Audio Video News

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Mark Fleischmann  |  May 06, 2011  | 
The Blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga is coming September 16, 2011 in the U.S. and four days earlier internationally. LucasFilm made the announcement this week, on May 4, Star Wars Day.

The versions used will be the ones released theatrically in 1997 and restored for the 2004 DVD release, George Lucas told The New York Times. The press release does not list resolution but we're guessing it's 1080p. The audio codec is listed as "6.1 DTS Surround Sound." It is not known whether that's DTS-HD Master Audio or lossy DTS 5.1. However, Fox has supported Master Audio in many other BD releases.

Scott Wilkinson  |  May 05, 2011  | 
Yesterday, I attended an in-depth briefing on Panasonic's 2011 lineup of TVs, which included some interesting side-by-side demos. Of course, 3D was a central theme, along with online content, technology improvements, and the company's growing emphasis on LCD TVs.
Michael Berk  |  May 05, 2011  | 

Man for all seasons, adopted New Yorker, and sometime visual artist David Bowie (who's the subject of a new retrospective at the Museum of Arts and Design) has contributed a print for auction to a new fundraising e

Michael Berk  |  May 05, 2011  | 

Yes, here's evidence (posted by former Magic Band guitarslinger Gary Lucas) of a 1986 recording engineered by Lucas, featuring the teenage Diesel (then going by his given name,

Mark Fleischmann  |  May 05, 2011  | 
Yesterday we reported a Nielsen survey showing that TV ownership has dropped two percent. Unmentioned were a couple of other TV ownership patterns, both reported by DisplaySearch: Consumers who do own TVs are replacing their sets more frequently. And those who own flat panel sets are likely to own multiple sets.

Worldwide, consumers are replacing both tube-based and flat-panel sets at a faster rate than they had in the previous 10- to 15-year average. What's attracting them are not the latest technologies, such as 3DTV or IPTV, but more basic things such as picture quality and price. See press release.

Ken Richardson  |  May 04, 2011  | 

Hot off the Lucasfilm press. Text of the complete press release follows:

Mark Fleischmann  |  May 04, 2011  | 
The ownership of TV sets has dropped from 98.9 percent of U.S. households to 96.7 percent, a decrease of more than two percent, according to Nielsen. The last time TV ownership declined was in 1992 following a recession.

Nielsen attributes the decrease to drooping incomes and alternative media. The research company derived its figures from the 2010 Census as well as a national sample of 50,000 people.

Mike Mettler  |  May 03, 2011  | 

The next leg of Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience tour is officially underway, and I highly recommend you check it out. Dates and info are here.

Mark Fleischmann  |  May 03, 2011  | 
Dr. Amar Bose will donate the majority of his company's shares to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been both student and teacher.

The 81-year-old founder of the Bose Corporation graduated with MIT's class of 1951, eventually taking bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D degrees. He joined the faculty in 1956 and taught electrical engineering until 2001. In a letter to his employees, Dr. Bose cited his debt to Professors Y.W. Lee, Norbert Wiener, and Jerome Wiesner.

Mark Fleischmann  |  May 02, 2011  | 
Whose video on demand service has content from all four of the major commercial broadcast TV networks: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC? The answer is Comcast.

With the addition of more than 20 series from ABC and Fox on April 27, Comcast is the only player who can make that claim for its VOD operation. The shows include Fox's Glee and The Simpsons and ABC's Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. Fox's Masterchef will be added on June 7 and Hell's Kitchen on July 19. Additional NBC shows on the way include America's Got Talent on June 1, Love in the Wild on June 2, and The Marriage Ref on June 27.

Ken Richardson  |  Apr 29, 2011  | 

Loved that little ceremony? Loved the music even more?

It's online right now.

According to a press release, The Royal Wedding: The Official Album is ready for purchase from "the world's foremost download and streaming platforms."

Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 29, 2011  | 
You've probably read elsewhere that Norio Ohga died last week at 81. As chairman of Sony from 1982-95, he got the company into the motion picture and music businesses. An accomplished musician and music lover, Ohga was the guy who insisted the Compact Disc format should hold at least 74 minutes to accommodate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without flipping. See obituary.

Perhaps the person best suited to reminiscing about Ohga would be the one who wooed him away from his career as a performing musician, Sony's legendary founder Akio Morita, who died in 1999. Following are some passages from his 1986 book Made in Japan. He starts by describing Ohga as "the young music student who asked so many audacious questions of our salesmen in 1947 that they finally brought him around to the company to talk to the engineers."

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