Chinese HD DVD Format - Phoenix Rising?

No, that's not a typo. Rising from the ashes of HD DVD, the Chinese version of the format is getting ready to launch. Yup — almost a year after the demise of HD DVD,  Shanghai United Optical Disc is set to power up its production line of CBHD by the end of the fourth quarter.  CBHD (China Blue High-definition Disc), recently called CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD) is similar to HD DVD, but supposedly with more robust copy protection.

We gotta ask — what are they thinking?

Polk Debuts SoundBar 360

People with lots of speaker cabinets in their listening room can laugh all they want, but soundbars are still pretty cool. This newest kind of speaker fits neatly under your flat screen, and creates a good, if not great, soundfield. In some cases, the soundbar system contains all sorts of other electronics. Case in point is the new SoundBar 360 from Polk.

The SoundBar 360 contains a speaker system (eight drivers total), along with a DVD/CD player, AM/FM tuner, multichannel amplifier, and soundfield processor. The bar is sizable (44-1/2 inches wide) so make sure your screen is appropriately wide too. Note that the SoundBar does not contain a Blu-ray player. Interesting.

The SoundBar 360 comprises two units. The bar itself, and a console, connected via a single cable. Onboard are multiple inputs: RCA, optical digital, coaxial digital, S-Video, component video, HDMI, and USB. There is no external subwoofer, but there is a subwoofer output line. The bar is 44-1/2 (W) x 4-7/8 (D) x 4-1/8 (H) inches. The console is 16-1/2 (W) x 11-1/2 (D) x 3-3/16 (H) inches. The SurroundBar 360 will be available in September. Retail price is $1,199.

A larger question is whether soundbars represent a new direction in the audio market....

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Apple iTunes store will go down in history as a textbook success story. Other music services, such as Rhapsody, might just go down as footnotes.  While iTunes has prospered, Rhapsody has struggled. The service offers over 5 million songs, but employs a subscription business model. Users essentially rent their music, paying a monthly fee of about $15 a month, and can play as much music as they want. However, if you don't ante up the monthly nut, you lose access to your tunes.

Unfortunately for Rhapsody, most consumers have opted for the iTunes model, where they buy their music a la carte. For 99 cents a tune, you download the song you want, and it's yours forever (within digital rights limits). Maybe it's a fear of commitment, maybe it's just one monthly fee too many, but forever reason, that's the way it's shaking out.

Yahoo Music, once considered a serious force, threw in the towel, sold its assets to Rhapsody, and will shut down its music subscription service this September. Napster lost 75,000 subscribers last year, and has started up a non-subscription download store (adjunct to its subscription offerings. .

Lights out for Rhapsody and its subscriptions? Not quite....

Nice Rack

Are you interior-space challenged? Are your audio/video aspirations bigger than the cubby hole you call home? Do you live in Europe? Then Sharp has the answer to your prayers. The AN-PR1500H home cinema rack system is a triumph of form and function. It is an all-in-one home cinema system with 2.1 front surround speakers, an advertised 300 watts of output, integrated upscaling DVD/CD player, HDMI output, support for digital formats like DivX, MP3 and WMA, FM tuner, and even a clock/timer. A USB port lets you display photographs such as JPEGs. No need for additional wires or cables; it's all right there. The piano black finish should fit into most decors and best of all, the rack functions as a TV stand, comfortably holding screens up to 46 inches.

New Sony Bravia Home Theater Systems

Exciting news from the European front. A few months back, we showed off the latest Bravia speaker system from Sony, the HT-IS100, originally only available in Japan. Now Sony has that, plus two more complete systems for the European market.

The two other systems mimic the look, but each has its own advantages.

Target Targeting Home Installation Market

Just because you've bought your home theater equipment at bargain retailer Target doesn't mean you're going to be left on your own to figure out how to make it all work. Target just announced a partnership with Zip Express Installation. Zip will come out and do a variety of projects, ranging from wall-mounting your new flat screen TV, setting up a computer network, to building the DIY equipment rack that always seems to be missing a part.

How does it all work?

Royale Ripoff?

First, the facts: Sony Pictures will release a Blu-ray two-disc "collector's edition" of Casino Royale on October 21. This date coincides with a new DVD re-issue.

The technical specifications of the new set will be similar to the previous Blu-ray edition, released in March 2007. The title will be presented in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video and uncompressed PCM 5.1 Surround audio. New to the special edition, there will be a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround option.

Now, the commentary: This is fabulous news, and also disturbing. It is yet another example of a trend that is becoming all-too-familiar. First, a studio releases a film on DVD or Blu-ray, with essentially no bonus features. Then, a short while later, a deluxe edition appears. What do they think we are? Stupid?

40-in OLED in 2011?

Previous rumors about a 37-inch Panasonic OLED have been upgraded with more rumors describing a 40-inch Panasonic OLED. Japan's leading business newspaper, The Nikkei, reports that the 40-incher will be ready to roll by 2011. Matsushita (Panasonic) has not confirmed, or denied, that 40-inch speculation. But the company has stated that OLED is a technology of interest, and that it is setting up OLED production lines at a planned Japanese plant. Panasonic has invested $2.8 billion in the plant set to be running by 2010.

The Nikkei article continues by saying that OLED test production will begin in 2009, with mass production in 2011. This would put Panasonic in competition with Sony, Sharp, Samsung and other major manufacturers to develop huge-screen OLEDs. Sony has sold an 11-inch OLED TV since December 2007, and Samsung showed a 31-inch OLED TV prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

It now appears that major financial commitment is being made toward OLED...

Sony's Stringer

Sony is one of the most recognized, and respected, corporate names in the world. How many Sony products do you have at home? But when's the last time you bought a Sony product? The electronics juggernaut struggled to cope with monumental technological changes such as personal computers, the internet, and MP3 players, as well as global economic changes such as the rapid shift to low labor-cost manufacturing. The company whose Walkman once owned the portable music player business watched as Apple's iPod took control. Perhaps even worse, it watched as flat-panel TVs crushed the revered, but suddenly old-fashioned, Trinitron.

To chart its future, and turn around the company, Sony called on Sir Howard Stringer. Forbes Magazine has a fascinating article, aptly titled, It Takes a Crisis, describing Sir Howard's mission to transform Sony. When president of CBS, Stringer famously hired David Letterman away from NBC. Later he spent six years running Sony's U.S. operation. Impressed, three years ago, Sony called upon him to run the entire show. As he says now, "Look, I didn't know what I was doing...."

SoundSense's Active Noise-canceling System

We all know and love noise-canceling headphones. Who can bear to fly without them, right? Now, imagine that same technology used in your home theater? Come on, who here has a completely acoustically quiet home theater? Between air-conditioners, electronics' fans, outside rumble, or even the dishwasher running down the hall, there are many noises that detract from the performance of your ultimate home theater, try as you might to eliminate them.

SoundSense has been known for passive acoustic solutions. Noise-reducing wall treatments and architectural designs were great, but there had to be more they could do. So, SoundSense has come up with a new concept in noise-reduction for home theaters. Active noise reduction. How's that work?