Home Electronics Industry News -- November 2001

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

11/30/01
DIRECTV Successfully Launches Spot Beam Satellite
DirecTV will be able to provide hundreds of local channels to its viewers as a result of the launching of a new satellite.

11/29/01
Sixty Percent Of Consumers Unaware Of Wear & Tear Of VHS Tapes
Preserving those family memories on VHS tapes? They won't last forever.

11/28/01
2002 International CES enters December with Strong Pre-Registration...
Despite recent events, the outlook for this next CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in January 2002 is very bright as over 110,000 attendees and 2,000 exhibitors are scheduled to attend.

11/27/01
Toshiba Begins Shipments Of Two Advanced-Technology DVD-Video/Audio Players
High performance progressive scan video and DVD-Audio are the hallmarks of two new DVD players introduced by Toshiba.

11/26/01
Retailers Have The DVD Fever
DVD has emerged as a major factor in promotions for this holiday season as the big retailers devote more print space and TV ads to entice consumers to buy into the format.

11/25/01
Retailers Spruce Up Sites For Holidays
Learning the lessons from last holiday season, many online retail sites have made signifigant design changes to make them more attractive and easy for consumers to use.

11/24/01
Music Industry Revenues Tank Right After Napster Is Silenced
The music industry is suffering one of its worst revenue years ever, even after the fall of Napster. Some think that music industry's woes are being brough on by the industry itself.

11/23/01
Sony Hedges Bets With DVD Formats
Despite competing formats and playback compatibility issues with current DVD players, recordable DVD continues its march into the marketplace. SONY, so far, has stayed out of the fray, but is now getting its feet wet.

11/22/01
Texas Instruments Announces Early Shipments of Table-Top DLP Component Sets
Despite continuing controversy over implementation timelines and the DLP projection continues to make inroads as a possible low-cost, high-quality video projection solutions as Texas instruments ships samples of its new table-top sets to potential customers.

11/21/01
Five More US TV Stations Go Digital
Despite continuing controversy over implementation timelines and the acceptance of DTV by consumers, five more TV stations in mid-size markets enter the DTV broadcast family.

11/20/01
Studios Cutting Price On DVD Catalog Titles
The popularity of DVD is placing more demand on retailers to provide lower priced DVD software. The studios are responding by lowering prices signifigantly on catalog titles.

11/19/01
In Kabul, DVD's and TV's Fill The Shopping Bags; Burkas Sit On The Shelves
The War in Afghanistan is not quite over yet, but don't tell that to electronics and music retailers and consumers in Kabul as gadget shopping takes on a new signifigance as an expression of a somewhat renewed freedom.

11/18/01
Toshiba Showcases Its First-Ever...DLP Home Theatre Projector At COMDEX 2001
Toshiba enters the Digital Light Processing market with a home theater projector tailored for home theater applications. The new MT5 model DKP projector weighs just 6 pounds, but has a 600:1 contrast ratio and is HDTV compatible.

11/17/01
Sears Opens Two More CE/Majap Stores
In an effort to increase market share against CE giants Best Buy and Circuit City, Sears opens another batch of smaller CE/MAJAP specialty stores.

11/16/01
Sirius Sets February Launch For Service In Three Markets
Satellite radio is in its infancy in the U.S., but Sirius will be joining current satellite radio provider XM Satellite Radio with a three market introduction in February. The question is: Do consumers really want to pay for listening to the radio?

11/15/01
Recordable DVD Projected To Penetrate Mainstream By 2005
Will recordable DVD replace VHS by 2005? Probably not, but recordable DVD is becoming mainstream faster that one would think.

11/14/01
Consumer Products Abound At Comdex
Despite added security precautions and lower attendance, the annumal COMDEX computer and gadget show is being held this week in Las Vegas.

11/13/01
Sony Begins Shipping Three New DVD Players With SACD Playback
Determined not to lose any ground to DVD-Audio, Sony is aggressively placing SACD technology into the consumer market with a variety of products, including home-theater-in-a-box systems, stand-alone SACD audio players, and is now introducing a trio of new DVD players with SACD playback capability.

11/12/01
Fry's Buys Outpost As Egghead Cracks
Fry's electronics, the massive privately-held CE chain based in Silicon Valley, has just concluded a buyout of Outpost.com. The move finally brings the chain an internet selling presence, where it has lagged behind its competitors.

11/10/01
Macrovision: Studios Cutting Back On Copy Protection
Are the movie studios really cutting back anti-copy technology on DVD and VHS releases?

11/09/01
Blockbuster Annouces DVD Promotions
Blockbuster offers a "blockbuster" DVD promotion. Just sign up for a year's worth of DVD rentals and you get a free DVD player.

11/08/01
DTV Sales Up Again In September
Despite ups and downs towards the transition to all-digital broadcast TV, DTV product sales to consumers continue on at a steadily increasing pace.

11/07/01
RadioShack Revamping Merchandise Mix
In the face of competition and lackluster performance in its internet and broadband connectivity category, Radio Shack will be changing its product mix and tailoring some stores to specific markets.

11/06/01
Dolby Laboratories Begins Licensing Dolby Digital EX
Dolby Labs announces its licensing plan for six-channel Dolby Digital EX that will bring the format into more mainstream audio products including mid-line AV receivers, DVD players, compact surround systems, and PCs. For more details, check out the above announcement from Dolby Labs

11/05/01
Studios Suffer DeCSS Setback
In a suprise ruling, a California Appeals Court has ruled that the internet posting of a well-known DVD decryption program that allows users to copy commercial DVDs on their PCs is to be considered protected speech under the First Amendment.

11/04/01
Vialta Shipping DVD Entertainment System
Shades of Divx! Vialta comes to market with a new twist to pay-per-view DVD.

11/03/01
Pioneer Q2 Electronics Sales Rise 4.1%
Although its U.S. sales have decreased, Pioneer seems to be bucking the trend of other CE manufacturers and is actually experiencing worldwide sales growth.

11/02/01
2002 International CES Announces New Security Measures
In light of recent changes in our lives since Sept 11, CEA announces new security procedures for the upcoming 2002 CES convention in Las Vegas.

11/01/01
Media Giants Sue ReplayTV
Disney, Viacom, NBC and others have filed suit against ReplayTV and SonicBlue for allowing its PVR technology to allow consumers to make digital recordings of their programming and further allowing consumers to eliminate the commericals on their programming upon playback.

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