Sony Introduces HD Radio – Sony Electronics has stepped into the marketplace with two receivers for the new HD (Hybrid Digital) broadcast technology now offered by many FM and AM stations on the same frequency as their analog broadcasts. Their XDR-S3HD is a tabletop console radio in a cherry cabinet with a large backlit LCD display. It also includes AM & FM tuning, tone controls, an Aux input for iPods etc., a built-in alarm clock and a remote control. It will be about $200. The XT-100HD is a tuner models to fit most Sony car radios. It works with Sony head units, and in addition to tuning the HD stations it feeds artist names, song titles, call letters, genre and other info to the display on the car system. It is about $100. Sony is one of the first of the big consumer electronics manufacturers to get on the HD Radio bandwagon. [Though greatly data-reduced and not up to the quality of an FM stereocast on a good FM tuner with an antenna, HD signals are free of the bane of FM reception – multipath distortion. In common with DTV, there is no “fringe” (bad) reception – you either receive the station, or you don’t.]
Streaming Movies On iPhones – A company named Wi-Fi TV has broken the iPhone movie memory barrier and now offers – for those who must have this – streaming movies which may be watched on an iPhone as well as previews to a large number of movies. At their site – www.iPhoneWi-FiTV.com – they are currently offering a free streaming movie as an example of the technology. A brief advertisement is added to the beginning of each movie. The movies may also be downloaded for later viewing if wished. The hurdle the technology had to leap was that iPhones have a very limited and non-expandable memory and movies are the most memory-intensive form of entertainment. A spokesman said this beta test for the public is just the beginning of where Wi-Fi TV is going in multimedia content delivery.
Blu-ray Inches Ahead in Format War – According to Parks Associates, Sony’s Blu-ray format has taken the upper hand in the hi-def video market in the U.S. Their research claims that more than 32 million hi-res players of both formats will be sold in the U.S. by 2011 – an 85% increase from this year. Support from the major Hollywood studios and use of Blu-ray in the popular PlayStation 3 (which was just reduced in price by $100) has put Blu-ray in the lead. Disney is starting a nationwide Magical Blu-ray tour promoting the standard, and Target has announced a Sony partnership selling the entry level BDP-S300 player for $499 starting this fall, and including three free Blu-ray discs of current movies. However, Parks Associates also said that less than 10% of the population has ever even heard of either of the new hi-def formats…
