Audio Video News

A Visit to Best Buy’s Magnolia Design Center

Audio snobs might cringe at the idea of visiting a Best Buy but did you know that the chain’s Magnolia Design Centers sell McIntosh electronics and speakers from B&W, MartinLogan, and Sonus Faber?

Students of the user interface are in mourning for Apple’s clickwheel, which passed away quietly in Cupertino, California, at the age of 13.

A promising new encoding method from Meridian, maker of world-beating active loudspeakers and other digital audio hardware, has been adopted by Tidal and 7digital, two major forces in music streaming. Tidal is the Norwegian company whose lossless 16-bit streaming has gotten audiophiles interested in streaming. 7digital operates music download and streaming services for itself and other parties and was the first company to offer DRM-free MP3 downloads in 2008.

The good news is that DirecTV is becoming the first pay-TV operator to offer Ultra HD programming. The bad news is that so far, the effort is limited to Samsung TVs, and programming to live events and 30 movies from Paramount and K2 Communications. You’ll also need a Genie HD DVR with broadband connection. The recently launched Ariane 5 satellite is the key to DirecTV’s UHD operation, along with a new slice of satellite spectrum. The satellite also provides additional local HD programming. DirecTV will soon have company, with Comcast preparing a UHD launch.

LG has announced pricing for a number of the 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) TVs it showed in January at CES. All models are promised for “spring” delivery. Whether that means later this month or late May/early June, we don’t know.

Onkyo today announced it is bringing its e-onkyo hi-resolution music download service to the U.S. The service, which has been operating in Japan since 2005, will operate under the “onkyo music” name and provide download access to hundreds of thousands of 24-bit/44.1kHz to 192kHz high-res tracks and millions of 16-bit CD-quality FLAC files, according to the company.

Toshiba will no longer develop and sell TVs in North America as part of a restructuring and will license the TV business to Taiwan’s Compal Electronics. According to a press release issued in Tokyo, Compal will begin delivering Toshiba brand TVs to the North American market in March.