Launches Remote App

New Denon Control, Streaming Features Designed to Keep AV Receivers Ahead of Curve

September 27, 2010 by Rebecca Day and Mark Seavy|Top News

ATLANTA -- With the audio/video receiver fighting for relevance amid a growing market for powered speaker systems and streaming media devices, Denon is holding fast to the AVR as the “hub” of the entertainment experience while trying to keep its custom models ahead of the curve with Internet streaming, networking and control features. At CEDIA, Denon announced it was the first receiver company to incorporate Apple’s AirPlay wireless streaming technology, which lets users access all content from their iTunes library -- including DRM-protected content -- as well as album art.

Denon also launched a remote app for four of the company’s Network 11 series AV receivers that allows an Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to be a “fully functioning remote control” for a networked home entertainment system. The app is available for demo at the Apple App Store and a firmware upgrade for owners of Denon AVR-3311CI ($1,199) and AVR-991 ($999) receivers is due at the end of the month. Remote app firmware is currently available in Denon AVR-A100 ($2,499) and AVR-4311CI ($1,999) receivers, the company said. The remote app has four screen modes including a basic page for power on/off, volume, input selection and surround-sound modes. Additional screens allow users to go deeper into receiver functions including multi-zone networking, content streaming, radio station presets and balancing audio. The 4311CI and 3311CI receivers can stream Internet radio stations, Pandora music channels and photos from Flickr, the company said, and bring in Rhapsody and Napster music services.

Also at CEDIA, Denon launched the N7 personal audio system targeting iPhone/iPod users, the company said. The networked system includes a CD receiver ($599) and stereo speakers ($199 a pair), and is designed to let users listen to music stored on a PC or iPhone wherever they choose in the home. The 2.1-channel system can stream Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster and last.fm and streams music wirelessly from a PC via DLNA. A USB connector offers another music input option, and a CD player and AM/FM radio round out playback the playback palette. Leveraging the networking capability, the system offers Denon’s “Party Mode Plus” feature, so users can control and play music simultaneously on up to five Denon devices on the home network. Users can control the system using the new iPhone remote app, the company said. The N7 will ship in October, Denon said.

Denon’s CI-class receivers, designed for the custom installation market, have Control4 certification, which is said to ensure compatibility with Control4 IP-based home automation systems. The company’s new receivers are also Windows 7-compatible. Denon also will create Crestron remote control modules that are said to allow installers to quickly open a control interface and drag and drop programming tools they need.

Streaming media adapters and wireless networking have made multi-room audio available for the masses. Custom installation companies are “just starting to understand that,” said Jeff Talmadge, Denon’s director of product development and system integration. The challenge for AVR companies and their dealers is to add features to receivers to keep them as the hub of the home theater system, while offering functionality consumers can’t get elsewhere such as multi-room zone control, he said. AirPlay is another differentiator installers can offer clients, Talmadge said, in addition to streaming music via DLNA, Internet radio access, Rhapsody and Pandora. He noted other products, such as the Sonos multi-room music system, that create their own “ecosystem” independent of an AV receiver. For those customers with a home theater system, “those players still have to plug in to the receiver at some point,” he said. By building streaming, DLNA compatibility and networking into AVRs, he said Denon can offer all features consumers want for legacy and latest-gen sources from one box.

CEDIA Notebook

While Denon showed a slate of audio/video receivers at CEDIA, promoting the AVR as the “hub” of the home entertainment network, sister company Boston Acoustics unveiled in the same booth a new soundbar that elevates the powered under-TV speaker’s role in home entertainment. The TVee Model 30 packs a front-panel switch that shifts the speaker between virtual surround mode for TV sound and stereo mode for music. The soundbar also has an auxiliary input for a portable music player. According to Boston Senior Vice President Eli Harary, an increasing number of consumers are listening to music through their TVs, to bring in Pandora and Internet radio apps, satellite and cable music channels and music stored on USB drives, and the company hopes to provide a music playback alternative that uses a minimal amount of equipment. The system comes with a wireless subwoofer. Because more people are storing music on their smartphones, Boston added Bluetooth to the speaker system, allowing for streaming direct from a Bluetooth-enabled phone, Harary said. The soundbar incorporates Dolby Digital decoding and comes with built-in keyholes and feet for either wall mounting or tabletop placement, Harary said. The company hopes to leverage the success of the TVee Model 20 system, which it calls the top soundbar among audio brands. The $299 Model 20 remains in the line, and the $599 Model 30 ships next month, he said.

SIM2 revived its Teatro projector line at CEDIA last week with three-chip Teatro 80 and Teatro 50 1080 DLP projectors built on Texas Instruments’ 0.95-inch DarkChip4 DMDs. The Teatro 80 ($69,995) uses dual lamps and all-glass optics, the company said. The contrast ratio was given as 9,000:1, with brightness of 4500 ANSI lumens. The Teatro 80 sports six pure HDCP-HDMI inputs, an array of analog inputs and a professional-format digital SDI

input, the company said. An Ethernet connector can be used to remotely control the projector using TCP/IP commands or to feed back the device’s operating status. The Teatro 50 ($59,995) uses a single lamp. SIM2 also unveiled the Mico 40 ($15,995) and Mico 60 ($23,995) single-chip three-LED projectors built on the TI Dark Chip 4 DMD. Contrast ratio is 100,000:1 and brightness 800 ANSI lumens, said Alberto Fabiano, vice president of marketing. He told us a brightness rating of 800 for an LED projector is equivalent to 1100 brightness for a standard lamp. LED life is rated at 35,000 hours, he said.

Marantz postponed shipment of two universal Blu-ray players to December from this month to build 3D into the products rather than add it through a firmware upgrade, Kevin Zarrow, vice president of sales and marketing, told us. The UD5005 ($499) and UD7005 ($899) are Marantz’s first models to stream music, video and photos from a PC, as well as on-demand video. “This just simplifies the process so that the players are 3D-capable out of the box,” Zarrow said. Marantz also has started delivering the SR6005 ($999) and SR5005 ($799) to many of Best Buy’s more than 300 Magnolia Home Theater (MHT) store-within-a-store locations, said officials of the maker. Marantz expanded distribution through MHT after testing products in standalone locations. The receivers feature six HDMI 1.4 connectors and a built-in HD Radio tuner. Marantz also launched application software on Apple iPhone and iPad tablet PC for the NA7004 network audio player, which ships in October at $699, Zarrow said. The software became available two weeks ago, he said. Marantz will gradually release applications software for other products, Zarrow said. The company also is shipping a lower priced turntable, at $300, by dealers’ request, he said. Marantz sells the Reference Series TT 15S1 turntable at $1,500.

Sandy Gross, a co-founder of Polk Audio and founder of speaker company Definitive Technology, launched at CEDIA a line of speakers exclusive to the specialty audio channel, under the Golden Ear Technology brand. Despite the saturation of speaker models available in specialty and large-volume distribution, Gross told us he saw a need for better-quality speakers with “better styling, value and sonic performance.” The line includes the Triton Two Tower speakers ($2,499 a pair), Supersat 3 satellite and 3C center-channel satellite speakers ($249 each) and Super Cinema 3 system, which bundles the satellite speakers with 1000-watt ($499) and 1200-watt ($699) subwoofers. The company signed 60 independent retailers before they saw the product, Gross said. One, Stuart Schuster, president of Marvin Electronics in Fort Worth, Texas, who was hearing the speakers for the first time at the Golden Ear booth, said he signed on based on his experience with Gross from Polk and Definitive. “No one needs another speaker line these days,” Schuster said, “but this is new, fun stuff and they're fresh.” The home theater aspect was a draw, too, Schuster said. “They do theater, but they're not big and ugly."

Costco is selling Optoma’s derivative HD180 DLP-based front projector through 200 stores at $899, $100 less than the HD20 that it’s based on, said Jon Grodem, Optoma senior director of product and marketing. Like the HD20, the HD180 features a single 0.65-inch DLP chip with 1,920x1,080 resolution and delivers 1,700 lumens from a 230-watt lamp. But its contrast ratio is 3,500:1, compared with the HD20’s 4,000:1. Optoma also created a derivative model of the HD66 for the CEDIA channel, the HD6700, which will sell for about $100 more, at $799, Grodem said. The HD6700, which will have a slightly higher contrast ratio, will be sold through AVAD distributors, he said. The HD66 has a 0.65-inch DLP panel with 1,280x720p resolution, 2,500 lumens and a 4,000:1 contrast ratio. Apple has also shifted to derivative versions of Optoma’s PK201 and PK301 pico projectors. The PKA21 ($229) and PKA31 ($399) featured the same 0.3-inch DLP with 854x480 resolution and up to 50 lumens, but sells for $50 less. The PKA21 is sold through all Apple stores, and the PKA31 is limited to Apple’s Web site. Apple merchandises the projector in its accessories section and can demonstrate it behind the Genius bar in each store. Optoma has a derivative Game Time GT720 ($799) sold through Best Buy and priced $50 more than more widely available the GT700. It features a 0.7-inch DLP chip with 1,280x720p resolution, 2,500 lumens, 3,000:1 contrast ratio, two five-watt speakers and 30 dB noise level. The projector, aimed at the videogames market, was sold in Europe under the Game Time brand.