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Ears On
Blade Hangs Over Dish PVR
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 21, 2006  |  0 comments
In the latest act of a long-running drama, Dish Network PVRs will not be judicially disabled—at least, not yet. A federal appeals court has blocked an injunction from a Texas district court that would have shut down Dish video recorders. Dish's adversary is TiVo and the issue is patent infringement. TiVo has successfully argued that Dish PVRs violate TiVo's patents, winning $74.9 million in penalties. That matter was decided months ago, but what to do about it has not, so millions of Dish PVRs have the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. The Dish people say they expect to reverse the Texas district court decision and will "continue to work on modifications" to the allegedly infringing machines. Even if TiVo gets a short-term win in this situation, its real challenge is competition from not only satellite DVRs but those marketed by cable and emerging telco-video services. No judge or lawyer is going to make that problem go away.
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Fred Manteghian Blog
HD Radio and the Boston Acoustics
Fred Manteghian  |  Aug 20, 2006  |  1 comments

I'd like to open with a joke. Two antennas get married. The wedding wasn't anything special, but the reception was amazing!

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Audio Video News
TiVo Wins Major Court Victory Over EchoStar; Japanese Blu-ray players To Be Region-Code Free.
 |  Aug 20, 2006  |  0 comments

<B>EchoStar Infringed On TiVo's Patents, Court Rules</B><BR>
EchoStar, which operates DISH Network's satellite TV service, was ruled by a federal district in Texas to have infringed on several patents held by TiVo, and ordered to halt the use of the bulk of the DVRs its subscribers use. A subsequent injunction blocked the order, which would have affected millions of EchoStar's subscribers.

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Audio Video News
The State Of HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 20, 2006  |  0 comments

In mid-2005 the average selling price of a 50" plasma display began its yearlong plunge from over $5,000 to a June 2006 average of just above $3,000. The number of sets sold at the new prices more than tripled, even accounting for the traditionally hot fall (2005) selling season.

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Syntax-Brillian 6580iFB03 1920x 1080p 65" LCoS HDTV
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 19, 2006  |  0 comments

My late father-in-law fought in the Pacific theater during World War II, and afterwards refused to buy Japanese-made products. That's why he owned an American made Curtis Matthes console television, he proudly told me. I didn't have the heart to tell him the guts were sourced from NEC&mdash;something I discovered when I removed the back cover to perform a decidedly non-ISF fix on the all-green, out of focus, un-centered picture he'd been happily watching for years.

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A/V Veteran
Son of Ruby?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 18, 2006  |  4 comments

It has long been rumored that Sony is readying a new, lower-priced SXRD front projector to slot in under the current VPL-VW100. Now those rumors, while not yet confirmed, have more substance. The new projector is codenamed Pearl, and may have the official designation VPL-VW50. (The internal codename for the VPL-VW100, Ruby, has stuck as a name for that projector, though it appears in none of Sony's promotional materials). If the rumors pan out, the new projector will be introduced at the 2006 International Funkausstellung in Berlin in early September, and most certainly will have its official U.S. launch at the 2006 CEDIA EXPO in Denver two weeks later.

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Audio Video News
HDMI Gets a Boost
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 18, 2006  |  0 comments
Tributaries Cable, the no-nonsense (and even less hype) cable and accessories company, is bringing out a new gadget that aims to maintain the full performance of high-definition video over HDMI cable runs as long as 50 meters (165 feet).
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Ears On
Shure i4c Sound-Isolating Earbuds
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 18, 2006  |  1 comments
Cynical Steve Jobs is marketing one of the worst-sounding audio products ever. As an audiophile, I can view this only with alarm and outrage. No, I'm not talking about the iPod, you foolish thing. I enjoy my nano as much as the next person. I'm talking about the earbuds that come with the iPod. They don't even come close to taking advantage of the sound quality that the deliriously popular music player is capable of delivering.
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Audio Video News
More Blu-ray and HD DVD Titles Announced; CEDIA Sneak Peak From Runco
 |  Aug 17, 2006  |  First Published: Aug 18, 2006  |  0 comments

<B>Big Fourth Quarter For Blu-ray And HD DVD</B><BR>
The number of Blu-ray and HD DVD releases scheduled in the last quarter of this calendar year is growing rapidly. Warner's second wave of Blu-ray titles will hit stores on September 5th, followed by four more catalog titles from the Warner library on September 12th. Universal has announced four more catalog titles for HD DVD in late October.

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Portable Player Reviews
LG V Multimedia Phone
Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 17, 2006  |  0 comments
It's a cell phone—and so much more.

As I was packing for a recent trip, I was amazed at the number of electronic gadgets I've amassed over the past couple of years—and how many I need to bring along to keep me both accessible and entertained for the long hours away from home and office. I once joked with Sony that adding calling features to their PlayStation Portable would make it a perfect device. But, in the meantime, I do appreciate any cell phone that allows me to do more than check voice mail, and, as such, the LG V phone is a small wonder.

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