The car audio market isn’t what it used to be. The days of half-din radios and crappy stock speakers are long gone. As OEM systems increase in quality, the aftermarket scene is slowing down. So much so that Pioneer is killing its 20-year old Premier label at the end of 2009. It’s truly sad news for long-time car audio geeks.

Pioneer has showcased the Floating Vision at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo (that ended Sunday), another 3D display that doesn’t require you to wear glasses (yawn) to view 3D images. It’s not bad at all though, even though visitors flocked to Sony’s booth to see their stereoscopic 3D display (which was a bit cooler).

You can connect the Floating Vision to a PC via USB 2.0 to view images or videos “floating” over the display (5.7 inches, 640 × 480 VGA resolution). What’s pretty cool is that you can “interact” with the image, as the device detects your hand movements. It’s also possible to “control” an image with your voice (the device has a mic on its front). Both Windows PCs and Macs are supported.

Behold, the Pioneer BDR-205! Thrill to the 12x write speeds on double layer Blu-ray media! Marvel at the 50Gbytes of storage capacity! Be amazed by the low, low price of $250 United States dollars! Click on through to read the entire exciting press release!

Remember Laserdiscs? Those large-size video mediums almost no one outside Japan bought in the 1980s and 1990s? I never thought I would write another post on LDs after the one in January this year in which I reported about Pioneer stopping the production of LDs players forever.

But yesterday the same company (which manufactured the best hardware) issued a new press release [JP], saying it still has some players in stock, the DVL-919 ($1,000, pictured on the left) and the CLD-R5 ($400, pictured after the jump). The main difference is that the R5 only plays LDs and CDs, while the 919 also can be used for DVDs (region 2).

Seriously. Please spend the extra cash and get this Pioneer BDP-120 over the $98 Magnavox Blu-ray player. You will be oh so happy that you did. Why you ask? Let me explain.

Pioneer Japan yesterday unveiled a new in-house audio system, the ACCO A-IW001 [JP], which comes with a set of speakers that need to be mounted on the ceiling. The device is also specifically designed to be iPod-compatible and comes with an iPod cradle.

Remember this day. Today is the day that you saw the future of GPS navigation. Tele Atlas has partnered with Norway-based BLOM to provide photorealistic maps to personal navigation devices. So far only 40 cities in Europe have been ported to the service, but many more are scheduled to be released in the coming quarters. Soon the days of having basic 3D boxes to represent buildings will be gone and an actual picture will be there instead.

The optical music market is still alive, folks. Pioneer is releasing a new high-end player for your listening pleasure. Not only does it support SACDs, but also sports a USB port for DAP or iPod connectivity along with Bluetooth audio streaming support. The circuity within is sure to improve the crappy MP3 audio file too, although it probably will come nowhere close to the pristine sound of a SACD through this player.

Pioneer gave up producing flat TVs and buried the LaserDisc, but the company seems to still believe in Blu-ray. Yesterday, Pioneer Japan announced a total of three new Blu-ray players [JP], covering the low-end and high-end segments.

The consolidation process in Japan’s tech industry isn’t stopping. Pioneer and Sharp said today in Tokyo they have reached a basic agreement to launch an optical disc joint venture [JP, PDF], a move that is supposed to give the companies a boost in the Blu-ray segment. Both companies said they are ready to completely transfer their optical disc businesses to the new entity.

We covered the news that Pioneer shuts down TV production back in February and today Pioneer Japan revealed a number of details about their radical move [JP]. In short: There will be no more Kuro plasma TVs from May this year. Pioneer calls it quits after 12 years of plasma TV production.

Here’s one of those quicke CrunchDeals we like to promote from time to time. This time, satellite radio fan, you can grab the Pioneer XMp3, along with the relevant Home and Vehicle kit, for $239. That’s $100 less than what XM usually wants!

After pulling the plug on LD production just last month and saying their TV business is practically dead, Pioneer today in Tokyo hold a press conference explaining the latter move in more detail [JP, PDF]. And the details aren’t pretty at all.

Vizio, a long time favorite brand of bargain hunters and geeks alike, has stopped slapping their logo on plasma TVs. Plus, there is no plan to order more once the current inventory runs outs. The cut is, of course, due to plamsa’s poor sales in comparison to the companies LCD sales. Which is, of course, due to poor consumer information and as bright as the sun’s surface showrooms.

There’s nothing much to say here other than what I’ve stated in the headline, folks. Pioneer has announced that they are officially getting out of the plasma HDTV business. Despite the quality of their plasma HDTVs, the TV division hasn’t been doing so well. Another factor is Panasonic’s recent announcement that their new plasma factory would not be ready to roll until 2010.

The Nikkei reports that Pioneer’s DVD division will be joining forces with Sharp in some new joint venture.

Pioneer today announced in Tokyo [JP] that they will no longer manufacture LaserDisc players. The DVL-919, CLD-R5, DVK-900 and DVL-K88 are the last models available.

Complaints that Blu-ray is too expensive—we say it often—may soon be harder to justify, now that Pioneer will release the $250 BDP-120 in April. It’s just a Blu-ray player—no fancy Netflix streaming here—but if all you’re looking for is an inexpensive player (and have no interest in the PS3) you could do worse.