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- Home Entertainment
Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. announces its Elite® BDP-09FD flagship model has become the world’s first Blu-ray Disc® Player to achieve THX® certification and that its Elite® EX Series in-wall speakers have attained THX Select2™ certification. These products complement Pioneer’s current top-of-the-line Elite A/V Receivers that are the world’s first and only THX Ultra2™ Plus Certified receivers to feature Class D digital amplification. When used alone or as a system, Pioneer’s comprehensive line of THX Certified audio and video products deliver faithful reproduction of multi-channel entertainment that is unmatched by any manufacturer. Attendees can experience the dynamic capabilities of Pioneer’s home theater products in its sound demonstration room at booth #3009.
“Pioneer recognizes THX as the industry benchmark for rigorous, unbiased testing and endorsement of high performance home theater products,” said Russ Johnston, executive vice president of home entertainment business solutions group at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “As true A/V specialists, our engineers have worked relentlessly to craft a full line of products that rival the movie theater experience, which not only meet Pioneer’s strict principles for faithful reproduction of content, but now feature THX certification.”
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- Hard Disks
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today rolled out the red carpet for the newest members of its celebrated CinemaStar™ family of 3.5-inch hard disk drives (HDD). Based on 500GB per platter technology, the new Hitachi CinemaStar product line-up consists of the 7200 RPM, 1TB CinemaStar 7K1000.C and its 1TB, CinemaStar 5K1000 CoolSpin™ companion.
Both product families are built to handle the most demanding high definition (HD) video streams and offer reliable performance, large capacity, quiet operation, advanced AV features, and low power and temperatures that help manufacturers meet design, price and performance objectives for their consumer electronics devices. Along with these benefits, these 1TB performers are able to store nearly 250 hours of MPEG-41 HD video and can handle multiple streams of video simultaneously, making the CinemaStar 7K1000.C and the CinemaStar 5K1000 the perfect drives for consumer electronics applications such as HD DVRs, DVD/HDD recorders, DVR-enabled TVs, media centers, and video surveillance systems.
Now with an expanded capacity range of 160GB to 1TB, the new CinemaStar 5K1000 family features innovative Hitachi CoolSpin Technology, which relies on motor speed optimization to provide a unique balance of performance, power utilization and acoustics. By tuning the motor to make the drive spin slower, thereby reducing harmonic resonance, the CinemaStar 5K1000 is nearly silent at 2.4 bels during operation, draws 3.3 watts or less idle power and generates less heat, which are all critical factors when designing environmentally friendly digital video solutions.
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- Software
Sonic Solutions® today announced a new lineup for its professional Blu-ray Disc (BD) authoring, compression, and quality assurance products. Built on the same advanced technology that has made Sonic® BD production systems the choice of more authoring facilities than all other BD production platforms combined, the new BD product line features workgroup systems optimized for emerging segments of the BD production market, including professional videographers, video post-production houses, and high-end authoring facilities. These targeted configurations will make it easier for BD producers to purchase systems that are tailored to their specific needs, and will put Sonic's premium BD production capabilities within reach of new classes of users, including independent video professionals and AV departments in corporate, educational, and governmental sectors.
"Recent AACS licensing changes, rising consumer awareness and falling player prices, have unlocked BD production opportunities in markets beyond traditional Studio feature film content," said Rolf Hartley, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic's Premium Content Applications Group. "There is now an increasing realization that BD is a viable business opportunity for a far broader range of creative professionals and content owners. We are responding to this by adjusting the pricing of our professional product line to cost effectively equip new market entrants with the tools they need to take advantage of this exciting opportunity."
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- Home Entertainment
LG Electronics today announced the addition of the high-definition streaming movie service from VUDU, Inc. to the LG Wireless Network Blu-ray Player (model BD390). With VUDU, consumers can instantly buy or rent from an extensive library of movies and TV titles, including an industry-leading catalog of more than 2,200 high-definition (HD) movies. The BD390 with VUDU will be demonstrated here this week at the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) EXPO 2009 (Booth #2623).
The addition of VUDU service to the BD390 adds yet another content provider alliance to the "NetCast Entertainment Access" family of features, which already includes access to hundreds of hours of Netflix, Roxio® CinemaNow®, and YouTube(TM) streaming content. Available later this month through a free automatic upgrade, consumers will be able to enjoy VUDU, as well as other exclusive entertainment options at the click of a remote.
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- Home Entertainment
Offering the best of full HD 1080p and streaming Internet video, Sony today introduced the BDP-N460 networked Blu-ray Disc(TM) player. Beside playing Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, the device instantly streams one of the largest collections of premium and free on-demand entertainment from the BRAVIA(TM) Internet Video platform including thousands of movies, TV programs, and music from YouTube, Slacker, and, later this fall, Netflix.
"Whether its Full HD 1080p or streaming video and audio from the Internet, entertainment comes in so many flavors that consumers want choice," said Chris Fawcett, vice president of Sony Electronics' home audio and video business. "Leading the entertainment experience, Sony brings the best of both worlds together in one player that offers more content than other stand-alone devices on the market."
The BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD player delivers full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema(TM) output, decodes the latest advanced audio codecs, and is BD-LIVE(TM) capable with your broadband internet connection and purchase of external memory.
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- Network Storage
QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR video surveillance systems, and network-based video players today expanded their Turbo NAS lineup with the addition of the TS-419P desktop and TS-419U rack-mounted NAS servers. The TS-419P and TS-419U feature 4 hot-swappable SATA hard drives with up to 8TB of total capacity and supports 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch hard drives, giving users more flexibility in selecting drives for installation.
The TS-419P and TS-419U feature a Marvell 1.2GHz CPU and 512MB DDRII memory which provide sustained high performance with lower power consumption. The TS-419P and TS-419U can be configured for RAID 0/1/5/6/5+ spare, and JBOD with online RAID capacity expansion and online RAID level migration for high data redundancy. Both models also support iSCSI Target service with Thin Provisioning and dual Gigabit LAN ports with port trunking (support 7 bonding modes) and multi-IP settings. The TS-419P and TS-419U also feature 4 USB ports and 2 e-SATA ports for expanding the storage capacity of the NAS servers.
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- Hard Disks
WD® today announced that it has commenced volume shipments of its 9.5 mm high, 2.5-inch notebook hard drives with 640 GB capacity. The WD Scorpio® Blue™ 640 GB hard drives utilize 320 GB-per-platter technology and are designed for mainstream notebook computers. The WD Scorpio Blue 640 GB is the highest capacity 2.5-inch hard drive available today in the industry-standard 9.5 mm, 2-disk form factor.
The new WD Scorpio Blue 640 GB drive has a 30 percent reduction in overall power consumption from the previous generation WD Scorpio Blue drive to achieve best-in-class power and performance1, making it an ideal solution for notebook computers and other portable devices that require extended battery life and cool, quiet operation.
"WD continues to provide the market with industry-leading capacity points so consumers and business professionals can take advantage of the ever increasing need to store rich media content, such as high resolution photos, HD videos and music," said Jim Morris, WD's vice president and general manager of client systems. "Our industry-leading power efficiency, achieved without compromise to performance, is a further example of the added features and value that our customers have come to expect from WD."
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- Hard Disks
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in digital consumer electronics and information technology, today announced its new 640-Gigabyte (GB) 2.5-inch Spinpoint M7 internal hard disk drive. The new 640GB hard drive, now the top-density drive of the popular M7 family, has an areal density of 516-Gigabit per square inch for each 320GB platter, which is a 28 percent increase per platter over Samsung’s previous density-leading 500GB hard drive. Samsung’s new Spinpoint M7 model is designed for high-end mobile computing applications requiring greater shock resistance without a compromise in performance.
“With the addition of the new internal drive to the M7 series, our customers will get the best viable combination of density, performance and reliability that is essential for high-end notebooks and mobile applications,” said C.H. Lee, vice president, Storage sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. “Samsung maximizes the density level of its platters to enhance the reliability and stability of its internal hard drives.”
Increasing the areal density of 516-Gigabit per square inch raises the total drive capacity without adding additional platters. By maximizing capacity without increasing mechanical parts, the two-platter 640GB drive has lower power consumption levels and higher operational stability compared to drives with a higher number of platters.
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Choiix Accu-Mouse (C-PM01-W2) Uni-Retractable Optical Mouse @ MEGATechNews.com
Cooler Master Storm Scout @ InsideHW
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 Self-Contained Liquid CPU Cooler @ ThinkComputers.org
Gigabyte GM-M7800S Swarovski Crystal Mouse @ TestSeek.com
Intel Core i5 and i7 Processors and P55 Express @ HotHardware.com
Intel Core i5-750 and P55 Chipset @ TweakPC.de
Intel Core i5 750, Core i7 870 Linux Benchmarks @ Phoronix
Intel Core i5-750 LGA1156 Processor @ Benchmark Reviews
Logitech Harmony 700 Universal Remote @ I4U
Panasonic VIERA 50-inch V-series Plasma TV @ Hardware Zone
QNAP NMP-1000 Network Multimedia Player @ Hardware Zone
Silverstone Grandia Series GD03 HTPC Case @ Metku.net
Thermaltake ISGC-400 CPU Cooler @ BCCHardware
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- Home Entertainment
NETGEAR®, Inc., a worldwide provider of technologically innovative, branded networking solutions, today launched the newest Internet-connected set-top box in its popular "Digital Entertainer" product family. The new Digital Entertainer Live (EVA2000) is an easy-to-use and affordable Internet set-top box that enables viewers to play their digital media collections, YouTube videos and a wide range of other Internet content on big-screen TVs. Rather than having to watch downloaded movies and online videos on small computer screens, families can now enjoy media collections stored on USB storage devices, computers and network storage directly on their HDTVs, from the comfort of their couch.
In addition to personal media collections and YouTube, consumers can now easily browse, download and play newly released pay-per-view movies from Roxio CinemaNow(TM). They can also view videos on their TV from a wide variety of Internet sources, such as Hulu, Netflix® and CBS, through free software trials and optional subscriptions. The Digital Entertainer Live incorporates all of these functions into a single compact player, an advantage for cluttered home entertainment cabinets.
