Accessories / Audio / Music

TCL’s MTRO 200NC First Impressions

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

TCL is best known for its high-value televisions, but it is actually one of the largest consumer electronics conglomerates in the world. TCL runs its own factories and is investing $8 billion in its latest display panel fab. TCL's mobile division sells Alcatel and TCL branded featurephones, smartphones, and tablets, and the parent company also makes washing machines, refrigerators, consumer IoT devices, and more. I have tested some of TCL's super-inexpensive in-ear headphones — some as low as $10 — and found them to be ridiculous values; they sound as good as products 10x the cost. So I was eager …

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Audio / DVD / Film

Dolby, WB, AMC 20th Anniversary Re-release of The Matrix at Dolby Cinemas

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Matrix, Dolby, AMC, and Warner Brothers are bringing the movie back to the big screen. It appears that they are taking the work that was done for the upgraded 4K Dolby Vision/Atmos disc and exhibiting it in Dolby Cinemas for a limited run. Last week, I attended a press screening of The Matrix at Dolby Cinema with two of my teenagers; one had not seen the film before, and he was positively jumping out of his seat at the end. I have the 4K disc, and I have a fairly advanced home theater …

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Audio / HDTV / Industry

CEDIA 2015: Focused on Core Custom Install Audience

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

This year's CEDIA has come and gone, and unless the journalists in attendance badly missed something, I didn't see many announcements with broad applicability outside the core custom install base. (I attended CES and IFA this year, but was not able to attend CEDIA live.) Sony showed off new projectors, including a native 4K model priced at "just" $10,000, but these had been announced at IFA in Berlin. JVC introduced a trio of projectors from $4,000 – $10,000 that create pseudo-4K from 4K source material. Kaleidescape is now offering a 4K digital storage/playback solution in the $5000 – If You …

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Audio / Industry

Onkyo Swallows Pioneer’s A/V Line

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I was on the road covering Apple when this happened, so I missed it at the time, but it appears that Pioneer is divesting its A/V reciever and headphone business and selling it to Onkyo by March 2015. While Sony, Yamaha, and Harman all still make A/V receivers, Onkyo (and its Integra custom install brand) dominates the premium segment in a steadily shrinking market. If I read the disclosures correctly, Onkyo intends to keep the Pioneer brand, but will consolidate all back office functions and manufacturing. I like Onkyo's recievers, and Pioneer has been losing money, but this still feels …

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