RS10
Announced just now from JVC are four 1080p projectors (DLA-HD750 and DLA-HD350) and two of them happen to be THX certified (DLA-RS10 and DLA-RS20) with 30,000:1 native contrast ratio. Said THX certified projectors have a THX movie mode that’s been pre-calibrated for DVDs, Blu-ray discs and regular broadcast television to bring the best cinema experience possible. All four feature HDMI v1.3 and will be available in November. The HD750 will retail for under $8,000 and comes in pearl black while the HD350 will be under $5,000 and comes in glossy piano black or glossy white. The RS10 also comes in under $5,000 and the RS20 is under $8,000 and both come in pearl black.

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Let’s start with a quote:

The Elite KURO Signature Series PRO-101FD (50-inch class) and PRO-141FD (60-inch class) monitors are now shipping for the suggested price of $5,500 and $7,000, respectively.

50 inches of pure black Kuro for $5,500? Where do I sign? Pioneer is launching two new high-end monitors – probably for retail and design use – that offer monstrous blacks in a monitor the size of a small child. You’ve got 4 HDMI 1.3 inputs, 1 DVI input, and a before/after settings monitor that allows you to compare monitor settings while tweaking things.

These things look hot as heck. I would totally do all my blogging on a 60-inch Kuro, given the option.

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Now that Blu-Ray has five years to live, it’s important for CE manufacturers to pump out as much hardware as possible so that soon my son can bring me a BD disc and, while snickering grandly, will ask “You guys used these?” in the same way I once laughed at Laserdiscs.

The BDP-09FD plays BD, CD, and DVD disks and includes upconverting and BD-Live features. The drive will cost $2,199 and includes dual HDMI 1.3a and a “rugged TAOC insulators” to lend to “uncompromised picture quality.”
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Just in case you needed to spend a little more on our eventual economic downfall, here are some nice internal speakers from Pioneer that promise to blend into to your Deserted Island tan color scheme. The Elite EX Series in-wall speakers come in multiple forms including in-wall and angled in-ceiling models

The Elite line starts at $1,799 each while the CST in-wall units cost about $499 a pair. The subwoofers start at $399 and go up to $1,700 for a 12-inch front firer.

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For years, speakers have been tied down by awful speaker wire. The cabling restricts placement and can even manage to form nasty webs, but not any more. JBL is freeing any speaker, regardless of brand or make, from their bonds with the new AIR WEM-1 wireless speaker module. The 2.1 channel transmitter receives the signal via RCA audio jacks, or the 3.5mm input, and sends it info over 2.4GHz, up to 70-feet, to your speakers and/or subwoofer. JBL even threw in a switch to allow user control over the wireless, or auxiliary, local input for even more freedom. So for only $359, you too can free your tied down speaker when the AIR WEM-1 launches this month.

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So today, during the Panasonic press conference, a big-wig put on his dog and pony show about the latest and greatest Panasonic Blu-ray tech. It really wasn’t anything new for us, ’cause we heard ’bout both the BD55 and BD35 last week, (Quick refresher: BD55 – BD Live, 7.1 analog out, DiVX & BD35 – BD Live) but no word on price yet. I don’t get why manufacturers launch a product and don’t tell us consumers how much cake it costs. Just come out with it already. Gosh.

So far, CEDIA hasn’t been full of surprises and keeping with the same lackluster tradition, Sharp announced the XS1 LCD today. The same LCD that we peeked last week at IFA. The 65-inch LC-65XS1U-S and 52-inch LC-52XS1U-S are the same micro-thin TVs, powered by the same 10-bit processors and featuring the same 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios, but this time with a US release date of sometime in October — no price yet though. 

So yeah, last year there was that HD DVD format kicking around and then suddenly *poof* it’s gone. Blu-ray sales go up and Sony feels great!

Yeah, there isn’t too much to say about either of these players. They both have HDMI 1.3 and support BD Live Profile 1.1. The little guy on top, the BD-HP50U, goes for $450 while the BD-HP21U is $350. Moving on.

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The CEDIA fun doesn’t stop with Sony, folks. We’re moving onto Sharp now! The AQUOS LCD D65U series are all 1080p sets ranging from 42- to 52-inches with 6ms response time, five HDMI v1.3 inputs, and a whopping 173 degree viewing angle. The 42-inch LC-42D65U is available now for $1,599.99. The 46-inch LC-46D65U and 52-inch LC-52D65U will arrive in October for $1,899.99 and $2,399.99, respectively.

Oh, I forgot to mention that all three have a “Power Saving Mode” that “enables active contrast and
active backlight to reduce the energy consumption of the television while in use.”
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Sony today announced their new “Elevated Standard” Blu-Ray player. (That would be the ‘ES’ in the model number). The new $2000 player features Sony’s newly developed HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technologies. The new features sharpen edges and smooth color gradations.

Also incorporated is their new Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology that converts standard-definition signals (480i) to 1080p and outputs a full HD equivalent resolution signal to 1080p TVs via HDMI.

Everything from start-up time to disc detection has been given the “ES” treatment. If that isn’t enough for you Sony is also unveiling their megachanger in 2009, which will store up to 400 discs at the ready.

Read the entire press release after the jump.

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What can I say? They look nice. They support all the popular ins, outs, formats and plugs. They’re ready for wireless and Dolby certified. There’s lots of stats after the jump but here’s the outline:
The BDV-IT1000 (above) is the expensive, floorstanding one. 700W total, 200 of that in the sub and 100 per channel. Costs $2000.
The BDV-IS1000 (below) has golf ball-sized speakers that probably sound great anyway. Costs $1000.

So many friends hanging out in your mega-mansion that they can’t all fit around one HDTV? Sony feels your pain. They announced two new ES-series receives at CEDIA this morning: the STR-DA5400ES, and the STR-DA6400ES (shown above). While both come stocked with Cat5e ports for sharing HD content between multiple room, the 6400 model features a bonus Cat5e port with DLNA certification; this allows owners to stream movies, photos, and music from any DLNA-certified PCs, or stream music from Rhapsody/Shoutcast straight off the intertubes.

Both receivers have Faroudja DCDi Cinemas chips for upscaling standard def videos to 1080p, Direct Stream Digital support, auto calibration, BRAVIA Sync, with 7.1 channels pushing over a 120-watt x 7 amp. Both models will hit the shelves in October at the pocket-melting price of $2500 (DA6400ES) or $2000 (DA5400ES). Full press release after the jump.

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RT

Doesn’t Sony know that Blu-ray will be dead within five years? Heh. Sony just let loose three new VAIO all-in-one (HDTV, Blu-ray player, PC) desktop PCs at CEDIA – JS, LV and RT.

As much as digital photo frames confuse and astound me, I can’t really say I don’t get it. They are after all, photos you (presumably) want to have displayed so as to look at them anytime. Plus they light up, and that’s always cool.

Sony today unveiled their VAIO CP1 Wi-Fi photo frame, with more than 16 million colors and 800×480 resolution on a 7-inch LCD screen. Utilizing built-in Wi-Fi technology, the CP1 model lets you stream photos from a VAIO PC directly to the device. It also communicates with Google’s Picasa web albums.
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The CEDIA lowdown: Both are 1080p with “Silicon X-tal Reflective Display” technology, which I’m sure is very nice thank you, and both allow RGB pixel adjustment down to 1/10px resolution. Both use the Bravia Engine 2 signal processor.
VPL-HW10: 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 1000 lumens brightness. $3500.
VPL-VW70: The high-end one. 60,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 800 lumens brightness, accepts a separate anamorphic lens for 2.35:1 movies in a special mode. Extended pixel/panel adjustment, automatic lens cover. $8000.

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Today at CEDIA, Sony announced that the US will soon get their hands on some slender 9.9-mm thin LCD HDTVs. The KDL-52XBR7 has a whopping 240Hz frame rate displayed on a 1080p 52-inch LCD screen with 80,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. No word on price but it ships in December.

The 40-inch 1080p KLV-40ZX1M LCD weighs a mere 26 pounds, but this one can only claim a 120Hz frame rate. This, too, will be available in December.

Panasonic knows plasma TVs and the latest high-end lineup shows why. The 30,000:1 native contrast ratio, Digital Cinema Color, anti-reflective screen, four HDMI inputs, and four sizes ranging from 65- to 46-inches are sure to tickle AV guys funny; until they see the $7k price for the big boy though. Maybe Panasonic’s implementation of IPTV will justify the cost.

Touted as VIERA Cast, this flavor of IPTV comes via Panasonic’s own servers and currently features only YouTube, Bloomberg, Weather.com and Picaso. I wish Panasonic the best of luck with the IPTV venture, but so far, consumers seem not interested in the service. Maybe this time though, they will take notice.

Remember way back when Cable Card 2.0 promised us all the frills of a cable box, but with the actual damn box? Tru2Way, or OCAP in geek speak , is finally going to delivery guides, VOD, and even 3rd party apps. Cable Labs and Panasonic have been working on this open standard for years and both companies just announced availability before Christmas in Panasonic HDTVs. What TVs, we don’t know, but can you imagine a world without cable boxes? It’s going to be dandy.

We already knew almost everything about LG’s innovative Blu-ray player, the BD300. We knew that it streams Netflix, is BD Live capable but we didn’t know the price. Well, Lucky Goldstar was shooting for under $500 and it managed to bring the player in at a nice $399. Not to bad if you consider the Roku Netflix box is 100 bones by itself. Should be on the market within a month.