about-electronics.eu

SlipperyBrick: Bang & Olufsen introduced its premium BeoSound 5 digital audio system. The BeoSound 5, said its maker, combines physical elements (such as an aluminum wheel and tactile buttons) with virtual ones (a laser pointer and a specially-developed graphical user interface) on a 10.4″ LCD display.

It offers up a unique intelligent playlist technology scans one’s music library and finds similar tracks based on parameters such as sound, dynamics and rhythmic aspects.

Features of the BeoSound 5 include a 500GB hard drive for storage of digital music files, Internet radio streaming, lossless WMA support and one hand operation.

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SlashGear: Denon set tone with the announcement of DVD-A1UD, the world’s first universal desk with inclusion of SACD, DVD-A, HDCD in their flagship Blu-ray universal player months ago, and was scheduled to due this month. Interested buyers with deep pocket may have to wait couple months longer, the do-it-all desk has been postponed to due in March.

The delay of shipment was reported on company’s product page (Japan site), the much-anticipated universal player is now being put off for another two months, but no details of holdback were further explained.

On the other hand, counterpart, Oppo BDP-83 with lesser features but 85% more affordable has launched an Early Adoption Program for early adopters.

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Electronista: Japan’s Lancerlink and Taiwan’s GRANDTEC have released the Grand HD Cinema, a unique video converter.

Meant for computers, the device feeds PC video into a USB port, which is then converted into HDMI output.

Owners can thus watch PC content on an LCD, OLED, laser or plasma TV, or simply connect to an HDMI-capable monitor.

Up to six separate HDMI devices can be connected, though users can alternately hook up one Grand HD per USB port on a computer, and project several different images. Resolutions are limited to a maximum of 720p.

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Home Cinema Choice: Freeview digital recorders were the hot ticket item for Christmas 2008, according  to new sales data released by the UK’s digital terrestrial TV service. According to Freeview,  two Freeview+ boxes were bought every minute in the run-up to Xmas, bringing the total number of Freeview+ boxes sold in the UK to more than 900,000.

Freeview managing director Ilse Howling isn’t surprised at the surge of interest, saying: ‘Freeview+ offers outstanding value. It gives the same experience as ‘+’ a recorder from other providers, the only difference is it’s free from subscription.

During a downturn, TV viewing naturally increases as people choose to stay in and watch TV as a form of free entertainment. Freeview is now received in 17.2 million homes. CNN International recently joined the platform (channel 84) and Discovery Networks UK will launch this spring. The first Freeview HD channels will begin transmission at the end of this year.

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AVRev.com: AudioQuest is the first to reportedly figure out a way to field terminate HDMI cables effectively.  If this technology proves generally applicable, it means that an installer will be able to pull raw HDMI through the walls and terminate it to an exact length.

Using their “Bayonet” connector, a crimper tool slices through the wire and pushes the attached V-pins through the wire, both cutting through the insulation and trimming the excess in one smooth motion.

This has several benefits for the average consumer. Firstly, the entire home theater, projector or other setup will look much cleaner, with fewer long wires exposed.  Also, it makes it easier for homes to have HDMI pre-installed – meaning that the cables will be there but the connectors can be added at a later time.

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T3: Marantz is promising the movie playback of your dreams with its newly-launched flagship Blu-ray player, the BD8002.

Knocking out  crystal clear, super sharp 1080p imagery at 24 frames per second, the BD8002 also offers  lossless, high def sound via Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as 1080p upscaling for your old DVDs, thanks to the on-board Digital Noise Reduction.

Versatile little thing too, handling VCDs, SVCDs, MP3s, WMA and DivX video files plus JPEG images, with an SD card slot for transferring your media from small gadget to big screen. Downside? Well, if you lay out the cash for a cutting-edge player, you want the cutting edge features – and this one is crying out for Blu-ray profile 2.0 rather than the 1.1 you actually get.

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Electronic House: For those not keeping score on the year’s tradeshows, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) is next week. We don’t expect the same kind of turnout as CES, but projectiondesign from Norway is planning to show off its F32 projector line.

According to About Projectors, that line includes three models that can hold up in “harsh environments.” At almost 28 pounds, the F32 sx+ has a 1400 x 1050 resolution. The F32 1080 features a 1920 x 1080 resolution and two HDMI inputs. Last, but not least, the F32 wuxga has the same resolution as the 1080, but adds in 5700 ANSI lumens.

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ElectricPig: Philips leaked its Cinema 21:9 super widescreen TV earlier this month, but it’s just given a sneak peak in the flesh.

Philips is hoping that the Cinema 21:9 will be the start of a mass change from 16:9 ratio video to a more movie friendly 21:9, and from the looks of what we saw today, it could be on to something.

No black bars really makes full use of the 56 inch LCD panel when watching movies, although sadly Philips wouldn’t show what 16:9 or 4:3 broadcasts look like on it.

The Cinema 21:9 TV is 1080p compatible, with Ambilight on three sides to illuminate the walls and soothe tired eyes.

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TechRadar: Britain is a nation of telly addicts, according to a new report by TV marketing body Thinkbox. The report, based on figures taken from research body Barb, says the average TV viewer in the UK clocked up a horrifying 26 hours’ worth of TV watching a week over the last year.

Using a mathematical equation that we sort of remember from our GCSE maths days, this figure equates to around 3.7 hours a day.

According to Thinkbox’s report, TV watching in the UK is at its highest ever, beating the heady heights of 2003: the year that previously held the most-TV-watched torch.

Thinkbox also found that online TV viewing was not cannibalising broadcast TV figures as first expected, with 78 per cent of people using IPTV as a means to catch up on shows missed on traditional broadcast telly.

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NetworkWorld: Sharp and Sony have decided to delay the targeted start of a joint-venture LCD (liquid crystal display) production and sales venture.

The two companies said changes in the world economy have pushed them to extend talks, originally started almost a year ago, and put-off by one year the targeted start of the new venture to March 2010.

The companies will continue to talk under a memorandum of understanding that was signed in February last year and now plan to reach a definitive agreement on the venture by the end of June this year.

The planned joint venture was supposed to start operating this year and take over a new LCD factory that Sharp has already started building in Sakai in western Japan.

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HiddenWires: Belgian Artsound, a leading developer of multi-room multi-source systems introduces the ART5.4 and ART8.8 models. Both systems are based on the ZIGBEE radio frequency technology, enabling the user to do everything the advanced multi-room multi-source systems can, however using bi-directional wireless communication.

These systems have two built-in FM tuners, the ability to play Internet radio, USB, SD card reader, the possibility of up to 3 simultaneous audio streams, etc. There are four or eight zones, depending on the type of device. However, thanks to expansion modules, music can be sent to additional zones.

The user can see what is playing in his or her zone on the intelligent remote control. Whether the sound is an MP3 file, RDS information or a CD track.

The ART2.1 will now also see the light of day. The ART2.1 can support 2 sources (one of which is a built-in FM tuner) which are controlled using the RF hand-held transmitter.

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VNUNet: As Japan, like much of the rest of the world, sinks ever deeper into recession, two of its electronics giants, Sony and Toshiba, have posted significant losses for the past quarter, blamed on dwindling corporate and consumer demand.

Sony posted an operating loss of almost ¥18bn (€154m). Nearly ¥16bn (£136m) of the loss came from Sony’s electronics division. Toshiba is also finding the economic downturn hard to deal with, announcing an operating loss of ¥158.8bn for the quarter.

Both companies appear to have fallen victim to reduced consumer demand and a strong yen, making Japanese goods more expensive in the international market. They also face increasingly stiff competition from South Korean rivals Samsung and LG Electronics.

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