Audio Video News

Although prices for high-definition displays have steadily declined in the past year, the equipment hasn't moved into the mass market in significant numbers. Home-theater specialty shops and their upscale clientele haven't yet had much of a "trickle-down" effect on rank-and-file consumers.

This fall, <A HREF="http://www.pioneerelectronics.com">Pioneer</A> will launch a new line of DVD recorders featuring TiVo's personal video recorder technology. Almost certain to cause anxiety among Hollywood studios and network broadcasters, the new recorders will combine TiVo's versatile recording and operating features, and give consumers the choice of archiving their recordings on magnetic hard disks or DVD-R/RW optical disks.

Some Pioneer DVD recorders and computer drives need a firmware update before they can be used with new high-speed discs, according to a September 17 announcement from Long Beach, CA&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.pioneerelectronics.com">Pioneer Electronics USA, Inc</A>. Using high-speed discs without first completing the update could cause damage to both discs and hardware, the company explained.

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.