Audio Video News

The annual CEDIA show is the scene for the launch of many new home theater products. On September 10, Hitachi announced a high-definition rear projection monitor, the 55DMX01W, which uses Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing (DLP)device as a light source. The 55"-diagonal high-definition set has a 16:9 screen and what Hitachi calls an "exclusive 10-element high contrast wide-angle lens system and high-resolution screen. Every component has been engineered to faithfully reproduce accurate images."

Hitachi just introduced a new generation hybrid camcorder with the ability to record internally onto Blu-ray Disc. That might be just what you needed to run out and get a Blu-ray player for your home theater. The DZ-BD10HA is new and improved from...

Hitachi is back in the widescreen HDTV race. The company voluntarily pulled itself out of the integrated HDTV market last year, due to what executives called "premature market timing." The change is due to the growth in available over-the-air high-definition programming.

The last four of the eight films in the Harry Potter series have arrived on Ultra HD Blu-ray.

Consumer electronics products saw a six percent sales increase during the week after Thanksgiving. Why isn't this good news for the industry? Because it marks the first time growth has been measured in mere single digits since NPD started tracking data six years ago. In contrast, 2006 saw a 12 percent hike in dollar volume, and in 2005 it was 15 percent.

Recent studies by the <A HREF="http://www.recordingmedia.org/">International Recording Media Association</A> and <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturing Association</A> have revealed strong sales for home-theater products. DVD-player sales are up 179% over 1997, with over 1 million players sold this year vs. 400,000 last year, while sales of DVD discs jumped 22%. VCR sales are up 7.5% in 1998, with sales in the first 11 months of the year totaling 16.5 million units. Forty four television stations have already begun broadcasting digital TV, indicating a good start for the new format. Within five years, all 1600 stations in the US are required to be broadcasting in digital.