Rebecca Day

Hoping to capitalize on the 99 percent of the residential market that custom AV installers largely have ignored, distribution company Capitol Sales is targeting six markets this year to push no-new-wires installation of multi- room and multi-channel audio for retrofits, a senior executive told us Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA -- Consumers can “touch the future” when they visit the Sony Style Comcast Labs store, the first co- branded retail outlet between a CE vendor and a cable company, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told a ribbon-cutting ceremony late Monday. The 3,400-square-foot store at the base of the Comcast Center opened to the public Tuesday (CED March 17 p6).

Panasonic stamped dates and price tags on a portion of its 2009 lineup of Viera TVs and Blu-ray players at a New York media briefing Wednesday. Though the company announced many of the models and features at CES, the full significance of its flagship Z1 plasma TV wasn’t yet known at the time, as Pioneer had not yet announced its exit from the plasma TV business.

Journalists erred in reporting that a 70-year-old man shot his TV set in frustration Feb. 17 after it went dark because of the analog cutoff, said Police Chief Carl Francis of Webb City, Mo., where the incident took place. Francis confirmed that Walter Hoover had fired at his TV and was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a firearm. But reports blaming the incident on the DTV transition were “100 percent false,” Francis told us Tuesday. “We've been saying from the beginning that Mr. Hoover shot that television set because his wife failed to pay the $94 cable bill and they shut his cable off,” Francis said. “It had nothing to do with the DTV conversion. He didn’t even have an antenna. He had cable.” Francis speculated that the story’s false analog-cutoff angle may have gained momentum because KODE-TV, ABC’s affiliate in nearby Joplin, Mo., made the digital switch the same day Hoover shot his TV. It was the only station in the market that did, he said.

The precipitous drop in housing starts and consumer spending has custom AV installers scrambling for creative ways to produce revenue and weather the economic storm, our poll of installers found. This is the first time that many installers have had to create their own revenue opportunities rather than watching business come to them, they said. It’s a change from the past decade when many basked in some of the highest growth rates in the industry, they said.

MIAMI -- Hoping to increase its stagnant U.S. market share in digital cameras, Panasonic Tuesday showed off nine new models for American consumers at its Lumix Global Seminar. Panasonic is on target in much of the world to reach 15 percent of global digital camera sales by 2010. But it’s lagging in the U.S., at 4 percent, according to NPD.

Amazon remains the “go-to” e-tailer for upscale CE products. Following Amazon’s success with the Kindle e-book, Digeo and Thiel are using the e-commerce site to distribute premium entertainment products. Thiel brought prototypes of its Zoet distributed plug-and-play audio system to a Sands Convention Center ballroom for demonstrations at CES last week. A major departure from Thiel’s conventional stereo and home theater speakers, the Zoet system combines electronics from Bicom, of Monroe, Conn., with Thiel’s first self-powered, IP-addressable speakers. Thiel President Kathy Gornick said the system, which requires no additional wiring, can be up and running in an hour. The launch version of Zoet, due to hit Amazon’s warehouses in early April, is Ethernet-based. At CES, Thiel and Bicom announced wireless and HDMI versions of the product planned for this year. Thiel previously tested the e-commerce market by selling its conventional speakers through Crutchfield. Amazon gives the company a broad route to market with a new category of product combining electronics and speakers, Thiel said. Pricing for Zoet hasn’t been set.

Music server company Sooloos introduced at CES its first two products using Meridian Audio technology. U.K.- based Meridian acquired Sooloos last month. The Control 10 tabletop controller uses a 17-inch touchscreen interface and bundles a CD ripper. The touchscreen controller is compatible with the AMX, Crestron as well as iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. The suggested retail price is $4,500. The 15-inch Control 20, without a CD ripper, is $3,500. Consumers can rip their CDs to the system themselves using a PC, or dealers can use Sooloos ripping systems for an upsell feature. The Control 10 is scheduled to ship next month, and the Control 20 is planned to become available March 1. Sooloos is preparing its first major software release, a new operating system due out this month. The upgrade adds tagging and database support for digital images stored on consumers’ PCs, so they can be viewed on Sooloos controllers and connected TVs. The company is working toward video integration, COO Peter Wellikoff said, but until copyright protection matters are resolved, the company won’t move ahead. “Once there’s a viable, legal way to execute video storage, we'll be ready,” he said.

LAS VEGAS -- After several years of product delays, management shakeups and revamped marketing strategies, Digeo has delivered its much-hyped retail Moxi HD DVR, the company said at a CES news conference Thursday. Digeo announced that its 500-GB DVR is being sold at the company Web site and via an exclusive distribution launch deal with Amazon.

LAS VEGAS -- Samsung joined LG and Sony as members of the 240-Hz refresh-rate club in flat-panel TV when it introduced its first LCD TVs with that feature at a pre-CES news conference Wednesday. The quadruple refresh rate is said to nearly eliminate the effects of motion blur and judder associated with LCD technology.