Home Theater Systems - Electronics and Forum - HomeTheaterShack - Home Theater, Audio and Video News http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/ News and Press Releases from the World of Home Theater, Audio, Video and Electronics. This forum is reserved for select electronics and technology news provided by our sponsors and partners. Other news articles may be posted in their related forum. Only Admin may start new threads here. Moderators: Sonnie en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:12:05 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg Home Theater Systems - Electronics and Forum - HomeTheaterShack - Home Theater, Audio and Video News http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/ DIRECTV Names Michael White as New President and CEO http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/23025-directv-names-michael-white-new-president-ceo.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:06:43 GMT
Quote:
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DIRECTV, the world’s leading provider of digital television services, today named Michael White as its new President and CEO. White announced in September that he will retire later this year from his current position as CEO of PepsiCo International and vice chairman of PepsiCo. He will assume his new role at DIRECTV beginning Jan. 1, 2010, and has also joined DIRECTV’s Board of Directors. John Malone, Chairman of the DIRECTV Board, made the announcement today.
Source ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News mechman http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/23025-directv-names-michael-white-new-president-ceo.html Ergen steps down as EchoStar CEO http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/23024-ergen-steps-down-echostar-ceo.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:04:36 GMT ---Quote--- Charlie Ergen, founder and chairman of satellite TV technology company EchoStar Corp., has stepped down as the...
Quote:
Charlie Ergen, founder and chairman of satellite TV technology company EchoStar Corp., has stepped down as the Colorado company's CEO and president, EchoStar announced Wednesday.

Article. ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News mechman http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/23024-ergen-steps-down-echostar-ceo.html California Passes Anti-Flat-HDTV Legislation To Try To Save Energy http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/23018-california-passes-anti-flat-hdtv-legislation-try-save-energy.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:14:20 GMT http://hometheaterreview.com/images_news/Plasma-ban-california.gif*California Passes Anti-Flat-HDTV Legislation To Try To...
California Passes Anti-Flat-HDTV Legislation To Try To Save Energy

By: Jerry Del Colliano

As a resident of California who owns a "green home" complete with new windows, high efficiency air conditioners, space-age insulation and drought tolerant planting on over two acres of hillside - today's decision to toughen standards on HDTVs is a real head-scratcher. Flat HDTVs are a relatively new technology that in their early goings use more energy than a traditional CRT television. At the same time - LCD and plasma HDTVs consume at an even higher rate the content that we create here in Los Angeles including broadcast television, HD downloads and Blu-ray. All are industries that pay Californians - who pay taxes.

In the past year the consumer electronics manufacturers have made great strides towards making flat HDTVs easier on the power bill. Most specifically, the LED backlit LCD technology has cut down power consumption dramatically, but this technology is only found on the newest and often most expensive sets. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) argues - why penalize an industry that is already policing itself as it fine-tunes its sexy, meaningful and relatively new video technology that is part of tens of millions of Californians' lives?

It's important to note that in terms of videophile performance, plasma HDTVs still make the best picture in terms of black levels. Most of today's plasma HDTVs have improved their energy consumption, yet this legislation aims to make them even harder to sell to customers who are willing to pay more for their energy bills to get a better picture. LCD sets have become more popular than plasma sets and it's likely that within three or four more years there may not be any more plasma sets sold. There was no need to legislate an early demise in the middle of a deep national recession.

A strange twist in the decision says that the new regulations are on HDTVs up to 58 inches. Most of the biggest users of power are 65 inch and larger HDTVs, yet seemingly this bill doesn't deal with those. In addition to a structural engineer needed to hang the set, 103 inch plasma sets also require a dedicated 240 AC line be installed by an electrician; yet they are somehow exempt. I can see the press releases now for the 59 inch plasmas featured at the Consumer Electronics Show this January. How much you want to bet that they use close to the same amount of energy as a comparable LCD set?

Southern California is without question the biggest market for home theater in the world. There are more installers, retailers and design firms in the area than anywhere else. As the home theater business morphs into more of a subcontractor or trade that is also selling green technology like automated window shades, lighting control, solar and beyond - these new standards punish those trying to make a living by selling green. And if HDTVs are first, what other AV components can we keep from selling in the state? How about power amps? Tube electronics? Where does it stop and couldn't the problem be better solved by creating your own power? Yet solar power incentives are nothing in comparison to the federal tax credits that sold so many Range Rovers as "farm vehicles" to small business back when the White House was more of a pawn for big oil and the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia.

So in a state that paid ten fold the going rate to Enron for electricity and in a city like Los Angeles where John Q. Resident can't sell his extra solar power back into the grid and get paid for it - our legislators have found another way to keep people from buying high performance video equipment. Exploiting and misusing the meaningful marketing hype of the green movement - the state legislators skip addressing the real problems in the world's seventh largest economy. In the past decade or so California has hosted the dotcom boom and seen the hottest real estate market in recent memory. Both pumped vast volumes of new income into the state treasury and these same legislators failed to invest it into a new power grid, new schools or a better infrastructure for water, power, cars and beyond. These same legislators are the ones who are truly afraid to deal with the real problems of the state - the ones that people like Warren Buffett are warning about - such as Prop 13. Prop 13 for those who don't live in California is another genius tax cut from the 1970s that basically makes it so that the state can't increase a home owner's property tax, so there are millions of Baby Boomers who own homes bought decades ago that have increased by millions of dollars yet pay taxes in 1977 dollars thus leaving the state strapped for money. It's a political hot potato that Mr. Schwarzenegger won't deal with. The same goes for the state legislators from both sides of the aisle who would rather spend their time on the decreasing power consumption of today's best HDTVs. Consumers (AKA: voters from the left and right) hopefully will see through this political smoke screen and will remember this when they want to help out the economy by buying a new, high performance HDTV of their choice.

Source: HomeTheaterReview.com ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News Sonnie http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/23018-california-passes-anti-flat-hdtv-legislation-try-save-energy.html California Decision Could Limit HDTV Choices Nationwide http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22788-california-decision-could-limit-hdtv-choices-nationwide.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:52:57 GMT On Nov. 18 the California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would require retailers by 2011 to limit... On Nov. 18 the California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would require retailers by 2011 to limit sales of TV sets to those that consume about a third less power than they do today.

Since the public hearing on Oct. 3, industry groups have turned up the volume in opposition to the new guidelines. If passed, the best value in home theater HDTVs will disappear from California shelves and, some analysts figure, will ultimately cut consumer choices across the country.

The Consumer Electronics Association says the current CEC proposal would ban the sale in California of 100 percent of plasma sets larger than 60 inches and 25 percent of all today's large screen HDTVs.

For home theater enthusiasts, plasma offers the best value per square inch in screen sizes over 50 inches. A similarly sized, energy efficient LED TV, costs twice as much as a plasma television. Today, a 50-inch Samsung plasma HDTV can be had online for under $1,200, and the largest LED HDTV by Samsung at that same price is only 32 inches.

Misinformation?

Meanwhile, plasma manufacturers have reduced energy consumption of their larger models over the past two years, and there is room for further reduction.

Plasma Display Coalition president Jim Palumbo asked the California Energy Commission to update energy-use information on the state website, but he had no success, citing the CEC for “its flagrant misinformation campaign.” Palumbo's group says the state’s site has not been updated to reflect the fact that many newer TV models burn the equivalent energy of two 75-watt household light.

The CEC says manufacturers will have time to retool their products to meet the guidelines. CEA representatives agree, but warn that retooling will come at a cost, and consumers may have to settle for energy efficient TVs with fewer fancy features like Internet interactivity, if they want to pay the same price.

"Imposing arbitrary limits deprives the consumer of buying the television they want, at a price that's affordable to each individual," says Douglas Johnson, senior director of technology policy for the Consumer Electronics Association.

As California goes ...

CEA fears new restrictions will quickly spill over into other states: as California goes, so goes the nation. Manufacturers will not make TVs that can be sold in one state and not another. Can you imagine The California Energy Diet TV versus The Super Size It Texas TV? Rather than driving Californians out of state and online to buy non-conforming TVs, the net result will be fewer choices for consumers.

“What is needed is congressional legislation on the energy efficiency of CE and other household product," said Steve Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Twice, the consumer electronics trade publication. "Congressional deliberations will allow the opinions of many [to] be heard and considered, rather than have one state legislature dictate policy on such a vital national issue.”

PG&E, the major California utility, already imposes premiums on electricity use in excess of a household’s established baseline each month: at usage that exceeds the baseline by 31 percent, consumers pay a 43 percent premium, and when they reach double the allotted baseline, the premium nearly doubles to 83 percent. Those same households are rewarded with savings up to 2/3 per kilowatt hour for use during off peak times. Do the laundry during the day and energy use is billed at 30 cents per kilowatt, but hold off until evening and the rate drops to 9 cents. The system is in place to charge individual households for their extra energy consumption and reward those who choose to conserve energy, leaving energy trade-offs — and buying decisions — in the hands of the consumer.

The CEC proposal is not subject to a vote by Californians. The CEC may pass the guidelines by vote of the commission only. The proposal is supported by Governor Schwarzenegger and PG&E.

Source: Live Science ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News the colors http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22788-california-decision-could-limit-hdtv-choices-nationwide.html <![CDATA[AV's Next and Biggest Generation of Clients Deeply Affected By Unemployment and Under-employment]]> http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22446-avs-next-biggest-generation-clients-deeply-affected-unemployment-under-employment.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:51:32 GMT
From HomeTheaterReview.com's Top Stories:

AV's Next and Biggest Generation of Clients Deeply Affected By Unemployment and Under-employment


Baby Boomers have been the driving force behind both the audiophile business and most of the two-decade long rise in popularity of home theater. Economically for Boomers there have been far more good times than bad, with recessions feeling more like speed bumps on the road to wealth or even just conspicuous consumption. Ground breaking technologies like VHS, 5.1 surround sound, Compact Disc, satellite TV, DVD-Video, HDTVs and the Internet made making an investment in new AV equipment even in a down economy often more important than saving for a rainy day. Consistently rising home values during Baby Boomers adult lives only made it easier and easier to invest in adding home theaters, distributed audio and flat HDTV-based systems to our homes. With equity to spare (or to spend) who could resist the temptation of watching a Sunday football game on a $20,000 50 inch plasma?

Things are quite different for the younger children of Baby Boomers (Generation Y) as the world suffers through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s.

Generation X (young adults in their 30s today like myself) saw a red-hot job market in the late 1990s with the tech and dotcom boom. Perks for our demographically smaller generation included allowing us to bring our dogs to work, noon-time foosball lessons and signing bonuses of as much as $20,000 paired with equity that if you were lucky, converted into stock that could go from nothing to millions overnight. We partied like it was 1999 and then we let the elevator bring us down as that hit song ended abruptly by mid-2000.

Generation Y has never experienced a truly robust economy. They know a post 9-11 world filled with wars and debt (and the bad guy still hiding in a hole in Pakistan). They know the Internet. They know student loan debt. They know that their parents' 401k retirements are worth a lot less than before, but they don't know if they will ever find a company willing to match them dollar for dollar. Generation Y is amazingly productive even when they spend a few hours a day of company time on Facebook or Twitter talking about what was in their burrito at lunch. Yet in an economy where 13 states currently have over 10 percent unemployment - Generation Y is struggling to find any work whatsoever. At the same time, there are now older (Xer and Boomers) candidates in the job market with a lot more experience and a very different work ethic willing to work for practically anything - especially if the job comes with benefits.

While Boomers and Gen-Xers have bought their fair share of consumer electronics in their lifetimes - there is a massive statistical problem facing the future of AV, home theater and electronics which is: Generation Y is the largest generation ever, yet they don't have the buying power of the last two generations. Some suggest that Generation Y just needs some time to come into their own and that argument holds some weight. As they get older, have children and ultimately buy homes - they will buy more consumer electronics. At the same time, Generation Y looks at intellectual property very differently than Gen X and Baby Boomers. They don't know a world without an iPod, the Internet and/or peer-to-peer file "sharing" (some say stealing), which has affected their view on value, especially when it comes to high end luxury items. Apple products speak to them. Text messaging is more addictive than a blazing rock of crack in a glass pipe. But will that 65 inch LED backlit LCD HDTV with a 7.1 audiophile surround sound rig be as much of a must have for Generation Y as it was for Boomers and Xers? If Generation Y as a whole can't get their careers on track in the next few years in an increasingly global workplace - don't count on the high end ever being the same again. Good enough is never a term a Baby Boomer muttered while shopping for a new tube preamp. Big enough was never a term that a Gen Xer used when shopping for a new plasma for his house when using his equity loan to fund the purchase. Gen Yers look at watching movies on iPhones and listening through ear buds as "good enough." Perhaps in the next five years when they own homes and make more money without the fear of losing their jobs - they will change their outlook.

Fear of Unemployment Is As Bad As Unemployment Itself
Through my wife, I know a 27 year old young man who lives in Orange County, California. He is employed with a major hotel chain and has more than five years experience doing everything from valet parking to being the night General Manager. He has a degree from a prominent California private university that brings him $800 a month in student loan debt. His job today, which is a good one, is to price hotel rooms for more than seven business and luxury properties in the Anaheim area for which he is paid $52,000 a year. By no means is he unemployed; however fear of unemployment is a factor in every dollar he spends. His department used to consist of 12 full-time employees. Today it is down to two people with his boss saying in December - the work of 12 people is likely going to be for one person to do with the other one on the unemployment line.

This young man works his butt off as he knows his parents can't support him with a safety net at 27. Today he now has roommates to lower his living expenses. He works project work, bar-backs and other tasks to make money on the side. He limits his dating because dinner out in Orange County can be quite costly. He doesn't pay for Internet but "borrows" it from a nearby neighbor who doesn't have a password lock on their network. His 160,000 mile Mitsubishi Eclipse is giving up the ghost in ways that would send 27 year old Boomers and Xers flocking to a car lot and driving home with something nice and shiny. And for AV gear - my friend loves it but if he wants the home theater experience, he comes over for dinner and a movie at my house, as Playstation 3 on a standard definition television is the most he can justify. A trip to Best Buy or even used gear he says is too risky when he could be weeks away from losing his income - and those student loans never really go away. He does pay extra into his debt when he makes some extra money.

It's easy and popular to jump to gloom and doom predictions in today's economy. Each and every one of us (in all generations) are feeling the pain on so many levels. However things aren't quite as bad as they seem. The Dow is currently up in 2009 - pushing or passing 10,000 depending on the day. The economy grew at meaningful levels in the third quarter. Housing prices in 20 key markets are showing signs of settling but this recovery will not be as fast or as satisfying as any of us want. The biggest generation since the Baby Boomers is being taught not to spend - especially on luxury goods, just as The Greatest Generation learned to save for a rainy day thanks to the Great Depression.

Retailers specializing in selling specialty audio-video, home theater and home automation need to start studying how Generation Y is vastly different than Boomers and Xers. Wireless is big. Bluetooth sells. And until there are prolonged times of economic boom that teach Generation Y that it's OK to splurge - value is going to be "job one" with every system sold. The days of loading a home up with $250,000 of Crestron might have been a solid sale to a dotcom CEO fresh after an IPO but as a whole, Generation Y isn't going to be as flamboyant with their money without being truly wowed.

The good news with Generation Y is that they love music more than any generation before them. 220,000,000 iPods and iPhones sold (and counting) only hammers that point home. They love the AV experience of video games that pack both HD video and perhaps better-than-Hollywood surround sound. Could this audience be sold home theater gear in large numbers? You're right they can. It just will be under new rules, with new tastes and new buying habits.


Source: HomeTheaterReview.com ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News chrisy http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22446-avs-next-biggest-generation-clients-deeply-affected-unemployment-under-employment.html Enter To Win a Noble Fidelity 7.1 In-wall Speaker System http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22420-enter-win-noble-fidelity-7-1-wall-speaker-system.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:41:19 GMT Home Theater Review's NOVEMBER SWEEPSTAKES is UP:

Enter To Win A $3,330 Noble Fidelity 7.1 In-wall Speaker System

In November 2009 on HomeTheaterReview.com we are proud to offer our readers a chance to win a 7.1 speaker system from one of the most forward-thinking loudspeaker companies on the market today – Noble Fidelity. The $3,300 7.1 loudspeaker system consists of (7) Noble Fidelity RoHS compliant, D’Appolito array L-55 LCRS in-wall loudspeakers along with a Noble Fidelity LP-12 powered 12 inch floor standing subwoofer. Be sure to fill out every field of the sweepstakes form on all pages (there are more than one) to be entered to win. The sweepstakes ends on November 30, 2009 and winner will be picked in the first week of December 2009. Best of luck from HomeTheaterReview.com Best of Luck from HomeTheaterReview.com!!!

Source: HomeTheaterReview.com ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News chrisy http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22420-enter-win-noble-fidelity-7-1-wall-speaker-system.html <![CDATA[Latest news from Netflix: New Device, killing DVDs in 2030+, 40% stream, <10% Blu-ray, goin Intnat'l]]> http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22129-latest-news-netflix-new-device-killing-dvds-2030-40-stream-10-blu-ray-goin-intnatl.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:50:19 GMT Lots of interesting news from the latest netflix earnings call courtesy of hackingnetflix.com... Lots of interesting news from the latest netflix earnings call courtesy of hackingnetflix.com:

Netflix to Add "New Consumer Electronics Device" & More From Earnings Call

During the earnings call Netflix CEO Reed Hastings disclosed some very interesting information:

* Netflix will add a new "consumer electronics device" in Q4 and they've increased projections because of the device. Wii? PS3? iPhone?
* Netflix will spend $40 million on new machines to open, inspect and clean DVDs. A Netflix spokesperson said that "workers will stay" when asked if the machines would eliminate jobs.
* Hastings says that Netflix will be shipping DVDs until 2030, hence the $40 million investment in automation.
* A DVD sales window before the rental window would be good for Netflix, according to Hastings, since costs would be lower for content and Netflix is less focused on new releases. Hasting said that a later rental window would help with new release availability, and with the money they save they could spend more on streaming titles.
* The number of customers using streaming (at least one movie or show per month) has doubled to more than 40% in the past year.
* Hastings believes that the $600 million or more they spend on postage will convert to streaming, making Netflix one of the biggest customers of the studios behind Wal-Mart and Amazon.
* International Expansion: Netflix will offer a streaming-only plan in an unannounced international market in the second half of 2010.
* Less than 10% of subscribers rent Blu-ray titles from Netflix. ]]> Home Theater, Audio and Video News eugovector http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/home-theater-audio-video-news/22129-latest-news-netflix-new-device-killing-dvds-2030-40-stream-10-blu-ray-goin-intnatl.html