about-electronics.eu

Akihabara News: Both of Onkyo’s new HT-S7300 & HT-S6300 “Home Theatre in a box (HTiB)” packages include 7 home theater loudspeakers (130-watt, 6-ohm), 290-watt subwoofer, audio-video receiver, Audyssey calibration microphone, and an outboard dock for iPod/iPhone (UP-A1).

They both are 3-D Ready, feature HDMI-1.4a inputs, 1080p video upscaling regardless of native resolution, lossless Dolby & DTS high definition audio, Audyssey 2EQ room acoustics correction technology (Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Audyssey Dynamic Volume processing), as well as Dolby ProLogic IIz height channel processing allowing the back surround speakers to be re-tasked as front height speakers.

The first is available for $899 and the latter for $749.

read more

iPodNN: JVC on Wednesday introduced a new iPod dock with built-in speakers that has a unique wraparound design and supports virtual Dolby surround sound.

The XS-SR3 can hold iPods and iPhones either horizontally or vertically, depending on whether the user wants to listen to music or watch videos.

Four clips are included to hold different models of iPods. The speakers output 5W of power through neodymium magnets.

The dock can also play music from other sources through both analog and optical input. A remote control is included. JVC ships the XS-SR3 later in December for $150 (€102).

read more

TGDaily: Two upcoming online games, Jumpgate Evolution and Mission Against Terror, will integrate Dolby’s Axon 3D voice platform, the company announced.

Axon promises a realistic voice experience that matches the online game environment as well as a clear signal that is free of unwanted noise, echo, and clipping.

The first games to adopt the technology is the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Jumpgate Evolution as well as the first person shooter Mission Against Terror. Jumpgate Evolution is an MMO set in a persistent science fiction world, which uses a “twitch-based” system that allows the player to engage in combat in a ship-to-ship action-oriented style. Mission Against Terror (MAT) was originally developed in China and pitches an online tournament FPS experience.

By integrating aspects of traditional Chinese culture, the game will try to appeal to global players and deliver the usual set of features, including unique weapons, specially designed maps, different gaming modes, and customizable equipment. Axon is available in an 8 kbps low-bit-rate version as well as a high quality version (16 kbps).

Dolby Surround is provided via 7.1, 5.1 channels, two channels via virtual speakers as well as a headset and headphones. Dolby said that Axon’s client bandwidth allows an average of 10 people to be within the hearing range of a user. The server-side integration supports up to 7000 simultaneous users per server (Dual 3 GHz Xeon-based).

read more

EngadgetHD: It’s hard to tell if this is a coincidence or not, but just hours after the Blu-ray Disc Association granted the DRA audio coding technology approval for use on Blu-ray flicks, Dolby has come forward to proudly proclaim that its TrueHD and Digital Plus audio technologies can now be used by select Chinese firms.

TCL Technoly Electronics, MIT Technology and Lite-On have all been given the green light under license to use Dolby’s tech on Blu-ray Disc products, though it does seem a bit curious to us that only these three were selected.

read more

Gizmodo: Onkyo’s new TX-SR607 receiver goes where no sound component has ever gone before by providing Dolby Pro Logic IIz, which gives you vertically-oriented sound in addition to the normal surround sound.

The vertical sound field is created by two speakers which sit above the television, and will provide a noticeable effect in situations where something like an airplane flyover is on screen.

The 7.2 system features 90 watts of power per channel, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD support, plus HDMI switching with 1080p support for Deep Color and x.v.Color.

Onkyo also launched the TX-SR307 and TX-SR507, which are only 5.1 and lack the Dolby Pro Logic IIz. They have 65 and 80 watts per channel, respectively, but feature the same HDMI support as its more sophisticated sibling.

The 307, 507 and 607 will all be out in April for $300, $400 and $600 (€232, €309, €464) , respectively.

read more

Big Picture Big Sound: Not content to rest on their 7.1-channel Surround Sound laurels, Dolby is exploring a new dimension in surround sound — height, that is — with their new matrixed surround sound codec Dolby PRO LOGIC IIz (PLIIz).

Dolby used their demo time at CES this year to show off the possibilities of PLIIz with a computer game demo segment featuring a helicopter which was audibly flying over the audience’s heads thanks to an additional pair of height speakers added to the system (near the ceiling) and Dolby PLIIz decoding.

Because the technology is matrixed into existing 5.1-channel or 7.1-channel soundtracks, it requires no new codecs or standards be added to videogames or Blu-ray Discs in order to work. Onkyo’s upcoming TX-SR607 home theater receiver is expected to be among the first to support Dolby PLIIz decoding.

read more

The HDRoom: Earlier this week, news broke that Dolby Laboratories is pushing its 3-D Blu-ray Disc technology with content providers in hopes of scoring the prized industry standard when Blu-ray in 3D debuts. Dolby’s standard would utilize existing Blu-ray players, 3-D equipped TVs and glasses with specs determined by TV manufacturers.Today, an article in The Nikkei Japanese newspaper today is reporting Panasonic will be unveiling their 3-D Blu-ray technology, that would be built into software and hardware, at CES this week. It would utilize special glasses viewing alternating left-and-right eye images at 120fps to achieve a 3-D effect on-par with what you’d find in the movie theater today.

These two proposed standards likely won’t be the last. The future of home entertainment, for both movies and videogame consoles like the next iterations of Xbox 360 and PS3, is pointing more and more towards 3-D with each passing day.

The fear many, including us, don’t want to face is another “format” war like HD DVD and Blu-ray where multiple 3-D standards are released to the marketplace. One war slowed the adoption of Blu-ray already. In this economy, the clearer options are to consumers, the better.

If a standard can be adopted relatively soon and manufacturing gets underway with relatively little issue, the first 3-D Blu-ray hardware, software and TVs are expected to hit the marketplace in mid-to-late 2010

read more

Electricpig: You may know Dolby best for its surround sound technology, but the company’s on the cutting edge of high-def video rendering too.

Its latest system, Dolby HDR, uses LED backlighting to push contrast ratios to the max, and we’ve just heard that the first gogglebox it’ll be garnishing will be out Q1 next year.

Dolby has been working with Italian projector company Sim2 on a prototype TV that uses individual LEDs behind the screen, rather than a uniform CCFL panel to give massive contrast ratios on screen at the same time (50,000:1), but Dolby’s director of sales for Europe and the Middle East, Andy Dowell, told us a consumer version will be out by “Q1 2009″.

read more

Phones review: LG Electronics and Dolby Laboratories have issued a press release stating LG will be the first mobile phone maker to incorporate Dolby Mobile across the globe.

As we all know Dolby is a renowned technology dedicated to precision audio, Dolby Mobile is an audio processing tech, which delivers rich, vibrate audio to the mobile arena.

The president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communication Company, Dr. Skott Ahn had this to say: “We believe this technology will raise the bar for audio quality on multimedia phones and expect Dolby Mobile to help us create a new trend in the mobile phone industry. LG is committed to providing our customers with the best features available and our new collaboration with Dolby helps us deliver on this pledge.”

read more

Trusted Reviews: There’s a common disadvantage that home theatre PCs and multimedia notebooks share over dedicated DVD, Blu-ray or similar players. Namely the sound quality is almost certainly not as good as a stand-alone solution. Fear not, though, because Dolby has updated its PC Entertainment Experience (PCEE) suite, aiming to bring the computer-based home cinema up to scratch.

PCEE comprises two separate products, Dolby Home Theatre and Dolby Sound Room and each has been updated in conjunction with the launch of Acer’s new Aspire notebooks. Both suites offer improvements to post-processing, including Natural Base, which Dolby claims to provide better low-range response and clarity from speakers, and Sound Space Expander, intended for stereo sources and aims offer a wider sound-stage improving, for example, instrument separation and hopefully providing a better listening experience in films as well.

New to Home Theatre we see support for 7.1-channel sound, including virtual 7.1 from other sources using Dolby Pro Logic IIx. Meanwhile, still included is Dolby Digital Live, which offers digital output to a separate decoder, in case your on-board solution isn’t good enough for your needs.

Also included in the update is Dolby Control Centre, a new interface for configuration of Dolby’s software suite. Currently the only systems featuring this updated Dolby audio processing are the aforementioned new Acer systems, but expect that list to grow in the coming months.

read more

AV zombie: Sound pioneer Dolby Laboratories saw earning spike according to its first quarter financials. Dolby’s net income soared to 29.8 million dollars (22,9 million euro), up from 17 million (13 million euro) year on year. Said Bill Jasper, Dolby President and Chief Executive Officer: “With Dolby’s recognized global brand, broad industry presence, and solid business model, we entered fiscal 2007 in a strong position. With the first quarter completed, I am encouraged by our continued progress. We continue to extend our technologies throughout newer markets, to drive the adoption of additional Dolby technologies, and to innovate.”
New technologies for 2007 include Dolby Volume, aimed at TV manufacturers and Dolby TrueHD, for high definition media. (…)

read more

TG Daily: Dolby promises to automatically control the volume of your TV. 

Dolby Volume technology will first be built into flat-panel television sets and will process digital audio signals to dynamically raise and lower levels, the company said. Incoming PCM audio is processed “psycho-acoustically” and PCM audio is exported.

According to Dolby engineers, Dolby Volume will work with all audio signals and won’t care about bitrates or sampling rates. In addition, the processing does not impact the audio signal.

read more