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Audio Video News
Better Late....
SV Staff  |  Sep 06, 2007
As LG prepared its second-generation combination Blu-ray/HD DVD player for market, we held out hope that Sharp's oft-delayed foray into next-gen DVD was the result of rethinking its commitment to a standalone Blu-ray player. Our hopes were dashed...
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Audio Video News
Luciano Pavarotti: 1935–2007
SV Staff  |  Sep 06, 2007
Today's death of Luciano Pavarotti means that, in the same year, the opera world has seen the passing of both the self-promoted "King of the High C's" and the endearingly nicknamed "Bubbles" - Beverly Sills, who died on July 2....
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Audio Video News
3rd-Gen HD DVD Players & Firmware Updates
SV Staff  |  Sep 06, 2007
Yesterday at the CEDIA Expo in Denver, Toshiba announced three "third-generation" HD DVD players: the HD-A3 (available October at a suggested retail price of $300), HD-A30 (shown, September, $400), and HD-A35 (October, $500). Aside from...
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Audio Video News
Apple Announcement #2: iMakeover!
SV Staff  |  Sep 05, 2007
Steve Jobs has done it again. Stealing some thunder from another consumer-electronics confab (that would be CEDIA Expo 2007, where nearly all of S&V's editors are ensconced right now), the Apple Inc. CEO actually made not one but six big...
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Audio Video News
Apple Announcement #1: The Beatles!
SV Staff  |  Sep 05, 2007
No, not that Apple. And no, not that technological species of Beatles. In a week when it was rumored that Apple Inc. would herald the long-awaited availability of the Beatles on iTunes, Apple Corps Ltd. instead divulged that the band's second...
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Audio Video News
High-Priced Storage
SV Staff  |  Sep 04, 2007
Panasonic didn't even have time to gloat about the 8GB SD card it launched this summer when it doubled down capacity on the category. The company is shipping a 16-gig SD memory card in November that costs more than a dozen of its digital cameras...
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Audio Video News
CEDIA Spring EXPO Moves to Dallas
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 04, 2007
The CEDIA Spring EXPO of 2008 won't be making its debut in Las Vegas after all. Instead, it will take place at the Dallas Convention Center. The dates have also been changed, from April 8-11 to April 29-May 2.
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Audio Video News
U.K. Supermarket Sells STB for $20
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 31, 2007
There are several fears surrounding the U.S. transition to digital television broadcasting in 2009 and one of them relates to the set-top boxes that would keep old analog sets running. The federal government will attempt to allay that fear by awarding as many as two $40 coupons per household to help viewers buy the digital-to-analog devices. Judging from what's happening in the U.K., that looks pretty generous.
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Audio Video News
Monster Brings HDMI Up to Speed
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 30, 2007
The thicket of confusion surrounding HDMI and the marketing magic of the premium-cable industry come together in a glorious new set of assertions by MonsterCable, with products to match.
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Audio Video News
Sony: On to the Video
SV Staff  |  Aug 30, 2007
Whoulda thunk that the company that invented the portable music player would years later play catch up to a computer company and some of its biggest TV rivals? But that's what happened to Sony and the Walkman in the digital age. Today's...
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Audio Video News
First $199 Chinese HD DVD Player Announced
 |  Aug 29, 2007

First the<A HREF="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/news/82007paramount/"> Paramount defection</A>, and now some potentially big hardware news from the HD DVD camp. We've been hearing for months that the Chinese are coming with cheap HD DVD players in the fourth quarter of this year, and the first announcement appears to have been made. Headquartered in Canada, Venturer Electronics is releasing the Chinese-manufactured SHD7000 HD DVD player in time for this year's holiday shopping season. No offical release date or price was given, but Video Business is reporting it will be the least expensive standalone HD DVD player on the market at $199.

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Audio Video News
Analysts Call Vizio Top TV Brand
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 28, 2007
Vizio is claiming bragging rights as the number one selling brand of flat-panel TVs in a press release citing numerous market analysts. Note the distinction between "brand" and "manufacturer."
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Audio Video News
What Did We Do Before the DVR?
SV Staff  |  Aug 28, 2007
A recent survey by Leichtman Research Group indicates that one in five homes now has a DVR. I get that. I don't know where I'd be without mine. I never would have been able to keep up with Lost and I never would have enjoyed Desperate Housewives...
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Audio Video News
Free Analog Cable Service Urged
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 27, 2007
A coalition of small cable operators is urging Congress to let them provide free analog cable service following the switchover to digital television broadcasting. That should make the DTV transition painless for owners of old-fashioned analog TVs, right? But there's a catch. The cable ops want a waiver on the retransmission fees that they'd otherwise have to pay broadcasters in exchange for carrying network signals.
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Audio Video News
"Magic": Early Vinyl Gets the Grammy?
SV Staff  |  Aug 24, 2007
Hot on the heels of my Bruce Springsteen post last week comes word that his new album with the E Street Band, due October 2 on CD, will appear on LP a full week earlier, on September 25. Why? Because the cutoff date for albums to be eligible for...
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