ryanhendrixphoto

December 19, 2008

so we all know denon will always reign supreme in the audiphile loyalty market, but i was recently intrigued at my local sony store by their ES (elevated standard) lineup of receivers. i'm shopping around for a new receiver to upgrade from my denon 1705, and between sony's xbr lineup of televisions and their blu-ray players, i've lead myself to wonder if i would be pleased with an ES model receiver to run my forte II's and klf-c7. sony's 2400ES is the bottom level of the ES lineup, but the wife-friendly Bravia Sync technology and XBR-familiar features seem like they would be a good fit with what i'm already running.

does anyone else have an ES series receiver, or know any pros and cons about these? obviously sony isn't known for receivers, and their retail level units seem more like man garage receivers, but the option of an all sony system seems like everything could run well in sync - with one remote, no less.

sony str-da2400es:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665486568

July 6, 2008

would be much more inviting room with 10 of these:

March 1, 2008

you definitely spear-headed that one right on the money. i just imagined having sony speakers in my living room, and it made me very sad.

February 21, 2008

Blu-Ray seems to be a better format for high-def content storage, and Sony pushed it effectively, especially through the PS3. In 2000, the PS2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market and they pulled the same marketing tactics then. As much as some hate Sony, they do make solid products and always put extensive effort into their R&D.

February 20, 2008

Toshiba Officially Drops HD DVD
Tue Feb 19, 2008 at
03:15 AM ET

Following several days of rumors, Toshiba has confirmed that
it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders,
effectively ending the high-def format war. In a just-issued press release, the
company said that it reached the decision following "recent major changes in the
market." Toshiba emphasized that it will continue to provide full product
support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD
products.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of
continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift
decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President
and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and
more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high
definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to
use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence
a reality.”

Toshiba said it will begin reducing shipments of HD
DVD players and recorders immediately, with the aim of pulling all HD DVD
players, recorders and disc drives from store shelves by March. The company went
on to say that it would "continue to assess" the long-term viability of notebook
PCs with integrated HD DVD drives.

Asked at a Tokyo press conference
whether his company had any plans to adopt Blu-ray, Nishida said Toshiba had no
such plans at the moment.

HD DVD first hit stores in April of 2006, and enjoyed
an early sales lead against rival format Blu-ray up until the release of Sony's
Blu-ray enabled PlayStation 3 later that year.

Though Blu-ray software outsold HD DVD throughout
2007, a series of tactical moves from the HD DVD camp kept the format in the
game up until early this January, when Warner Bros announced it would drop its HD DVD support and
would release its titles on Blu-ray exclusively, beginning this June.

In the weeks that followed, HD DVD backers vowed to
fight on, issuing a series of price drops and embarking on a new marketing campaign,
but it wasn't enough to convince retailers to stick with the fledgling format.
Faced with the prospect of diminishing prominence at such top US retailers as
Best Buy and Wal-Mart, insiders say it was only a matter of time before Toshiba
would pull the plug.