XpanD’s line of universal 3D glasses launched at IFA last week are said to work with all 3D TVs and in certain U.S. theaters that use active 3D systems. The $129 glasses will be in stores worldwide by the end of October, said a company spokesman. XpanD positions the glasses as a universal solution -- working with both TVs and at the cinema -- compared with the active-shutter universal glasses Monster Cable introduced last summer that come with their own transmitter ($249 for one pair of glasses and transmitter) and work just with 3D TVs.

In a court decision that hearkens back to when VCRs were state-of-the-art, a federal appeals court upheld Funai’s VCR-related infringement patent claims against Daewoo, backing a lower court’s awarding $8.6 million in damages and legal costs. The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit returned the case to U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Spero, in San Jose, Calif, after deciding Daewoo infringed three of Funai’s six VCR-related patents that were at the heart of the case.

BERLIN -- Sony’s top strategist for Blu-ray and 3D said at an IFA media briefing Friday that it’s doubtful his company would market a 3D consumer camcorder before work is finished on a 3D spec for the AVCHD format that Sony developed jointly with Panasonic. The executive, Akira Shimazu, senior general manager in charge of Sony’s Blu-ray and 3D strategy office, steered well clear of criticizing Panasonic’s new 3D camcorder introduction, which has won high praise at IFA for its ability to help consumers create their own 3D images, thus filling the content void left by the fact that so few Blu-ray 3D movies broadcast 3D programs are available.

Take-Two Interactive continues to believe this year “may remain challenging,” Chairman Strauss Zelnick said in an earnings call. But it still expects to achieve profitability this year without the release of a new Grand Theft Auto game, he said. “This will mark the first time in nearly a decade that the company has been able to accomplish that goal,” he said.

BERLIN -- SES Astra has not explained the reasoning behind its split standard for 3D TV (CED Sept 3 p2). It said, for the time being at least, satellite 3D transmissions will use either the side-by-side (for 1080i resolution) or top-bottom (for 720p resolution) formats, which make them compatible with existing HD set-tops. Free-to-air 3D services will be signaled using mechanisms defined under an updated DVB standard, which will allow automatic switching of the display from 2D to 3D and from 3D to 2D, Astra said.

Orb Networks began shipping a low-cost multi-room music system that leverages consumers’ existing investments in smartphones and wireless home networks. Orb’s $79 solution, available direct to consumers from the company website, combines a $69 receiver resembling a thin, lightweight hockey puck, a $10 iPhone/iPad app for remote control capability, a set of audio cables and a power cord. Each additional room requires a $69 receiver that can plug into stereo systems, TVs, tabletop radios and other music systems using standard RCA plugs, the company said. A version for the Android smartphone platform is due later this month, CEO Joe Costello told Consumer Electronics Daily. The system operates over 802.11b/g/n networks.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Pay-TV distributors should play up the technology included in set-top boxes in their marketing so consumers assign some value to the devices, Dish Chief Marketing Officer Ira Bahr said at a conference Thursday. Calling the set-top the “worst category name in the history of consumer electronics products,” Bahr said most consumers assign no value to the devices, and react harshly to fees associated with them. “We, ourselves and as an industry, have failed to create any distinction between what is a box feature and what is a service feature,” he said. “We're introducing a lot of features and people are yawning.” Pay-TV’s esteem among consumers has fallen when compared to coveted product along the lines of Apple’s iPhone to something little different from a power company, he said: “Many of these problems would be ameliorated if we could get to a place where people ascribe some value” to the box.

The California Office of Administrative Law late Wednesday approved the state’s TV energy standards, dashing CE industry hopes of seeing the regulation stalled on procedural grounds. Industry had contended that the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) procedures in adopting the regulations were flawed. Industry is weighing various options, including litigation, sources said. Accusing the CEA of “misleading” other states about the fate of California’s TV regulations, environmental activists said OAL clearance would provide added impetus to efforts to get similar measures adopted in other states next year. The California standards go into effect in two phases -- January 2011 and January 2013.

BERLIN -- Samsung executives spared few superlatives at an IFA news conference Thursday in declaring their company’s supremacy over rivals in marketing 3D TV products. Samsung “is the leader in this category,” said Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung’s Video Display Business.

Panasonic’s ties to the 3D production equipment used in filming Avatar have yielded it an exclusive 3D Blu-ray bundle starting in December with its Viera 42-, 50-, 54-, 58- and 65-inch plasma TVs, company officials said. The promotion, which will include TV advertising, “will go on for some time, certainly more than two weeks,” said Victor Carlson, vice president in Panasonic Consumer Electronics marketing group. Carlson said details haven’t been finalized. Sony is said to have landed a similar deal with the Walt Disney Co. for Alice in Wonderland 3D that’s expected this fall. A Sony spokesman declined comment. Samsung has had a similar exclusive bundle for DreamWorks’ Monsters vs. Aliens 3D for much of this year. And Samsung will have similar 3D bundles this fall with DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon and all four Shrek movies.