Two companies, Logitech and Monster Cable are trying to spice up the typically hum-drum remote control with remotes that control not only all your audio/visual gear, but also your interior lighting. While both company's remotes do the same thing, they look and feel quite different.
Rumors are circulating that Samsung Electronics has reduced output of its 40- and 46" LCD TV panels by nearly 20% amid reduced orders from downstream clients since November.
As home theaters become an increasingly large part of the home entertainment market, custom component makers have found a niche for the home theater enthusiast. Numinus is one such vendor and makes "Stardomes", decorative and acoustic panels filled with glittering stars and glowing nebulae.
Showcasing the latest model of itsart-over-TV product, TV Coverups is on hand at the Electronic House Expo with one of the more artistic showings. The company now offers a more affordable, manual mechanism that allows consumers to flip between a large-screen TV and a framed piece of artwork, in addition to the automatic, remote control-based model.
One of the more interesting things we found at Electronic House Expo is a full-room home speaker tower from Ferrari. The elegant and expensive car maker wants to make the speakers as luxurious and exclusive as possible, and at a $20,000 standalone price, it meets that depiction.
Speakers are usually big and ugly boxes, but Stealth Acoustics wants to change that with their invisible in-the-wall speakers. All the components are housed inside the dry wall and the speakers make sound by vibrating the wall and surrounding wood studs.
The material costs for a 1080p 52" DLP (digital light processing) rear-projection TV (RPTV) are about $807.52, nearly half of that from a 1080p 52" LCD TV and a PDP (plasma display panel) TV, according to Displaysearch.
Posted by Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group
We've known for some time Apple was planning a spoiler party at MacWorld during CES to take the edge off Microsoft's Vista launch later that same month. Today Microsoft struck first by launching Xbox Live Video Marketplace their own iTV like offering with the Xbox 360 and folks that already have one, in effect get an iTV for free.
Wal-Mart is rolling back prices on dozens of televisions and gadgets in an effort to attract cooler shoppers. Televisions will have the deepest cuts with a Panasonic 42" HD plasma television selling for $1294 and an RCA 32" LCD HDTV for $847.
Panasonic's 103" plasma TV recently became available for purchase on a number of U.S. websites. And apparently, the device isn't quite a hot seller, with even a limited supply resulting in ample availability on the web. As a result, prices for the TV already have dropped considerably, with most etailers offering a $20,000 discount: Instead of the suggested retail price of nearly $70,000, the TH-103PF9UK is offered for just under $50,000.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced that the 5 December release of Miami Vice will mark the first HD DVD release of a movie that was shot in full high-definition. With features like Microsoft's HDi technology and TrueHD lossless sound, Miami Vice will be one of the most technologically superior movies on the HD DVD format, says Universal.
Sunnyvale (CA) - A new wireless protocol spec promises to stream multiple uncompressed HD videos up to 33 feet away. The spec is being spearheaded by the Wireless HD group composed of several consumer electronic manufacturers that include LG, Matsushita, Samsung and Sony. While the spec isn't finalized yet, it will probably function in the 60 GHz band which can transfer at more than 25 Gbps allowing for two to three uncompressed 1080p streams.
Posted by Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group
Buying a new PC looks much more interesting this Christmas than in many previous years. There are new and much more powerful and power-saving processors as well as new tech such as flash-based hard drives. And there is Windows Vista, which could be reason enough for some to ditch that old PC. Rob Enderle takes a closer look at Apple and Microsoft and has some food for thought.
Rear-projection HD (high-definition) TVs (RPTVs) in North America recovered from a weak performance this summer and jumped 30% for both units and revenues in August, according to research firm Pacific Media Associates (PMA).
