Audio News for November 1, 2013

by | Nov 1, 2013 | Audio News

Studios To Adopt New Digital HD Name for Videos – A consortium of major Hollywood studios has adopted a new terminology—DIGITAL HD and DIGITAL—referring to digital versions of films and TV content across all consumer communication. The plan is to enhance the value of digital home entertainment offerings and bring consistency to the way they are marketed to consumers. The Digital Entertainment Group—the home entertainment industry’s trade association—starts the branding this month with the two disignations appearing on physical packaging, digital downloads, advertising, social media outreach, publicity and merchandising. According to the President of the DEG, the terminology will be used on both Blu-ray purchases and transactions thru a digital store. It is also tied in with the UltraViolet promotion. (We are concerned that this branding might make consumers think they are getting the same hi-def resolution of Blu-ray on digital copies and downloads, which is not true.)

California Startup Uses Crowdfunding Campaign – Light Harmonic, makers of the $20,000 DA Vinci DAC and $31,000 Da Vinci Dual DAC, have started a mass-market subdivision, LH Labs, to offer the “Geek Out”  DAC at $299 and the “Geek Pulse” at $499. The latter decodes files up to 384K/32-bit as well as DSD64 and DSD128 and is pure Class-A with 3000 milliwatts of clean power for most headphones and quality desktop speakers. Kickstarter.com garnered $303,000 from 2146 backers online for the “Geek Out” no-frills audio product.

B&O Wireless Speakers with 24bit Sound – Bang & Olufsen has introduced the BeoLab 17 bookshelf speakers, the BeoLab 18 floor-standing columns, and the BeoLab 19 subwoofer, all for the wireless hi-fi market. The 17s have a triangular shape and a 160-watt integrated amp. The 18s have 21 vertical lamellas of oak or synthetic materials in their pencil-shaped lines, and an acoustic-lens tweeter on top to maintain a well-balanced listening experience when far away from the “sweet spot.”  All are based on the 24bit/96K WiSA hi-res standard.

Consumer Electronics Association Ultra HD Event – The CEA will hold its Ultra HD Conference in New York City on November 12, and announce its Best of Innovations Design and Engineering Awards honorees. Developments in the production and delivery of native Ultra HD TV content to homes today, what’s coming in the future, and the investments, technologies and stumbling blocks associated with upgrading systems and networks will be discussed. “Taking Ultra HD to Retail” will explore what needs to be done to make consumers better aware of UHD TV, what’s happened so far, and what more is needed on the frontlines.

SiriusXM Posts Gains – SiriusXM has posted its best-ever quarterly revenues since the Sirius-XM merger five years ago. The number of net new subscribers rose over 15%, with a subscriber base of 25.58 million. The company cited rising OEM penetration rates as a key reason for the gains, as well as the growth in reactivations in pre-owned cars. The company is working with automakers to develop a next-generation platform to merge one-way satellite service with vehicle-embedded two-way 4G LTE service to optimize the entertainment experience.

Onkyo Develops Hi-Res Audio Player iOS App – Onkyo’s free HF Player for iOS devices provides an interface that displays album art, playback controls, and an organizational structure for up to 48K audio files. Their HF Player Pack at $10 decodes FLAC, DSD, WAV and AIFF files up to 192K/24-bit, plus possible up-sampling to 192K.

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