Audio Video News

The Pioneer Elite TV brand is becoming Sharp Elite for a new line of LED-backlit LCD TVs. Sharp took the wraps off the first two models, 70 and 60 inches, today at a New York press event. At first glimpse they were dazzling.

Some background: The Pioneer Elite Kuro plasmas were widely regarded as among the best HDTVs ever made. They were a high-end, premium-priced product. But though they wowed critics, they didn't sell enough for the line to survive. Two years ago Pioneer exited the TV business, though it continues to use the Elite brand for its higher-end audio components. Earlier this year Pioneer licensed the Elite name to Sharp for use as a TV brand, a logical move given that Sharp is Pioneer's largest shareholder. And so the LCD phoenix rises from the plasma ashes.

If you tried to visit UltimateAVmag.com or HomeTheaterDesignMag.com and ended up here on HomeTheater.com, it's not a glitch in your system or a mysterious malfunction of the Internet—it's by design. We have integrated UAV and HTD into our flagship site in order to create the Web's most comprehensive resource for those seeking practical, real-world information about what to buy, how to shop, how things work, and how to get the most from all the products that make home theater so entertaining.

Sony has issued a spirited rebuttal to a recent LG-commissioned study claiming 80 percent of consumers prefer passive 3D.

In emails sent to the editors of TWICE, Sony's Mike Abary, home division senior VP, and Samsung's John Revie, senior VP, both pointed out that 3D based on active shutter glasses is outselling 3D based on passive glasses.

Net neutrality has become a political and regulatory football in the United States, with internet service providers squaring off against electronic libertarians, and the feds uneasily caught in the middle. But in one European nation, for the first time, it may be about to become law.

In the Netherlands, the parliament is weighing a net neutrality bill designed to prevent the dominant (and newly privatized) telco from discriminating against certain kinds of net traffic.

When Apple extended iOS from the iPhone and iPod touch to the iPad, skeptics scoffed at the idea of porting the operating system for handheld devices to a tablet computer. Now Apple practically owns the tablet market. Rumor has it that the next step will be an iOS-powered TV.

Granted, this is only the latest prediction among many that Apple would move into the TV set market.

The ReplayTV DVR platform is about to lose its electronic program guide updates. It's another nail in the coffin for what was once TiVo's major rival.

The ReplayTV website reports that the EPG will be "permanently discontinued" on July 31, 2011. Users will still be able to program their units or software manually, but will no longer be able to use the EPG to record.