entertainment

In addition to the three AV Receivers released yesterday, Onkyo has also released two home theatre systems (HT-S5400 and HT-S3400) and a iPhone/iPod Remote Interactive Dock (DS-A4).  The new systems are design to bring the best out of music, movies and gaming content, thus, enhancing your home entertainment experience. At the heart of both systems sits the home theatre receiver to provide HDMI and USB connectivity and power to push the content.

The new 7.2 Channel TX-NR609 and 5.1 Channel TX-NR509 AV Receivers features the latest in networking capability available to home entertainment systems, although being class as entry-level.  The AV Receivers boost support for DLNA, Wireless, Windows 7, Internet Radio and remote App control from Onkyo App for iPhone and iPod. The other new model is the TX-SR309, it is the only one of the three that does not support Networking.

A Selected range of Samsung’s  Blu-ray Home Theater Systems, HDTVs and Blu-ray players are to have the MTV Music Meter as one of their applications. The MTV Music Meter which as launched on selected smartphones (Samsung’s Galaxy series smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablet) and a website is used to track artists trending based on their social media buzz is now ported to the Samsung home entertainment platform as one of its apps.

In a development that will revolutionize the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's connected home entertainment industry, Techstorm, a UAE-based new media technology company, has partnered with Silicon Valley-based Verismo Networks and their award-winning Internet TV Platform to launch the VuMax service and bring HD quality entertainment directly to TV sets through broadband Internet.

Pioneer has release 3D Blu-ray players (BDP-LX54 and BDP-430) in Australia; the two players offer customers the latest in connectivity, such as HDMI, Ethernet and wireless.  Features include BD-Live, iControlAV app, 1080p High definition picture quality and the ability to convert standard DVDs to near HD quality. With support the latest in multi-channel audio, both models support the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats.

At this month’s CE show Yahoo! Debuts a new connected television platform geared towards both viewers and TV programs creators, to enable them to offer more interactive contents to viewers. So far HSN, ABC, Showtime and CBS are partners with Yahoo! And talks are going on with brand advertisers (like Microsoft, Ford and Mattel) to come on board. Content producers are expected to pilot some of the solutions as early as the first half of this year.

Sony has announced that they will be integrating the Opera browser into their Bravia television and Sony Blu-ray players.  Earlier this month, at CES Sony demonstrated a new range of Blu-ray players that they will be rolling throughout this quarter. The integration of Opera on the television will give users a more intuitive user interface from the television and a platform that is more web friendly.

Sony has introduced a new range of Blu-ray players and Blu-ray Disc Home theater systems for 2011. There are four standalone Blu-ray Disc players (BDP-S780, BDP-S580, BDP-S480, and BDP-S380) and three home theater systems (BDV-E780W, BDV-E580, and BDV-E280). Both ranges of systems are designed with the latest connected solution to allow access to the latest in online entertainment and in home connectivity. They have also introduced a 5.1 channel audio system to complement the Blu-ray player and home theater system.

Logitech has joined forces with Spotify so that owners of the Logitech Squeezebox media player can access Spotify music service. According to Logitech owners of the Logitech Squeezebox Touch or Squeezebox Radio player; using their existing wireless home network can now access Spotify’s comprehensive catalogue of more than ten million songs, including your Spotify playlists, anywhere in the home. Spotify is currently available in Finland, Norway, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K.

Logitech has announced that it has joined forces with Spotify to support the popular music service on the Logitech® Squeezebox™ Wi-Fi music players. Using your existing wireless home network and your Squeezebox Touch or Squeezebox Radio player, you can now access Spotify’s comprehensive catalogue of more than ten million songs, including your Spotify playlists, anywhere in the home.