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Tech Digest: Top-end audio manufacturer Harman Kardon has just announced the “most powerful” amplifier that the company has ever produced, as well as a matching CD player, for those of you still trading in plastic discs.

I could happily regurgitate the press release about how the amplifier’s power is achieved with its “EzSet/EQ room optimisation”, but all you really need to know is that it sounds lovely.

The CD player sounds similarly lovely, thanks to a built-in digital sound processor, and linear smoothing to stop jitters.

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AVRev.com: In-Stat has released a report predicting increased proliferation of Wi-Fi, driven by consumer electronics devices usually found in the living room. 

Wi-Fi is already commanding the mobile device and home network markets, and In-Stat sees the signs for a transition to the living room. 

Game consoles are already experiencing an attach rate of 80%, and DTVs will likely be another major factor in increasing the presence of Wi-Fi.

The largest sector of the market that is Wi-Fi enabled is still mobile devices, however. Notebook PCs, portable media players and cell phones/smart phones will sell hundreds of million Wi-Fi capable units by 2012.

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Techradar: Teufel has announced a range of six new multimedia speaker sets and a new Decoderstation.

The German direct sellers are hoping to convince UK shoppers that they should upgrade their home cinema or add some quality to their PC/Mac set ups with the ‘Concept’ range of speakers and a follow – up to their popular Decoderstation.

The Teufel Concept C 2.1 sets offer up to 150 watt audio output and a choice between either a small or large speaker with a small subwoofer.

The Concept C 200 range consists of CE10 Satellite Speakers and an 8in 80 Watt Subwoofer, with the C200 offering CE 20 Satellite Speakers and a 150 Watt 8in Subwoofer.

There are four different concept E ranges, and last but not least is the Decoderstation 5, which is designed to compliment the Concept range.

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Electronista: Logitech announced its Squeezebox network music players will now offer the Napster subscription music service. Via their wired or wireless home networks, users will have access to Napster’s roughly 7 million-song online library as long as they have active memberships.

The service is available both for models with Internet radio support as well as simple network music playback.

The streaming extends both to manual album, artist and song selection as well as fully dynamic playlists thanks to the Napster Automix feature. Users can also make their own playlists, or tune to one of more than 50 pre-supplied channels divided by genre. There are also thousands of existing playlists to choose from.

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Home Cinema Choice: Samsung has been named the world’s biggest TV brand for the third year running. In a ranking of the world’s biggest players based on 2008 sales data, market analyst DisplaySearch has placed Samsung clearly at the top of the pile.

The South Korean giant sold 21 million LCD TVs in 2008, giving it a 21.9 per cent market share. The company is now some way in front of second placed Sony, which commands a 13.1 per cent of the market. LG Electronics comes in third with 11.2 per cent, Panasonic fourth (8.2 per cent) and Sharp fifth (7.4 per cent).

However, the cash looks likely to drain from the market during 2009. Quixel Research says that while the flatscreen market grew 14 per cent in 2008, its value is decreasing fast. ‘The numbers foreshadow a tough future as far as LCD TV revenues are concerned,’ says Quixel’s Tamaryn Pratt.

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AVReview: Israel’s top-spec AV manufacturer HDi has created a range of BitTorrent-enabled Blu-ray players replete with superb file support and specs.

The range consists of several players including the HD Center, Dune BD Prime and HD Base, all of which deliver Full HD 1080p and video support for everything from DivX, XVid and WMV9 to H.264 and MKV files.

The range is also BD Live compliant for all your interactivity needs and sports a built-in BitTorrent client, with the potential for sharing (legally downloaded) HD content via the onboard Wi-Fi.

There’s room to insert a hard drive to store all your files and there are two eSATA ports as well – perfect for the AV enthusiast who watches Blu-ray yet likes to download from the net as well.

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MarketWatch: As global economic conditions deteriorated during Q4’08, consumer demand for discretionary purchases suffered, including flat panel TVs. According to the latest findings from the DisplaySearch Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report, global TV shipments fell more than 5% Y/Y in Q4’08 to 57.7M units from more than 60M units a year earlier.

Total TV revenues fell even more, declining by 7% to just over $30 billion (€24 billion) despite flat panel technologies picking up more than 10% unit share. Combined flat panel TV revenues posted the first annual decline in a given quarter, falling 3% Y/Y despite 17% growth in unit volume with falling prices affecting revenues.

The 1080p share of global TV shipments exceeded 20% of units for the first time, and a new metric available from DisplaySearch in TV tracking shows that more than 10% of LCD TV sets shipped were equipped with 120 Hz+ frame rates. 

China remained the largest market for TVs on a unit basis, accounting for just over 19% of units, followed by Western Europe and North America at just less than 19%.

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AVReview: US firm VIZIO has unveiled its new VSB210WS Sound Bar for teaming up with your home cinema set-up.

The VIZIO uses SRS TruSurroundHD to make the most of your Hi-Def soundtrack with SRS TruVolume to balance out the volume levels.

Internally we’re listening to four three-inch mid/bass transducers and two one-inch aluminium neodymium tweeters, backed by the subwoofer’s 6.5in long throw high excursion driver working wirelessly on the 2.4Ghz frequency.

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Techradar: German audio specialists Teufel has explained its decision to get into the headphone market after 30 years of concentrating on speakers.

Teufel, whose products are only available through phone orders or online, has concentrated primarily on its speakers since its launch in 1979, but is now selling headphones.

“People were asking for them,” explained Managing Engineer Christoph Winklmeier. “On our forums and telephone lines people were asking for a Teufel product or a recommendation, so we made this decision.”

The headphones are not developed or manufactured by Teufel themselves.

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Home Cinema Choice: The US digital TV switch-off has begun in earnest, with more than 400 TV stations shutting down their analogue transmissions yesterday.

The US government sanctioned a delay in the switch-off till June 12, because of problems with hardware supply and its digital coupon redemption scheme, but nevertheless 421 stations decided to flip the switch on Tuesday night.
According to the FCC, more than 36 per cent of America’s TV network is now fully digital.Currently, it’s estimated that 51 per cent of US households do not have any find of digital reception equipment.

Conversely, in Japan the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is contemplating bring forward the country’s digital switch-over by a year. Japan’s analogue shut-down is currently scheduled for July 24, 2011. 

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Home Cinema Choice: Samsung has claimed the number one TV position in the UK for the second year running.

Latest Gfk data released make Samsung the number one brand in overall sales, with a 23.8 per cent market share (up from just 0.7 per cent in 2000).

Andy Griffiths, VP of CE for Samsung UK is predictably thrilled: ‘It just shows that Samsung’s offering in this market is stronger than ever.’

Samsung is expected to be the first brand to release LED LCD TVs into the UK featuring Yahoo’s new TV widget platform.

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AVReview: Bang & Olufsen has kept to its traditionally extravagant aesthetic with the launch of its new golden range of home AV products.

Though they may look a little Arthur Daley to the untrained eye, B&O assures us the entire range is made using only ‘real materials’ such as aluminium, glass, rubber and wood, all of which has been selected for its ‘quality and ability to fit naturally into any home environment’ (as long as you live in a gold bedecked palace, that is).

The gold colour range has been selected for a limited few products in order to maintain a level of exclusivity, with each product made to order.

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