Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Yeah, we love GPS around here as much as the next guy, but it really doesn’t impress our lady friends too much when our mellifluous prose gets interrupted by Cro Magnon-like gestures while we have to ask for directions on our nav units. We’d much prefer to use a phrase like “Find me a hotel in Paris in the seizième arrondissement, play Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je t’aime‘ and adjust for mood lighting — s’il te plaît” and have our ride respond instantly. Well, save for that last request, apparently plain English queries (or 13 other languges) to a GPS stystem are now possible thanks to software by IBM built onto Pioneer’s new AVIC-HD1BT nav unit. It’s loaded up with a 30GB hard drive (20GB for maps and the rest for music), a DVD player and an iPod connection of some sort. Although Pioneer claims that the AVIC-HD1BT is for the European-only non-”luxury car market” driver (sorry, us Lexus-driving Yankees will have to suffer), it still doesn’t come cheap: €2,500 ($3,145).

[Via IDG News Service]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Home Entertainment

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Filed under: HDTV

Despite our earlier report that Pioneer‘s upcoming BDR-103 would be a combo drive, supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, it appears that Pioneer will join the legions of soulless hardware makers that will not be supporting both formats. Our sister blog, HDBeat, reports that those quotes from Pioneer officials were taken out of context and that the company has “no current plans” to make the BDR-103 a combo drive. Why can’t everyone just be like Ricoh and all get along?

[Via HDBeat]

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It may not be Twofer Tuesday, but all of you XM fans up in Canadaland are getting a twofer of a post, care of me. Here’s the dealio: first, the Pioneer Inno XM2go is now Canada ready. Canada is still getting its satellite feet wet, but this is a pretty big step, given that every Canadian rides a horse everywhere. The Inno might be the perfect device to keep you entertained while harvesting maple syrup. The Inno will retail for $500 Canadian bucks.

Next, XM and Suzuki Canada have sealed a deal to begin incorporating XM radios in select 2007 models. The 2007 XL-7 JLX will have a factory installed player. And the 2007 Grand Vitara and SX4 will offer a deal-installed option. Included with the purchase of a new Suzuki is free activation and three free months of all of the Canadian pop music that you can handle.

Pioneer Inno Press Release [Via Orbicast]
Suzuki Press Release [Also Via Orbicast]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Filed under: Desktops, HDTV, Peripherals, Storage

Filed under: Home Entertainment

If you can’t find something to play on Pioneer’s new X-MF7DV HiFi set, you should seriously consider updating your media collection a little bit. Not only can the device do the usual CD, FM and AM playback, but the player can handle MiniDiscs, DVDs, DivX videos, MP3/WMA/AAC, JPEG, USB storage, and we’re afraid to ask what else. The device has digital and analog video outs — we’re not quite sure of what kind — and Pioneer does mention progressive scan DVD playback. We’re also in the dark regarding audio outputs, though there are, of course, included speakers. Pioneer is bundling a remote to control the mayhem, but the make no mention of price or availability. We’re guessing Japan-only anyways.

[Via Akihabara]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

In what may turn out to be yet another crushing blow to HD-hungry consumers, it looks like Samsung could be joining Sony, Pioneer, and, um, itself, in playing the Vista-like Blu-ray delay game that continues to amuse and frustrate us. As of right now, the facts are these: UK tech site Pocket-Lint sent an email to Bite Communications, Samsung’s British PR firm, in order to confirm what we all thought was the BD-P1000‘s June 25th release date; instead of a confirmation, however, Pocket-Lint received a surprising reply stating that “unfortunately, the release of the Blu-ray has been delayed until September.” Before you start freaking out, though, keep in mind that at this point details are still very thin — we can’t even be certain if this supposed delay applies to the US launch, or only affects our friends over in Great Britain. As you’d expect, we have our crack team of low-paid interns furiously dialing every Samsung representative we can find a number for, and you’ll be the first to know when we can finally pin someone down on a solid release date, so stay tuned.

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Filed under: HDTV

Among Pioneer’s other offerings this week were their new PureVision plasmas, a trio of plasmas with dual HDMI inputs, NTSC and ATSC tuners, as well as CableCARD. They’re all XGA resolution, meaning the 1080p signal they all accept will be downscaled to native resolution on the 42-inch PDP-4270HD, 50-inch PDP-5070HD and 60-inch PDP-6070HD, which will run you $3,500 and $4,500 and $7,500, respectively, when launched.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Pioneer launched a slew of HDTV and home entertainment gear this week, not the least of which being their 1080p switching Elite receiver series. Models VSX-80TXV, VSX-81TXV, VSX-82TXS, and VSX-84TXSi have 1, 2, 3, and 4 HDMI source ports, the top two models featuring a Genesis DCDi Faroudja video scaler, iPod integration, XM Connect & Play, and even a USB port on the VSX-84TXSi. Expect to pay between $650 and $1,500, depending on your options and features.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Pioneer continues to pump out surround-sound receivers with the ability to play digital audio files via a USB port, and the latest in the line, the VSX-516, adds a few new tricks, including support for the latest Dolby standards. The VSX-516 also continues Pioneer’s support for WMA9 Pro, for lossless playback. And the VSX-516 also represents a decent price drop: Pioneer’s first amp with similar features, 2003′s VSA-AX10Ai-N, went for a whopping ¥500,000 (about $4,400), while the new model is just ¥49,500 ($440), or about a tenth of the price of the older model. What a difference three years makes.

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Filed under: HDTV, Peripherals

It’s received some good reviews, can record 25GB onto a single-layer Blu-ray disc in 45 minutes, and now it’s available for purchase — if you’ve got a grand to spare. We’re talking, of course, about Pioneer’s BDR-101A Blu-ray burner, one of the first products of its kind to hit store shelves. The 2X E-IDE internal burner for PCs is now available from Tiger Direct for $999.99, and the etailer claims it will ship units in “7-21 days.” Start clicking if you just can’t bear to wait. And don’t forget to budget an extra $25 a pop for those blank BD-Rs.

[Thanks, Alex]

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Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation

If you’re looking to play almost every audio/video format known to man in your car, even MiniDiscs, then Pioneer has just introduced a whopper of an in-dash system that may be perfect for you (well, if you live in Japan, that is). The AVIC-VH009MD in-car multimedia system, which takes over the high end of Pioneer’s Carrozzeria lineup, features a 5.1 channel amp, dedicated TV tuner, GPS receiver with birds-eye view, and a head unit that contains a 7-inch screen and plays back DVDs, CDs, MDs, and MP3/WMA files as well as DivX-encoded videos. Also new to the Carrozzeria line is the AVH-P90DVA, which also has a TV tuner and 7-inch screen, but *only* supports DVDs, CDs, VCDs, and the aforementioned codecs plus AAC, but not MiniDiscs or navigation. The all-in-one system will go for a cool $3,200, while the AVH-P90DVA costs $2,300, although if you want to listen to tracks from your cellphone, you’ll have to forgo a lot of these niceties and stick with the Bluetooth-equipped AVIC-S1 that we brought you the other day.

Read- AVIC-VH009MD
Read- AVH-P90DVA

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Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

With all the attention being payed to those pretty pretty pictures that the big three have been flashing at us so far this week, it's easy to forget about that other little detail in gaming: audio. Pioneer didn't forget though, and they've just announced their new HTS-GS1 5.1 surround sound speaker system for the Xbox 360 to cater to that very thing. The HTS-GS1 has 600 watts of total system power being pumped out of the receiver subwoofer, which includes the five satellite speaker connections, three digital inputs (one coaxial, two optical), an analog input, radio tuner, and control ports. There is also a separate display to monitor the system (pictured) and a Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration System that mics the room and adjusts the audio for best results. The integration with the Xbox 360 not only includes its similar stylings, but a bundled remote that can manage the HTS-GS1 along with all other Xbox 360 functions like Media Center Extender. The HTS-GS1 should be priced around $500 and will be available in June.

Filed under: Desktops, HDTV, Storage

We can complain all we want about the price or the delays or the format war in general, but it all comes down performance for people who are actually going to be picking up Blu-ray burners like Pioneer's BDR-101A, which seems to come out a champ in PC Word's tests at least. Write speeds are at 45 minutes to fill a single 25GB BD-R disc at the 2X max burring speed, and while you could get that much data onto multiple single-layer DVD R discs with an 18x burner, it gives 10X double-layer DVD R burning a run for its money. The actual throughput for the burner clocks in at 67mbps, compared to the theoretical maximum of 72mbps for 2X BD-R. It actually took a bit longer to copy the data back off the disc. While the BDR-101A can manage a bit of DVD burning, at less than optimum speeds, there's no room left for a third laser for CD reading or writing. PC World also found the software package a bit thin, as this product is definitely targeted at professionals who have their own authoring solutions. Luckily, third party support isn't far behind, and an upgrade should be available to purchasers of the BDR-101A in order to author you own discs. The burner will also play Blu-ray movies, whenever they arrive on shelves, but it won't support the forthcoming managed content spec.

Filed under: Cellphones, Features, Misc. Gadgets, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Household, Portable Audio

Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week.

This week, the media was all over Nintendo's announcement that the gaming console formerly codenamed Revolution would henceforth be known as Wii. And, not surprisingly, most of the mainstream journos covering the story concurred with our assessment that the name somehow isn't going to wiin Niintendo any kudos. "Is Nintendo being desperately silly to attract attention, or is it just desperately short of clue?" asked the Guardian, while the Financial Times headlined its article "Wii aren't too sure about this." However, Nintendo did have at least one defender, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, who pointed out that "N-Gage and Gizmondo are cool names" that didn't help those products win many fans. "Consumers relate to the coolness of the product, not the name." Wii'll see, Michael, Wii'll see.

Of course, the Wii announcement wasn't the only story in the news this week, and the mainstream press managed to crank out a few other interesting nuggets. USA Today took a look at the Pioneer Inno, and declared it "a winner," while The New York Times looked at the growing number of home docking systems for cellphones. Meanwhile, Forbes looked at another way to use cellphones at home, checking out the market for UMA-enabled handsets. Our favorite media hit this week, though, came from the Washington Post, which took an in-depth look at the DDR-as-exercise phenom, with the paper's reporter declaring, "Hello, my name is Caroline, and I'm addicted to 'Dance Dance Revolution.'" Hey, at least she's not addicted to the Wii.

• Nintendo goes Wii ... (not a typo)
• Guardian - Nintendo Wii is twee
• Financial Times - Wii aren't too sure about this
• BBC - Nintendo name swap sparks satire
• Seattle PI - Wii is for everyone
• AP - Nintendo names new video game console

• USA Today - Look out iPod, Inno marries satellite radio, portable music
• The New York Times - A cellphone in park, even more powerful
• Forbes - Double-duty phones
• The Washington Post - Get a move on

Filed under: HDTV

Pioneers back again re-re-announcing their PDP-5000EX, that "tiny" full 1080p 50-incher, this time with a price tag ¥1,050,000 (just shy of $9,000 US) and that same June launch, though we are very heartened by the machine translated phrase: "worldwide beginning." They also threw out a couple of slightly less impressive but slightly more affordable displays, the ¥600,000 ($5100 US) 50-inch PDP-507HX, and ¥480,000 ($4100 US) 42-inch PDP-427HX. They feature 1,365 x 768 and 1,024 x 768 panels respectively, and dual digital tuners, dual HDMI, three composite, VGA, and Ethernet (among other, more Japanese inputs). No word when or if they'll jump the pond, or how much tariffs will bloat up that price, but we know you're waiting for the big hundie-three, ain'tcha?

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals

Pioneer announced four new home theater packages for the Japanese market today, but the only two that interest us -- the HTZ-555DV and HTP-S707 -- are the ones with wireless rear speakers. Both "Smart theater" setups, as they are known, support Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic II, and DTS, and both also feature the Multi Channel Acoustic Calibration (MCAC) system for automatic audio adjustment. The only major differences between the two packages seem to be the tower speakers on the S707 (pictured above) and the DVD player that's included with the 555DV (pictured after the break), which can handle MP3, WMA, AAC, MPEG-4, and JPEG files plus USB flash drives, along with the obligatory DVDs. Both models are expected to hit stores in late May, but only the price for the S707, 89,524 pre-tax yen, is known.

[Via Akihabara News]

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

href="http://www.caraudiovideo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Itemid=36"> hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/06040622.jpg" alt="" />

French site
caraudiovideo, whose specialty is pretty self-evident, have information on a new Windows CE-powered Pioneer GPS
receiver that is supposedly one of the first from the company to include built-in Bluetooth. The AVIC-S1 is a
"portable" model (meaning you can port it from vehicle to vehicle, but not on your geocaching expeditions)
that features a 320 x 240 touchscreen, SiRF III chip for greater accuracy, and what seems to be 2GB of flash memory
preloaded with European maps. Any of the included points-of-interest can be dialed on your cellphone via Bluetooth, and
a choice of 17 guidance languages will help you brush up on the native tongues as you travel around the continent. It’s
not really clear when this product will be released (if it’s not out already), or how much it will go for, but until a
US version is announced, those details are a moot point to the majority of you anyway.

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Filed under: Portable Audio

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Filed under: HDTV

It's been a while since we heard about Pioneer's "world's smallest" 50-inch 1080p plasma at CEATAC 2005 (which was knocked down a couple of months later by Fujitsu & Hitachi's 42-inch 1080p plasma), but they may yet be the first company to actually get theirs on the market. Pioneer's launching their PDP-5000EX 1080p Pure Vision Black 1080p set in June with component, composite, HDMI, and HDCP DVI inputs. Of course there's no telling what it's going to set you back, but they just better hope Fujitsu & Hitachi don't swoop in for the kill and release theirs first.

[Via NewLaunches]

Filed under: Portable Audio

src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/pioneer_inno.jpg" alt="" />Been waiting to snag one of those sweet href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/04/pioneer-unveils-inno-xm2go-portable-xm-radio-mp3-player/">Pioneer Inno href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=xm">XM players that took the cake at this year’s CES? Well your patience
will be rewarded at some point this month — they may have missed their first quarter launch, but XM’s got the Pioneer
Inno on pre-order for that expected $400 cash money. Not a peep yet regarding the href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=helix">Samsung Helix we were extra specially stoked about, but this should
do the trick in the mean time for portable live sat rad.

[Thanks, candlebougie and Dave M]

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