Home Electronics Industry News -- August 2000

NOTE: This page is an archive for previously posted news stories from August 2000 - Since most of the links are now inactive, they have been removed. However, the headlines and summaries are still posted to historically document the news headlines from the dates listed.

08/31/00
Circuit City Begins Transformation Process With Jacksonville Store Opening
Circuit City begins its chain-wide renovation with the opening of a new format superstore in Jacksonville, Florida this Labor Day weekend. Some of the changes include, no more appliances, more floor space devoted to software entertainment, and the introduction of shopping carts. Sounds like Circuit City might be looking more like Best Buy.

08/30/00
Music CD Sales Up; DVD Music Videos Also Hot
Despite all the fuss, Napster has not hindered the growth in CD sales. In fact, it's possible that despite complaints from recording artists and the RIAA, services such as Napster may even be stimulating the CD market.

08/29/00
AOL, Time Warner Defend Interactive TV Services
The FCC is questioning the wisdom of AOL/Time Warners venture into the interactive TV arena, now dominated by WebTV and other services.

08/28/00
SONY Set-Top Boxes<
SONY-UK is poised to introduce its new Digital Satellite Boxes, increasing the availabitity of Digital Satellite programming in the UK market.

08/27/00
B&K Shows New Audio, Home Theater Gear
Definitely not for the budget concious, B&K recently introduced its latest line of high-end AV receivers, equipped with THX Surround-EX and Firewire connections.

08/26/00
Surround Pros Share DVD-Audio Snags, Victories
DVD-Audio is finally here, but where are all the DVD-Audio discs to play on them?

08/25/00
Mitsubishi HDTV Ships Next Week
The latest innovation in home HDTV is coming from Mitsubishi, which features DLP projection technology. While not for everyone with its $15,000 price tag, this product illustrates the committment of Mitsubishi to HDTV in the long term.

08/24/00
DTV: The Return Of Rabbit Ears
During the early days of Cable TV, we all took down our antennas and threw away our rabbit ears, never to see them again...wrong!!! Find out how rabbit ears just might be a needed piece of equipment in the new DTV era, from this informative report by Wired.

08/23/00
ABC Punts HDTV Monday Night Football
Unable to find a sponsor, ABC may not broadcast its popular Monday Night Football in HDTV this season. This is a big setback for HDTV advocates as sports is a natural for HDTV programming.

08/22/00
Circuit City Sees Profits Beyond Majaps
Circuit City continues to move ahead in its committment to eliminate major appliances as part of their product mix. All of its stores will be remodeled to re-allocate former majap space to an expanded offering of digital and home office products. Will the hoped-for increased volume of these products make up for the removal of higher margin white goods?

08/21/00
DVD Hackers Ordered To Pull Program
In an effort to thwart piracy, a Federal Judge ordered that the software codes that allowed the copying of DVDs be removed from any websites, effectively removing them from public access.

08/19/00
Thomson To Produce Flat-Tube Sets
Prompted by the success of SONY's WEGA and Panasonic's TAU Flat-Tube TVs, Thomson (the parent of RCA) introduces its on line of Flat-Tube Televisions.

08/18/00
Sensory Science Shipping World's First Dual Deck DVD/VCR To Retailers
Sensory Science (formerly Go-Video), known for its Dual-Deck VCRs, has jumped into the marketplace with another unique home entertainment product: the DVD/VCR combo, with features such as a built-in Dolby Digital Decoder and the ability to play MP3 files from a CD-R.

08/17/00
CBS And RCA Join Forces to Present Superbowl XXXV And AFC Playoffs In HDTV
HDTV marches on as CBS and RCA enter into an agreement to simulcast the Superbowl and several AFC playoff games in 1080i, the highest resolution HDTV format available.

08/16/00
Harman Kardon Shows Extensive New Product Line
Harman Kardon introduces new product line including new AV Receivers, A DVD/CD changer with MP3 Playback capability, two new CD recorders, and more.

08/15/00
YTD Video Sales Up 13% Over 1999...
Camcorders and DVD players are setting the pace in this year's video sales growth, but the sales suprise of the is the countinued growth in VCR sales.

08/14/00
DVD Power LTD. Introduces DVD Player With SDI Outputs
Out of New Zealand, DVD Power LTD has introduced a breakthrough technology that allows direct digital passing of a DVD signal straight from the optical reader to a display device, resulting in a high speed transfer rate and high resolution playback ability. For more details, check out the above article posted by Widescreen Review.

08/13/00
Aiwa Bows Two New DVD-Video Players...
Aiwa, "the other Sony", debuts its latest generation DVD players, including an AC/DC model and one that also plays MP3-encoded CDs.

08/12/00
Toshiba Shows Broad New Product Line
Toshiba unveiled their latest generation of products, including a new portable DVD player with progressive scan, more DTVs, and a new Flat Panel TV said to be more cost effective than current Plasma Screen Technology.

08/11/00
Toshiba Authorizes 800.com To Sell CE Products
800.com becomes the only internet e-tailer to be authorized to sell the entire line of Toshiba consumer electronics products.

08/10/00
House Hears Plenty On DTV Concerns
The road to the DTV turnover in 2006 is being paved with some major roadblocks as the House Telecommunications Subcommittee hears testimony from opposing industry factions.

States Target Record Labels With Price- Fixing Suit
28 States file suit against the recording industry and retailers accusing them of keeping the price of CDs artifically high.

08/09/00
All's Fair In War For Share As Circuit City Exits Majaps
Sears, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy battle it out for Major Appliance supremacy, now that Circuit City has created a vacuum in this category.

08/08/00
All's Fair In War For Share As Circuit City Exits Majaps
Sears, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy battle it out for Major Appliance supremacy, now that Circuit City has created a vacuum in this category.

08/07/00
Hafler.com Now Available Featuring VRM Speaker Line
Hafler, long noted for excellent audio and loudspeaker products, now has a presence on the World Wide Web.

08/06/00
DVD Will Replace VHS In Five Years
According to several industry indicators, DVD may just outpace VHS as the dominant home video format in as little as five years.

08/05/00
Prices Decline On Two-Megapixel Cameras
As digital cameras get more popular and technology gets cheaper, prices on two-megapixel digital cameras that sold last year in the $800-1,000 price range are now selling for $500 or under.

DVD Recorder Due At The End Of August
Recordable DVD takes another step forward with the soon-to-be-released DMR-E10 DVD-RAM Deck by Panasonic. The wrinkle, it costs $4,000 and disks recorded on this machine are not compatible with current DVD Video players or PC/MAC DVD-Drives.

08/04/00
Tweeter To Buy Douglas TV
Tweeter, the east-coast Consumer Electronics and Home Theater chain is on the expansion-trail again. After buying San Diego's home-grown Dow Stereo chain, Tweeter is about to buy Douglas TV, a small Home Theater chain based in the Midwest.

08/03/00
Windows On Sale
Windows ME is on the way! With an introductory price for the upgrade selling at $59.99; no less!

Cell Radiation Levels To Be Disclosed
For those of you paranoid about your cell phone being hazardous to your health, the industry is planning to release information on radiation levels generated by the mobile units.

08/02/00
Kodak, Olympus Intro New Digicams
Kodak and Olympus, leaders in Digital Camera technology, each introduce new models geared for the entry-level home user.

Panasonic Marries Micro-Component Convenience With DVD-Audio Performance
In an effort to make the new DVD-Audio format accessible to the masses, Panasonic is taking the bold step of incorporating this technology into a bookshelf system.

08/01/00
Panasonic Selected As Brand Of Choice For Both Republican And Democratic Conventions
Panasonic was selected to provide electronic products to be used at the Democratic and Republican conventions, inluding High Definition and Plasma Screen TVs, as well as other cutting-edge electronic products.

For previous News Stories check out my Home Electronics Industry News Archives.