Audio Video News

MoDesign (Monster, LLC)
Are you looking to house your various electronics in a way that will add to your room's décor rather than detract from it? MoDesign's $2,500 Audio/Video Component Tower 6000, part of their Centra line of home theater consoles, is made with a smoked-black-tinted glass door and sleek, lustrous wood. If you don't like the glass, wooden doors with either a light- or deep-cherry finish are also available separately. The unit is functional, too. According to MoDesign, a dual-fan cooling system helps your components perform as they should, and the glass door is specially designed not to interfere with signals from remote controls. The Monster Cable Management System helps keep your cables neatly organized.
MoDesign (Monster, LLC)
(866) 563-6388
www.MDesignLife.com

At the award-presentation ceremony for its annual international design competition on July 4 at the Essen Aalto Theatre in Essen, Germany, the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen bestowed its prestigious "red dot label for high design quality" on six Sony products. Among a record number of 1857 entries in 12 product categories, the international jury selected the following Sony products: HDR-FX1E HDV1080i camcorder, Qualia 001 Creation Box (a video processor/upconverter that is not available in the US), <A href="http://ultimateavmag.com/videoprojectors/504sony/">Qualia 004 SXRD front projector</A>, Qualia 005 LCD flat-panel television, <A href="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/directviewandptvtelevisions/705sony/">Qualia 006 RPTV</A>, and DAV-SR4W wireless home theater in a box.

First there was the TV, and we saw that it was good. Then came cable and satellite, and we saw that it made TV better. Some years later, the digital video recorder (DVR) was born, and those who fell under its spell knew that it was as close to an electronic gift from God as was humanly possible. But now the sun is shining on the Slingbox, a device that, as the name suggests, slings TV (or other media) from your living room to locations far and wide; and - short of having a Digital TV tuner with a high-capacity DVR hardwired directly to your brain - this could be the best thing to happen to TV since, well, TV itself came along.

It's the next best thing to being there - or maybe even a better thing - for space buffs, ultimate gear heads, and just plain ordinary folk who want to see the United States manned space program get back on orbit. When the Space Shuttle Discovery launches with its crew of seven astronauts at 11:00 AM (EDT) on July 13th (the currently scheduled launch date), HDNet will be in Cape Canaveral, Florida to provide exclusive, complete high-definition coverage of the historic event (NASA mission STS-114).

Pioneer is not a huge company by Japanese mega-corp standards, so when they hold a line show, we don't expect dozens of new products. But they're big in the areas of importance to home theater enthusiasts, namely plasma displays, DVD players and recorders, and AV receivers. So when they invited me to attend their 2005 west coast line show, there was no question about my response. I were there.

Mitsubishi made history yesterday during an event held at Ken Cranes Home Entertainment store in West Los Angeles, where they unveiled the first 1080p (1920x1080) DLP RPTV available to the public. With many Mitsubishi and Texas Instruments dignitaries on hand, shoppers got their first look at the 52-inch WD-52627 ($3699), which was available for purchase then and there. Also on display was the 73-inch WD-73927 ($7999), which won't be available until August. All in all, Mitsubishi will have nine 1080p models with sizes of 52, 62, and 73 inches in four product lines, which will be released in a staggered schedule over the summer.