Screen Innovations is planning to “reinvent” the low- to mid-range of the projection screen market, founder Ryan Gustafson told us at the Home Technology Specialists of America fall meeting in Chicago Wednesday. It’s part of the company’s mission to make Screen Innovations the only screen brand an AV dealer needs to carry, Gustafson said. The company has screens for the customer who wants to pay $20,000 for “the best” screen or “for the guy who only has $500 to spend” who wants “something awesome.” Next year, Gustafson said, the company is going “completely change everything about the bottom to middle” segment of the category. The company has been only partly successful in achieving its goal as a one-stop screen brand as dealers “cherry-picked” its popular Black Diamond screen, viewable in dark or ambient light environments, rather than selecting the entire product line, he said. The screen coming next year will target high-end, mid- and entry-level customers, he said. “It’s opening up a whole new market,” he said. “You won’t be buying one screen anymore. You’ll be buying two or three,” he said, declining to elaborate. On concerns about product cannibalization, Gustafson said customers at the low and high end “will always be there.” Last month, the company began shipping the Zero-G, calling it the first “levitating” screen because it appears to float in air, said Gustafson. An 80-inch version of the Zero-G sells for $5,700.
“Breaking boundaries to ignite an eco world” will be the theme of LeEco’s Oct. 19 event in San Francisco to trumpet its official U.S. launch (see 1609300064), said a just-posted graphic on the company’s website. LeEco, the Chinese consumer electronics, content and e-commerce giant, has been quiet since announcing plans in late July to buy Vizio for $2 billion (see 1607260066), except for a few high-level hires. Those included Richard Ren, the former Huawei executive, as acting president of all "vertical businesses" in North America (see 1609260039). Despite its impending Vizio acquisition, LeEco promises the Oct. 19 event will feature “a lot more than just screens.”
Samsung Electronics expects to report a 7 percent Q3 sales decline to about 49 trillion won ($43.8 billion) when it releases results Oct. 27, the company said in a Friday announcement. Operating profit is expected to rise 5 percent to 7.8 trillion won ($7 billion), the company said. The Oct. 27 quarterly earnings report will be first since the Sept. 15 recall of the Galaxy Note7 (see 1609150069).
Audio-Technica opened a distribution center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, near the Port of Charleston, it said in a Thursday announcement. The facility includes a 56,000-square-foot warehouse and will handle distribution and order processing, the company said.
Chinese consumer tech and content giant LeEco plans its “official launch” in the U.S. at an Oct. 19 event in San Francisco, the company said Friday. LeEco is “the global tech company whose super phones, TVs and bikes have been beating out the world’s top brands -- but we have a lot more than just screens planned,” the company said. LeEco CEO Jia Yueting sees his company “comprehensively landing in the United States,” he told a July news conference where it was announced that LeEco would buy Vizio for $2 billion (see 1607260066).
Denon is recalling about 3,400 Go Pack rechargeable batteries for its Heos 1 wireless speakers because of the risk of overheating or fire, said a Consumer Product Safety Commission notice. The affected lithium-ion Go Packs were sold for about a year through June at Best Buy, Brookstone and Amazon, CPSC said. No incidents or injuries have been reported, CPSC said. Customers should contact Denon for a free replacement, it said.
Qualcomm said it’s opening a semiconductor test facility in the Waigaoqiao free-trade zone in Shanghai to improve its manufacturing footprint in China. Qualcomm Communication Technologies will work with Amkor Technology, a provider of contract semiconductor assembly and test services, it said in a news release. Operations at the facility are to begin Oct. 18.
AVProConnect will unveil an 8 x 8 HDMI matrix switch at CEDIA Expo that supports HDMI 2.0a, HDCP 2.2, 4K video resolution and 18 Gbps bandwidth. The AC-MX88-AUHD allows any source to be shown on any of the connected displays, and it equalizes and amplifies the output to ensure the HDMI signal can be transmitted through long HDMI cables without loss of quality, said the company. Onboard audio delay allows installers to manage lip-sync issues, it said.
Qualcomm announced at IFA the QCA9379 combination chip with support for dual-stream Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2. It also launched a 4K Ultra HD media box reference platform based on the Snapdragon 820 processor. Both solutions support interactive media experiences in upcoming streaming devices, set-top boxes and smart TVs, said a Qualcomm news release. The combo chip’s Bluetooth section has data length extensions to wirelessly connect with remote controls and gaming accessories, said Broadcom, and can overcome line-of-sight limitations of infrared remotes by enabling voice control. The QCA9379 includes technology to manage operation of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in the same radio band, helping to prioritize delay-sensitive transmissions such as voice commands from a speech-enabled remote, or the push of a fire-button in a gaming pad even in crowded network conditions, said Qualcomm. Deep-sleep modes with extreme low-power consumption, wake-on-wireless and wake-on-Bluetooth features in the QCA9379 provide power efficiency, said the company. Integrating Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and power and low-noise amplifiers in a single chip offers cost optimization, it said. The media box reference platform helps manufacturers accelerate development of set-tops and streaming devices in 4K and is designed to deliver the compute and graphics power required for console-level gaming, rich user interfaces and concurrent app use for next-generation TV experiences, said Qualcomm. The platform's design allows fan-less, small form factors and includes gigabit Ethernet and dual-stream Wi-Fi 802.11ac connectivity along with Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Smart, supporting control with remotes, game controllers and voice, it said.
Harman and Baidu announced a global partnership to deliver audio solutions to speech-enabled smart speakers enabled with Baidu’s artificial intelligence technology, at the Baidu World conference Thursday. Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said Harman is focused on giving consumers “sophisticated functionalities, personalized user interfaces” and “seamless integration from home and work to the car and on the go.” The partnership expands on a 2015 collaboration for CarLife, which offers internet, entertainment and location-based services for the China market using Harman head units. Under the new partnership, consumers will be able to control sound and on-demand streaming services using Baidu’s speech recognition, natural language processing and speech synthesis technologies, said Baidu Chief Scientist Andrew Ng.