Says Bose: “The Unify™ intelligent integration system is the exclusive Bose technology that makes it easier than ever to bring premium surround-sound to your Blu-ray™ Disc player, gaming console, satellite and cable boxes, iPhone/iPod - just about any, and every, digital home entertainment source. Easy to follow on-screen messages guide you through the entire set up process - showing you exactly what to do every step of the way. The Unify™ system can sense whether you’ve made a correct or incorrect connection, and put you right should you go wrong.” Read more…

bose home entertainment

Techradar: Blu-ray sales in Europe are looking better than ever, with new figures suggesting that the format has almost doubled in popularity in a year. Read more »

Blu ray DVD home entertainment

Video Business: The worst recession in decades took its toll on U.S. home entertainment spending in 2008, as it did on virtually every consumer goods category.

Although not proving recession-proof, the home entertainment industry did show some resilience, with consumer spending on rentals and purchases of DVD and Blu-ray Disc falling a relatively moderate 5.7%.

Consumer purchases on both formats slid 8.5% to $14.1 billion, with Blu-ray’s exponential sales growth unable to fully counterbalance slippage of more than 10% in DVD sales.

Blu-ray sales represented about $750 million in 2008, according to studio estimates.

Blu ray home entertainment

VNUNet: Cisco Systems revealed at CES that it intends to launch an intensive new networking campaign. Aimed mainly at the consumer market, the new campaign will look to add a new level of connection between home entertainment devices and internet multimedia services.

Leading the way will be Eos, a hosted platform from Cisco which will allow content providers such as music studios or record labels to distribute music directly to internet-connected appliances such as set-top boxes and media players. The company hopes that Eos will not only spur home networking, but help companies make a better profit on digital content sales.

Cisco is also releasing a new set of home appliances aimed at increasing the level of connectivity between computers, entertainment devices and portable media players. Central to the line is a new home server system. Cisco Linksys Media Hub will allow users to store media files and regular documents on an internet-connected server system that can be accessed over a local wireless network or remotely over the internet.

Complementing the media hub will be a new line of entertainment devices, including music players, stereo systems and an iPod dock.

Cisco Linksys Media Hub Cisco Systems Eos home entertainment

Hollywood Reporter: Latest figures from the British Video Assn. show that the U.K. home entertainment industry is bucking the economic trend and showing continued volume growth.

Sales in the first half of 2008 are up 3.3% compared with the same period last year, thanks to the increased level of consumer choice provided by high-definition formats, the BVA said, adding that Blu-ray Discs are up 506% year to date and have a 1.2% share in the total market.

The BVA said 111.6 million units had been sold this year, including nearly 1 million Blu-ray Discs.

“The availability of DVD, Blu-ray and legal downloading means viewers now have more options when deciding how to consume their home entertainment. This increased supply of choice is one factor attributed to the growing demand,” the BVA said.

home entertainment

HiddenWires: Households across Europe are full of expensive technology that most people do not know how to control, according to a study released today and commissioned by Logitech. It is estimated that Europeans have at least €362 billion worth of TVs, HiFis, speakers, video and DVD players, digital recorders and satellite boxes in their homes, with the true value probably being several billions more. In spite of this, in 24 percent of European households only one person knows how to control all the technology in their home.

The Logitech study, undertaken by Lightspeed Research, demonstrates the huge expense and complexity involved in acquiring and making use of technology commonly found in the home. Most households have spent thousands of Euros on home entertainment, yet the majority of people in each household are unable to do simple tasks like watching a DVD or recording a TV programme.

The source of the problem seems to be the sheer complexity of technology in the home - 49 percent of households have five or more remote controls and 87 percent have three or more. Yet one in four Europeans have a very untechnical solution to the problem: written instructions for their loved ones explaining how to control their system (otherwise known as a cheat sheet).

home entertainment Lightspeed Research