Home Electronics Industry News -- January 2001

NOTE: This page is an archive for previously posted news stories from January 2001 - 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.

01/31/01
Good Guys Hikes Quarterly Earnings
Good Guys, well-known western U.S. CE retailer, seems to have emerged a long downturn with a strong quarterly earnings report for this past quarter.

01/30/01
Change At Top Sparks FCC Action
With the change in administrations and a new chairman (William Powell) appointed by President Bush, the FCC is off and running with some important issues.

China Plans To Leapfrog Western Digital TV Specs
While the U.S. is bogged down in controversy over its DTV standards, China has adopted its own approach that just may gaurantee it the supreme leader in Digital Television and communications well into then end of this century.

01/27/01
RCA Blitzes Stores With HDTV Products
RCA, in an effort to establish supreme market share in the sales of fo HDTVs, is tying their latest marketing campaign in with the upcoming Super Bowl.

01/26/01
Sony's U.S. Sales Rose 8.6% In Q3
Spured on by sales of computers, TVs, camcorders, and DVD players, Sony's third quarter sales in the U.S. increased over 8%. The only glitch in Sony's revenue stream was the difficulty in maintaining PS2 shipments to the U.S.

01/25/01
Panasonic To Sponsor Launch Of First Regularly-Scheduled HDTV News Broadcasts
In an effort to gain further acceptance of HDTV, Panasonic will begin sponsoring the first regularly-scheduled local TV newscasts in HDTV. The broadcasts will originate from WRAL, the pioneering HD CBS affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina.

01/24/01
CEA Congratulates New FCC Chairman Michael Powell
President Bush makes his pick for FCC chairman and CEA welcomes the choice. One note of political trivia: Michael Powell is the son of Sec of State Colin Powell.

DirectTV Can Shut You Down
When is HDTV not HDTV? When DirecTV has the ability to shut off its HDTV feeds so you can't make High Definition copies of movies and events.

01/23/01
Circuit City Trims Remodeling Plan
Circuit City makes a major revision of its recent makeover, due running logistics difficulties, which has been affecting sales operations.

01/22/01
Rotel Introduces New 10 Series Stereo Components
In a major redesign of its product line, Rotel unveils its latest series of two-channel power amplifiers, integrated amps, tuner, and DVD-Audio/Video player.

01/20/01
Yamaha's Cinema Station Put Home Theater In The Game
Yamaha introduces a new approach in Home-Theater-In-A-Box systems with its new VS-10.

01/19/01
The Magical HDTV Mystery Tour Begins
The latest news on HDTV products introduced at this year's CES, as reported by Jeffery Kern for DVDFile.com.

01/18/01
CE Indsutry Declares Victory For VSB
Sinclair broadcasting may have reached the end of its rope in its battle for acceptance of its COFDM DTV-Broadcasting system as the NAB (National Association Of Broadcasters) reaffirms its support for the current VSB standard.

01/17/01
"NYPD Blue" In Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound<
ABC continues its growing committment to HDTV and Digital 5.1 audio broadcasting with the season premiere of highly acclaimed series "NYPD Blue" -- the first regular weekly series for ABC to be broadcast in HDTV. CBS has been broadcasting several weekly series in HDTV for almost two years.

01/16/01
New Vacuum Tube Amp Carries On The McIntosh Laboratory Tradition
In the face of the digital technology onslaught, McIntosh Labs introduces its new Vacuum Tube amplifier into the audiophile market. The MC2102 will sell for about $6,000.

01/15/01
Camcorder Trends Emerge At CES
Camcorder prices just keep falling, falling, falling... And Canon Sony decide to drop analog-8mm entirely. Also, the first DVD-RAM camcorders were debuted.

01/14/01
Samsung Introduces Affordable Progressive Scan DVD At CES
As more DTVs capable of progressive scan display enter the market, Progressive Scan DVD players are becoming more common as well. However, many players are very expensive. To answer the call for an inexpensive Progressive Scan DVD player with true 3:2 pulldown capability, Samsung introduces its model DVD-P701 at an attractive price of $299.

01/13/01
DataPlay Shows Its Hand At CES
DataPlay, a new storage media for portable devices such as Digital Cameras, MP3 Players, and Palm-style devices, was unveiled with a massive push at this year's CES.

01/12/01
Retailers Say Santa's Bag Was Mixed For Electronics
So, how did the big CE retailers, such as Sears, Circuit City, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Tweeter, and others REALLY fare this holiday season?

01/11/01
DVD Rules!
The DVD revolution continues as the latest developements are unveiled at this year's CES. For more details, check out the above report posted by Jeffery Kern for DVDFile.com.

01/10/01
Digtial VHS Takes On DVD
Does the impending introduction of recordable DVD really spell the end of VHS? Not if JVC (the inventor of VHS) has anything to say about it. For more details, check out the above comprehensive report by Andy Patrizio of Wired News.

01/09/01
Radio Shack's Roberts Writes Off Big-Box Retailing
Are chain CE stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's, and others dinosuaurs heading into extinction? Len Roberts, CEO of Radio Shack seems to think so.

01/08/01
TechTV's Best Of CES Awards
TechTV presented its prestigious Best of CES awards last night. Categories included: Best of Show honors, Best Lifestyle product, and Best Workstyle product.

01/07/01
Zenith Announces Low-Cost DTV Sets
Here at CES, Zenith announced their new line of low-cost integrated SDTV sets, capable of 480p display. With the 27" model coming in at $1000, Zenith hopes to make DTV more affordable for the average consumer.

01/06/01
Luce Introduces The World's First Family Of Flat Panel Televisions And Monitors
Luce unveils the world's first 16X9 LCD high-definition monitor at this year's CES, as well as a whole line of integrated flat panel LCD and Plasma screen TVs. Unlike most manufacturers of flat panel displays, Luce includes features such as standard 181-channel cable ready tuners, composite and S-video inputs, as well as PC and Mac monitor inputs.

01/05/01
CEA Honors New Consumer Electroncics Hall OF Fame Inductees
The Consumer Electronics Association announces its inductees for the Consumer Electronics Hall Of Fame. This year's selections include such visionaries as Hugo Gernsback, Ed Muntz, and George Westinghouse.

01/04/01
Dolby Laboratories Features Newest Audio Technologies For The Consumer At The 2001 CES
Dolby Labs will preview several new audio technologies targeted at the consumer market at this year's CES, including: Pro-Logic II, DVD-Audio, New PC and Gaming sound processes, and Advanced Audio Coding.

01/03/01
More Than 1,800 Consumer Technology Companies Under One Roof
Its the New Year, and what a great way to start it off by attending the 2001 CES in Las Vegas (Jan 6-9). Everything from High-End Vacuum Tube Audio, HDTV, Home Networking, the latest in Mobile Electronics, and Fun! Fun! Fun!

01/02/01
Sinclair Keeps Stirring Up Trouble
The road to DTV seems to be getting rockier all the time; delays in adopting broadcast standards, slow hardware acquisition by broadcasters and consumers alike, and threats from the FCC to get the ball rolling. On top of that, Sinclair keeps insisting that its DTV broadcast standard is superior and has embarked on a new campaign to get the FCC to throw out the existing ATSC DTV standard in favor of its DVB-T system.

01/01/01
Microsoft: Xbox To Launch Next Fall
Bill Gates hopes to conquer the world of the home video game console with its new Xbox, which, like the SONY PS2 is a game console, DVD player, and Web appliance. With the SONY PS2 a year ahead of Microsoft, will the Xbox succeed?

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