LATEST ADDITIONS

CES 2009
There Be Pirates Here
uavKim Wilson  |  Jan 07, 2008

No sign of Capt. Jack Sparrow but the Black Pearl was the center piece of Blu-Ray's extravagant display, showing off what appears to be the dominate high definition format.

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Audio Video News
DualView for Extreme Gaming
SV Staff  |  Jan 07, 2008
As an extension of the 3D capabilities Texas Instruments displayed at the 2007 CEDIA Expo, TI demonstrated an incredibly exciting new possibility, which might end up making DLP the hard-core gamer’s best technological friend. Traditionally,...
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Fly, Belkin, Fly!
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 07, 2008
This summer, look for Belkin’s FlyWire system to wirelessly connect HDMI source components to your HDMI-enabled TV. (Other, lesser connectivity standards are supported as well.) The two-box bundle is prematched, so installation and configuration of the sending and receiving units shouldn’t cause unbearable grief, and the results that they showed at their booth were flawless, even amid God-knows-how-many competing wireless demos in the South Hall. No firm price has been set yet, but expect to fork over between five and six hundred clams.
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CES 2009
The Mad Blogger
uavKim Wilson  |  Jan 07, 2008

Here's our own Fred Manteghian blogging away in the press room. I was wondering how he was getting some of his entries up so fast until I discovered he uses his Blackberry to get online while he's still on the show floor. Way to go Fred, use that technology !

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CES 2009
No Longer Your Father's Speaker Company
uavKim Wilson  |  Jan 07, 2008

Bowers and Wilkins goes back to their roots and their original name. No longer using the abbreviated B & W moniker, the loudspeaker manufacturer is looking seriously at the lifestyle market. Using the prestige of their innovative reference speaker systems, Bowers and Wilkins is making inroads with a whole new generation of consumers. Last year, they came out with the ultimate iPod speaker system, that used trickle down technology from their Nautilus series. This year at CES, they are showcasing Liberty, an integrated 5.1 system featuring wireless cable-free speakers.

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The Pinnacle Of Easy Video Transfer
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 07, 2008
Analog video capture as we know it is fading away, as almost everything under the sun already exists in digital format, at least on our PCs. But what if we could go straight from the composite or S-video output of a source (VHS, camcorder, maybe even DVD…?) and push a digital version of that video via USB onto, say, a portable player such as a video iPod or a PlayStation Portable? Mere days from now, Pinnacle Systems will begin selling the Pinnacle Video Transfer device which does precisely that, an all-in-one solution for one-touch analog-to-digital recording WITHOUT A PC. Clear red and blue lights indicate ready and recording status, and we can also toggle between good, better, and best Mode (quality/file size) settings. Encode takes place in real time and the digital videos can be watched immediately, and later renamed as desired. AC power is required, but the Pinnacle Video Transfer will also charge your iPod while it works.
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Audio Video News
A Kinder, Gentler Sony
SV Staff  |  Jan 07, 2008
Back in the day, Sony had a reputation for being, um, independent minded. The company was notorious for its stubborn nonpartisanship when it came to developing products. Its partnership with Philips famously succeeded with the invention of the CD....
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Blu-ray Sails On
Shane Buettner  |  Jan 07, 2008
Sometimes a picture says a thousand words... or more. As you can imagine there's a lot of energy and warm, fuzzy feelings in the Blu-ray camp right about now. And, pirate ships!
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CES 2009
Which Part of "Organize" Don't the Show Organizers Get!
Fred Manteghian  |  Jan 07, 2008

Not to complain too loudly, because in the old days we had typewriters, but whoever is responsible for making sure the 4th estate can do their job should be fired. The press room is full of hardwired Dell laptops (I mean, I'm a Windows guy and even <I>I</I> won't use a Dell, for Lord's sake) and there are precious few empty tables for people who brung their own. On top of that, there's no "supported," a.k.a. working, wireless connections. Granted, wireless introduces problems too, but hardwired Dells and brown shirts walking around making sure you don't unplug the Ethernet cable and put it into your laptop isn't helping anyone get their job done.

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CES 2009
"Roger, Niner Niner, I've got you on my radar!"
Fred Manteghian  |  Jan 07, 2008

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 won't be out until April '08, but I sat down for a demo of their new receiver. What sets it apart from other 4 HMDI in (1 out) AVRs is their Trinnov Optimizer. The fuzzy shot above shows green speakers along the peripheral of the coincentric circles that describe the speaker placement positions used during soundtrack mastering. The smaller red speaker positions show where people normally put them. By generating tones, I was told, the Sherwood receiver will figure out where you've placed speakers in your room, and compensate for it. I asked if you'd get that great on-screen display with the R-972's implementation, but alas, no. However, you can interface your laptop to the receiver and work with the setup that way.

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