Audio/Visual devices

This section of the website focuses on the various aspects of consumer electronics that are used in the home. This can range from High Definition TVs and Videos to Hi-Fis and surround sound systems. Feel free to visit our forums to discuss Audio and Visual products.

Latest News

Sirius and XM merger approved by FCC, extreme partying commences

In a somewhat unsurprising move, the FCC has approved the merger of Sirius and XM after protracted -- and incredibly boring -- multi-year negotiations. The Federal Communication Commission decided tonight to allow a deal that will bring the two satellite radio providers together, creating a combined subscriber base of roughly 18 million users. The deal isn't without catches, however, with the Commission stating that the companies must cap prices for three years following the merger, allow subscriber choice on content, and lower fees for channel packages. FCC head Kevin Martin seemed pleased with the final outcome, stating, "Consumers will get to enjoy the best of the programming on both services."

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Amazon Video on Demand store streams film and TV, launches today

Amazon is scrapping its Unbox service in favor of a new online TV and movie store called Amazon Video on Demand. Unlike iTunes and Unbox, Amazon's new digital store-front will stream any of 40,000 movies and television programs to customers. According to Bill Carr, Amazon's VP for digital media, "Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can't help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button." In this regard, the first 2 minutes of every video will begin to play when customers visit the video's product page. Movies can be purchased and downloaded to your hard drive or stored in an Amazon video library allowing you to stream the content to other (any?) Internet connected devices. Films and TV shows from "almost all the major studios and television networks" will be available for sale or rental in the US at undisclosed prices -- only Disney and its ABC subsidiary are holding out for uh, obvious reasons (Steve Jobs is Disney's largest individual shareholder).

Amazon also plans to bring the service directly to the living room through a deal with Sony (and others) which will ultimately embed store access into future Bravia TVs. For now, Amazon's VoD store will be available through Sony's $300 Bravia Internet Video Link device. The store goes beta-hot today for a limited number of "invited" US Amazon.com customers before going a live later this summer.

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Sonys recent losses could spur a takeover bid

Sony unexpectedly made a loss of 4.7bn yen ($45m; £23m) in the first quarter 2008 but more importantly, Sony's ROE (return on equity, which is its profits divided by the total value of all its shares) has been an average of 6% over the past three years.  This is well behind its main competitors, so it now aims to lift its ROE to 10%.  "That target is a sign of Sony's sense of crisis that it could really become a takeover target if it doesn't lift its ROE to at least over 10%," said Mitsushige Akino from Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

Sony is now attempting to dramatically improve its ROE.  It plans to invest about $17bn (£8.6bn) in its key businesses over the next three years.

Sony has said how it will make its television and video game units profitable this financial year as part of a series of strategic announcements. It will cut production costs in its TV business this year and make investments aimed at taking over the top spot in LCD TV sales in the next three years.

The maker of PlayStation consoles plans to offer a film download service for the PlayStation 3 starting this summer.

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Toshiba unveils another Blu-ray 'killer'

Toshiba is working on an extension to the DVD format which will offer video quality comparable to that produced by Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs, according to Japanese media reports.

The company plans to begin selling a DVD player based on the new technology within six months, Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday citing unnamed sources at Toshiba.  The new enhanced DVD players will be sold at lower prices than Blu-ray players, according to the sources.

Toshiba ceded to the rival Blu-ray format in February 2008 after spending years developing its own HD-DVD next-generation video disc standard. HD-DVD was backed by a consortium of companies including Microsoft and Intel, while Sony is the lead developer of Blu-ray.

The new DVD player will be backwards-compatible with standard DVD discs, according to the sources. One Japanese report appeared to suggest that the new technology would be able produce much higher-resolution images from existing DVDs, but did not address the apparent impossibility of this claim. The modified DVD format relies on a newly-developed large scale integrated circuit chip to rapidly convert the stored video, but no technical details were released.

Manufacturers have attempted to extend the lifespan of existing storage technologies by adding additional data which can be used by new players but ignored by older players. For example, hybrid Super Audio CDs (SACDs) can be played in traditional CD players but produce higher quality audio when played in special players. However, SACDs have failed to meet sales targets.

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Time Warner and cable unit announce separation

Time Warner Inc., pressured by investors to break up a media conglomerate built over 20 years, will spin off its cable-television unit and receive a $9.25 billion one-time cash dividend in the transaction.

Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bewkes said the separation gives Time Warner funds to make purchases, return cash to shareholders, or invest in remaining film, TV, Internet and publishing businesses. Time Warner Cable Inc. will borrow $10.9 billion to fund the payout to its parent, which owns 84 percent, and other shareholders. The amount is equal to $10.27 a share.

``Time Warner is a company in the midst of a sweeping transformation,'' said Matt Kaufler, a portfolio manager at Clover Capital Management in Rochester, New York, which owns 1.7 million shares. ``There will be more steps before year-end. This is headed toward being a pure content company.''

Bewkes, who took over Jan. 1, said on a conference call today that Time Warner no longer needs to own a cable operator to carry its movies and TV shows because it has established brands and more options for distribution. His predecessor, Richard Parsons, fended off efforts by shareholder activist Carl Icahn to dismantle the New York-based company in 2006.

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A strange move if Time Warner was thinking about producing more content via digital distribution.  This is in effect a movie studio separating itself from its own distribution channel / physical connection to its consumers.  This is an unusual move for the worlds largest media company and the 2nd largest US cable company, which could delay the hotly anticipated move to digital downloads.