HD HOME CINEMAS

01.27.2009 — Best Buy will lay off an unknown number of employees at its corporate headquarters on Feb. 19, The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting.

Despite 500 workers voluntarily being laid off earlier in January, the No. 1 big-box retailer in the United States has to resort to these involuntary layoffs.

According to the Star Tribune, employees were notified of the layoffs via email and in meetings Tuesday. Best Buy spokeswoman Susan Busch says the layoffs will not affect store employees. Best Buy has 4,000 corporate employees and about 160,000 employees worldwide.

The voluntary layoffs, effective Feb. 12, will result in a 13 percent reduction of the company's total workforce. Workers who are laid off, according to the Star Tribune, will still be employed at Best Buy for 30 days, each also receiving a "less generous" severance package than employees who volunteered to be laid off.

Best Buy did say some employees could be eligible for different jobs at the Richfield, Minn.-based headquarters.

The company saw comparable store sales fall 1.3 percent in September and 7.6 percent in October. Best Buy also recently announced that Brian Dunn will assume the role of CEO, effective June 24, 2009, to replace Bradbury Anderson, 59, who plans on retiring.

Big-box retailers have obviously had a rough stretch of late here in the U.S. Circuit City and Tweeter, formerly two prominent big-box retailers, both filed bankruptcy and liquidated stores within the last few months.

01.28.2009 — Lutron's new RadioRa-SR is much more than a single-room version of the popular RadioRa wireless lighting control system.

It is Lutron's only ultra-affordable wireless lighting solution that integrates beautifully with Lutron shades and third-party control systems.

The solution borrows from several Lutron families including RadioRa, AuroRa and Maestro Wireless. But the SR is the only one that blends low cost with two-way integration.

AuroRa and Maestro Wireless are both affordable, but they lack two-way communications.

RadioRa is robust and almost infinitely expandable but its cost of entry is high due to the need for a separate repeater and CPU.

"It becomes cost prohibitive to scale down to one room," says Lutron product manager Jeremy Kleinberg.

On the other hand, an SR system with three SR-compatible devices (dimmer, keypad, sensor, motorized shades, etc.) can be had for about $850.

"That would cost about $2,000 for RadioRa," Kleinberg says.

The key to the SR's relative affordability is the integrated hub that combines a repeater, scene controller and Ethernet/RS-232 ports for integration – all sold separately with RadioRa.

The system accommodates 10 wireless SR devices, including dimmers, keypads, sensors, motorized shades or other compatible products.

The SR's wireless protocol is different than other Lutron solutions, so you can't mix-and-match with the other product families.

But the company has developed a suite of compatible products around the SR system. Most notably, the SR integrates natively with Lutron's Sequoia QS wireless shades. RadioRa, on the other hands, requires keypads for each shade.

Lutron has created dimmers and keypads for the SR, as well as some devices that are exclusive to the line. The in-line lamp socket that Lutron showed at CEDIA 2008 will become part of the SR family. It screws in between the fixture and the light bulb for an unobtrusive installation.

In addition, Lutron's new occupancy sensor also will be exclusive to the SR line … for now.

At CES 2009, Lutron demonstrated RadioRa-SR in a home theater vignette. Kleinberg controlled the lights and shades via an SR keypad and two-way Philips Pronto remote.

Lutron has not written drivers for all of the third-party control systems, "but we'll have them for all the usual suspects," says spokeswoman Melissa Andresko. "We'll be showing that at EHX."

January 28, 2009 | by Rebecca Day

The more complicated your collection of A/V equipment, the more you need a universal learning remote control to corral all the commands. These days, for me, complicated means disparate.

My DVD player is a PlayStation 3 with a Bluetooth remote control. My VUDU box, for on-demand video, is an RF device. My TiVo HD uses an IR remote. Music comes from infrared-based sources: Apple TV, the Tivoli Audio Net Works radio for Internet radio, and a Delphi satellite radio tuner that I don’t have a remote for. My gaggle of remote controls speaks three different languages.

I didn’t realize how much I needed a universal remote until Jim Novak, senior product manager of Universal Remote Control, programmed the new MX-6000 ($2,100 with base station, programming not included) for this review. Using my pickup-sticks method of turning on A/V equipment using various remotes, I never can remember which video source goes into which TV input, and now I don’t have to. When I hit TIVO on the MX-6000 touchscreen, the TV switches to the right input, and the remote’s display shows buttons marked LIVE TV or LIST for recorded shows. If I tap VUDU, the TV switches to that input.

I found I wasn’t listening to XM Radio very much because I had to remember that XM was on the CD input (my receiver doesn’t have assignable inputs, so it’s hard to remember what’s plugged in where). I also had to bend down to the tuner module and press a button to turn it on. Novak found the IR codes for the Delphi tuner in the URC database and programmed them into the MX-6000. Now when I tap the XM logo on the touchscreen, the TV shuts off, the Delphi tuner module turns on to the last channel I was listening to, and the A/V receiver switches to the CD input where the Delphi is plugged in. The same thing with Apple TV. The MX-6000 knows that the Apple is plugged into the DVD input, and it makes the switch automatically when I hit the APPLE TV button.

The MX-6000 didn’t develop this intelligence on its own. It required a trained installer working with a PC program. “Remotes don’t do anything by themselves,” Novak told me as he painstakingly assigned command strings to macro buttons.

Just to get a video command to work correctly, he had to do trial and error commands to determine the number of seconds it takes my TV to boot up before it can accept a command to switch inputs. If the command to switch inputs is issued before the TV is fully on, the command won’t take. And in the case of the Tivoli radio, Novak had to take the credit card remote back to the lab to learn the button presses, particularly the quirky press-and-hold feature of the MENU button.

The MX-6000 has Wi-Fi built in, which gives it a path to the Internet. Down the road, the company promises RSS feeds such as news headlines, sports scores, weather and stock quotes directly to the remote. These can be read on the 4-inch display. The feeds weren’t available for our review at press time but are due by the beginning of the year. The Internet connection should also enable dealers to send product updates directly to the remote so that every time the cable company changes channels, dealers can remotely make the changes without making a house call.

I did experience the Wi-Fi in action with URC’s PSX-1 iPod dock and enjoyed the benefit of two-way communication. The MX-6000 has a scroll wheel that mimics the functions of the iPod wheel, but Novak also included buttons on the touchscreen to simplify access to music.

I’m particularly fond of the iPod shortcuts URC developed. Instead of tapping through numerous screens to get to the shuffle settings, for example, I touch the SHUFFLE button on the touchscreen, and up pops a palette full of shuffle options: album, artist, playlist, genre, all songs and jukebox songs. Thanks to the Wi-Fi network connection, I can see track, album and artist information—along with cover art—from the touchscreen.

The only device I’m not able to control via the MX-6000 is the Sony PlayStation 3, which uses a Bluetooth remote. At press time, URC was testing a prototype product from IR2BT that converts Bluetooth commands to IR, so there’s hope.

The MX-6000 is a valuable addition to an audio/video system and prices out accordingly. The device itself is $1,499, but with the programming and support gear required to make it run as smoothly as possible, the tag shoots closer to $3,000. You need an RF base station like the URC MSC-400 ($599) for RF control so you don’t have to be in line of sight of the components. And the PSX-1 iPod Personal Server is a must add-on at $349. Programming costs make up the balance.

According to Eric Johnson, vice president of technology at URC, there’s a correlation between age and the perceived value of a universal remote control. Buyers in their 20s and 30s tend to spend 10 percent of the price of home theater on remote control. Buyers in their 50s may spend as much as 30 percent of the total cost to simplify operation. Most people, we think, will find the MX-6000 to be worth its weight in gold.

Product: Universal Remote Control MX-6000

Price: $2,100

Pros:

* Controls almost anything
* Programmable touchscreen
* Wi-Fi connectivity

Cons:

* Hefty price tag
* No Bluetooth control for PlayStation 3

House Shoots Down Bill to Delay DTV Transition

January 28, 2009 | by Chuck McKenney

Looks like the Feb. 17th deadline for the digital TV transition will stick, after all.

Earlier today the House defeated a bill calling for the deadline to be delayed until June 12. The Senate (with the support of the Obama administration) passed the bill earlier this week. Apparently they’re concerned with the 6.5 million U.S. households not prepared for the transition.

But the Republicans who defeated the bill, care about you too. They claim postponing the transition would only confuse consumers. They also say a delay would burden wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting to use the analog spectrum.

Regardless of what side you’re on, the DTV transition is clearly caught up in partisan politics.

“In my opinion, we could do nothing worse than to delay this transition date,” said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas. “The bill is a solution looking for a problem that exists mostly in the mind of the Obama administration.”

The government’s coupon program designed to aid consumers in need of converter boxes has been nothing short of a disaster. More than 2.5 million people are on a waiting list. And there’s a slew of others wondering what to do with expired coupons.

01.22.2009 — Crestron's Adagio Digital Media System with Blu-ray (ADMS-BR) may just be the most full-featured media server around (or it will be when it ships in June).

At the core of its coolness is a feature called WorldSearch, which enables users to find content from virtually any source on the planet (hence the name) – from a connected Blu-ray disc changer, networked PC or NAS, on-board media, or any number of Internet sites whether fee-based or free.

"For us, media is media," says Crestron VP of technology Fred Bargetzi. "We don't care where it comes from."

Let's say you're interested in Dave Matthews. Just type the artist's name in the search bar, and the ADMS spits out a list of options, indicating the cost of viewing or owning (if applicable), the resolution of the media, where it's hosted, and other parameters that will help users select the best option.

Bargetzi gives one example from his own experience.

His daughter wanted to watch a Harry Potter flick one night, and the Bargetzi family did not have it on disk, cable wasn't showing it, and it was not yet available for download from the online resellers.

The Bargetzis have Vudu, Apple TV, an Xbox 360, Cablevision On Demand and a 200-disc DVD changer.

"I went through each one separately and it took 15 minutes," Bargetzi says. "I couldn't find it."

"But guess what?" he says. "I found it on YouTube. Someone had the whole version of Harry Potter on there. The quality wasn't good but my daughter loved it."

In that case, the movie was a freebie.

The ADMS makes it easy to buy content as well, whether for purchase or immediate viewing.

Like many other media server vendors, Crestron hosts the HD Media Store from VideoGiants. But Crestron also supports Amazon Unbox, which is unusual in this industry.

Currently, the ADMS does not scan cable content and does not provide PVR capabilities, but such services are in the offing.

"That's why we became an OEM for Microsoft," Bargetzi says.

Don't Forget the Blu-ray

To complement the ADMS, Crestron offers a 200-disc Blu-ray changer (ADC-200BR). Five of them can be linked together with Firewire for a 1,000-disc capacity.

All discs are added to the ADMS's media library complete with metadata and cover art, so locating movies is quick and easy (and legal).

No, you can't rip a disc directly to the ADMS, but if you can get the content to a connected PC, NAS or other storage device, you can move it over to the ADMS … or simply view it from the networked device.

ADMS-BR Packs Controller, 1 TB Storage and More

The ADMS is a complete Crestron controller, so users can access their automation systems, surf the Internet, browse a music library and do anything else a Crestron system can do -- all via the TV GUI (or, of course, any Crestron touchscreen).

It includes 1 TB RAID storage, expandable with the addition of Crestron's CEN-NAS-4TB 4 Terabyte Network Attached Storage Appliance with RAID 5 support.

Furthermore, the ADMS is a three-zone audio server, with 7.1-channel surround and two stereo or S/PDIF outputs.

"You can get three zones of uncompressed audio simultaneously and it's pristine," Bargetzi says.

The ADMS-BR retails for $11,000.

Key Features of ADMS

* High-definition digital media server
* WorldSearch content acquisition
* Native online movie rental and purchasing
* Built-in Internet Explorer Web browser
* Onboard Blu-ray Disc drive
* Optional Blu-ray changers allow 100% legal storage of up to 1000 discs
* Plays Windows Media, iTunes, MP3, FLAC, WAV, and AAC audio formats
* Plays MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, WMV, QuickTime, Flash, and AVI video formats
* Downloads metadata automatically from GD3 database
* Streams and syncs media files between multiple ADMS systems
* 3 discrete output zones - home theater video and surround sound plus 2 zones of stereo audio
* High-quality HDMI, S/PDIF, and component outputs
* High-definition 1080p video and uncompressed 7.1 surround sound outputs
* 24-bit 96kHz audiophile sound quality
* Onscreen user interface with home control capability
* Full touchpanel media browsing and control from any room
* Native Crestron control for easy integration
* Adagio system plug-and-play
* Gigabit Ethernet connectivity
* Front panel USB and 1394 ports, and MMC card slot
* Cool, ultra-quiet audiophile grade operation
* 1TB internal RAID storage
* RAID 1 (mirrored) data loss prevention technology
* Expandable using CEN-NAS-4TB Network Attached Storage
* Crestron Watchdog hardware system monitor
* Windows Vista Ultimate OS - locked down for ultimate security
* 3-space 19" rack-mountable