CEA/CEDIA to Work on Residential Systems

November 21, 2008 | Bob Snyder | Home TheatrePDFPrintE-mail

CEA and CEDIA form the R10 Residential Systems Committee to establish bulletins and standards for design and installation of residential systems. One of the R10's first projects will be revising ANSI/CEA-2030, Multi-room Audio Cabling Standard. The group will also work on CEA/CEDIA Home Theater Recommended Practice: Audio Design.

Leading the new effort are co-chairs Mario Leone (Electronic Solutions Co.) and Walt Zerbe (Russound). The first R10 call will be early December. CEA and CEDIA members can add up to three individuals per company on the R10 committee list.

To Participate: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

No More VHS Players, Says JVC

November 21, 2008 | Bob Snyder | Home TheatrePDFPrintE-mail

When inventories run out, JVC won’t make any more stand-alone VHS players and that ends Japan's presence in the VCR market they created.

JVC VHS player

JVC will continue to make a combo DVD recorder with VHS player. Since 1976, more than 900 million VCRs have been produced WW and JVC sold more than 50 million of those. But DVDs finally unwound the VCR business. 6.41 million VCRs were still shipped in Japan in 2000, but only 280,000 units by 2007.Go DVD Killed the VHS Star

Doro Triples "Care Electronics" Sales

November 21, 2008 | Bob Snyder | Vendor NewsPDFPrintE-mail

Finding a niche: Doro’s Q3 sales improved from last year by 25.3% as Doro tripled sales in its “Care Electronics” division. Care sales rose from 10.7% to 37.4% of total sales YTD.

Doro Mobile

Doro Care is a range of ergonomically designed products developed for people with impairments like reduced hearing, vision, mobility, dexterity and mental processing.

"Our easy-to-use mobile phones are now listed by main operators such as TeliaSonera, Telenor, T-Mobile and other leading operators and retailers. Doro is today one of the top 5 brands in the Nordic GSM market with a steadily increasing market share," says Jérôme Arnaud, Doro’s CEO. "The growth in Care Electronics is offsetting the decline in other activities in Home and Business Electronics, a decline that has been lower than in previous quarters". Go Doro and Care Electronics

17 Countries to Surpass 60% Broadband Penetration in Home by 2012

November 21, 2008 | Bob Snyder | Market Trends - StatsPDFPrintE-mail
WW consumer broadband connections will grow from 323 million connections in 2007 to 499 million by 2012, says Gartner research. WW consumer broadband connections penetrated 18% of households in 2007, and by 2012, households with a broadband connection will reach 25%.

Five countries exceeded 60% broadband penetration in homes in 2007: Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, So. Korea and Hong Kong. (Someone please tell Gartner Hong Kong is NOT a country.)
"Depending on the specific market conditions, availability of Internet-enabled devices and the continued impact of broadband on consumer lifestyles, we expect some markets will have a broadband ceiling at 80% penetration or greater," said Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner.

The small, denser countries, or countries with government- backed spending for broadband infrastructure, have an advantage. As a result, by 2012, these countries will have maintained their lead in broadband penetration rates.

        Highest Broadband Penetration of Households   2007 and 2012 (in Percent)
 Country20072012
 South Korea93.097.0
 Netherlands74.082.0
 Hong Kong76.081.0
 Canada65.079.0
 United States54.077.0
 Japan54.077.0
 Switzerland69.076.0
 Singapore57.075.0
 United Kingdom58.074.0
 Taiwan59.074.0
 France58.073.0
 Australia52.072.0
 Sweden58.069.0
 Spain54.068.0
 Germany49.068.0
 Belgium55.066.0
 New Zealand43.064.0

       

 Source: Gartner (July 2008) Go Gartner on Consumer BroadbandMeanwhile researchers at Ovum European say fixed-line broadband has reached a crossroads. The annual growth rate of European broadband subscriptions will be 14% up to 2011.

Broadband is moving beyond the PC, say Ovum, and beyond simple internet applications to support numerous devices providing consumers with a range of multimedia services. Ovum thinks this shift will in turn change the broadband access market itself.

In most cases, that is going to mean use of broadband to support TV applications, especially IPTV, which will move from its early "linear video" phase to a new focus on differentiated or new applications.

Adapt Mobile Shows Mini Projector

November 21, 2008 | Bob Snyder | TV - Display - ProjectorsPDFPrintE-mail

Based on 3M's LCoS optical technology, the Adapt Mini Projector can project an image 15 to 127cm (diagonal).

 

Adapt Mini

 

It's only 10 lumens at 640 x 480 (VGA) resolution but what makes this a "handy" projector is that it can store a presentation, photo show, or music videos. No need for an external device: it has a memory slot (SD/MMC/MS Pro) and 1GB built-in memory.

 

Go Adapt Mini

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