Audio Video News

Normally the disclaimer* comes at the end, but why hide uncomfortable news? When it comes to home entertainment equipment and someone starts talking about a piece of gear being "wireless", they don't mean "wireless" - they mean "nearly wireless". Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about Panasonic's new rear-speaker wireless-ready home theater systems. Oh, by the way, "wireless-ready" means you'll need an optional piece of gear to make the system nearly wireless. (But don't let that put a barbed-wire fence around your lofty goal of having free-range wireless chickens. There ain't no totally wireless lunch from any company in this neck of the woods, pardner, but that don't mean you can't dream...)

Are 3D and wireless home video distribution both equally important to you? Then you'll be glad to hear that the Wireless Home Digital Interface will support all the 3D formats included in the HDMI 1.4a specifications. The updated spec will be released in the fourth quarter of this year.

Wireless TVs may be on the market as soon as the second half of 2010.

Wireworld Cable Technology, the Florida-based maker of high-performance AV cables, has announced updated second-generation versions of its patented flat Ethernet cables.

David Carlick, interim president of the Wireless Speaker & Audio Association, a.k.a. WiSA, issued a statement last week about progress being made or, as he put it, “the opening curtain on the WiSA Standard as the solution for high definition, multi-channel audio— big sound for big TV's.”

As if your cell phone didn't already try to perform too many functions at once, a slew of consumer electronics manufacturers want to add in one more feature: A digital projector. That's right, a mini-version of the home-theater grade projectors...