On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Mitsubishi turned heads at CES 2013 with the HC8000-- an affordable ($3000) 3D home theatre projector gathering some fairly impressive reviews after the show.

It has a 333000:1 contrast ration and outputs 2000 lumens of brightness, with DLP technology handling both native 3D and 2D-to-3D conversion.

The company says the the 3D glasses are also redesigned, with black liquid-crystal technology designed to fully concord with the high-speed response from the DLP element.

Further features include a 1.5X zoom lens, integrated 6-segment 3D deep colour DLP colour wheel and both dual HDMI ports and component video input.

Go Mitsubishi HC8000

According to Deloitte, 2013 is the year kicking off the 4K (aka UHD) TV roll-out, even if the technology still needs 18-36 months until it is technically and commercially ready for broadcast.

As seen at CES 2013 a fair number of vendors (10 in all) are preparing 4K sets, with around 20 different models to be available by end 2013. Such TVs already have buyers-- LG tells Korea's ChosunBiz 300 84-inch 84LM9600 sets, each worth around $20000, found a home already.

The number of 4K consumers will grow once more content will become available, as seen a few years back during the initial stages of HDTV. More professional and semi-professional 4K cameras will also be available, while the industry should agree on updated standards (such as HDMI) able to better handle 4K data rates.

Initial 4K TV transmissions are taking place-- Europe already has a dedicated demo channel, courtesy of Eutelsat Communications. Deloitte predicts commercial 4K broadcasts will take place from 2014-2015.

Huawei goes to Germany and announces the Ascend G 615, a quad-core mid-range smartphone with a 4.5-inch 720p IPS display.

It carries a 1.4GHz processor, 2150mAh battery, 1GB RAM and 8GB built-in storage (expandable via microSD slot), as well as 1.3MP front- and 8MP rear-facing cameras.

The OS of choice is Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but Huawei says a Jelly Bean update will be available from March 2013.

The Huawei Ascend G 615 is available now in a number of European markets.

Go Huawei Ascend G 615

HMV Canada owner Hilco UK rescues HMV after it buys the bank debts (reportedly for around £40 million) of the ailing entertainment retailer.

Hilco does not actually own HMV now-- but it has the power to effectively take control of the retailer. Rival bidders for HMV would also need Hilco agreement.

According to the Financial Times HMV net debt currently reaches £120m, following the holiday trading period.

HMV administrator Deloitte says "the administrators will work closely with [Hilco], as secured lender, as we continue to seek a positive outcome for the business. Stores continue to trade and at this time we remain hopeful of securing a long-term future for HMV as a going concern.”

However retail analysts predict store closures are in the cards for HMV, with the store count to potentially drop from 230 to 100-150. Game already expressed interest in the acquisition of around 45 HMV outlets.

Go Hilco UK Acquires HMV Debt

Go Hilco UK Buys Debt of HMV to Gain Control (FT.com)

Go Imminent Rescue for HMV?