Audio Video News

Pioneer has pulled the wraps off a mid-priced AV receiver that targets cinephiles and gamers with the lure of an “ultimate” surround sound experience.

Pioneer introduced a wireless earbud that offloads its rechargeable battery into a small in-line box with a spring-loaded clip that holds the cable running between the buds in place when your jogging, working out, or otherwise on the go.

Ongoing financial losses to the Indian film industry from widespread video piracy provoked a one-day strike last week in the city of Bombay. On Tuesday, August 14, about 5000 people---including actors, producers, directors, and technical workers---streamed into the city's business district in a protest march from the suburb of Bandra. The strike was led by the Film Makers Combine, an industry association that called on the Indian government to step up enforcement of copyright laws.

HDR improves picture quality but also makes content more tempting to steal. Writes a Fox studio executive in Multichannel News: “Fox’s experience is that the moment a high-quality pirate source becomes available, it immediately becomes much more popular than lower-quality sources such as theater camcorders or ‘ordinary’ HD sources, and is therefore a bigger threat to our legitimate business.”

The completion of two more films will close the books on a long-running partnership between Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Company. On Thursday, January 29 Pixar announced that it had abruptly ended discussions with Disney and would not renew its distribution agreement when it expires in 2005.

Long heralded as one of the most promising video technologies, the flat-panel display could get a big boost from a recent agreement between <A HREF="http://www.pixelworks.com/">Pixelworks, Inc.</A> and <A HREF="http://www.analog.com/">Analog Devices, Inc.</A> to integrate their respective technologies in a new generation of products.

Flat screen fans will be pleased to hear that, last week, <A HREF="http://www.plasmavision.com">Fujitsu</A> announced that it is lowering the suggested retail prices on its PDS-4222 and PDS-4214 Plasmavision Slimscreen 42-inch widescreen plasma display monitors. Effective immediately, the suggested retail price for the PDS-4222 has been reduced from $13,999 to $9999, while the PDS-4214's suggested retail price has been reduced from $9999 to $7999.