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Pioneer to halt plasma production?

Pioneer Electronics is to cease all production of plasma panels and instead source panels from competitor Matsushita, according to Reuters. The news agency has quoted a source as saying the company is finalising plans to stop all production of plasma display panels, following a report by Nikkei business news. Pioneer President Tamihiko Sudo will be …

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Blu

Imagine (pun intended) there’s a race. In one lane is the late, great John Lennon. In the other, James Blunt. The starting gun fires, and somehow Lennon, who has been dead for 27 years now, beats Blunt to the finish line. Well, that’s exactly what’s happened with HD DVD. The dead format has managed to rise from the grave and …

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Panasonic SC

If you’ve long wanted to get into home cinema but haven’t had the motivation, you might find the switch to high definition is a good time to get involved. At least, that’s what Panasonic is hoping with its SC-BT100, a Blu-ray home cinema system with 5.1 surround and a bunch of wonderful trimmings. We’ve always been a fan of simple …

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Panasonic Viera TH

Panasonic is launching two new plasma TVs — and making an awful lot of fuss about a concept called the ‘digital hearth’. Apparently we’ve all got better things to do these days than stare wistfully into the fireplace as warming flames lick at wood you chopped and gathered with your own hands that very afternoon. Instead we all sit like …

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Panasonic DMP

Unless HD DVD manages to conjure up a biblical-scale miracle, we’re all going to be buying Blu-ray players from now on for our high-definition movie pleasure. Of course, with Blu-ray having a number of profile specifications it can be a confusing process choosing one. Luckily, the Panasonic DMP-BD30, which has been available for some time in the US, is coming …

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What does HD DVD’s defeat mean for the future?

The next-generation HD DVD format failed partly because of a lack of interest and external competition from digital downloads, according to Toshiba Australia, but what does it mean for the future of HD? Mark Whittard, general manager of Toshiba Australia said the penetration of both HD DVD and Blu-ray was way below expectations, and that the withdrawal of Warner Brothers …

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Toshiba: Our TVs can be turned off, you know

As you may know, here at Crave we’re big fans of the off switch. But as we’ve previously noted, it’s an endangered species. Happily, Toshiba is keen to stop David Cameron from mounting a full-on campaign against LCD TVs by allowing its customers to turn them off properly. You probably know what modern TVs are like. You’re pretty lucky if …

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Pinnacle’s itty bitty video box

Black boxes: not just for airplanes Allo allo, what have we got here? A little black box that records TV shows and transfers them straight to your iPod, that’s what. Pinnacle — of Pinnacle Studio fame — has announced the Video Transfer, a pocketable device that records video from your telly, camcorder or game console and dumps it directly into …

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