Audio Video News

ASW 675 sports new driver and enclosure design.

The top of the home theater market is a very attractive niche. Scottsdale, AZ-based Accurate Imaging Technologies hopes to establish itself as a major player in the upper end of the market with a series of easy-to-use but no-compromise products. Among them are several new CRT projectors, and an HDTV upconverter. The company plans to introduce high-rez plasma displays and DVD players with SACD compatibility later this year.

Home Entertainment 2001 arrives at the Hilton Hotel & Towers in New York this week for three days, May 11-13. There will be more than 80 rooms stuffed with the latest high end audio and video gear, including dozens of brand new products. For more information about the show, go to the <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">HE 2001 website</A>.

Control4, a leader in smart home technology, today introduced a $350 home automation controller the company hopes will expand the market for smart home systems.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.ravisent.com">Ravisent Technologies</A> announced a technology partnership with <A HREF="http://www.oren.com">Oren Semiconductor</A>, which sells DSP-based digital television demodulator ICs to manufacturers such as Sony, Hughes, and Global Telemann Systems for use in TVs, VCRs, PC cards, and set-top boxes. Ravisent and Oren say they will jointly develop complete broadcast reception and playback solutions for delivering HDTV broadcasts to consumers using the current generation of personal computers.

Why should blue lasers have all the fun? HD DVD and Blu-ray will get some competition next month when New Media Enterprises drops its first red-laser-driven HD VMD players and titles on an unsuspecting world.