http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/rss.xml We report, you decide... or something like that. We'll pull in news from all over the industry and bring it to you as it arrives. Stay here to keep on top of all things AV. hourly 12 2006-12-01T00:00 http://www.audioholics.com/static/logo.jpg http://www.audioholics.com/ http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/blu-ray-not-red-hot Blu-ray is no slam-dunk according to researchers. But a recent Harris Poll has some very interesting results about consumer HD buying habits. We can probably all agree that focus groups and marketing brain-trusts aren’t going to help Blu-ray, but lower prices certainly will. wayde 2008-05-15T12:08:34+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/itunes-hbo What do Sex and the City, Sopranos and Rome have in common? They can all be downloaded now on iTunes! Apple has announced a deal with HBO that has revolutionized its pricing model. Content providers everywhere are saying: It’s about time! wayde 2008-05-14T10:31:58+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/samsung-blue-phase-240hz-lcd Samsung Electronics announced today that it has developed the world’s first “Blue Phase” LCD panel – which will offer the ridiculously fast image-driving speed of 240 Hz. Samsung is planning to unveil a 15” model of its Blue Phase LCD panel at SID (Society for Information Display) 2008, which will be held in Los Angeles from May 18 to 23. Before you get all excited, however, we're still classifying this as very "prototype-hype" technology since, while promising, it isn't slated for mass production until sometime in 2011. clint 2008-05-14T09:29:27+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/jvc-kenwood-merger Two electronics giants, Kenwood and JVC, have combined to form a holding company focused on car and home audio electronics. The new company, uniquely entitled JVC Kenwood Holdings, hopes to increase their operating profits up to four times in the next three years. tom 2008-05-13T15:45:11+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/dts-to-focus-on-consumers When dts released their quarterly earnings, they also announced a new focus - solely on their consumer market. They have sold both their Digital Cinema business (closed on My 9th for $3.3 million) and Digital Images (on April 4th for $7.5 million). dts could earn up to $11.7 million in "additional consideration" over the next few years based on the terms of the Digital Cinema sale. What was most interesting about the announcement was that dts is continuing it's mantra of "focusing on the consumer market." Apparently that means getting completely out of the traditional theater and focusing on home theaters. tom 2008-05-13T13:27:24+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/xbox-360-65nm-gpu Reports have surfaced from Taiwan that chip makers are producing enhanced Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for Xbox 360. The new processors are designed to keep Microsoft’s gaming machine cool during those all night Halo 3 fests and hopefully end the dreaded red circle of death once and for all. wayde 2008-05-12T09:42:59+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/pioneer-unveils-2008-kuro-1080p-hdtv This week Pioneer introduced six new models of Plasma HDTVs for the company’s Kuro line. Pioneer says the new 2008 Kuro models will display black levels up to five times deeper than its 2007 models – talk about new and improved! The new 50-inch and 60-inch plasmas will sell for $4000 and $5,500 respectively. wayde 2008-05-09T11:26:06+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/comcast-may-cap-unlimited-internet After Rogers, Canada’s top Cable/Internet broadband provider announced it’ll end its unlimited Internet access, America’s number two Internet provider considers the same measure. An insider tells DLSReports.com that Comcast is discussing monthly caps on Internet use. In the new system subscribers to the previously unlimited plans will have 250GB limit. An additional charge of $15 would be applied for every additional 10GB. wayde 2008-05-08T12:29:04+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/metallica-radiohead-online-music A switch of sorts has occurred between two camps in the ongoing online music distribution issue. Radiohead has decided to abandon the pay-as-you-please business and longtime Internet curmudgeons Metallica are exploring their options for an online music release, possibly adopting the method Radiohead is giving up. wayde 2008-05-05T09:31:33+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/apple-itunes-dvd-release Today Apple announced a deal with Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and New Line to release movies into the iTunes store simultaneously with DVD releases. iTunes has already experimented with what is being referred to as "day and date release" titles with such films as Juno. MGM was noticeably absent, but smaller studios like Magnolia and Image Entertainment were included. This announcement follows Apple's recent announcement that it inked deals with all of the major studios to provide 30-day rental access to films for $3 - $4 each and also provide "download/purchases" for around $15. clint 2008-05-01T08:37:50+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/scarlett-tv-series-hoax-lg Want to market your new flat panel TV? Why not consider creating the concept for a new TV show, getting it placed into the imdb.com, drumming up a full release party with 500 invitees, bring them to a theater for a swanky screening... And then tell them it's a big hoax. Yeah, that'll sell tons of TVs! On Monday night, about 500 people planned to gather at the Pacific Design Center in Hollywood for a full-blown release-style screening of Scarlet, a new TV series from director David Nutter that was supposed to star Natassia Malthe. Except that the premier never happened. In fact, the show never truly existed in the first place. clint 2008-04-30T09:26:53+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/grand-theft-auto-iv-hit-streets-at-midnight The buzz over what’s speculated to be the top selling video game of the year was palpable last night. All over North America Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale at the stroke of midnight. Game shops and electronics stores opened starting at midnight for one hour to give sales a running start. wayde 2008-04-29T10:34:20+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/hd-cable-petition With the recent wave exposure about poor quality HD cable signals, a petition has been developed by one of the hosts of the popular audio/video podcast AV Rant. In the original posting, it seems that this petition was instigated by problems the host and Audioholics' staffer, Tom Andry, had with his Comcast HD service and a few vocal listeners. admin 2008-04-25T11:05:35+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/dvd-piracy-china-black-market Digital piracy and fake products is a problem throughout the developing world but nowhere to the scale seen in China. The problem isn’t likely to be solved through diplomacy, litigation or law enforcement – business is forced to come up with creative solutions of its own. Could techniques used in China aimed at combating piracy be carried worldwide? wayde 2008-04-24T09:25:52+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/sharper-image-for-sale Sharper Image Corp., the company that brought us such incredibly useless products as the Ionic Breeze air purifier, put itself "up for sale" today - just two months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Apparently the struggling economy has really send people running away from the upper-end retail store, which sells most of its products at strict retail and largelyinventories only the highest-priced items for each category. clint 2008-04-24T09:16:59+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/three-priests-signed-by-sony Who says three singing Roman Catholic priests wouldn't make for compelling music fare? Well... don't answer that. Father Eugene O’Hagen, 48, his brother Martin, 45, and their old school friend David Delargy, 44 signed a $2 million contract yesterday with Sony BMG after a demo CD was submitted to a rep by an Irish pop musician who asked them to make a demonstration recording. Each of the priests hold a parish in Northern Ireland and apparently the contract was signed by the steps of Westminster Cathedral in London. clint 2008-04-24T09:02:54+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/onkyo-receivers-audioholics-store Audioholics is proud to bring on board the Onkyo brand of products to our ecommerce store. “This is a brand we are very excited about” says Gene DellaSala, President of Audioholics.com. “Onkyo’s latest receiver line represents some of the best values in today’s A/V market. Last year Onkyo won our 2007 Product of the Year award for the TX-SR805 which led the pack in innovative features in its price class. Check out the full line of Onkyo A/V receivers at the Audioholics e-store and stay tuned as we add more Onkyo products to our store line up. clint 2008-04-23T16:00:35+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/drm-bad-killing-online-music You've heard us (and everyone else for that matter) harp on how bad DRM is for consumers. What many readers don't understand is why. Microsoft gave us a perfect example yesterday as they issued an email explaining that users of its now-defunct MSN Music service will need to make any and all authorizations or deauthorizations before August 31. This is just another nail in a slowly descending coffin. clint 2008-04-23T11:34:54+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/comcast-compresses-hd-no-one-shocked Comcast and other cable providers are compressing their HD channels up to 3:1. This means softer pictures, audio and video dropouts, and users on Internet forums exposing your bad signal for what it is. Is there relief on the horizon? Maybe... tom 2008-04-22T10:37:46+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/sonys-2mm-oled-display Sony is really pursuing this OLED thing to its biggest potential and put out a new display this week that measures just 2mm thick. We thought the original 3mm model was thin, but it seems Sony is still working on making the process even better. The new display was recently shown off at the Display 2008 expo trade show in Japan, where Sony also debuted a new version of its $2500 11-inch XEL-1, the world's first mass-produced OLED TV. clint 2008-04-21T08:14:49+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/raging-grannies-urge-fcc-to-control-net-neutrality A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearing unfolded at Stanford University this week. The affair became a flashpoint for the diverse gathering to express concerns for the first amendment guarantee of free speech in the digital age. One of the most colorful was the Raging Grannies for Net Neutrality. wayde 2008-04-18T10:52:51+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/nbc-keynote-on-itunes-unrealistic I caught wind of a keynote address given by George Kliavkoff on the state of NBC and Apple's iTunes. Back in August of 2007, NBC pulled the plug (decided to not renew) on its contract to distribute television shows via iTunes. At the time disagreements over pricing (NBC apparently wanted to net up to $4.99 per episode instead of the $1.99 Apple wanted to charge) and DRM (NBC wanted MORE restrictions on content than Apple currently provided) seemed to be behind the decision. clint 2008-04-18T08:33:26+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/juno-aliens-vs-predator-requiem-and-fox-digital-copy Two notable DVD and Blu-ray releases are available this week - Juno and Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem. Juno wins an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay that went to blogger-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody. AVP: Requiem has, um... killer aliens and , um... promises not to suck as bad as the first AVP. wayde 2008-04-17T11:41:30+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/denon-up-for-sale-best-buy-and-kenwood-bidding This has been a month of topsy turvy business decisions. Earlier this week we heard that Blockbuster is considering the purchase of ailing Circuit City. Before that, Apple leapfrogged both Amazon.com and Wal-Mart to become the #1 music retailer. But now, a recent flurry of domestic and Japanese market activity has all that topped. Denon is for sale for around $700 million. tom 2008-04-16T15:48:51+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/cubans-allowed-cell-phones This week hundreds of Cubans filled the streets to get their first ever cell phone - something that had, until now been barred for anyone except authorized government officials and foreigners. The state-owned telephone offices started taking orders and delivering phones to residents after President Raul (brother of) Castro began easing restrictions on purchasing and using cellular phones. Owners of illegal cell phones, or those licensed in someone else's name could also register for actual service with no penalties. clint 2008-04-15T09:37:11+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/mac-clone-apple-controversy Psystar, the little company out of Miami Florida unveiled its Hackintosh now dubbed; Open Computer (previously named OpenMac). It's a PC that runs OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard) completely outside support from Apple. Somewhere an alarm is sounding at Apple awakening the legal team. wayde 2008-04-15T09:31:04+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/blue-jeans-strikes-back Not long ago we reported that Monster Cable had issued a cease and desist letter to Blue Jeans Cable about their Tartan cables. Little did the lawyer drones over at Monster know that Kurt Denke, the president of Blue Jeans was, in a former life, a lawyer by trade. Oops! Someone pushed around the wrong "small" company! While we are no legal experts, we recognize humor when we see it. And this is funny. With Blue Jeans Cable's permission, we've included their full response to Monster's letter below. Kurt wants to keep this entire process completely open to the public and we're more than happy to oblige. tom 2008-04-14T15:46:55+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/blockbuster-buys-circuit-city Blockbuster has made an unsolicited bid for Circuit City. Circuit City has acknowledged receipt of the proposal and has advised its shareholders to essentially relax and stay tuned while they evaluate the documents submitted. This begs a few questions: Circuit City has fundamental "questions" of the proposal, but most seem to focus on the viability of the deal and Blockbuster's ability to purchase the chain. clint 2008-04-14T15:03:38+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/survivor-hd-17th-season After 8 years and 16 seasons, CBS' Survivor reality TV series is finally upgrading its cameras and production to high definition. Next fall's 17th outing (as of yet unnamed, Camsur?) will be the first time the show's exotic locations, elaborate challenges and gruesome bug bites will be available in the widescreen HD format. While CBS is acting like this is no big deal and HD took a long time for everybody - Survivor languished in SD while many of its newcomer peers, like Dancing with the Stars and American Idol went the way of high-definition long ago. In addition, nearly all non-reality network prime time fare (both dramas and sitcoms) are now shown in HD with even many cable networks moving to HD for their highest-rated shows. clint 2008-04-14T08:31:07+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/pixar-movies-go-3-d Walt Disney reported this week that all of its new Pixar's movies, starting with next year's Up, will be released in 3-D. The announcement was made by none other than Pixar's John Lassiter at a New York presentation of their upcoming films - which covered all the way through 2012. The lineup from Walt Disney Animation Studios also includes the November release of Bolt, the story of an actor dog who believes he has super powers; Rapunzel, a retelling of the fairy tale set for release for Christmas 2010; and the modern-day fantasy King of the Elves, set for release for Christmas 2012. These films will be released in both 3-D and two-dimensional formats. clint 2008-04-14T07:39:00+00:00 News