Glassy Loudspeakers

While everyone seems to be trying to minimize the look of the loudspeaker, a few companies including KEF, Martin Logan and Sonance are hoping to turn a few heads with theirs. The most recent entry into the designer speaker market is Waterfall Audio, a 12-year-old French company, which demoed a line of glass-enclosed loudspeakers at CES that it plans to begin selling in the U.S. in March.

Aimed at the upper middle class of the speaker market, Waterfall speakers--named for well-known waterfalls around the world--will be sold through specialty audio/video retailers. The floorstanding Victoria series is expected to sell in the $5,400/pair range. Waterfall will also have glass-wrapped in-wall and on-wall speakers. Prices for other models haven't been set.

The Bummer of 42

Pioneer is pretty much universally considered the industry leader in Plasma TV performance. Their latest series of Kuro TVs have been hailed as "best TV I've ever seen" and even "best TV in the world." And their next-gen concept TVs display contrast that is literally unmeasurable and produced pictures that had the entire CES crowd talking.

So, the following e-mail announcement from one of their dealer district sales managers came as quite a shocker: 

Cable box be damned!

When CableCARD technology was announced, the hope of every man, woman and child in these great 50 states was the promise of finally, once-and-for-all getting rid of the cable box. But, with technological limitations this was not to be. Finally, our nation can breathe a sigh of relief and pitch that box to the curb where it belongs!

New tru2way technology will allow cable subscribers access to all of the premium cable content including video on demand services! Panasonic has partnered with Comcast to announce a series of products featuring this technology including Plasma TVs and portable DVR devices. These devices will be based on CableLab’s OpenCableT standards that are being adopted by cable providers nationwide.

While not directly related, this will also be hugely exciting news to owners of Vista-powered media center servers like those from Niveus, S1Digital, and LifeWare. The current generation of CableCARDs limits the programming received, something I experienced during my recent review of an S1Digital server (story in the February/March 2008 issue of S&V, available on soundandvisionmag.com shortly).

Panasonics Viera HDTVs featuring tru2way technology should be available later this year.
— John Sciacca

Video-a-Go-Go

Don't have time to catch up with Jack Bauer and every episode of 24? Ever wish you could take all of the programs locked away on your cable company’s DVR with you on the road? Now you can with Panasonic and Comcast's new co-branded AnyPlayT Portable DVR/DVD.

Beginning in early 2009, the model TZ-LC100 will allow you to take your recorded programming with you wherever you go. The 60 GB drive will provide enough storage to watch hours of programming on the 8.5-inch LCD display. And if you ever get tired of watching your recorded Family Guy episodes, you can use the included DVD drive to enjoy portable movies or an audio CD.

When placed into a docking station at home, the unit delivers all of the functionality we've come to know and love from a standard set-top DVR. This might very well become the weary commuter’s new best friend. This portable DVR will also feature the tru2way bi-directional CableCARD technology.
— John Sciacca

Look, No Wires!

An unqualified hit, Sony’s Bravia line of video displays are keeping up with the times (a new XBR6, left, made its debut at CES). In particular, aside from the usual upgrades of style and size, the new Bravias are heavily into connectivity. Sporting features such as Internet Video Link, DVD Link, Wireless Link, and Input Link, Bravias are being positioned as the nucleus of home entertainment and networking, with everything else in the house (and out on the Internet) able to dump data to the display.
—Ken C. Pohlmann

Take Out 'Da Noize; Bring in 'Da Funk

Noise-canceling headphones are nothing new. Every plane I ride has several passengers who obviously won’t leave home without their Bose. But the new Sony ’phones, the MDR-NC500D, bring a new wrinkle to the party.

Actually, three new wrinkles. The headphones sample the ambient noise environment, and automatically select one of three algorithms to optimally cancel out the bad stuff. Great for cutting the noise.

On the other hand, middle seats still suck.
—Ken C. Pohlmann

 

The Mobile TV PR Wars

The state of mobile digital television is roughly where HDTV was more than a decade ago: Electronics manufacturers, broadcasters, and telecommunications giants are battling to be on the winning side of a unified standard. Among the contenders are Samsung and LG Electronics.

Happy Blu Year

At its CES press conference, the Blu-ray Group could have been doing the Happy Dance. Instead, it was all about business.

Home video software executives made the case for BD with a series of slides, showing both the hard sales data, as well as splashy advertising. At least in their minds, with Warner abandoning HD DVD, the triumph of Blu-ray is “inevitable” and “only a matter of time.” In fact, they say it's time to stop wasting resources on combating HD DVD, and instead present a unified front, and start to make some serious profit out of the format. Instead of talk about blue and red, these guys are focused on green. And I don’t mean the environmentally friendly kind.

The Delphi-XM Report

 

SKYFI was Delphi's first and very successful XM Radio receiver. Its newest iteration introduced at CES, SKYFi3, is immensely sleeker than its predecessors, and sports genuinely useful new features.

Most notably, it can store 10 hours of XM programming for later playback. Clearly borrowing from MP3 player styling cues, the ’3 features a 2.8-inch screen that displays horizontally or vertically, 30-minute pause and replay, wireless remote control, internal FM transmitter, micro antenna, and a microSD card slot for storing extra MP3 or WMA songs. The ‘3 is probably best suited for vehicle playback (where most radio listening occurs) and a vehicle kit is included.

An optional wearable kit is available for handheld playback of stored programs (5 hours of battery time), and home satellite playback is facilitated with

Delphi's Premium Sound System. (MSRP is $120, plus XM Radio subscription).

MiND your FLAs

In response to the proliferation of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), the electronics industry is rolling out a new generation of FLAs (Four Letter Acronyms).

For example, Clarion has introduced the MiND (Mobile Internet Navigation Device) concept product. MiND is yet another splendid example of hyper-connectivity. A MiND will have built-in touchscreen, WiFi, WiMAX, Bluetooth, and GPS. It will provide navigation, traffic information, media player, internet browser to selected sites, hands-free phone when paired with a Bluetooth phone, camera, high-resolution display, email, flash music payer, image viewer, widget, etc, etc, etc. A MiND could be used at home, in a vehicle, or as a handheld. Reportedly the MiND will be available in September for $800 or so.

The interesting point: If you think you’re addicted to your iPod or Crackberry, just you wait. Small boxes are going to get even more indispensable. They will consolidate just about everything you can’t live without. These electronic miracles will be wildly popular . . until they’re obsoleted and replaced by FLAs (Five Letter Acronyms), that is.
—Ken C. Pohlmann