Devices View – Page 18 – a Techsponential Company

Sony’s Qualia Hunt Ends Without a Kill

November 20, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

The high end of the market is evolving: mainstream brands offering the same thing – only better – are having a tough time. A couple of months ago Sony pulled the plug on its Qualia brand, despite excellent reviews of its SXRD projector and RPTV sets. It seems Qualia was one luxury Sir Howard Stringer couldn’t afford in his reorg. No reasons were given for the move, but I’d speculate that having a high R&D halo brand only helps when the main consumer electronics business it fuels makes money. Since Sony is losing money across the line, it makes more …

Audio / Industry

Sonos Expands Distribution Through the Front and Back Doors

September 14, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Sonos announced today that Tweeter will be carrying the eponymous product at more than 150 retail locations throughout the U.S. (mostly in the Northeast). Tweeter is now the largest retailer in the country to carry the Sonos Digital Music System, and Sonos claims a "quality over quantity" approach to signing up retail partners. Nonetheless, Sonos is on track to have 500 retail location partners by the end of 2005, the first holiday buying season that Sonos is available. Tweeter should be a good fit for this mid-tier product: Sonos fits in between the half dozen $200 – $300 streaming music …

DVD / Industry

Format Wars II: Revenge of the DVD

August 31, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Tekrati picked up my post last week on the death of VHS, and implied that I said that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD killed off VHS. Nothing could be further from the truth! I often question whether there’s any mass market demand for a high definition format in the first place (and before I get flamed, yes, there is strong enthusiast demand. I certainly want to go beyond 480p). But only 11% of households have an HDTV, and anamorphic ("enhanced for widescreen") DVD looks pretty darn good on those sets. We’re also going into the format war without clear and massive support …

DVD

Format Wars: A Format Dies!

August 23, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Yes, at long last, the industry is consolidating the number of media types for pre-recorded movies… unfortunately, it looks like both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will be launched as is, without any compromise. This really isn’t all that unexpected, given the jockeying back and forth lately: Blu-Ray announced that its media can be manufactured inexpensively (which was supposed to be a key HD-DVD advantage) and HD-DVD announced 45GB capacity versions (nearly matching Blu-Ray’s 50GB storage, which was supposed to be a key Blu-Ray advantage). But the two formats are fundamentally different at a technical level. For example, the laser reads a …

Industry

Engadget’s Walk Down Memory Lane

August 22, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Engadget unceremoniously posted a version of its witty, sardonic take on all things gadgety (including some home theater content) circa 1985, as if Engadget started out as a BBS (Bulletin Board System – a pre-pre-pre-cursor to web sites). Was today April 1, and I missed the memo? This is brilliant, brilliant stuff. Of course, there wasn’t much of a home theater industry back in 1985 – which in and of itself is interesting, showing just how fast this market has grown. The best you could do then was HiFi VHS and a 35" TV — RPTVs were just too dim …

Accessories / Computing

Media Center PC, Part 2: Logitech Harmony 680

August 16, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 2 Comments.

This is the second in a series on experiences using and enhancing Windows XP Media Center for home theater. To control my Media Center, I have two remote controls: one for the audio system, and one for the Media Center itself. (As mentioned last time, I also use the media control buttons from the Logitech DiNovo media pad as a remote of sorts). While this is an extremely basic setup – no plasma TV, no audio receiver, no light control – it still seemed like two remote controls for one desk was overkill, and I had a Logitech Harmony 680 …

Computing / HDTV

The XP Media Center PC Experience

August 11, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 3 Comments.

This is the first in a series on experiences using and enhancing Windows XP Media Center for home theater. When I needed to upgrade my home office PC earlier this year, I chose to buy a Media Center PC because of the endless testing possibilities it offers. At the time, the Orb service, which lets you stream content from your PC to any Internet connected device, only worked on Media Center PCs (it still requires a PC with a TV tuner card to be compelling). Media Center extenders require a Media Center PC as a hub (though I currently use …

Displays / HDTV / Industry

Woot.com Sells $1.3 million in TVs over 22 Hours

August 9, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 2 Comments.

Woot.com has built on its relationship with InFocus and yesterday the one-item-per-day online outlet store flexed the power of its unique retail model: it sold out an allotment of 450 new (not refurbished) 61" ultrathin (6.85" deep) DLP RPTVs over 22 hours for $3000 each. InFocus sweetened the deal further with a $500 rebate. This TV typically cost $5,000 – $8,000, and includes 2 ATSC tuners, an NTSC tuner, a Windows CE-based web browser, and all the trimmings. With woot’s flat $5 shipping, this leads to some remarkable statistics: Item Quantity: 450 Item Price: $2,999.99 Total Sold: $1,349,995.50 Last Order …

Audio

Atlantic Tech branches out(side)

July 27, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

More coping with the death of audio: most speaker manufacturers long ago moved out of the room and into the walls, so where’s the next growth area after in-wall speakers? Atlantic Technology is going outside, introducing its first indoor/outdoor speaker, the AW-424. The $399/pair AW-424 is a relatively normal looking speaker – not a fake rock or a planter. Still it does have some features specific to the environment, such as drainage channels in the terminal well to keep water from collecting around the connections. -avi

Coping with the Death of Audio

July 25, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

At a macro level, it’s pretty clear that audio component sales are dropping, while displays – flat panel and DLP rear projection sets in particular – are consuming the bulk of consumer outlays. So what is a company that specializes in selling high end audio components to do? Audio Advisor started out as a catalog retailer of high end audio toys (they’re now on the Internet as well), and each catalog used to feature pages after page of amps, preamps, integrated amps, high end CD players, extremely expensive record players for analog lovers, and digital audio doodads that supposedly improved …