A/V Veteran

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Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006  | 

This is the R&D prototype for the BeoLab5, shown with the project's lead designer, Gert Munch.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006  | 

"The Cube" is the first stop in testing a B&O loudspeaker. At 12x12x13 meters it is the world's largest privately owned sound test room. It is not an anechoic chamber. Instead, B&O built a space large enough to use MLS measurements to a high degree of precision. MLS measures the speaker's response to an impulse. This result is then gated to eliminate the effect of the sound reflected off the walls. The reproduced and filtered impulse is then converted back to a frequency response (techies will recognize this as a Fourier transformation). The two walls of the chamber are damped, not to eliminate reflections but to speed up the time between impulses (a number of impulses are averaged for greater precision). The support structure shown here holds the loudspeaker (in the photo it's one of B&O's very tall, pencil-thin designs). The mike is visible in the distance. Measurements are made in 140 different directions.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2006  | 

If stepping off the plane into the Copenhagen airport is a little like stepping into the world's biggest IKEA store, then stepping out of the tiny airport in Karup, Denmark is a little like transporting to the farmlands of Nebraska. But my mission to the far west end of the Jutland peninsula, together with a number of other European and North American journalists, was not sightseeing, but information. Information about what Struer, Denmark manufacturer B&O is currently about, and how the activities in its several facilities are leading to interesting new products, and how those products are influenced by the thinking and research behind them.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 21, 2006  | 

It all starts with the mother glass. That's the foundation for building an LCD panel. Everything else—the individual red, green, and blue elements of each pixel and the interconnects necessary to drive them—are grown on it.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

JVC announced a new 58" D-ILA model that checks in at just a bit over 10-inches deep.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

Toshiba showed its first outboard HD DVD-ROM computer drive.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

Hitachi's Premier designs in Japan are part of the Wooo line. Wooo Hooo!

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

Sharp was only one of a number of manufacturer's showing new Blu-ray recorder/players, most of them also including hard drives. Sharp's was particularly classy, with a wood-grained top. None of these recorders are destined for the U.S. market.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

Sharp showed off every size and model of its current line.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

This single seater in the Pioneer booth is for those who can't fit a Mini in the garage. I'm not sure how it fits into consumer electronics. Perhaps it's the audiophile special—you can drive and still always be in the sweet spot.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 08, 2006  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2006  | 

Recording comes to HD DVD, but only in Japan for now, with this Toshiba HD DVD player/recorder/hard drive PVR.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 09, 2006  | 

Sharp dressed up its booth with some of the tallest Japanese ladies I've ever seen.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 09, 2006  | 

Sharp is working on this Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese translation device. It translates both written and spoken language, though is still fairly rudimentary in its ability to handle complex communication. We're not quite up to Star Trek's universal translator yet, but you can see it coming.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 09, 2006  | 

So did the puppet image in the last photo turn into a Sumo wrestler? Not quite. I couldn't snag a screen shot if the puppet because of a strange interaction between the screen image and my digital camera (FM reported the same thing). But for some reason this photo came out OK. The image on the SED's screen wasn't his blue; that's a camera issue.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 09, 2006  | 

The SED demo included this puppet performance (this is a direct shot of the live action, not a screen shot from the SED) so we coulde compare live vs Memorex.

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