May 23, 2006 | Volume 3, Issue 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
News
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Introduction Feature Article
September 13 -17
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Manufacturers: Do your messages target system integrators? So do ours! rAVe Home Edition is the only eNewsletter written for design and installation professionals working in home theater and automation. rAVe Home Edition, co-sponsored by CEDIA, currently has one opportunity for an annual sponsorship. Sponsorships are limited in number and restrictions apply. To see if your company is eligible, contact Alex Gibson at agibson@kayye.com or (919) 969-7501. Introduction Welcome to another issue of rAVe Home Edition! Whole home audio and video distribution is obviously a great market for custom integrators, but how do you decide on the right technology? The right vendor? Until 802.11n comes out in a big way, it’s a tough choice. It seems like every issue of rAVe Home, we cover some new company or another offering whole-home distribution systems. How are YOU making these decisions? Let us know by writing to Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison at dharrison@kayye.com and we may publish your strategy in an upcoming issue.
Are you going to InfoComm? Stop by and see rAVe at booth #1336!
— Gary Kayye, CTS Feature Article
CE Meets IT in New HD-DVDs
CEDIA News CEDIA EXPO 2006
News Have a news tip? Send them to rAVe Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison — dharrison@kayye.com
Industry News
Usually we see lawsuits about patent infringements. But this lawsuit filed recently is of quite a different nature. AMX announced a suit against Cimax “AMX alleges that Cimax had a contractual obligation to use its best efforts to sell AMX products and to protect AMX valuable trade secrets. AMX further alleges, however, that Cimax and its owners formed VIG for the express purpose of selling products to Crestron Electronics, Inc., (Crestron) and misrepresented its intentions to AMX. AMX and Crestron are direct competitors throughout the world. On April 12, 2006, Crestron announced that Cimax and VIG were exclusive partners to sell MDU products. “The lawsuit also names Unified Home Solutions, Pedro Moreira, George Fallica, and Jorge Gimenez as defendants, and includes claims against all defendants for interference with AMX business and breaches of fiduciary duties.” http://www.amx.com/newsroom/pressrelease-file.asp?release=2006.05.05.a Quickly after, Cimax fired back. Here is that news release: AMX Suit Obvious Smear Tactic Cimax USA/VIG Contend Company Denies Wrongdoing, Asks Judge to Dismiss Meritless Lawsuit After reviewing a recent federal lawsuit filed by AMX in federal court, Cimax/VIG officials are confident the complaint was created solely to aid in a smear campaign, as obvious by the mass distribution of a press release announcing the suit to the media and to Cimax clients, vendors, business partners and competitors. Upon close inspection, the AMX suit is void of any factual allegations of wrongdoing and relies on a crutch of speculations, Cimax contends. AMX, a former industry partner, has in the most shameless manner attempted to discredit Cimax. Besides distributing the libelous release, AMX has been contacting Cimax's clients and business partners directly — clearly a ploy to ruin Cimax/VIG client relationships. "This suit is without merit and completely absurd," stated George Fallica of Cimax/VIG. "It is clearly a retaliation effort due to our recent partnership with an AMX competitor." Cimax feels this behavior is intolerable and unprofessional, especially considering that several months ago, B&M, an affiliate of Cimax, filed a suit in federal court against AMX for breach of an Exclusive Representation Agreement and for deceptive and fraudulent practices, which is currently pending. But unlike AMX, Cimax did not feel it was appropriate to distribute a press release concerning its litigation against AMX. "This is a classic tale where innovative and talented entrepreneurs shared intellectual processes, systems and software with a corporate giant and the giant tries to steal the business," Fallica said, adding, "I would be more than happy to provide a copy of both lawsuits to anyone who wants them to further shed light on the true nature of this situation." Prior to engaging in business with Cimax, AMX had little involvement, if any, in the luxury multi-dwelling unit automation market. For the past three years AMX used Cimax, its customers and strategic alliances to create an amenities solution package. To develop this AMX product, Cimax created B&M, an affiliate of Cimax. After creating a market in excess of 75,000 MDUs for use with the AMX product, AMX arbitrarily and in violation of its agreement, terminated B&M and Cimax, causing Cimax to suffer tens of millions of dollars in financial losses. It seems as if AMX is accusing Cimax of doing exactly what AMX has done to B&M/Cimax. Cimax affiliates and business partners are confident that sheer size will not affect the outcome of this lawsuit and that justice will prevail. "AMX's behavior in no way will interfere with our current client projects," Fallica added. "We will continue to forge ahead as the leader in the MDU market by providing the highest level of products and services that our customers have come to expect of Cimax/VIG." http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060509/nytu240.html?.v=1 We’ll let you know how that turns out.
2. For more on the companies, go to https://secure.libertycable.com/ and http://www.gocsc.com/
3. Mitsubishi Introduces 5500-Lumen Install LCD Projector, Plus Widescreen HD DLP Model Mitsubishi has a new LCD projector specified at 5500 ANSI lumens, 600:1 contrast ratio and XGA resolution. The XL5980U uses the company’s 3D CineView video technology for flicker, artifact, crawling and blinking reduction. It supports Picture-in-Picture Horizontal, has digital keystone correction, vertical lens shift and built-in motion sensitive anti-theft alarm. Integrator Solutions 4. Power Sentry Introduces 14-Outlet Surge Suppressor for Home Theaters Power Sentry introduced a new 4200-joule rated 14-outlet surge protector for satellite/home theater, as well as 14 other surge protection products. The other protectors range from seven to 12 outlets with joule ratings of 1000 to 3500 and range from $7.99 to $29.99 MSRPs. The 14-outlet unit has an MSRP of $39.99. The company says they absorb about 27 percent more voltage. 5. Intelix Introduces Rack-Mount Balun Intelix released its new $87 AVO-V3AD, a rack-mountable balun which transmits hi-definition component video and digital audio over standard Cat5 cabling.
6. Pulse~LINK Distribution Technology Supports Wireless, Coax and Power Line The latest announcement comes from Pulse~LINK, which introduced the CWave UWB solution for whole-home distribution of HDTV content and multi-channel audio as well as high-speed data transmission. The company says CWave provides a foundation for whole-home networking with up to Gigabit data rates. Coax, wireless, and power line communications are all supported simultaneously from the same chipset radio. The technology is designed to get rid of the overwhelming amount of lines and cables that run home theaters, as well as being able to connect devices such as Set-top boxes, DVD players, Personal Video Recorders, Home Theater Systems, TVs, PCs and more throughout the entire home. The company says the technology is able to support multiple simultaneous HDTV streams from room to room with "Trick-play" (for pause, fast-forward and fast-rewind capabilities). The CWave signal traverses existing RF splitters, and can be used with legacy CATV, Satellite and other signals already carried on the coax, and requires no changes to existing in-home coax cable wiring. The CWave PL3100 chipset is a complete solution comprising all RF, Analog, Baseband and MAC functions. It consists of three microchips, the PL3130 Baseband & MAC in 0.13micron CMOS, the PL3120 RFIC front end in 0.18micron SiGe, and the PL3110 UWB LNA in 0.18micron SiGe. The PL3130 Baseband and MAC feature an IEEE 802.15.3 MAC and CWave Gigabit performance Baseband. The PL3120 RFIC front-end comprises the transmitter and receiver functions. The PL3110 LNA is an optional low-noise UWB amplifier that connects to the antenna for extended range and enhanced performance. The 802.15.3 MAC supports both isochronous and asynchronous functionality with a fully deterministic Quality of Service and additional support for multiple overlapping piconets. For more information, go to http://www.pulselink.net/pr-may02-2006.html
7. Metalink Pushing 802.11n Chipset The company is showing HDTV over wireless LAN, and says it is at wire line quality and that it provides guaranteed performance and large bandwidth while supporting WiFi legacy interoperability. The WLANPlus family consists of the company's MtW8170 baseband device and the MtW8150 radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC). The company says a combination of features enables Metalink's WLANPlus family to deliver multiple HDTV streams to any location within a radius of 100 feet, while maintaining full QoS performance. The key for 802.11n is Multiple-In Multiple-Out (MIMO) for extending the range of 802.11g. Metalink says the company’s solution includes 2×3 real MIMO and the use of sophisticated channel-bonding and antenna-loading techniques in the 5 GHz frequency band provide critical additional video-distribution performance. For more information, go to http://www.metalinkbb.com/site/app/pressReleasesItem.asp?itemID=232 8. Sony LocationFree TV to Work With Macs Sony’s LocationFree TV, which lets users stream live video and audio from a base station to client devices such as TVs, PCs and PlayStation Portables, will soon be available for the Mac platform. To do this, Sony is licensing the LocationFree software to Kaga Electronics. Kaga will develop the LocationFree software for Mac OS X so that Mac users can get a LocationFree base station and watch the live stream (or DVR-recorded shows) on the Mac notebooks or desktops.
MyTinyTV was actually released a few months ago but is being re-released with new features, including this ability to use it with laptops and desktops, automatic speed adaptation, full VGA support (640 x 480), selectable input source (S-Video, Composite), faster TV listings browsing, support for third party Pocket PC player and support for more TV tuners. MyTinyTV works with a desktop PC's television tuner connected to the home's cable, satellite or antenna, sending the user's channels and TV listings through a wireless or wired network or the Internet to their Pocket PC, laptop or desktop. The system includes an interface for the user's PCs with channel selection, complete program guide and the ability to get detailed movie and show descriptions. For more information, go to http://www.mytinytv.com/index.html
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The IntelliControl ICS lineup consists of the GXR2 six-source, six-zone modular multi-zone receiver that accommodates a combination of up to six iPod interface modules, XM satellite tuner modules, Sirius satellite tuner modules, AM/FM tuner modules, or audio input modules that integrate legacy audio sources like CD, DVD, and satellite TV into the system. There are also four user interfaces that include wall mountable keypads, a color touch screen, and a hand-held RF remote controller dubbed the iREMOTE. The user interfaces provide real-time user feedback in the form of metadata menus for intuitive source navigation and operation. Multiple GXR2 receivers can be linked together to create a distributed audio system that covers up to 30 zones.
11. Sony Delivers Full-Function Pocket-Sized PC While it’s not technically a player, these new pocket-sized PCs from Sony (as well as others in development in conjunction with Microsoft’s Ultra-Mobile PC platform) could be an entertainment decision as much as a business purchase. (See http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx for the Microsoft UMPC info). These could be a popular way for consumers to listen to music, and to watch live TV from all those placeshifting companies, or watch those movies recorded from TiVoToGo as well as check email, play games, check calendars, etc. And this new UX Model is packed with functionality. It has Sony's SmartWi technology, which lets consumers toggle between wireless WWAN, LAN and Bluetooth. (R) technology for convenient access to the Internet and e-mail. WLAN is available for Wi-Fi connections at home, office or hotspots; Bluetooth technology for peripherals; or WWAN for access to Cingular's nationwide EDGE network.
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Thanks for reading, and tell your friends by clicking on the “forward” button at the top of the newsletter or sending them to Copyright 2006 – Kayye Consulting – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact us at Kayye Consulting, Inc. Editorial: dharrison@kayye.com Gary Kayye's rAVe contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors.
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