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In the midst of a hall packed with countless car audio and multimedia devices were the latest offerings to come from major brands such as Pioneer, Kenwood and Sony. While some brands appear to have followed more of an evolutionary path than revolutionary, others, like Sony, have revealed new head units with substantially more technology than was available just last year.

Sony teams up with TomTom
Sony’s flagship navigation unit for 2011 comes in the form of the XNV-770BT, which is an all-new device that features fully integrated TomTom-based navigation and maps and a removable cartridge. This is an example of a revolutionary product for Sony, as there was no product in 2010 that shared the XNV’s approach to navigation.

This unit is also motorized for flip-out action, but still takes up a full two-din space and features a seven-inch WVGA touch screen. As expected, this model also features iPod and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as four-volt pre-outs and a built-in amp.

The XNV-770BT retails for $1,299.95 and is available now.

Pioneer goes bananas for Apple
While Sony decided to team up with TomTom for its latest navigation head unit, Pioneer decided to turn its flagship navigation units into extensions of the iPhone – essentially creating user-friendly docking stations that can make use of the many apps already developed for the mobile phone.

While iPhone’s navigation feature might function well for a walk downtown, or in the hands of a passenger relaying the information, Pioneer decided to integrate the iPhone into its AVIC-Z130BT and AVIC-X930BTin-dash navigation models so that the driver could utilize smartphone connectivity to Aha Radio for Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, traffic, podcasts, Pandora internet radio and App Mode.

“By providing a larger touchscreen unit installed in the dash that features a user interface specifically designed for the automotive environment and complemented by voice control features, we reduce the risk of distraction while driving,” said Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for the car electronics division of Pioneer.

The higher-end model of the two, the AVIC-Z130BT, also features 4 GB of flash memory, a seven-inch WVGA touch screen display, a 3D graphics accelerator, DVD playback and more.

The AVIC-X930BT will be available in March, while the AVIC-Z130BT will be available in April for suggested prices of $800 and $1,200, respectively.

Kenwood kicks it up a notch for 2011
For its 2011 lineup Kenwood has a broad range of models, with traditional single-din units as well as double-din navigation devices. Kenwood decided to take a similar route to both Sony and Pioneer – combined – by creating the DNX9980HD flagship navigation unit that features both iPhone integration as well as outside help from a navigation specialist or two with Germin navigation and Navteq Traffic integration.

Other key features for the device include a 6.95-inch WVGA motorized screen, voice recognition, HD radio, five-volt pre-outs and a 5.1-channel surround sound processor with DTA control.

This unit will retail for $2,00 and is expected to hit shelves in March of this year.

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Engadget: We haven’t heard much about Sony’s HomeShare wireless networking protocol since the initial buzz in 2008, but based on today’s announcements, it’s fairly clear that Sony intends to ramp things up in 2011. The SA-NS300 and SA-NS400 are two new wireless network speakers designed to broadcast tunes from a variety of sources such as DLNA-enabled PCs or BRAVIA internet music services found on Sony’s latest Blu-ray players. iPhones and iPods can join in on the streaming fun when placed in HomeShare compatible NAS-SV20i and NAC-SV10i docks. Since all of these components go beyond the realm of your average IR controller, Sony has kindly released the HomeShare-friendly touch screen RMN-U1 Wi-Fi universal remote, too. Using its activity-based control options, the remote allows those invested in the HomeShare system to send music throughout their network and a view a variety of eye-candy — you know, like album art. Even more interesting is that Sony says all of the components will be available this March for between $200 and $300 depending on the device, which is far below the four figure price points of its early HomeShare gear.

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T3.com: If you have a new 3D TV, you probably ought to consider a new sound system – come on, it’s only money; you can’t take it with you. There are plenty of audio options out there, from all-in-one systems and soundbars with built-in Blu ray decks, to speaker combos for those who own a Blu-ray player. Here are five of the best.

Best: Pure quality
Samsung HT-C9950W
£1,800
Love: Innovative design. Audio and visual prowess
Hate: Very expensive
 

Best: Convenience
Pioneer HTP-200
£500
Love: Convenient and quick to set up
Hate: No on-screen menus. Cheap design
 

Best: Sound quality
Denon AVR-1911 & KEF KHT8005
£1,400 (£400 + £1,000
Love: Awesome sound quality. Feature packed
Hate: High total price
 

Best: Internet content
Sony BDV-E370
£450
Love: Internet extras. Streaming. Clear audio
Hate: Dull looks. Poor sub
 

Best: Extra features
Panasonic SC-BFT800
£700
Love: Space-saving design. Wireless sub. Wide range of features
Hate: No surround sound. Lacks a certain punch

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T3: Blu-ray players should be big sellers this Christmas, helped by increased availability of films and lower prices – a state-of-the-art deck now comes in at under £300. With cutting-edge features such as media streaming, web access and 3D compatibility these ones are future-proofed and offer a genuine alternative to a PS3.

See below for our pick of the best decks available this festive season.

Best: Value for money
Toshiba BDX2100
£100
Love: Cheap. Easy to use. Fast disc loading
Hate: Light on features
Read the full review  

Best: High-end features
Sony BDP-S570
£230
Love: Very strong picture quality. Quick disc loading. N Wi-Fi built in. 3D ready. Easy to use
Hate: Not cheap
Read the full review

Best: Media streaming
LG BD570
£170
Love: Well designed. N Wi-Fi. 2D picture quality. Extensive file support
Hate: Sluggish menus. Limited Net Cast content
Read the full review  

Best: 3D deck
Panasonic DMP-BDT100
£250
Love: 3D ready. Picture quality. Ease of use.
Hate: No built-in Wi-Fi. Limited Viera Cast content. Expensive
Read the full review  

Best: Sound quality
Yamaha BD-S667
£270
Love: Very good picture and sound quality
Hate: No Wi-Fi or 3D mean it feels expensive
Read the full review

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TG Daily: Is the venerable Steve Jobs and his trusty band of acolytes plotting a hostile takeover or acquisition of Sony with Club Cupertino’s $51 billion war chest?

Although many analysts doubt that such a deal would ever take place, reports of a potential acquisition sent Sony stocks up nearly three percent at one point.

Unsurprisingly, Sony has declined to comment on the rumors, which were kickstarted by a recent Barron’s report endorsing the plausibility of an acquisition engineered and executed by Apple.

As AppleInsider’s Sam Oliver notes, another possible source for the frenetic rumors may be a recent Bloomberg interview with former Apple CEO John Sculley.

“I remember (Sony co-founder) Akio Morita gave us one of the first Sony Walkmans. None of us had ever seen anything like that before, because there had never been a product like that,” Sculley told Bloomberg.

“This was 25 years ago and Steve was fascinated by it. The first thing he did was take it apart, and he looked at every single part. How the fit and finish was done, how it was built.”

However, despite Steve’s obvious admiration for Sony, Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw, remains convinced that Apple has absolutely no intention of buying the Japanese-based company.

“We [really] don’t see any acquisitions of any size,” Kumar told Reuters.

“[Firstly], Apple is happy to keep its cash under the pillow. [And secondly], it would [obviously] be a [clear] cultural miss.”

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The Audiophiliac: I’ve reviewed a bunch of midpriced receivers over the past few months, and came away impressed by the quality of all of them. Pioneer’s VSX-1020 was an immediate front-runner, and I love the Marantz NR1601′s rich sound. Yamaha’s RX-V667 was no slouch, but Sony’s STR-DN1010 didn’t thrill me as much as the others. The receivers all carry MSRPs between $500 and $600; street prices are $100 or so less.

So it was the Denon AVR-1911 that took top honors, it just sounded better to my ears than the others. Bass definition was superb; upper treble clarity and resolution led the pack. I didn’t have all of the contenders on hand to directly compare with the AVR-1911; just the Marantz NR1601 and the Pioneer VSX-1020. The Pioneer was the brightest and in some ways the most detailed-sounding, and I felt its front-to-rear imaging was the clearest, but the NR1601 and AVR-1911 both sounded more powerful. The grenade explosions and gunfire in the “Black Hawk Down” Blu-ray had greater impact, and dialog sounded more naturally balanced over the AVR-1911.

I also felt, literally, the Denon’s bass control and power was the best of the three receivers. Not only that, the AVR-1911′s treble purity and “air” on “Goldberg Variations Acoustica,” a jazz interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was well above average for a midpriced receiver. This Blu-ray’s Dolby TrueHD sound is a great test for speakers and electronics, and the AVR-1911 decoded the drummer’s cymbals and percussion instruments with remarkable finesse.

A side benefit of the AVR-1911′s high-frequency resolution was that it had the best soundstage depth of the three receivers. That is, on a great recording like the “Goldberg” disc, the soundstage of the front left, center, and right channels seemed to simultaneously project farther forward and behind the plane of the three speakers. That spacious quality was also evident on the better-sounding movies, like “Master and Commander.”

I felt the AVR-1911′s charm was just as apparent on CDs; the receiver’s soundstage depth and dimensionality on Barbra Streisand’s “Live at the Village Vanguard” was ahead of all the other receivers. The Denon AVR-1911 is the best-sounding midpriced receiver I’ve heard this year.

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Übergizmo: Sony’s an old hand when it comes to home theater systems, and their offerings while not high end, are enough to satisfy most people out there. Their latest offering would be the BDV-F7 home theater system which will target beginners who do not want to spend time figuring out how to set up a 5.1 surround sound configuration, preferring to use those precious minutes watching their favorite movie instead. Apart from that, the BDV-F7 comprises of a sound bar, a subwoofer and a Blu-ray player to make life a whole lot easier.

Don’t be fooled by its sound bar, since it is the equivalent of two speakers crammed into a long, slim design, and won’t have any trouble residing under your TV. As for its Blu-ray player, it is 3D ready so don’t worry about watching the latest 3D blockbusters in the comfort of your own home – just make sure you have enough active shutter glasses to go around.A Wi-Fi adapter is thrown into the mix for you to connect it to your home’s wireless broadband network so that all can access or stream movies from Netflix, Pandora and YouTube among others. No idea on an official release date, but expect the BDV-F7 configuration to ship this coming October 6th for $600.

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Newlaunches.com: You can now carry your 3D Blu-ray player around since it’s gone all slim and sexy. What’s awesome is that it doesn’t have to be one of the high-flying models that we’ve been reviewing from Sony and Toshiba and the likes. Sharp have gotten the whole thing stuffed into a slimmer, sleeker body that packs WiFi and BD-Live content support as well. It works fine with both 3D and 2D content, has a USB slot in the front, connects to your external drives, flushes them out in full glory via the “Pure Mode”, cool LED indicator lights and a very cool and glossy body.

The Sharp BD-HP905 can be expected before Christmas. I guess that’s a nicer way of using the word ‘November’.

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The Guardian: 3D television has dominated the early agenda at IFA, Europe’s largest consumer electronics show, with Panasonic and Sony both announcing flurries of new products and initiatives.

Panasonic showed off what it claimed was the first genuine 3D consumer video camera, the HDC-SDT750. This will allow users to shoot their own footage in 3D. Makoto Nagura, director of Panasonic’s video camera business unit, said this would put 3D firmly into the hands of consumers.

“There is still one thing missing [today]…That is to keep your precious moments in 3D,” Nagura said.

The SDT750 will go on sale in October. UK pricing was not available but it is expected to be priced at $1,399 (£908) in the US.

Most of Panasonic’s press conference in Berlin was devoted to 3D – one indication of how keen the electronics industry is to persuade consumers that they should embrace the new technology, and spend considerable sums of money upgrading their home electronics set-up.

Alongside new 3D televisons and Blu-ray players, Panasonic also announced a new service to deliver 3D movies and films directly to users’ living rooms. This could fix one of factors that is holding back 3D – a lack of content. Panasonic said that around 2,000 films would be available to be downloaded over a broadband connection to one of its TVs or Blu-ray players. News, sport and music channels would also be supported.

Hirotoshi Uehara, who runs Panasonic’s TV business, told IFA that this 3D IPTV service would help to propel 3D into the mass market.

However, hefty price tags may continue to hold the technology back. One of the Panasonic TVs unveiled at IFA, the 42in TX-P42GT20, is available for pre-order at £1,499.

Epson also cast a cloud over the 3D euphoria in Berlin when it failed to show off a 3D projector. It took a much more cautious line than Panasonic, saying that the technology was not yet ready for mass adoption.

“When the market is ready, when the content is ready and when the technology is ready we’ll be there,” Jean-Marie Lacroix, commerical director of Epson Europe, told journalists.

Sony, though, took a very different view as it beat the 3D drum with considerable gusto. It claims to be the only end-to-end 3D provider, as it produces movies shot in 3D, the cameras that are used to film them, and TVs that people can watch them on.

Unlike Epson, Sony did announce a 3D video projector. The WV-90 will let consumers project a 3D film onto a wall, which could give a cinema-style experience.

The Japanese giant also had a prototype model of its first 3D-capable laptop, which chief executive Sir Howard Stringer said would be commercially available next year.

Like Panasonic, Sony is trying to increase the amount of 3D content on the market with a new television service. Stringer, who cited James Cameron’s Avatar as a crucial factor in driving 3D forward, cautioned that film-makers should not rely on 3D at the expense of storyline.

“A hit is still a hit, is still a hit, except that in 3D it’s a bigger hit.”

Sony’s entire press conference was filmed live in 3D and broadcast on a large screen. This, however, highlighted one of the other drawbacks to 3D broadcasting – that viewers need to wear special glasses.

Stringer, who described Sony as the “biggest engine” in the 3D train, also argued that the technology could be about more than just films and sport, and demonstrated this with footage of a performance by Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Lang Lang himself then played live at IFA, telling the press conference that he was a fan of 3D as it let music lovers “get closer to us”.

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Engadget: They may not have been the highlight of Sony’s IFA 2010 press conference, but the company’s new XNV head units deserve a place of their own, given they integrate full-blown TomTom GPS units and audio/video playback into their 7- and 6.1-inch WVGA touchscreens. Presently destined for Europe, the XNV-L77BT, XNV-770BT, XNV-L66BT and XNV-660BT will ship in November with TeleAtlas maps of 45 nations for a number of undisclosed prices, with each sporting Bluetooth, auxiliary and USB jacks, DivX playback and a DVD drive. The presumably-more-expensive “L” models also come with the usual array of traffic and weather alerts plus a Google-powered local search function, and all four decks sport a music recommendation engine that reportedly changes track based on your mood… though how the system measures your emotional attentions, we’re not quite sure, and hope to find out soon. Press release after the break.

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TechRadar: Sony has unveiled two new high-end receivers, with the STR-DA5600ES and STR-DA3600ES hoping to build on the reputation of the company’s ES.

Both the STR-DA5600ES and STR-DA3600ES offer 3D pass-through on HDMI, Digital Cinema Auto Calibration, DLNA with a four-way Ethernet hub, and 1080p upscaling.

“The two new products enable even better home cinema sound, plus state of the art features such as 3D pass-through, DLNA connectivity for networked audio and video and internet radio,” states Sony.

STR-DA5600ES

The STR-DA5600ES features six HDMI inputs, Sony’s H.A.T.S system to get rid of jitter and DAC-ED auto calibration technology.

“The 120W per channel STR-DA5600ES is built to produce top end audio quality and sound tuning,” says Sony.

STR-DA3600ES

The STR-DA3600ES has four HDMI inputs and one output, but also offers power off pass through and Audio Return Channel.

“The STR-DA3600ES delivers 100W per channel. It has full DLNA client capability, along with a built-in four-port Ethernet hub for easy connectivity,” adds Sony.

Both receivers have been given a UK release date of October 2010.

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3Dradar: Sony has announced two new 3D Bravia TVs this week, both due for release later in 2010.

The latest models – the NX713 and NX813 – feature dynamic edge LED backlighting, with Motionflow 100Hz Pro on the former, and Motionflow 200Hz Pro on the latter.

Sony is still to confirm exact UK release dates and pricing. We will be sure to bring you these details as soon as we get them.

Elegant ‘monolithic’ design

In the meantime, Sony’s press release announcing the new NX713 and NX813 TVs notes that the two new network models “combine 3D capability, connectivity and elegant design.”

In addition to full high definition 3D, both sets feature Bravia Internet Video, “for on-demand, online entertainment.”

Somewhat strangely, consumers will need to add a 3D Sync Transmitter and glasses to get the 3D experience, with these not being provided out of the box.

Still, if you are already gearing up to invest in a new 3D Bravia for this coming winter, the marginal extra cost of one or two sets of 3D glasses is hardly going to put you off…

Movies, TV and games content

But what of 3D content? What can you actually watch on your shiny new 3D Bravia later this year?

“All 3D Bravia TVs are supported by a rapidly increasing variety of 3D content,” adds Sony’s release, “including the latest Hollywood movies on Blu-ray 3D disc such as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs; sport, music, natural history and entertainment from new 3D cable and satellite channels; even 3D games such as WipEoutHD and MotorStorm Pacific Rift for the PlayStation3.”

Sony adds that Bravia Internet Video will let you watch catch-up TV services and YouTube without the need for a PC, “plus exclusive content like the FIFA World Cup Collection and streaming movies from Lovefilm.”

“With 3D capability, the connectivity of Bravia Internet Video and stunning monolithic design, the NX713 and NX813 are perfect for people who want both style and performance from their TV,” says Christian Brown, Senior Category Marketing Manager, Sony UK.
 

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