Class D Amps Appearing Everywhere – Once thought of as only suitable for low-end mobile devices such as cellphones, Class D amplifiers are now showing up in flat-screen TVs, computers and high end audio systems. The amps are much more efficient from an energy usage point of view than conventional Class AB amps used in most audio equipment up until now. They run at between 40% and 85% efficiency, while the figure for Class AB amps is 15% to 40%. Their power supplies can be smaller, and if they are battery-operated the batteries last much longer. They put out little heat and can thus be installed in small spaces such as flat-screen displays and inside speaker enclosures for powered speakers. Some Class D amps even have superior distortion, dynamic range and signal-to-noise compared to Class AB amps. Their energy efficiency makes them more of a “green” product, of great interest in today’s world. However, they do require careful filtering of the noise generated by their switch-mode operation. The jury is still out on the high end sonic attributes of this audio newcomer.
Blu-ray Booms Though Wall Street Says Digital Downloads Are the Thing – According to TV technology expert Swanni (TVPredictions.com) Wall Street analysts don’t understand the home video industry. They have said that downloading movies over the Internet directly to home TVs and computers will soon completely replace both Blu-ray and standard DVDs. A spokesman for Adams Media Research says that most of the analysts are techno-geeks with lots of money and not much time, whereas most Americans are not technically savvy, have the time but not much money. There is actually very little digital downloading of video going on – in 2007 it totaled about $118 million, and the media market for Blu-ray and standard DVD is a $24 billion package. Hollywood Reporter claims the unit sales of Blu-ray discs was up 340% in the first half of this year, with around 7.4 million discs sold. Consumers spent $194 million just on Blu-ray discs during this same six months.
Added Copy Protection for Blu-ray – German manufacturer X-Protect has developed a new layer of copy protection for use on Blu-ray discs which “fulfills all Blu-ray requirements and specs” and works “flawlessly” with current AACS protection. The new system supports all Blu-ray profiles and works on BD-ROM drives and the PlayStation 3.
