OnLine Videos Celebrate Vinyl – A new website – TheDailyVinyl.com – features unique videos celebrating the glory days of vinyl records. Its creator, known only as “The Dude,” shoots a turntable just playing a record in unusual places that seem to tie in with the particular tune, for example a garden for the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus,” or on a teacher’s desk with some apples for Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher.” The soundtrack comes directly from the same LP or 45 and is recorded separately for better sound quality. Some of the videos are already accessible at YouTube. (I tried to view one of them but couldn’t make it work on either site.)
New Sennheiser Wireless Headphones – Sennheiser has introduced three new wireless digital headphones for watching TV or listening to audio silently. All three models have padded ear cups and adjustable headbands, and their coverage range goes up with the cost – which ranges from about $350 to $600. The phones use New Kleer transmission technology which promises uncompressed audio data transmission.
3D Monitor Launch in Australia – ViewSonic has introduced a 22-inch desktop LCD monitor claimed to produce blur-free 3D video when used with the new Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision stereo active shutter glasses (about $300 in Australia). The Nvidia glasses are compatible with over 350 existing entertainment titles delivering realistic PC gaming experiences. The monitor sells for $600 in Australia.
Tsunami Spawns New Web Attacks – Web security firm F-Secure warns of cyber criminals exploiting public interest in the Samoa earthquake and tsunami. Search Engine Optimisation poisoning directs users to rogue virus software, and usually exploit major new topics to so do. Tweets are also be used to direct people looking for tsunami news to rogue AV sites.
Pioneer Has First THX-Certified Blu-ray Player – Pioneer introduced at CEDIA the world’s first Blu-ray player to achieve THX certification. The Elite BDP-09FD is the firm’s flagship model. It joins two other Pioneer AV products to achieve THX certification: The Elite EX Series In-Wall Speakers, and the Elite AV receivers. Pioneer has more than 100 models of AV receivers which have received THX approval.
New Sharp Laser Could Enable 100GB Blu-ray Disks – Sharp’s new blue-violet laser is capable of reading triple or even quad-layer Blu-ray discs, thus tripling or quadrupaling the 25GB-per-layer limit of present two-layer Blu-ray discs. The beam’s output is much stronger than traditional readers at 500mW, due to an aluminum oxynitride layer located squarely between the laser’s crystal and dielectric film meant to protect the laser. Writing speeds may also be upped to 8x on all four layers, making it a more interesting archiving option for digital packrats. Our 4.7 GB DVDs don’t make it anymore, so this step could – if affordable – replace them.
Sony Slammed at 2009 CEDIA – Attendees at the CEDIA Expor accused Sony of being out of touch with their customers. Their display at CEDIA demonstrated their two-way integration with third party controllers from AMX, Crestron, Control4 and Escient Vantage. But their TV and digital camera sales are plummeting, and technology news outlet ChannelNews in Australia was banned by Sony for critisizing the company
