Posts in Home AV
Quad-ported Pagani stereo hi-fi
Philip Wong | Mar 10, 2008
It seems super cars are no longer the Pagani Automobili reson de etre for these days. Like Ferrari, the Italian car manufacturer has ventured into consumer electronics with its own line of home audios. What we have here is a flashy self-contained stereo hi-fi. The kit comprises a vinyl turntable, CD player, preamplifier, 150W power amplifier and a pair of floor-standing speakers. For exotic cars enthusiasts, the four-valve port on the loudspeakers adds a unique Zonda styling, while generous applications of carbon fiber and aluminum give the entire setup a very polished appearance.
This product is obvious built ground up for the socialites and elitists, so we will skip on pricing. However, if you need one of these for your million-dollar mansion, just get your secretary to drop the Italians an email here.
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Via Autoblog | Photo credit: Pagani Automobili
Pioneer's ninth-gen Kuros to mark end of deep blacks
Philip Wong | Mar 07, 2008
It may be the end of the road for the Pioneer-made Kuro. That said, the Japanese is still on track to launch its ninth-generation Kuros before it halts in-house panel production. Bowing to growing market pressure, the staunch plasma supporter is also ready to launch its own range of Sharp-supplied and Pioneer-customized LCD TVs. These are slated for release in the European market this fall. Furthermore, both companies have entered into a collaboration for Blu-ray-related business. This will encompass end-consumer product design, as well as underlying hardware components. Finally, to turn around its home electronics business, plans are in place to expand its display-related network/wireless audio-visual, Blu-ray and professional sound-visual products.
Though we were surprised with the sudden turn of events, this was not unexpected taking into consideration its recent push for a premium proposition. This may have further alienated Pioneer from value-conscious consumers and strained its market share in an extremely competitive flat-panel TV market increasingly dominated by LCD TVs. While performance definitely matters, it seems like affordability is still high on consumers' priority--a sad but true reality of commoditization.
High-power 18-valve Ferrari speakers
Philip Wong | Mar 07, 2008
Are you interested in owning a piece of quality Ferrari engineering? If you're willing to cough out US$20,000 in cold hard cash, check out the exquisitely crafted and high-tech Ferrari Art.Engine speakers. Cast from strong carbon-fiber composite and aircraft-grade aluminum, the sports car-styled loudspeakers are a sight to behold. To convince you of its Ferrari lineage, there are even cooling duct replicas just like those on the classic F40, in case you missed out the oversized brand name and signature red glossy finish.
There isn't a turbo-charged V-8 engine under the bonnet for this towering monster. Instead, there are four 200W digital amplifiers powering an impressive array of 16 audiophile-quality ScanSpeak woofers and two tweeters. The Farrari Art.Engine has also gone wireless with Wi-Fi technology and will readily stream music from any PC and Mac computers. David Wiener Ventures, the company behind this unusual product, further guarantees accurate stereo imaging despite the set's unique one-speaker design.
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Via Bornrich.org | Photo credit: David Wiener Ventures
Samsung kills HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player
Erica Ogg | Mar 07, 2008
Samsung will halt its plans to release the combination HD DVD/Blu-ray player, the BD-UP5500, introduced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show. Samsung issued a statement late Wednesday, saying that though the product "remains a practical solution...the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before. In light of recent announcements, Samsung will not introduce the BD-UP5500 Duo HD Player".
The announcement doesn't come as much of a shock. Even at its launch there were questions whether the product was relevant, and if so, for how long, since just a few days earlier Warner Bros. made its bombshell announcement that it would support Blu-ray exclusively, effectively dooming the HD-DVD format.
There are very few options left for owners of HD-DVD discs. Last month Toshiba decided to bow out, followed soon by Microsoft's announcement it would no longer produce external HD-DVD drives for its Xbox 360 video game console. Samsung has one other combo player and LG Electronics still makes two combo players.
Samsung will, however, keep moving ahead with plans to release its next Blu-ray only player, the BD-P1500, which is still on track for a spring release.
Via Crave CNET
More updates on Pioneer ending production of plasma panels
Erica Ogg | Mar 06, 2008
Reuters reported Tuesday that the company will cease production of its own plasma panels because that portion of its business continues to lose money. The company will still sell plasma sets, but plans to get its plasma panels from Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, the Nikkei business daily reported. Panasonic is the biggest plasma TV vendor in the world, shipping nearly 40 percent of all plasma displays, while Pioneer ranks fifth, shipping just over 6 percent of plasmas worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to DisplaySearch.
So far, Pioneer isn't confirming or denying the reports ("Our headquarters are planning to publicly discuss our TV strategy at the end of this week, so we'll have no information until then," said a spokesperson), but it doesn't look good.
As CNET colleague and resident TV expert David Katzmaier put it, this news amounts to "a black day for black levels".
Pioneer has been repositioning its plasma business over the last few years as a premium brand, most recently pushing its "Kuro" technology, which emphasizes deep black levels and contrast, at CES 2007 and 2008. CNET Reviews ranked the 50-inch plasma from Pioneer as the best it's ever tested last year.
Though it appears Pioneer will continue to sell plasmas sets, if it's not making the panels, it seems unlikely that it will prolong the life of its Kuro technology. Pioneer is, however, already planning to buy liquid crystal display panels from Sharp in order to start selling LCD TVs. LCD sets have quickly become the fastest-growing TV technology, displacing traditional cathode-ray tube sets, as well as rear-projection and plasma.
Via Crave CNET
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