Rebecca Day

Definitive Technology introduced its first active soundbar system, on a press tour in New York Wednesday. The $1,999 system, comprising a 2-3/8-inch-deep soundbar and 6-inch-deep wireless subwoofer, will compete at the top end of the soundbar market with products from Bose, Martin-Logan, B&W and Yamaha, Paul DiComo, senior vice president-marketing and business development, told us. The SoloCinema XTR will be widely distributed through Definitive’s existing retail base, which includes brick-and-mortar specialty AV dealers, custom installers “without showrooms,” Best Buy, Amazon and Crutchfield, DiComo said. On whether there’s enough demand in the market for high-priced soundbars to support another product, DiComo told us, “There damn better be.” Definitive has sold passive soundbars that require connection to an AV receiver for the past 5 years, and DiComo said the maturing soundbar category was looking for a “simplified” high-performance product. Connections include three HDMI 1.4 inputs and one HDMI output, along with an optical and RCA audio inputs. The soundbar and subwoofer come “pre-paired” to remove that task from the setup process, DiComo said. The system’s remote control has concave and convex buttons to help users navigate in the dark when watching a movie, he said. The system -- which packs six aluminum dome midrange drivers, three aluminum dome tweeters, and an 8-inch subwoofer -- supports Dolby and DTS lossless audio and has Dolby Volume to level the sound between commercials and other content, he said. A USB port enables firmware updates, which could be used to “fix bugs” or provide product enhancements, DiComo said, citing the overall importance of software in making the system “work.” With the first active soundbar ready to ship in August, the company will look at additional sizes of active soundbars, DiComo said. On the possibility of Definitive coming out with a speaker that incorporates WiSA wireless technology, DiComo said there are no plans to do so, but he said an AirPlay-equipped product “is a notion” among company designers. No timetable has been set for an AirPlay-equipped model, he said. Expansion in soundbars doesn’t reflect a move away from traditional floorstanding speakers, DiComo said, adding that the company will launch a new tower speaker next year. Definitive is also planning its first headphone release for 2013 that’s being designed “from the ground up,” DiComo said. “We're not just going to China and saying, ‘Change this part and slap our logo on it,'” he said. The product will be “very very special.”

Barnes & Noble holds 25-30 percent of the digital book market in the U.S., CEO William Lynch said on a fiscal Q4 earnings call Tuesday, as the company prepares for international expansion fueled by the company’s partnership with Microsoft. A major goal of the company is to “quickly increase content sales” while “sustaining or expanding” on its plus-30-percent gross margins in digital content, a formula that’s “key to scaling our digital business to profitability,” Lynch said. The company’s net loss for the fiscal year narrowed 7 percent to $68.9 million, it said.

Sharp launched its first foray into universal pricing along with the unveiling of its long-rumored 90-inch LED-lit LCD TV, which was shown publicly for the first time at a press conference Monday in Manhattan. The UPP applies only to the 90-inch LC-90LE745U for now, Jim Sanduski, vice president strategic product marketing, told us.

Hoping to leave behind a “checkered past,” Colorado vNet changed its name to 3vNet, CEO Mike Anderson told Consumer Electronics Daily Monday. “We wanted to communicate that it’s a new team and a new company going forward,” Anderson said, “but we have to give a nod to the history.” Citing the company’s roller coaster existence over the past three years after being acquired by Russound in 2009, Anderson said, “We want people to understand that we understand the work that has to be done to re-earn trust and respect from the dealer base."

LAS VEGAS -- The HDBaseT Alliance showed the first projectors equipped with HDBaseT connectivity at its Infocomm booth, including an LCD projector from Panasonic and a DLP model from projectiondesign. Digital signage company Primeview showed the first HDBaseT-equipped product in that category at the HDBaseT booth, too.

LAS VEGAS -- Transparent displays and a horizontal touch table based on the Microsoft Surface platform were among the commercial flat-panel products Samsung showed at Infocomm this week that could one day make their way to the home market, Samsung spokesman Jason Redmond told us. Small versions of the transparent displays, which allow an image to overlay clear LCD glass, could be used on a refrigerator door, he said.

LAS VEGAS -- All-weather TV company SunBrite TV quietly launched a retail distribution program through P.C. Richard & Son stores in New York, Consumer Electronics Daily has learned. Tom Dixon, vice president-marketing at SunBrite, told us at Infocomm Wednesday that he “couldn’t confirm or deny” reports that P.C Richard stores are selling the company’s outdoor TVs, in deference to the retailer’s wishes, but the P.C. Richard website listed 21 models of SunBrite TVs Wednesday. The entry-level $1,495 model was discounted $100 to $1,395.97.

LAS VEGAS -- “The problem with the projector market … is it’s stagnant,” said William Coggshall, president of market research firm Pacific Media Associates, leading a session on industry market trends at the Projection Media Summit, here, Tuesday. The projector business has trickled to single-digital growth in both units and dollars, Coggshall said, and profits are being squeezed as more Taiwanese manufacturers flood the market with low-priced machines.

LAS VEGAS -- The future of video processing is in programmability, Geo Semiconductor CEO Paul Russo told us at the Insight Media Projection Summit. A discrete device that can handle HD 1080p would have difficulty handling 2K or 4K signals, he said. A programmable device allows designers to define in software whether a video signal is going to an HD, a 2K or a 4K projector, he said.

LAS VEGAS -- Enthusiasm for 3D among Chinese consumers could give the flagging 3D industry the boost it needs, said Levin Tang, secretary general of the China 3D Industry Association, during the keynote at Insight Media’s Projection Summit Tuesday. Consumption of 3D, both at home and in theaters, is rising at a rate proportional to China’s economic growth, Tang said.