Dr. Floyd E. Toole Receives 2008 CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award

Harman International Industries, Incorporated, announced today that Dr. Floyd E. Toole has received the CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award for 2008. The award recognizes leaders who have exhibited outstanding creative and visionary leadership in, and contributed to the growth and advancement......Read More

Silicon Image (SIMG) Show First HDMI 1.4 Parts For "Liquid HD" Over Ethernet Systems

Now your even your home network isn't safe from HDMI's unreliable, copy protected connection nightmares. Silicon Image, Inc. today introduced the SiI9387 port processor and the SiI9334 transmitter, the first semiconductor products to incorporate the latest HDMI 1.4 specification features......Read More

Viacom and Time Warner Find Middle Ground In TV Channel Fee Deal

Try telling your kids that SpongeBob isn't going to be on anymore. Tell them Dora went to explor-a on satellite and that you have cable. I doubt they will understand that in these tough economic times that television executives are......Read More

5 Reasons Why You Need To Go See The Movie April Showers (in theaters 4/24/09)

HomeTheaterReview.com's managing editor, Andrew Robinson, and our production team are about to release a film in about 20-25 theaters called April Showers that speaks directly to the AV needs, wants and desires of home theater enthusiasts and videophiles on many......Read More

A New World Order - Where and How To Sell Specialty AV Gear Going Forward

A few weeks back, HomeTheaterReview.com ran a featured article called "Nowhere to Sell" that outlined the rise and fall of many specialty and big box retailers in the current market. The landscape of where specialty or "high-end" audio video goods......Read More

An Open Letter To Audiophile Record Labels About Blu-ray For Music

To All Audiophile and Specialty Record Labels, Today is the day to see the extraordinary opportunity in front of you. The days of selling retro-vinyl titles or dead-format SACDs are over. The Blu-ray era is here and you have every......Read More

Apple Denies Rumor About 1080p Video on iTunes

Rumors have recently surfaced that Apple is quietly adding higher-resolution HD video content to their increasingly popular iTunes download platform. 1080p video resolution is currently the highest level of high-definition content available to consumers today and is found only on......Read More

April Showers Goes Wide Via iTunes The Same Week It Is In Theaters

Today is a big day for April Showers, my first movie as an executive producer. Cinco de Mayo is not only my anniversary with my lovely wife, but this year, it is also the day April Showers goes live on......Read More

Atlantic Technology and Solus/Clements Introduce H-PAS™ Bass Technology

Atlantic Technology and Solus/Clements recently announced that they have joined forces to develop, market, and license a revolutionary new loudspeaker design protocol capable of delivering deep, low-distortion bass response at output levels unobtainable through conventional bass-alignment techniques. In particular, this......Read More

AV Identity Crisis: Radio Shack and Wilson Audio Abandon Well Known Names

On August 6, 2009 with great fanfare (including the creation of two giant 17 foot laptop computers) one of the most familiar names in consumer electronics retail, Radio Shack, changed their name to "The Shack." Radio Shack is one of......Read More

AV Manufacturers Need To "Floor" High-End AV Gear for Dealers as Part of an AV Stimulus Plan

Getting a loan anywhere these days is pretty damn hard. If you are looking to buy a bargain-priced home and need a jumbo loan, expect to have upwards of 50 percent of the money you need up front for a......Read More

AV's Next and Biggest Generation of Clients Deeply Affected By Unemployment and Under-employment

Baby Boomers have been the driving force behind both the audiophile business and most of the two-decade long rise in popularity of home theater. Economically for Boomers there have been far more good times than bad, with recessions feeling more......Read More

Best Buy Offers Buyout To 4,000 Employees and Stock Soars

Best Buy, who has seemed to operate above the ugly economic fray of the past six months, announced today that they are pulling in the reigns with their spending as offering buy-outs to nearly every one of the 4,000 headquarters......Read More

Best Buy Plans Thirteen New Stores As Other Retailers Fail

Best Buy just announced plans to open 13 new U.S. Best Buy stores in the second fiscal quarter 2010, including its first store in Wyoming and second in Alaska. The new stores are set to open this summer in the......Read More

Blu-ray and SACD in the Same Package From 2L Records - HD Downloads Too?

A small, Nordic audiophile record label is doing what the four majors should be doing by releasing their music both on HD discs and in HD downloads. For about the price of a traditional movie or concert video on Blu-ray,......Read More

Blu-ray Limits Its Growth Rate With Constant Firmware Updates

What are the Hollywood studios thinking these days with these feature-loaded Blu-ray titles that have the power to render a player to not play their newest films? While Blu-ray has tremendous power to be updated thus allowing new, sexy added......Read More

California Passes Anti-Flat-HDTV Legislation To Try To Save Energy

As a resident of California who owns a "green home" complete with new windows, high efficiency air conditioners, space-age insulation and drought tolerant planting on over two acres of hillside - today's decision to toughen standards on HDTVs is a......Read More

Can The Home Theater Business Re-price Itself Back Into The Hearts and Wallets of Consumers?

This recession is a bitch. The talking heads on the Sunday morning shows were shooting off this weekend about the fact that the American economy was headed into recession no matter what, but the collapse of the real estate market......Read More

Cash For Clunkers - Meet The AV Business

Today my gardener, Alfredo, showed up in the morning in a brand new, bright blue Toyota truck. I am not sure what was gleaming more - Alfredo's proud smile or the wax job on his new ride. Alfredo and his......Read More

CDs Sales Tank in 2008 While Blu-ray, Downloads and Even Vinyl Boom

Just when you were thinking, "When will the music industry get it through their thick skulls that the compact disc is a dead audio format?" come new numbers from Nielsen that show that the CD is even more dead than......Read More

CEA and CNET Say Consumer Confidence Increased In August 2009

Consumer confidence in the overall economy improved in August, as consumer confidence in technology and consumer electronics (CE) jumped in the same period, according to the latest figures from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® and CNET. The CEA-CNET Index of......Read More

CEDIA 2009 Show Report - Andrew Robinson

While not quite as jammed packed or exciting as previous years, CEDIA 2009 still proved to be the place to be for new product launches, as understated as those launches may have been. Before I get into what excited me......Read More

CEDIA 2009 Show Report - Jerry Del Colliano

For most of the past decade CEDIA has been picking up steam while the winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has struggled with its identity as it struggled to digest COMDEX and the computer geeks that came along with the merger.......Read More

CEDIA 2009 Show Report - Ken Taraszka, MD

CEDIA has been blowing up with new video technology over the last few years. 1080p was the big news just years ago, and while talk of 2K, 1440p and other formats have been thrown around and to some extent even......Read More

CES 2009 Home Theater and Audiophile Highlights - Jerry Del Colliano

CES 2009 Show Overview Considering the economic climate and despite the fact that a solid number of big name players decided to stay home, CES 2009 wasn't the bomb of a show that some had predicted. There were no real explosive......Read More

CES 2009 Report From HomeTheaterReview.com Editor Andrew Robinson

As I sit here on the plane flying home to L.A., I can't help but be a touch disappointed by this year's CES show in Vegas. Many of the high-end players were MIA or showing static displays only, while others......Read More

CES Show Attendance Slips To 110k At First Report

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the host of the Vegas party known as CES, reported that their unaudited attendance for the trade show was about 110,000 people. The 2009 numbers are down from an audited 141,000 in 2008. The CES......Read More

Circuit City Liquidates But Could Be Reborn After Auction

Today is the day that damaged big-box retailer Circuit City finally gave up its will to live as the company transitioned from Chapter 11 reorganization to the much more serious Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. The company will likely start the......Read More

Circuit City To Relaunch As An Online Play

As predicted in HomeTheaterReview.com when they went bankrupt - Circuit City is back. This time Circuit City will be an online play. Systemax (SYX on the NYSE) is the company that bought the rights to the name, the site and......Read More

Consolidation Is Taking the "Special" Out of Specialty Audio-Video

I remember the first time I met Mark Cuban. My father, when he was the publisher of radio trade publication Inside Radio, ran a high end convention for top level radio executives that featured speakers like Peter Drucker and Steven......Read More

Critics Say All HDMI Cables Sound The Same - And They Are Wrong!

I love it when people get so absolute with their opinions on audio-video. How can an HDMI cable sound different than another one? Its digital they argue. And they argue wrong. I spent some time on Friday in the listening......Read More

Denon To Add VRS From Anchor Bay To Their Blu-ray Players and AV receivers For 1080p Scaling

Anchor Bay announced today that Denon Electronics has chosen to incorporate Anchor Bay video processing chips, with the latest proprietary Video Reference Series (VRS) technologies including Precision Video Deinterlacing and Precision Video Scaling, across their newly introduced product line. Seven......Read More

DirecTV Investor Lends Over $500,000,000 To Sirius XM (SIRI)

Liberty Media which owns a controlling interest in DirecTV, the leading satellite television provider, has agreed to lend $530 million to struggling satellite radio provider Sirius XM. The loan comes on the eve of rumors that Sirius XM was going......Read More

Dish Network Loses Over 100,000 Subscribers In Q4 2008 - More Expected

Dish Network's main money man, Charlie Ergen was all over the Sirius-XM money crunch last month and while some suggested it was bandwidth they are after - it now looks like it might just be raw subscribers. Reuters is out......Read More

Dish Network's Profit Dips 81 Percent

While satellite HDTV provider, Dish Network's revenue was pretty much flat, their profits as reported this past Monday are flat lining - off 81 percent from a year ago. Dish has been aggressively advertising that they are the "low cost"......Read More

DTV Converter Coupons Now On First-Come First-Served Basis Because of Vast Consumer Demand

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a bureau of the United States Commerce Department, announced yesterday that they are having a hard time keeping up with the demand for coupons for digital TV converter boxes that will keep traditional......Read More

Dynaudio To Distribute Octave Audio Electronics in the United States and Canada

Dynaudio North America recently announced that it has been appointed as the distributor for Octave Audio for the USA and Canada. Octave Audio, based in Karslbad-Ittersbach Germany, has been producing high-end tube electronics for over 20 years. Octave was actually......Read More

Dynaudio's Puccini Sound System For The New Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport

When launched, the Bugatti Veyron set new benchmarks in engineering and performance for a Super Sport, so when developing an audio system for the new Bugatti Grand Sport only the best would do. The all-new Puccini Sound System features dedicated......Read More

Elevator Music Kings Muzak File For Chapter 11

The kings of elevator music, Muzak, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today in Wilmington, Delaware. The South Carolina based company cited less than $50,000 in assets but over $500,000,000 in debt as part of the reason for the protection......Read More

Embattled Final Loudspeakers Files For Bankruptcy In Belgium

Sources close to HomeTheaterReview.com have provided a full listing of assets being liquidated from Belgian-based Final Loudspeakers as the embattled electrostatic speaker company is giving up the ghost. Final Loudspeakers were among the first to make flat speakers that were......Read More

First Annual Loss for Sony in 14 Years

Sony reported their first annual loss in 14 years today; however the company beat their estimate as to how deep the loss would be. For the past year or so Sony has been slashing jobs, offering early retirements and closing......Read More

First-Ever McIntosh Boutique Opens in Sao Paulo, Brazil

McIntosh recently announced that the company's Brazilian distributor, Stefo Jabra, has opened the first McIntosh-only boutique in the Americas -- McIntosh Store. The new McIntosh store, owned and operated by Mr. Jabra, opened its doors recently in the fashionable Iguatemi......Read More

Global TV Revenues Decline 12 Percent in Q1-2009

With a lingering global recession continuing to place pressure on discretionary spending, global TV shipments declined 6% Y/Y in Q1'09 to 43.3M units according to the latest Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report from DisplaySearch. This was a decline......Read More

Going Direct - The Gold Rush in Today's Specialty Audio-Video Business Has a New Set Of Rules

The boo-hooing about how bad the economy has been for the past year or longer continues on with most companies blindly cutting marketing, advertising, development and human resource costs as a desperate act of survival. Bean counters are now corporate......Read More

HD Giants Files Chapter 11

HD Giants, the company founded to sell high definition music to the burgeoning Media Center PC market, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company known for its Airstream trailer demo and its often 96 kHz 24 bit resolution tracks......Read More

HDMI 1.4 - Another New Example of Planned Obsolesce Imposed On The Home Theater Market

I just read an editorial by controversial filmmaker Michael Moore last week on the Huffington Post about one of his most popular topics, General Motors. Before he got to a pretty empowering outlook for what the company could do going......Read More

HDTVetc.com Relaunches Online HDTV Educational and Review Site

Home theater enthusiast print magazine, HDTV Etc., has been reinvented and relaunched as an online resource for consumers looking to get educated before they buy their next LCD, plasma, LED, OLED or front-projection HDTV. "Consumers are rightfully confused when talking......Read More

Hitachi Splits Off Consumer Group From Parent Company

HDTV giant, Hitachi, announced today that they would split their consumer electronics divisions from the parent company. The company will be run by Shutoku Watanabe as president. Watanabe was Hitachi's CEO and president. The company said in a written report......Read More

Hitachi To Acquire Remaining Shares of Hitachi Maxell Ltd.

The Hitachi Group announced its decision, by way of a tender offer, to acquire the common stock of Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. Hitachi believes that the move to acquire Hitachi Maxell as a wholly owned subsidiary will reinforce Hitachi Maxell's business......Read More

Home Theater Enthusiasts Can Take Control of Their Credit Cards As Banks Act Poorly

Audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts spend a lot of money on their passion - much of which is often put on a high limit credit card. In today's economy loaded with bank bailouts, frozen lending and "toxic assets" this group......Read More

Home Theater Review Celebrates Its First Year With 128,500 Monthly Readers in July 2009

Its hard to believe that it has been one year since launching HomeTheaterReview.com. In one short year we have taken a "parked domain" and created over 8000 pages of content including over 1,100 reviews, a full dealer database, a significant......Read More

Home Theater Review Improves On-site Search Functionality

HomeTheaterReview.com recently celebrated its first year in publication with over 130,000 monthly readers, over 10,000 "fresh" opt-in email names on our subscriber list and a Google Page Rank 4 that is trending up 17.5 percent per month. Despite the AV......Read More

Home Theater Review Launches New Facebook Fan Page

HomeTheaterReview.com, a leading specialty audio and home theater publication catering to the AV enthusiast, has launched a brand new and highly improved Fan site on the popular social networking site Facebook. This isn't the first page for the online publication;......Read More

HomeTheaterReview.com Improves Search Functionality

HomeTheaterReview.com has rolled out new search functionality on their site that allows for much more specific searches as well as much more refined "basic" searches on the site's 7,000 plus pages. HomeTheaterReview.com reviews home theater equipment such as LCD, LED......Read More

IMAX Chooses Audyssey Laboratories For Theaters in 2010

Audyssey Laboratories and IMAX Corporation just announced a partnership to use MultEQ, the ground-breaking acoustical correction technology developed by Audyssey, to calibrate and tune IMAX® theater sound systems beginning in 2010. Audyssey MultEQ is the world's leading technology used for......Read More

Improving The Carbon Footprint of Your Home Theater

Everyone currently living on the planet Earth, other than perhaps the executives at Exxon-Mobil and some of the OPEC producers, watched in agony as the cost of oil shot from $50 to $150 per barrel in recent months, causing a......Read More

InFocus To Be Taken Private By Oregon Company

InFocus Corporation (NASDAQ: INFS) today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Image Holdings Corporation (IHC), an Oregon company controlled by John Hui, the co-founder of eMachines. Under the terms of the agreement IHC and its......Read More

Is 99 Cents the New Free For Movie Downloads?

It's no secret the film industry is hurting these days. While the month-to-month theatrical earnings seem to fluctuate compared to previous years, overall earnings are down. Home video is no different as DVD continues its downward spiral aided by the......Read More

Is Cheap The New Green? Not For Long In This Economy...

Take a walk down Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue and you can stop in any shop to speak with the seemingly bored proprietors to hear all of the gory details about how even the most wealthy people are cutting back......Read More

Is Dish Network Looking To Get More HD Bandwidth By Buying Sirius XM?

Terrestrial radio is dead and buried and satellite radio is in intensive care as rumors leaked yesterday that Sirius XM has sought the advice of a firm that can help them get bankruptcy protection. Sirius begged to be allowed to......Read More

Kaleidescape Loses Legal Appeal - Might Be Forced To Stop Making Products

Kaliedescape, a leading maker of ultra-high-end standard definition video servers, today in a surprising decision lost an appeal on its ability or rights to rip DVD-Video material onto their well regarded videophile movie servers. The company had won a case......Read More

Klipsch Sells Aragon and Acurus Brands to Former Employees

Klipsch purchased selected assets of the privately held Mondial Designs Ltd. in 2001, acquiring the Aragon and Acurus brands of high-end amplifiers, preamplifiers and processors. Now, the leading global manufacturer of loudspeakers is selling the rights to these electronics brands......Read More

Krell Takes On An Investor To Make New Future-Minded Products

Krell confirmed to HomeTheaterReview.com today that they have taken on KT Capital Partners as an equity investor. Krell is one of the most respected high end audio companies in AV history. Krell's Dan D'Agostino retains controlling interest in the brand......Read More

Krell To Recall Four Amp Products

Leading audiophile company, Krell, based in Orange, Conecticut, will immediately recall four amlifiers. The amps include the Krell KAV-250a, KAV-250a/3, KAV-500i, KAV-1500 This recall effects units manufactured between January 1997 and February 2001. These amplifiers were designed to operate at......Read More

Large LCDs Break Sales Volume Record in June 2009

June 2009 shipments of large-area TFT LCD panels reached 46.7 million units, up 8 percent month to month (M/M) and 24 percent/Y, according to the most recent DisplaySearch Monthly TFT LCD Shipment Database. This sets a new record for the......Read More

Last Chance at Circuit Liquidation Sale is This Sunday

Coming about a week early, the carcass at Circuit City is finally pretty much picked clean. Bankruptcy liquidator, Great American is calling it quits a little early considering most everything home theater, consumer electronics and even audiophile are long gone.......Read More

Legendary Music Photographer Jim Marshall Launches

Recognized worldwide as one of the preeminent music photographers -- from rock to jazz and almost all points in between -- Jim Marshall has captured dozens of iconic images and shot more than 500 album covers in his 50-year career.......Read More

Legendary Speaker Designer Jim Thiel Passes Away

HomeTheaterReview.com has learned from a trusted AV industry source that legendary loudspeaker designer, Jim Thiel, has died. His cause of death is not known at this time. Jim Thiel was the designer behind the Thiel brand which today is recognized......Read More

Lutron Sponsors Green Life Smart Life Program

Green Life Smart Life, a Rhode Island-based green building showcase home, today announced Lutron Electronics as the home's lighting control partner. Lutron, whose products save 9.2 billion kWh annually, will be showcasing its HomeWorks® total home lighting control system in......Read More

Mark Levinson, Lexicon and Revel To Merge To With Harman Professional - Over 130 Jobs Lost

Mark Levinson is considered by many audiophiles and industry types to be the loftiest brand in the specialty AV business, but today, despite their ultra-profitable and high-profile Lexus premium car audio deal, the brand and with its sisters, Lexicon, Revel......Read More

Meridian Opens a Concept Store in Bangkok

Meridian together with its exclusive distributor in Thailand, MRD Audio Co., are launching the first Meridian Concept store in the world in the centre of one of the world's most vibrant and exotic cities, Bangkok. The Meridian Concept store, situated......Read More

Netflix Pops 45% Gains In Q4 In Terrible Economy

Now we know what people have been doing with their spare time after being fired - they are watching rented movies. Online movies rental house Netflix announced today an impressive 45 percent increase in profit in the fourth quarter. Revenue......Read More

NEW HOME THEATER AND AUDIO/VIDEO REVIEW SITE LAUNCHES AT HOMETHEATERREVIEW.COM

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - November 14, 2008 - Leading home entertainment industry publisher Jerry Del Colliano announced his latest venture today with the launch of a comprehensive home theater review site at HomeTheaterReview.com. Del Colliano has a proven record of......Read More

NHT Goes "Dark" In Bad Economy

Don't call it a comeback because it isn't. Now Hear This (NHT) speakers is taking a hiatus from the bad economy according to a release sent out today. The company isn't going bankrupt. They are selling off their current pro......Read More

NHT To Relaunch As An Internet-Direct Speaker Company

Now Hear This or NHT as they are known in the specially AV business announced yesterday that they were returning to the business after a few months in hibernation. Their new business model will sell speakers online, leaving the ultra-competitive......Read More

Nowhere To Sell: Specialty AV Makers Look For New Channels To Sell Their Goods

It wasn't five years ago that specialty audio-video companies were raking in the dough. President Bush, after the country was gutlessly attacked by Al Qaeda, told the American people the best way to get revenge was to go out and......Read More

Obama Calls For Feb. 17 DTV Switchover Delay

With the consumer electronics and home theater world focused on the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, President-elect Barack Obama is calling for a delay in the much ballyhooed DTV switchover that would cut off analog broadcasts. Nielsen studies suggest......Read More

Panasonic Buys Sanyo

Electronics giant Panasonic just got a lot bigger with the 6 billion dollar plus acquisition of Sanyo. The deal gets Panasonic one of the largest projector manufacturers in the world as well as a company known for batteries and......Read More

Paradigm Cinema 90 CT System To Be Featured on CBS' The Price Is Right

Paradigm Electronics Inc., an international leader in speaker design and manufacturing will enter a new realm of popular culture when its Cinema 90 CT (Compact Theater) 5.1 surround audio system will be featured on CBS's The Price is Right in......Read More

Parent Company of Stereophile & Home Theater Mag Files Chapter 11

In a surprising move this morning, Source Interlink, a multi-billion dollar publishing company owned in part by Ron Burkle, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Source Interlink only a few years ago acquired the "enthusiast" group of magazines from PRIMEDIA which......Read More

Parent Company of Sunfire, Panamax, Speakercraft To File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Nortek, the parent company of brands such as Sunfire, Panamax, Speakercraft, Xantec, Furman, Litetouch, Omnimount, Niles, Elan and other AV marks, announced yesterday at the CEDIA tradeshow in Atlanta that they would be filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. The......Read More

Parks and Assoc. Say Consumers Intend To Spend More On AV Later in 2009

The recession continues to limit CE shopping, as nearly 50 Percent of U.S. broadband households did not buy a CE product in the first half of 2009, according to Parks Associates' Consumer Decision Process. This ongoing service, which surveys consumers......Read More

Parks Associates forecasts over 1.4 billion subscribers worldwide for TV services by 2013

Broadband households in Europe and the U.S. consistently rank primetime anytime VoD services as the most valuable service out of all TV 2.0 offerings, according to Parks Associates' new report Television Services: The Global Outlook. The international research firm says......Read More

Pioneer To Leave The HDTV Business - Slashing 10k Jobs

Japanese electronics powerhouse, Pioneer, announced today that it would be ceasing production of HDTVs by March 2010 according to published reports. The company will cut over 10,000 job as its third quarter earnings were poor and as they head towards......Read More

Polk, Bose & Video Players To Suffer From Circuit Liquidation

When the Big Three automakers were begging for money on Capital Hill a few weeks back, the biggest threats they had going for them were that not only could 3,000,000 jobs be lost if they closed their doors but upwards......Read More

Porn Interrupts Super Bowl Broadcast In Tucson

For Cardinal fans there really wasn't anything that pornographic about their team coming up limp in yesterday's Super Bowl however for about 10 seconds for subscribers of Comcast cable - there was some pretty scandalous content on screen. Published reports......Read More

Pound Wise and Penny Foolish - How The Home Theater Business Can Learn From Luxury Sectors Still Trying To Bilk Consumers

Rising temperatures mean vacation time for many people around the world and I am no different. Just last week I took my wife to a luxury resort here in California to celebrate her birthday. It's a stunning property that we......Read More

Procella Audio Launches With High End Horn Loaded Speakers For Home Theater Use

Procella Audio is launching operations in the United States with the opening of its Los Angeles office. The company will make its U.S. debut in booth 6235 in the B Hall at the CEDIA Expo in Atlanta Georgia, September 10......Read More

QED Cables Issues HDMI White Paper

HDMI: The Bigger Picture' Describes Key Elements of the Technology and QED's Signature, Reference and Performance Series Cable ProductsLenbrook America, exclusive U.S. importer of QED, a British specialist cable brand, is pleased to announce the availability by QED Cables of......Read More

Rumor: You Tube To Be Releasing 1080p Video

Online review site, Lifehacker.com, is reporting that Google's uber-popular, free video download site, YouTube.com, will be launching a 1080p HD video service in the next few days. This news comes as players like Microsoft and Apple jockey for position in......Read More

Samsung and Blockbuster Ink VOD Deal For HDTVs and Players

Samsung and Blockbuster just announced the immediate availability of Blockbuster's vast and growing library of premium digital entertainment for rent or purchase on select 2009 Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players and Blu-ray integrated Home Theater Systems. Specific models featuring the new......Read More

Samsung Inks a DRM Deal with Intertrust

Intertrust Technologies Corporation and Samsung Electronics have entered into a patent licensing agreement for all products made by the Samsung Digital Media & Communications (DMC) Division. Licensed Samsung DMC products include a broad range of consumer electronics and mobile products......Read More

Saving Audiophila Part 2: The Role of the Major Record Labels

Somehow I can't erase the memory of the sequence of events that went down during the mindless SACD versus DVD-Audio format war. Roll the tape back a good five or six years ago and everyone in the audio and more......Read More

Saving Audiophila: How To Get a Young, New Generation of Audio Enthusiasts Hooked

Let's be honest with each other - audiophila has become more of a geeky hobby than a serious business or luxury goods market like it was in its hey days in the late 1970's through the early 1990's. Baby Boomer......Read More

Should Sirius-XM (SIRI) Fire Their Jocks?

In the early days of satellite radio, digital (non-terrestrial) radio was doing everything it could to be the anti-radio. One of the most heated debates in the digital radio sphere was over on-air talent. In order to compete with Apple......Read More

Sirius XM In Fear Of Takeover From EchoStar (Dish Network)?

Sirius Chief Executive Officer, Mel Karamzin, got his wish in 2008 when the government allowed him to merge with the only other commercially viable satellite radio provider - XM Radio - but little was said about how he was going......Read More

Sirius XM Shows Loss In Overall Subscribers (404k) For First Time

Consolidated satellite radio provider Sirius XM is reeling from having lost 404,000 total paying subscribers in the first quarter of 2009. This is the first time Sirius has ever shown contraction in the number of their subscribers. It comes on......Read More

Sirius XM To Release iPhone App In June

Newly consolidated Sirius XM just announced what has been rumored for months now - the satellite provider will have an "App" for the Apple iPhone coming this June. The pay radio service is looking for ways to increase its reach......Read More

Sirius-XM (SIRI) To Raise Rates While Destroying Programming

Consumer electronics industry's trade publication TWICE is reporting that they have confirmed that Sirius-XM will be raising rates for their best subscribers - the ones with multiple accounts - from $6.99 per month to $8.99 per month. The company will......Read More

Sony and Best Buy To Sell Exclusive ALTUS Line of Electronics

Representing nearly two years of cooperation in market research and engineering efforts, Sony Electronics Inc. and Best Buy Co., Inc. today announced the new "ALTUS" audio product line. Featuring a stylish assortment of wireless music systems, speakers, and home theater......Read More

Sony Cuts 16,000 Jobs as the Entire AV Business Cuts Back In Hard Economic Times

Sony Electronics announced today that they plan to eliminate upwards of 16,000 full-time and contract workers from their electronics business in order to deal with the slumping global economy. Sony has been on something of a roll, having won the......Read More

Sony's Quarterly Profit Dives $390,000,000

Sony, one of the world's most respected names in electronics, posted a staggering $390,000,000 loss in the quarter ending June 30, 2009. As compared to a year earlier - Sony profited to the tune of 35 billion yet thus the......Read More

Specialty AV Brands Look To Dealers To "Push" Their Products Over Creating New Consumer Demand

Today more than ever, electronics companies are looking for ways to stay viable and competitive in these times of unprecedented economic hardship. Noteworthy retailers like Circuit City and Tweeter have filed for Chapter 7 liquidation. Manufacturers of brands that are......Read More

Study Says HDTVs in More Than 50 Percent of American Homes

A recent Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) tracking Pulse report shows strong growth over the past year in HDTV ownership. In 2009, 53 percent of total U.S. households report owning a high definition television, an 18 percentage point......Read More

Sunday's Super Bowl Was 2nd Biggest TV Broadcast of All-Time

According to ratings gurus, Nielsen, NBC's broadcast of the Super Bowl between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers was the second largest television broadcast of all time. The revised numbers from Nielsen showed 98.7 million viewers versus 106 million......Read More

Telarc Records To Stop Producing Its Own Records - Firing 26

Telarc, the Cleveland area audiophile record label, will cease producing its own music at some point this month. The multiple-Grammy winning record label's roots go back classical recordings from the 1970's. Today the company's president stepped down and the parent......Read More

The $2,500 and Under Room - How To Sell Audiophile Gear To a New Generation of 200,000,000 Music Lovers

Boy did I ever grab the attention of the dealers in America during these hot summer months. I have received dozens of emails from AV retailers around the country objecting to calling (in general terms) dealers "lazy" and "entitled" while......Read More

The 10 Best Audiophile Speakers List - 2009

I recently read a blog post by a very enthusiastic and well respected AV writer who created a list of "The Top Ten Greatest Audiophile Speakers" for the mighty CNET.com which is one monster of a web publication. While the......Read More

The 10 Best Up-and-Coming Companies In Audio-Video

I bet you are as tired of reading stories about AV companies cutting back, pulling out of CEDIA and firing good, talented Americans as I am sick of hearing them try to sell me on how they are going to......Read More

The Limitation On Specialty AV's Next Generation Is Leverage

For decades Baby Boomers have been the driving force behind the audiophile market, and in even greater numbers, have been the power behind the twenty-plus year boom in the world of home theater that has stretched from the rise of......Read More

The Lost Art of The High End Audio-Video Demo

In my career in ultra-high-end audiophile retail at Christopher Hansen Ltd. in Beverly Hills and Mark Levinson's Cello Music and Film Los Angeles I was blessed to work with some of the best audio-video demo artists of all time. Anybody......Read More

Too Big To Fail: AV Manufacturers Look To Big Distributor AVAD For Their Future

Anybody who listens to the news in the last year or so has heard the term "too big to fail" when it comes to America's banks. Just in 2009 alone 209 banks have failed while taxpayers have "bailed out" larger......Read More

Toshiba To Make Blu-ray Players Late in 2009

The Eagles said that they would reunite "when hell freezes over" but somehow they all ended up on a stage together again. In a similar move, Toshiba is reported to be preparing a Blu-ray product offering slated for release later......Read More

U.S Credit Freeze Hurting The Home Theater Business Badly

You know you got trouble in the world economy when the most wealthy people with the absolute best credit are getting cut off from access to credit and its effects do in fact trickle down to every element of the......Read More

VIZIO Licenses Digital TV Patent Portfolio to SONY - Ends Dispute

VIZIO announced that Sony Corporation has become a licensee under VIZIO's patent portfolio. VIZIO owns a substantial worldwide patent portfolio directed to digital television technology. "We are pleased with the result of our patent licensing efforts. It further demonstrates the......Read More

Vizio Now Number 2 Flat HDTV Seller in America - Samsung Is Tops

A new report came out today showing Vizio climbing above the mighty Sony as the second largest seller of flat HDTVs in America. According the report from iSuppli has Samsung as the clubhouse leader at 20.2 percent of the......Read More

WADIA Founder, Don Wadia Moses Dies

Don Wadia Moses, one of the pioneers in the audio industry, passed away on November 29, 2008. Audiophiles know and appreciate the WADIA brand name and its audio legacy but Don's legacy reaches far deeper than his ground-breaking work in......Read More

What if HDMI Actually Worked?

Let me be clear with the fact that without HDMI there wouldn't be volumes of 1080p HD content, complete with beaming video, 7.1 uncompressed HD audio and all of those feature-laden supplemental materials that we get from Blu-ray. At the......Read More

What The AV Business Can Learn From Chef Alice Waters and The Slow Food Movement

Specialty AV retailers are dropping like flies in today's corrosive retail economy. Consumers who once lined up to buy audio gear in the 1990s and flat HDTVs in the 2000s are now either not spending on their AV systems in......Read More

Will CES 2009 Flop Because of The Sagging Economy?

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES, as it is known) is the undisputed champion of all trade shows, packing record numbers of geeks, suits and porn stars into Las Vegas every January to oooh and ahhh over all of the latest......Read More

Wilson Audio To Release New "Sasha WP" Speaker System

Wilson Audio just released a teaser video on their website (WilsonAudio.com) showing their newest speaker system called the Wilson Audio Sasha WP. The new speaker, in concept, is somewhat of a throwback to the original 1985 monitor design of the......Read More

Winning and Losing In Las Vegas - Why The AV Business Desperately Needs More Consumer Demand

The push pull relationship between audio video companies and their traditional dealer base is the absolute definition of a dysfunctional relationship. AV companies expect dealers to "push" their products so dealers demand high profit margins - yet nearly all dealers......Read More