Home Electronics Industry News -- June 2000

NOTE: This page is an archive for previously posted news stories from June 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.

06/30/00
Home Theater Shootout
The latest in Home Theater Technology was on display at INFOCOMM 2000 (which took place 6/15-17), including the latest in DLP Projectors.

06/29/00
Matsushita, Sony, Toshiba Team Up ....
Japan is gearing up for DTV broadcasting, and Matsushita (Panasonic), Sony, and Toshiba (who are usually at odds on technology issues) are collaborating to insure market standards on Digital TV Broadcasting and products.

06/28/00
Philips Debuts 1st DirecTV/TIVO Combo
TIVO, one of the leaders in Tapeless Video Recording technology, is about to get a big boost from Philips, which is incorporating TIVO technology in select DirecTV Satellite receivers.

06/27/00
DVDs Galore, THX-EX Top Pioneer Line
Pioneer announces its aggressive product line for the coming year.

06/26/00
Kodak Shows Products
Kodak, following behind other manufacturers, such as Olympus, Fuji, and Canon, finally showed off their new digital camera line (including a 3-Megapixel model) at its "Christmas In June Event".

06/25/00
ABC, NBC Deem US DTV Sandard "Not Appropriate"
ABC and NBC express concerns on the compatibility of the current US DTV standards with over-the-air indoor antenna reception. To find out how this could affect the DTV industry, check out the above article by Broadcast Engineering.

06/24/00
Sensory Science Introduces Industry's First Dual-Deck DVD-Video/VCR ...
First it was the Dual Deck VCR, now Sensory Science (formerly, GoVideo) introduces a DVD player and HiFi VCR in one unit. Not only can you play DVDs, CDs, and VCR tapes, but you can watch a DVD movie or listen to a CD and tape a TV show at the same time. You can also copy non-copy protected DVDs (there aren't many) to tape with one button.

06/23/00
Panasonic's DVD-Audio Decks To Ship Next Week
After a year of delays, DVD-Audio is expected to finally arrive on U.S. shores next week, courtesy of Panasonic. The question is; How will the new products be received by the electronics consumer? What about software support?

06/22/00
Dolby Unveils Pro Logic II
Ok, first it was Dolby Surround, then Pro-Logic, Dolby Digital, DTS, DTS-ES, DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete, THX Surround EX, and now there's Dolby Pro-Logic II. What's different about Pro-logic II?

06/21/00
Radio Shack Out Of This World
Is Radio Shack opening a store on the Moon? Not quite, but its logo will be prominently displayed on an upcoming, privately financed, Lunar Probe scheduled to land on the Moon in 2003. The price for the interplanetary billboard - $1 Million.

06/20/00
AOL Unveils Interactive TV
I guess it had to happen. AOL is now invading your TV, as exceutives announce its new interactive TV service. Will Microsoft's WebTV be able to withstand the competition? Find out all the details in this report by CNN-FN.

06/19/00
French Goverment Reducing Stake In Thomson
The French Government, once the sole owner of Thomson Electronics, is slowly easing out of its ownership role. Thus, essentially allowing Thomson to become fully privatized. Why is this important? One reason--Thomson owns RCA and GE consumer electronics.

06/18/00
SONY Introduces It Smallest And Lightest MiniDV Camcorder
How small and light can a Camcorder get? How about one that only ways 15 ounces and still delivers video on tape and stills on a stick?

06/17/00
SONY Introduces CD-R Based Digital Still Camera
After several years of criticism from other Digital Still Camera manufacturers about SONY's use of the lowly Floppy Disk in its Mavica Camera line, SONY may just have the last laugh with the introduction of the new Mavica MVC-CD1000, which records still pictures on CD-R discs that can be accessed on any CD-Rom Drive for downloading.

06/16/00
DTS Formally Announces DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 Standard
Digital Theater Systems (DTS) presents its latest surround sound process, with support from DENON, which announces the first AV Receiver with DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete decoding, as well as THX Surround EX, Dolby Digital, Prologic, etc... To check out all the details of this important development, read the above press release from DTS Online.

06/15/00
AOL-TIVO Interact On TV
AOL and TIVO join forces to broadent the impact of Interactive TV. For all the details check out the above report by ZDNet.

06/14/00
A PVR For Your Music?
PVRs are making an impact in the video market, but now there is Soundbank, by Lydstrom, a PVR with the music-CD collector in mind. With a 10GB Hard Drive, this baby can store 350 hours of music!

06/13/00
RCA To Sell DirecTV/WebTV Recorder
RCA enters the Personal Video Recorder market (now dominated by TIVO and ReplayTV) with its own unit, incorporating a Tapeless Video Recorder, DirecTV Receiver, and WebTV into a single product.

06/12/00
Best Buy Launches E-Tailing Site
After several delays for testing, Best Buy, launched it new E-Tailing Site today. The site features a host of Audio and Video products as well as DVD, CD, and Computer software.

Mobile Vision Announces New Products
The huge SUV and RV market has definitely created an outlet for a wide variety of Mobile Video products, including LCD monitors, VCRs, and even DVD players! With that in mind, Mobile Vision, a leader in mobile video, has announced its product line for 2000.

06/11/00
RCA Slashes HDTV Prices
With SONY announcing earlier this week that they will delay release of new HDTV models, RCA jumps into the market with its announcement of new HDTVs at lower prices. This, coupled with its new alliance with Radio Shack, might just gain RCA strategic market share for its Digital TV products.

06/10/00
Hitachi To Release DVD-Ram Camcorder and Peripherals
On the heals of SONY's MD Discam and after years of promises, Hitachi will finally bring a DVD-RAM Camcorder and Recordable DVD-RAM Deck market. To be released in Japan on August 25, 2000, it may be another year before we see it in the U.S. Is this the breakthrough in tapeless recording technology we have been waiting for?

06/09/00
SONY Delays DTV Lineup
SONY is delaying the release of its latest generation of DTVs. What's the holdup?

06/08/00
Radio Shack And RCA Team Up With New Digital Entertainment Centers
RCA kicks off its new store-within-a-store Digital Entertainment Centers at Radio Shack with a live HDTV Broadcast of a Jewel/Lyle Lovett Concert on Thursday, June 9.

06/07/00
DVB Digital TV Format Gains On ATSC Standard
Can the U.S. ATSC Digital TV Standard survive the acceptance Worldwide of the European DVB DTV Standard?

06/06/00
Dataplay MP3 Player In A Year?
Diamond Multimedia, Samsung, and Toshiba support a new data storage format that will make storage of MP3 files more affordable than ever.

06/05/00
B&W Retools Loudspeaker Lineup
B&W incorporates technology developed for its Nautilus speaker line into its more affordable CDM speaker products. Check out all the details as reported by epulse.org.

06/04/00
Major Label DVD-Audio Titles Coming Soon -- Maybe
Once again, we are being told of the impending availability of DVD-Audio Players in the U.S. Market, with simultaneous releases of recordings to play on them. Is this true, or just another false alarm? To find out more read the above report by Pro Sound News.

06/03/00
Fuji Touts 6-Megapixel Camera
Digital Cameras have made great strides in resolution, with Fuji recently announcing the pending release of a 6-Megapixel unit, or is it? When is a 6-Megapixel Digital Camera not a 6-Megapixel Digital Camera?

06/02/00
China to Launch National Digital Cable TV Network
China continues its march into the 21st Century with the announcement of a Digital Cable TV Network that will be installed in several Cities. Check out all the details as reported in the above article by EE Times.

06/01/00
Dish Network Drops Four Local TV Stations
Cable Systems aren't the only ones dropping services, Dish Network has just dropped several local channel feeds. Whose fault is this?

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