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Eminent EM7075 Network Media Player Launched
New Sony Bravia TVs Come with Blu-ray Players
Panasonic to release two 3-D enabled plasma sets
Panasonic introduces three Blu-ray recorders, one player
Monster Beats Solo HD RED Special Edition Headphones
Samsung HT-Z420 Home Theater System Review–Tenacity
Blockbuster Cuts Head Office Jobs
Netflix Worried About Net Neutrality Laws
Streaming Bigger Than Anyone Suspected
Sweet Home Theater Setups - Viva Variety

A new HD-capable media player has been released with the Eminent EM7075. The Eminent EM7075 media player supports direct playback of Dolby DTS audio without decoding. It can handle local content via USB or videos through a streamed network using a 10/100 ethernet port and can display up to 1080p in high definition.

The Eminent EM7075 supports most media file formats such as XviD, MPEG-1, MPEG-4.2 and MKV. It is now available and retails for £119.99 or about $187.

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Sony has unveiled a couple of packaged Sony Bravia TV sets which are available in 32” and 40” sizes. These are the KDL-32EX40B and KDL-40EX40B models which feature DLNA compatibility, WiFi, USB media playback and a built-in Blu-ray player.

So rather than get them separately, you get an entertainment system in one purchase. However the sad part is that there is no word on pricing for now but expect that to follow pretty soon!

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Not only has Pansonic put out three Blu-ray recorders and one player (which are 3D enabled) but they have two 3D players ready to be released.

The VIERA TH-P54VT (54 inch screen) and VIERA TH-P50VT2 (50 inch screen) are plasma TVs are full HD. Of course, you need the Active shutter glasses to see the 3D, and they also feature a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, VIERA link, web connectivity, multiple TV tuners, 4 HDMI ports, eco-mode, full range 16 x 4 x 2 centimeter speakers and a 10 centimeter sub-woofer.

These televisions will go on sale April 23rd, but only in Japan. The VIERA TH-P54VT will be for $5,900, and the TH-P50VT2 for $4,800.

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Panasonic has announced three new Blu-ray 3D recorders and one player. The player is the DMP-BDT900, which has 4 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports, SD card slot, VIERA link, DLNA compatibility, LAN, BD-Video, as well as BD-Live. It will go on sale on April 23 for $1,500.

As for the recorders (photo), they have hard discs, two digital and one analog TV tuner, VIERA link, web connectivity, USB port, AVC support, LAN, and an SD card slot that is compatible to SDXC. The prices on these recorders vary. The 2TB model costs $3,350, the 1TB recorder costs $2,200, and $1,800 for the “weakest model”.

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Of late, Monster has announced the availability of a limited and special edition set of headphones named the Beats Solo HD (PRODUCT) RED. This special edition headphone has been jointly launched by Monster and Beats by Dr. Dre. A portion of the profits from this special edition headphone will go directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

Designed for those wanting the best sound, the Beats Solo HD (PRODUCT) RED feature proprietary titanium coated driver technology by Monster. This technology ensures that they maintain the vital details and lush bass of your music. For iPod playback and iPhone hands-free calling, the headphone features ControlTalk in-line control. The unique tri-fold design of the headphone makes it easy to store when not in use.

The Solo HD comes with Monster Clean Cloth and has a scratch resistant glossy red finish. The headphone is priced at $229.

Ah tenacity, thy name is Samsung.  I’ve seen you guys put bizarre touch controls on nearly every television you’ve put on the market for the last year, and now I see that you’ve been putting those same bizarre touch controls on your home theater systems, too.  Systems like today’s review target, the Samsung HT-Z420.

The Samsung HT-Z420 is a 5.1 channel surround sound system with a 1080p upconverting DVD player to give your DVDs the best possible (to date) look.  It comes with a basic configuration of two satellite speakers, two wireless rear speakers, a center channel speaker and a passive subwoofer.  It delivers a total output of one thousand watts, offers multiple built in surround sound decoders, and support for a variety of discs, as well as one HDMI output, one component video output, one a/v output, two stereo audio outputs, one digital audio output and one headphone jack.

Once you get past the strange control mechanism, though, you find that the sound quality is a little less than ideal, and the bass is absolutely unbelievable.  Typical of the Samsung line, not everything is good, but most things are.  And consider that the HT-Z420 retails for three hundred fifty bucks, you could definitely do much, MUCH worse than this.

Uh oh…when they start throwing white collars off the boat, you can tell it’s sinking, and pretty fast, too.

Sure, Blockbuster proper is playing it very cool, saying that the layoffs represented only “a small fraction” of the three thousand plus total employees in the Dallas-Fort Worth company headquarters, but still–any layoff in “executive ranks” is a pretty big step.

See, normally, in a big company like that the executives are well-connected, and thus likely to be able to convince the people doing the firing that there are whole bunch of peons directly BELOW them who should take it in the throat as opposed to them.

But this time, apparently, there were either insufficient connections to do the job, or there simply weren’t enough peons to spare.

And if things are getting so bad at Blockbuster that they simply can’t cut peons any more, you KNOW things are on the verge of going belly up.

This may sound like some seriously strange bedfellows, folks, but I can assure you it’s no less than true.

See, we all know that Netflix is pretty much king of the hill when it comes to DVD by mail, and there’s a growing consensus that says it’s pretty much got DVD in general all sewn up.  But here’s the fly in the metaphorical ointment, folks–Netflix has been pushing for more accuracy in its name for years now.  They want to be the interNET’s greatest source for FLIX.  Get it?

Good.  So what’s got Netflix freaking out is the concept of “managed services”.  People are, increasingly, using the internet as their primary means of entertainment.  In fact, more are shutting off cable entirely and getting all their video from the web.  But if cable companies–who are often internet providers too–are allowed to offer “managed services”, it’ll allow cable companies to basically shut the door on Netflix in favor of their OWN brands.

Thus Netflix is using all its lobbying muscle to try and keep the door open for themselves to stay in the streaming market.

We’ve been keeping tabs on the various facets of the streaming war for some time now, folks, and the interesting thing here is that it’s actually much, MUCH bigger than anyone wanted to believe.

We’ve seen players come and players go and alliances get forged, but what we really haven’t had a look at yet is just HOW BIG this whole mess actually is.  In the month of December 2009, we recently discovered, over one billion videos were streamed EVERY DAY.

And I thought it was a big deal when YouTube could announce they were getting twenty hours of video added to the site every minute!  But no–the idea that a billion videos were streamed every day in December makes me realize that this is much, MUCH bigger.

Think about that for a second, folks.  A billion every day.  That works out to just under forty two million an hour, or even more preposterous, nearly twelve thousand every SECOND.

To suggest that the next format war will be fought anywhere but over the web now sounds like a pipe dream, folks…better invest in that sweet new computer soon, because it’s likely where you’ll be watching all your movies in the future.

Variety, ladies and gentlemen, is as always the spice of life.  And thus, when I see a home theater setup that’s dripping with variety, well, I can’t help but call it sweet.

Today’s target setup not only offers a big screen television for gaming, but also a projector screen for movies.  The ability to switch back and forth like that is extremely valuable, and thus helps with the overall sweetness of the project.

From the tech angle, there are a PAIR of Sony Bravias in here–one a forty six inch and the other a fifty two inch, plus a Sony projector with a matching hundred and ten inch VUTEC screen.  Plus there’s a Denon receiver, Playstation 3, XBOX 360, Bose Home Theater speakers and more.

When you put together the sheer versatility of this home theater setup with the sweetness of its components, you end up with a total package that is, indeed, sweet.  Of course, it’s also massively expensive, even though it’s basically some guy’s living room dripping with tech hardware.  But still–sweet is sweet, and in the end, this is sweet.

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Gefen 8×8 Crosspoint Matrix for HDMI 1.3
Another Superbowl ad that promises tech-goodness: FloTV
Vizio 2010 Superbowl ad proves how awesome it is to have Internet on HDTV
BenQ V2220 LCD Monitor
Denon S-5BD Blu-Ray Player
Sony DAVHDX589W Home Theater System–Keep The Receipt
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Gefen launches the 8×8 Crosspoint Matrix for HDMI 1.3 that is able to route HD source from 8 sources to any 8 displays. The Matrix supports up to 1080p resolution and advanced digital audio formats such as Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master audio.

The idea is simple. Connect any eight HD sources to the Matrix’s HDMI inputs. Then connect eight displays to the Matrix’s HDMI outputs. Once the sources, the Matrix and the displays are powered up and connected, select which HD sources you want to view on any of the displays by using the included IR remote or via RS232 connectivity.

The 8×8 Crosspoint Matrix costs $3999.

I figured while I was covered the Vizio SuperBowl ad, I might as well cover the FloTV ad as well. I’m sure all of you enjoyed it with the remake of The Who’s “My Generation” by will.i.am, that showed pretty much every cool video clip since the birth of television.

Apparently, FloTV is hear to make certain that we don’t miss the next great moments on television. Considering that it is offering its service to pretty much everywhere, I’m guessing that there is some truth in advertising going on here.

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Well, if you watched the Super Bowl last night, then you saw the Vizio ad with Beyonce being helplessly grabbed by a giant mechanical arm. These arms grabbed up lots of other random things, including the Numa Numa guy, not to mention Twitter and Facebook.

All this to show how much we need to have the Internet on our HDTV. Of course, we don’t really need Vizio to tell us that, do we? No, someday all of our television sets will be all be Internet connected. So if you want to buy a computer, you’ll have to buy a television, and vice versa.

In other words, the television market and PC market (save for netbooks and laptops) will be one and the same.

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BenQ releases a new LCD monitor, the thinnest one in its class at 15mm. It has a 21.5” LCD screen that boasts of a 10,000:1 contrast ratio with edge-lit LED technology.

Other models come in different screen sizes as well, 18.5” to 24”, and comes with the usual inputs like DVI, D-Sub and HDMI. These BenQ monitors are set to be released this month in Taiwan. Prices have not been revealed as of this writing.

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Denon has released a new Blu-ray player in the market, the Denon S-5BD also known as Cara. It weighs a hefty 7.8 kgs. and features a 5.1 channel surround sound, two-source, two-room distribution capabilities, BD-Live and HDMI 1.4.

The S-5BD also comes with a SD Memory Card slot and an iPod/iPhone digital direct playback through a USB connection. The Denon S-5BD is scheduled to come out next month and will retail for £1,999.

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It’s strange to write about the Sony DAVHDX589W as it’s clearly intended to be a higher end model, yet it doesn’t seem to operate ON the high end at all.

The Sony DAVHDX589W is a 5.1 channel surround sound system with included five disc DVD player that will upconvert your DVDs to 1080p.  The system also includes four satellite speakers and one center channel speaker, as well as a subwoofer.  Featured in this system is an iPod dock, multiple built-in surround sound decoders, support for a variety of video and audio formats, AM / FM tuner, BRAVIA Theater Sync, S-AIR compatibility, one coaxial digital audio input, one optical digital audio input, one analog audio input, one stereo mini audio input, one Digital Media Port, one HDMI output, one component video output, one composite video output and one headphone output.

There’s definitely enough bells and whistles on the Sony DAVHDX589W  to justify its four hundred and thirty dollar price tag, but if you do decide to go with this system, keep the receipt.  The model I heard was scratchy and unpleasant to listen to, even if there was plenty of power in the system.  A thousand watts is fantastic, but when you’re losing efficiency to pops and hisses from the speaker, there’s just no point any more.