Home Electronics Industry News -- March 2000

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

03/31/00
Radio Shack Headquarters Hit By Tornado
Radio Shack has been going through some changes lately, but I'm sure they didn't expect Mother Nature to intervene.

SONY Recalls Startup Software For Playstation2
SONY's Playstation2 has been plagued by bugs since its release, most notably the units' ability to defeat DVD Region Codes. Since this is a violation of world agreements on DVD distribution, SONY is recalling all Playstation2 startup software.

03/30/00
U.K. Backs Off Digital Schedule
Sources in the U.K. state that the projected turnover to total DTV broadcasting in 2006 may be delayed.

Italy Primed For Digital Shift In 2006
Just as the U.K. might miss the DTV 2006 deadline, Italy is confident that it will be ready for total DTV broadcasting by that date. Story posted by Widescreen Review from an article in the Hollywood Reporter.

03/29/00
Super Hard Disks May Allow HD-PVRs
New advances in Hard Drive technology announced by IBM may pave the way for more storage capacity for Personal Video Recorders (such as TIVO and ReplayTV) making such devices a truly viable option to the current VCR, with enough capacity to record HDTV signals.

03/28/00
Good Guys to Cut $9 Milllion In Costs
Good Guys, a Western-U.S. electronics retail chain, is restructing its stores, cutting staff, and changing product focus, in an effort to re-establish its competitive position.

03/27/00
DTV Sales Fantastic In February
Sales of Digital Televisions continue to climb -- so where's the programming?

03/26/00
ReplayTV Changes Name, Upgrades Service
ReplayTV Networks has changed its name to ReplayTV, Inc. and along with the name change, has introduced upgrades to its line of PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) and programming services.

03/25/00
Bryston Unveils 500 Watt-Per-Channel Amp For Audiophile Market
If you thought yesterday's Aiwa announcement was interesting, check all the info on Bryston's new 14B-ST Amplifier, 500 watts-per-channel with no Fans, just heatsinks--plus a twenty year warranty! This has to be HOT!

Blockbuster Mines Used DVD Market
Blockbuster Video has begun selling prviously-viewed DVDs at some of its stores. Prices vary from $14.99 to $19.99 and sales appear to be brisk.

03/24/00
Aiwa Announces 800-watt Home Theater System
Aiwa announces its new all-in-one 800-watt total power Home Theater system. Designed to shake down the house!

03/23/00
Dolby Adopts HDCD
With the success of HDCD encoded music CDs, Dolby Labs will incorporate HDCD-encoding on Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD releases.

03/22/00
SONY Unveils Its Largest Advertising Campaign
Those of you watching the Oscars on Sunday, will also witness the launch of SONY's largest advertising campaign ever. The hope is that you will be attracted to SONY's new PC's and Digital Imaging products with the theme of "changing the way you see the world".

03/21/00
A Fantastic February 2000 For Video Sales
Video sales for Feb2000 hit a new high, both in Digital and Analog product areas.

03/20/00
Digital Cable On The Rise
The popularity of Digital Cable and Cable Modem service is on the rise as record numbers of subscribers sign on.

03/18/00
Tandy Taking RadioShack Name
After failing at retail concepts such as Computer City and Incredible Universe, Tandy is sticking to what it does best, and is officially changing its name to RadioShack Coporation.

03/17/00
Fans Give Lucas The Force
Star Wars fans keep putting the heat on ol'George to release Star Wars: Episode 1 on DVD, instead of the meager VHS offering now planned. After all, Japan is getting it on Laserdisc!

03/16/00
SONY Reorganizes Audio, Video, Communications, and PC Into One Group
In an effort to keep pace with rapidly merging consumer electronics technologies, SONY forms a new Consumer Electronics Group (CEG) of companies.

03/15/00
BOSE Introduces New Outdoor Speaker Line
BOSE introduces new outdoor speaker line incorporating their famous "acoustic wave" technology, just in time for the Spring/Summer season.

03/14/00
COX Tests HDTV Cable In Omaha
Even though over-the-air broadcasters are dragging their feet on HDTV, COX Communications begins retail delivery of HDTV via its Digital Cable service in Omaha.

IRMA Pushing VHS, Plans Promo
The reports of the death of VHS in the wake of the popularity of DVD is greatly exaggerated, according to IRMA (Internation Recording Media Association), which plans an aggressive promotional campaign for the format.

03/13/00
Atlantic Technology Introduces THX-Ultra Certified In-Wall Speaker System
Expanding on its successful in-wall speaker systems, Atlantic Technology breaks new ground with a THX-Ultra Certified system.

03/10/00
Broadcasters Offer Excuses To Delay DTV Transition
While manfacturers and the public are responding favorable to the transition to DTV, Broadcasters are dragging their feet.

03/09/00
Intel and AMD bring 1GHZ Chip To Market
The wait is over. If you have the need for speed, both Intel and AMD are bringing the 1GHZ processor to market. This is sure to generate a lot of heat in the marketplace.

Proton Introduces 27-inch DTV/PC Monitor
Proton, a leader in high-end Television monitors, introduces its 27-inch DTV/PC Flat Screen monitor.

03/08/00
Circuit City Executes New Appliance Marketing Strategy
Circuit City begins to remove Appliances from Thirty-five SuperStores in order to build free-standing Appliance Stores, thus separating its Home Eletronics and Home Appliance categories into separate units.

03/07/00
DVD Makes Big Inroads But VCRs Reach 200 Million In North America
DVD is an undeniable success in the marketplace as sales continue to soar, but the lowly VCR also continues its sales surge, reach 200 million units in North America.

HBO Uses Pan and Scan For Widescreen
When is Widescreen not really widescreen? When HBO uses Pan and Scan to squeeze 2:35 to 1 widescreen movies into the 16x9 widescreen HDTV format. Check out all the details on this as reported by Broadcast Television Online Weekly.

03/06/00
RCA DTV Price Promo
In an effort to both promote its line of DTV's and bring the price point for DTV low enough for mainstream consumers, RCA is offering a package price for its 4:3 DTVs and HDTV/DBS converter box.

03/04/00
SONY 2000: Part 1
Sony has just previewed its 2000 product line. Part One

SONY 2000: Part 2
Sony has just previewed its 2000 product line. Part Two

03/03/00
THIEL Announces New In-Wall Loudspeaker
Thiel announces their new Powerplane(TM) In-wall Loudspeaker, designed for superior performance.

03/02/00
Digital Camera Sales Soar Past $1 Billion
Digital Camera sales top one billion dollars in 1999 and Sony takes the lions share of the market. Sony also leads the way in Digital Video Camcorder sales.

03/01/00
TIVO Invades The UK
TIVO, manufacturers of Tapeless VCRs (also known as PVRs), strikes up an important alliance with BSkyB that will enable distribution and marketing of this exciting technology in the U.K. From a Press Release by TIVO.

SONY Camcorder Battery Recall
SONY, discovering a potential hazard some of its NPF-550 and NPF-750 camcorder batteries is announcing a recall. Click on the above link to find out if your battery is in the affected manufacturing Lot.

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