Posts in Home AV
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
New Linksys' duo stream multimedia further and faster
Philip Wong | Mar 05, 2008
The CES 2008-announced Linksys Media Center Extenders have finally landed in Singapore. The S$399 (US$262.50) DMA2100 and S$499 (US$328.29) DMA2200 feature Wi-Fi 802.11N wireless technology, offering enhanced bandwidth and extended multimedia streaming range. The beefed-up networking performance aside, both models also support all major media formats and come standard with an HDMI output plus value-added learning remote control.
For S$100 (US$65.79) more, the DMA2200 has an inbuilt DVD player with 1080p video-upscaling capability and three instead of two radio antennas. It's also notably larger and heavier than the 2100 at 231 x 125 x 329mm and 2.2kg. Do check out these Windows Media Center PC-centric wireless streamers during the IT Show tomorrow. Pricing and availability for the rest of Asia were not available at press time.
Five new color-tuned InFocus Work Bigs
Philip Wong | Mar 04, 2008
InFocus is revving up for the year with five new Work Big multimedia projectors featuring the latest Texas Instruments BrilliantColor technology. The X6, IN35, IN35W, IN37 and IN38 are new-generation DLP light cannons capable of delivering bright presentations, as well as richer vibrant hues. Fully compatible with its LiteShow II Wi-Fi adapter, these can be upgraded to wirelessly stream audio/video from your laptop, compatible up to the high-speed 802.11g standard.
A notable entry among the lot is the S$2,599 (US$1,709.87) IN35W. This offers a unique 1,280 x 800 resolution pixel-to-pixel optimized to leverage on the growing popularity of widescreen business notebooks. For heavy-duty applications, the S$3,499 (US$2,301.97) IN38 will fit in nicely with its powerful 3,500 ANSI lumens output. This is coupled with comprehensive connectivity options ranging from standard PC to component-video sockets, out-of-the-box HD compatibility and handy onboard diagnostic tools.
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