CES 2009: B&W Panorama

Well, it's official. The soundbar is a genuine contender in the loudspeaker market. It acquires this status as long-time, old-school loudspeaker maker Bowers & Wilkins introduce their first soundbar.

The Panorama is a powered soundbar, sized to fit TVs of 37 inches or more. It houses nine drivers within a sleek aluminum chassis. Interestingly, and acknowledging the importance of the center channel (that's where the dialogue is), the Pandora dedicates five of the nine drivers to center-channel playback: one aluminum dome tweeter, two midrange drivers, and two bass woofers. The tweeter uses B&W’s proprietary Nautilus Tube Loaded technology.

The remaining four drivers handle the left, right, and surround channels, and each is mounted in its own enclosure. The drivers are powered by six Class D amplifiers. Combined power output is 175 watts. Audio connections comprise two optical and one coaxial digital audio input, as well as two stereo analog inputs. There is also a subwoofer passthrough. The cabinet can be placed underneath or on top of a screen, resting on a shelf, or wall mounted. B&W says that bass output is sufficient for most rooms; however, in large rooms, a separate subwoofer may be needed.

The Panorama will be available in the spring. Retail price is $2200.--Ken C. Pohlmann

CES 2009: It's Not Easy Being Green

It's not easy being green. For starters, you have to add water. Panasonic put a new twist on the traditional Press Kit URL piece of paper. Yes, the URL is still there, but a closer look at the slightly thick and textured paper reveals that it is, in fact, also a flower garden.

The instructions read: "Soak this handmade seedpaper in a glass of water for a few hours. Place the card in a pot of soil and cover lightly. Keep out of direct sunlight and water 2 times a day. In a week or so, you'll start to have sprouts. Move outdoors when the weather permits. Enjoy your flowers! Contains: Marigolds and Cosmos."

The only downside, as far as I can tell, is that the damn flowers will obliterate the URL you might actually need.

Well, this should be interesting.  I'll set up a flowercam with a 30-second refresh so all of you can constantly check on the progress of the flowers. Much livelier and cuter than the puppcam. -- Ken C. Pohlmann

Obama Goes Analog

The President-Elect's transition team today announced that the conversion to digital TV, scheduled to occur on February 17, should be moved back. John Podestra chair of the transition team, sent a letter to the Commerce Committees of the House and Senate, claiming that the country is not prepared for the transition, and that the money spent so far has been "woefully inadequate." A spokesperson confirmed that Obama himself agreed with the call for a delay.

The new date? Podestra doesn't specify. The Consumers Union has suggested a date sometime in mid-summer. So what's going to happen?  Well, who knows. --Ken C. Pohlmann

CES 2009: JVC's Blu-ray in a Bar

JVC introduced the company's first Blu-ray-equipped home theater in a box system. The TH-SB100 is a 2.0 system, with a Profile 2.0 player, powered soundbar and wireless subwoofer. The player provides BD-Live capability, and an Ethernet port. Also onboard are HDMI 1.3 output, AVCHD playback, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel decoding (not all BD surround codecs are supported) plus six-mode digital signal processing. (Photo not available).

Other important info: Soundbar power is 30 watts to each of the left, center and right channels. Left and right channels are each handled by a pair of three-inch woofers and half-inch tweeter, while a single three-inch woofer handles the center channel. The eight-inch wireless subwoofer is driven by 100 watts. I/O includes component and composite video outputs, and analog, optical and coaxial audio outputs. With BD Live compatibility the player can be connected to the Internet to access BD Live 2.0 features, including firmware updates, movie trailers, updated subtitles, online shopping, chat and gaming. The glossy black low-profile Blu-ray player has illuminated function keys, while the black soundbar likewise features a slim design.

The TH-SB100 will ship in April at a retail price of $700. -- Ken C. Pohlmann

CES 2009: Panasonic's VHS/BD Combo Player

As they say - strange bedfellows. I mean, how many times do you hear "VHS" and "Blu-ray" used in the same sentence? And how many times do you see them in the same player?

Panasonic has mated these old and new technologies in the DMP-BD70V player (pictured). It contains both a VHS tape drive and a Blu-ray disc drive. The latter is strictly contemporary, with BD-Live and BonusView support, VieraCast for streaming from YouTube and other sources. There is even a SD card slot for viewing AVCHD, MPEG2 and JPEG(HD) content. Not to mention, there's MP3 and JPEG playback via USB.

The former format (VHS) is strictly not contemporary. It is a playback only deck. Period.

You might be asking - why?

The answer is that right next to that skeleton, there are piles of VHS tapes in your closet, and at some point you might want to watch (or move to another media) that special tape recording of your high-school prom. Or maybe not. In any case, you'll certainly sleep better at night knowing that if required, you have legacy playback capability.

The DMP-BD-70V will retail for 449. -- Ken C. Pohlmann

CES 2009: Panasonic's Blu-ray in a Box

The term "Home Theater in a Box" formerly had about as much cache as "wine in a box." HTiB was, in fact, a very pejorative acronym used only with extreme prejudice. But, that is changing. Increasingly, HTiBs are going upscale, with Blu-ray drives installed in their head units.

Case in point, Panasonic is introducing two new Blu-ray equipped HTiB systems. Moreover, the are offered at lower prices than their current models. Both come with 7.1-speakers or supports them (reflecting the trend toward 7.1 on BD discs) and both support BD-Live. In addition, both support Panasonic's VieraCast service to deliver direct internet access to YouTube, Picasa Web Albums from Google, and other content.

The SC-BT300 (pictured) is a 7.1 system; it features an iPod dock, and wireless-ready surround speakers. The dock has been upgraded to display an iPod's video and audio menus, and the unit will upconvert audio on all channels to 96kHz sampling rates. Interestingly, a bamboo cone driver is used in the front and center speakers. Total output power is 1250 watts.

The SC-BT200 is similar to the 300, but uses smaller front speakers and total output power is 100 watts.  --Ken C. Pohlmann

CES 2009: Lowered Expectations

As John Sciacca pointed out in an earlier post, companies at CES 2009 are under no illusions about the economy. In particular, they know that 09 (and possibly 10, and 11) will be pretty tough sledding, until people have enough money to start going deeply into debt again. (That makes no sense, but apparently that is the way the modern economy works).

At a recent show-opening seminar, staticians from CEA (Consumer Electronics Association), the show's sponsor, tried to paint a happy face, but with only limited success. Steve Koenig, CEA director of industry analysis, and Shawn DuBravac, CEA economist (pictured), proposed that CE sales will be slow, with a few bright spots. In their State of the Industry report, they said that discretionary spending has turned negative, but technology is still outperforming other durable goods such as automobiles and major appliances (small comfort, because those sales have fallen off the cliff). In addition, proposed government stimuli (such as a $1,000 tax credit for less than wealthy Americans) may help lift sales later in the year.

They listed a number of growth categories: OLED displays (up 149%); HD flash camcorders (up 106%); next-generation DVD players (up 62%); 120-Hz LCD TVs (up 57%); MP3 players with wireless connectivity (up 41%); and home-theater-in-a-box/Blu-ray combo systems (up 30%).

That sounds rosy, but in true glass-half-empty spirit, let me point out that those categories are tiny to begin with, and even a few sales here and there would net huge percentage gains. In addition, even with huge sales in these categories, they would not come close to offsetting any decline in TV sales.

Still, there is hope. For example, even though fewer people can afford really big screens, maybe they will still buy smaller screens. And if they have already have a big screen in the living room, maybe they will still get a new small screen for the guest room. In either case, they might not be buying big audio component systems, but might still spring for a display with a built-in Blu-ray player, or a soundbar.  So, if expectations are low enough, sales for 09 might be decent. That, my friends, is about as optimistic as I can be. --Ken C. Pohlmann

Photo Credit: Dealerscope

Circuit City Shrinks Self

Things are tough, especially in consumer electronics. Circuit City is really taking it on the chin. As we previously reported, the rumor was that CC was going to close stores to try to stay afloat. Now, that rumor has become reality.

It was officially announced that Circuit City will close 155 domestic stores and lay off 17% of its workforce. The official statement: "Due in part to its deteriorating liquidity position and the continued weak macroeconomic environment, the company has decided to take certain restructuring actions immediately, including closing 155 domestic segment stores, reducing future store openings, and aggressively renegotiating certain leases."

The company was caught in the same squeeze the rest of us are feeling: "The sharply worsened overall economic environment led some of Circuit City's vendors to take restrictive actions with respect to payment terms and the credit they make available to the company." The company also said it has been unable to collect an income tax refund of approximately $80 million that the company believes the feds owe them. Been there, done that.

Psst! Wanna Buy a Company?

The earth is shaking over at Panasonic. First, as we reported earlier, Panasonic ditched the name of its founder, Matsushita, and will go by Panasonic from now on. And now we learn from Bloomberg Japan that Panasonic has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Sanyo. Reportedly, the deal should be finalized by April. Panasonic is already the world's largest consumer electronics company, and the purchase will make it even bigger, with revenues of $110 billion.

Panasonic says that the Sanyo name will still appear on products, and that they will retain most of Sanyo's employees. Riiight.

TiVo Joins Netflix

If you can possibly remember back that far, back in September 2004, it looked like TiVo and Netflix would strike a deal to stream movies to set-top boxes. It was a terrifically brilliant idea. But nothing ever came of it. TiVo worked out a deal with Amazon for on-demand content and the companies seemed to part ways.

Until now. It was announced that some Tivo DVR owners can begin streaming Netflix movies and TV shows by early December. What's more, some lucky owners can begin streaming immediately in a beta testing program.

In particular, anyone owning TiVo HD, HD XL, or Series3 DVRs will have the capability. Sorry, the older Series2 and DirecTV models won't get the upgrade. This is part of the ongoing strategy on the part of Netflix with deals with Roku, LG, Samsung, and Microsoft Xbox 360 (coming in mid November, though Xbox Live is already up and running). It's also apparently part of TiVo's grand plan: Last week, TiVo announced deals with CinemaNow and Jaman.