager of Engineering Department, Audio/Video Systems Division, Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC). The NX-BD3 provides our customers with a premium entertainment experience and we believe that working with DivX has considerably enhanced this, differentiating us from our competitors.

More details on the NX-BD3 . . .

Panasonic's Big, Green and Thin

No, not the Jolly Green Giant. EngadgetHD has news from IFA about Panasonic's newest products. Plasma prototypes that are very big, very thin, or very eco-friendly.

Not happy with a 103-inch screen, Panasonic debuted a 150-inch 4K plasma. I want a home theater big enough to support this thing. Prices aren't available yet.

As most manufacturers know, you can never be too thin. Panasonic is showing off three new "super thin" plasma models. All three are only 24.7mm thin — not as paper-thin as some HDTVs we're seeing, but they'll still make you look twice. There is a 50-inch, 58-inch and 65-inch that will include Wireless HD. Now, that is exciting.

What about the green model? Worried that ecological benefit will effect performance? Put down that granola and keep reading.

Toshiba's Upscaling LCDs

We've got to say this: Perhaps it was good for most of us that HD DVD failed. It seems that failure has prompted Toshiba to really step up the developments for standard-def DVD. Not long ago, we talked about Toshiba's upscaling DVD players.

Now at IFA, Toshiba's showing an upscaling TV that will upconvert SD sources internally. No need to get a new upscaling DVD player when your ZF Series LCD will upconvert for you.  The ZF LCDs have cell-based Resolution+ technology.  This will provide edge enhancement and detail enhancement that smooths edges, sharpens details, with cell power to boot.

What models are available with this new technology?

Toshiba's Regza Rising in Europe

More news from Berlin's IFA, courtesy of EngadgetHD. Toshiba has announced new additions to the Regza line of LCD HDTV's, with a greater variety of sizes and features. These additions are across many series.

For example, the XV line has more entry-level products, including a 46-inch and a 52-inch model, both with a piano-black gloss finish that matches the rest of the Regza product lineup.

What else is new in the Regza family?

Ahoy, Capt. Jack!

Join Jack Sparrow and his crew for the ultimate pirate adventure. That's right. The cannon are loaded and the fuses are lit for The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy, a 6-disc Blu-ray Hi-Def set.

You'll get all three swashbuckling adventures together on Blu-ray Hi-Def for the first time, plus a treasure chest of bonus features including behind-the-scenes documentaries, bloopers and deleted scenes. Also on board is a Blu-ray exclusive titled Enter the Maelstrom. Available September 16. Suggested retail price is $82.99.

Crucial data: Feature run times: The Curse Of The Black Pearl: 143 minutes; Dead Man’s Chest: 150 minutes; At World’s End: 169 minutes. Aspect ratio: 1080p High Definition Widescreen. Audio: English 5.1 Uncompressed (48 kHz/24-bit) and Dolby 5.1 Digital (English, French, Spanish).

Complete list of bonus materials for all three movies....

Sharp's Super Skinny Lineup

News out of IFA 2008 is clear. According to Sharp, you can never be too thin. At the Berlin show, Sharp was showing off their new XS1 Aquos LCD products, slated for release in the UK in October.

The XS1 is available in either a 52-inch or 65-inch size, both an impressive 23mm thick. The contrast ratio is 1,000,000:1, with RGB-LED backlighting. The motion processing is an acceptable 100Hz, and the detachable speakers give you plenty of placement options.

What else was Sharp showing off at IFA?

Sony's New Walkmans

September means only one thing: It's time for Apple's announcement of its new iPods.

But it's still August, and that means that everyone else wants to steal Steve Jobs' thunder. For example, Sony has announced new additions to its line of Walkman players: the new B-Series, E-Series, and S-Series. All models support MP3, AAC, and both DRM and non-DRM WMA audio. The video players accept WMV, H.264, and MPEG-4 video files.

The S-Series (pictured) is the primo stuff, and is slick indeed. For starters, it has Sony's noise-canceling system (the same one on the NWZ-S710). You can use the NC with the bundled earphones, and an accessory cable is included that lets you use the Walkman as a standalone noise-canceling box for other headphones of your choosing. Excellent.

Also on board the gunmetal-black finished player is a 2-inch color screen, FM tuner, WMV suppport, and a podcast menu for management of content. The S Series players also have a customizable interface that includes various themes, and you can use personal photos as wallpaper. A SensMe Channels feature analyzes music to create custom playlists based on the tracks' speed, mood, and rhythm. Battery life is rated at 40 hours for audio playback. The S-Series is available in 4GB ($149.95) and 8GB ($179.95) capacities.

The other series....