European Custom Installer

ISE 2019 sees Trinnov partner with Aurea Speakers, the premium home cinema speaker brand from Spanish manufacturer LW Speakers, for the first time with a showcase featuring a Dolby Atmos System 7.1.4 with Trinnov processing and amplification.

Specially designed for home cinema installations, Aurea speakers are made with high quality components and designed according to installer needs. As such, they should make a strong companion to products such as the Altitude 16 preamplifier and the Amplitude 8m high-end amplifier from Trinnov. The speaker line benefits from the expertise in commercial cinema of LW Speakers.

Audio Excellence, the sound system division of film screen brand Screen Excellence, brings what it claims is a new sonic concept for large TVs and solid screens at ISE 2019-- a solution so unusual the company names it "UFO", as in "Unidentified Flying Object."

The Audio Excellence UFO is named so as a tribute to the local RAF Bentwaters, England extraterrestrial incident of 1980, close to where the company is based in the UK. The company says the solution keeps with the professional cinema practice of placing the centre-, left- and right-channel speakers on the same horizontal plane and behind the acoustically transparent (AT) film screen. It allows customers to experience dialog and action as intended by the film maker, further contributing to the "suspension of disbelief."

Panasonic presents a more discrete take on the home security camera-- the HomeHawk Floor is a floor lamp with a camera integrated in the stem, allowing it to blend even further with regular home decor.

The HomeHawk Floor looks and acts like a stylish lamp, and comes complete with a regular bulb as well as the aforementioned camera. The small camera peeks out of the lamp, at an ideal height to monitor what is going on in the room in question. It is capable of recording HD video through a 140-degree wide angle lens, and even includes a full-colour night mode.

According to TrendForce division WitsView, global TV shipments total 219 million units in 2018-- a 4.1% increase as the market recovers from a weak 2017. Looking ahead, the analyst expects shipments to increase by 1.6% in 2019 to reach 223m units.

“The year 2018 has witnessed replacement demand in emerging markets such as Latin America driven by the World Cup,”  the analyst says. "The steady economy situation in N. America was also favorable for the recovery of global TV demand. TV brands were willing to offer promotions as well, considering the downward trends in overall TV panel prices last year."

2019 should see a more steady supply of large-size panels, as vendors kick off more production capacity. The CSOT Gen 11 fab, HKC Gen 8.6 fb and Sharp Gen 10.5 fab in Guangzhou are set to enter the market at the beginning, middle and end of the year respectively. Such production capacity will bring decreases in panel prices, not to mention cheaper large-screen TVs, meaning the industry will seek constant spec improvements to create both brand value and differentiation to products.

Pioneer announces a 2019 AV receiver-- the VSX-934, a mid-range model with support for 5.2.2-channel Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio setups, allowing customers to enjoy 3D audio without installing speakers in the ceiling.

Being an update on the VSX-933, the VSX-934 supports Dolby Atmos Height Virtualizer and DTS Virtual:X technology (via future firmware update) to create "virtual" height and surround sound if the space lacks speakers in the specific positions. Meanwhile DTS Neural:X and Dolby Surround technologies upmix "2D" soundtrack formats to reproduce surround sound with a "wrap-around" feeling from audio encoded on DVD, Blu-ray discs or select video streaming services.