Sony’s PlayStation Delay Could Hurt Both Blu-ray and Gaming – A Merrill Lynch analyst has raised the possibility that the new Sony PlayStation 3 gaming consoles – incorporating Blu-ray hi-def DVD – may not debut this spring as originally planned and might not hit the U.S. market until late this year. This could mean Sony would miss the key holiday period sales and the competing hi-def system – HD-DVD – would gain support with an earlier introduction. The analyst also suggested that Sony is struggling with the retail price of the new game-station, which is being driven up by the Blu-ray format player and some super-fast graphic and processing chips. The delay in the rollout of the new PS3 is critical to struggling Sony, and is being tracked closely by diehard computer gamers. The hope had been that major sales of the PS3 would put the Blu-ray format ahead of the competition. HD-DVD was recently endorsed by Hewlett-Packard, giving the alternative a major boost.
Sony Introduces Two Radical Lifestyle AV Products – On the other hand, Sony has been rethinking ways to make audio and HT products with greater ease of use. The new RHT-G1000 is a HT-in-a-box unit with two front and two surround speakers plus two subwoofers. It comes with its own furniture stand, an integrated receiver providing a claimed 100w per channel, and processing for DD, DTS, ProLogic and Sony’s proprietary virtual surround. The TAV-L1 is an innovative TV/Audio system combining a 32-inch HD-ready LCD screen with a SACD/DVD player and audio system. It is a 2.1 speaker configuration using Sony’s S-Force virtual surround. In Audio mode the sound panel with the speaker drivers covers the screen, and in Theater mode it slides down to reveal the screen. 50w per channel plus 100w for the sub are provided.
Chinese AV Fair Scheduled Next Month – The world-class audiovisual fair known as Integrated Systems China (IS China) will be held for the fourth year in Shanghai from April 12 to 14. 150 leading manufacturers from North America, Europe and Asia had already signed up to exhibit large screen technology, projection technology, connecting equipment, home theater and more. The number of exhibitors has increased by 16% over last year, and the prestigious audiovisual fair has a show area close to 10,000 sq. meters.
Sony Introduces Two Radical Lifestyle AV Products – On the other hand, Sony has been rethinking ways to make audio and HT products with greater ease of use. The new RHT-G1000 is a HT-in-a-box unit with two front and two surround speakers plus two subwoofers. It comes with its own furniture stand, an integrated receiver providing a claimed 100w per channel, and processing for DD, DTS, ProLogic and Sony’s proprietary virtual surround. The TAV-L1 is an innovative TV/Audio system combining a 32-inch HD-ready LCD screen with a SACD/DVD player and audio system. It is a 2.1 speaker configuration using Sony’s S-Force virtual surround. In Audio mode the sound panel with the speaker drivers covers the screen, and in Theater mode it slides down to reveal the screen. 50w per channel plus 100w for the sub are provided.
Chinese AV Fair Scheduled Next Month – The world-class audiovisual fair known as Integrated Systems China (IS China) will be held for the fourth year in Shanghai from April 12 to 14. 150 leading manufacturers from North America, Europe and Asia had already signed up to exhibit large screen technology, projection technology, connecting equipment, home theater and more. The number of exhibitors has increased by 16% over last year, and the prestigious audiovisual fair has a show area close to 10,000 sq. meters.
Circle Surround Selected for Live Concert Recordings – Another matrix surround sound codec has been chosen by Instant Live, who produce onsite concert recordings for fans to purchase directly after the conclusion of the performance. SRS Labs’ Circle Surround can encode 5.1 channel information on any two-channel carrier and is compatible for standard stereo playback. In addition to providing newly-burned CD-Rs at the concerts, Instant Live is able to also furnish paid digitals downloads in Circle Surround of the live concerts thru Napster.
