Pioneer gave up producing flat TVs and buried the LaserDisc, but the company seems to still believe in Blu-ray. Yesterday, Pioneer Japan announced a total of three new Blu-ray players [JP], covering the low-end and high-end segments. → Read More
The consolidation process in Japan’s tech industry isn’t stopping. Pioneer and Sharp said today in Tokyo they have reached a basic agreement to launch an optical disc joint venture [JP, PDF], a move that is supposed to give the companies a boost in the Blu-ray segment. Both companies said they are ready to completely transfer their optical disc businesses to the new entity. → Read More
We covered the news that Pioneer shuts down TV production back in February and today Pioneer Japan revealed a number of details about their radical move [JP]. In short: There will be no more Kuro plasma TVs from May this year. Pioneer calls it quits after 12 years of plasma TV production. → Read More
Here’s one of those quicke CrunchDeals we like to promote from time to time. This time, satellite radio fan, you can grab the Pioneer XMp3, along with the relevant Home and Vehicle kit, for $239. That’s $100 less than what XM usually wants! → Read More
Layoffs in the tech sector are accelerating. It took exactly three weeks for tech layoffs to surge to 300,000, according to our Layoff Tracker. Since late January, when the tracker hit 200,000 layoffs, another 100,000 job eliminations have been announced or completed. In contrast, it took five weeks for layoffs in the tech industry to hit the 200,000 mark, and four months for layoffs to hit 100,000 last December. The total number of layoffs since we began tracking since the financial crisis began in late August is 300,093.
The past few weeks have particularly brutal for the technology space, with substantial layoffs announced by Pioneer (10,000), Cisco (3,000), Panasonic (15,000), NEC (20,000), Electronic Arts (1100) and AOL (700). Even Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, who both managed to avoid layoffs in the past few months, were forced to make cuts to their workforces. And Google, who was immune to layoffs until late January, continued giving pink-slips in the past three weeks with the company’s exit from radio. Sadly, a few start-ups weren’t able to weather the storm, with eBaum’s World cutting all of its workforce. → Read More
After pulling the plug on LD production just last month and saying their TV business is practically dead, Pioneer today in Tokyo hold a press conference explaining the latter move in more detail [JP, PDF]. And the details aren’t pretty at all. → Read More
Vizio, a long time favorite brand of bargain hunters and geeks alike, has stopped slapping their logo on plasma TVs. Plus, there is no plan to order more once the current inventory runs outs. The cut is, of course, due to plamsa’s poor sales in comparison to the companies LCD sales. Which is, of course, due to poor consumer information and as bright as the sun’s surface showrooms. → Read More
There’s nothing much to say here other than what I’ve stated in the headline, folks. Pioneer has announced that they are officially getting out of the plasma HDTV business. Despite the quality of their plasma HDTVs, the TV division hasn’t been doing so well. Another factor is Panasonic’s recent announcement that their new plasma factory would not be ready to roll until 2010.
The Nikkei reports that Pioneer’s DVD division will be joining forces with Sharp in some new joint venture. → Read More
Pioneer today announced in Tokyo [JP] that they will no longer manufacture LaserDisc players. The DVL-919, CLD-R5, DVK-900 and DVL-K88 are the last models available. → Read More
Complaints that Blu-ray is too expensive—we say it often—may soon be harder to justify, now that Pioneer will release the $250 BDP-120 in April. It’s just a Blu-ray player—no fancy Netflix streaming here—but if all you’re looking for is an inexpensive player (and have no interest in the PS3) you could do worse. → Read More
There was a time when the term plasma TVs meant expensive and power hungry electronic, but those days are fading. Three of the largest players in the plasma world now have Energy Star Certified models which is a big feat. This means that a 42-inch PDP cannot consume more than 208 watts while on and less than a watt in standby mode. LCD were once the champion of tree-hugging hippies, but they shouldn’t have to suffer with the lower quality picture now that plasmas have the Energy Star Certification. → Read More
In case Sony’s 8x Blu-ray recorder isn’t for you, Pioneer is soon to have its own super-fast Blu-ray PC burner. The BDR-03J can author Blu-ray media at 8x speeds, DVD-R at 16x and CD-Rs at 32x; not that you’re burning the later that much anymore. The serial-ATA optical drive is dropping in Japan sometime in January, but will hopefully hitch a ride ‘cross the Pacific shortly after. → Read More
Put your seatbelt on for this one. Check out the Pioneer DVR-X162J [JP], an external DVD burner that’s enclosed in a dustproof shell. That is to say the external enclosure is dustproof, handy if you’re an Okie in 1936. Aside from its incredible dustproofing, the burner is your standard issue USB 2.0 little guy. Pioneer has outfitted it with something called Pure Read Technology, which allegedly improves the data burn quality. Yes, I think that’s marketing nonsense, too. The notorious practice of leaving the price “open” strikes again, accompanying its December release date. via Akihabara News → Read More
Pioneer has just opened its second retail location and the companies CEO doesn’t seemed worried even with the dismal fate of Circuit City and Tweeter. According to Masao Kawabata, Pioneer products are recession tough thanks to its mid to high-end niche market of premium products. So while mainstream Best Buy-specialdisplays might be having issues, Kuro displays and such should be fine. I can tell you that as long as Pioneer keeps pumping out extremely high-quality displays like the 60-inch Elite display sitting next to me, the company will be fine. Make the right products and the sales will follow. Twice via EngHD → Read More
With Circuit City and CompUSA’s woes, you would think that electronic makers would shy away from opening brick and mortar stores. Not Pioneer though, oh noes, the company is opening its second US store; this time in Phoenix. The store is loaded with KURO displays, Blu-ray players, Elite speakers, and its Premier line of car electronics. Plus, previously Japanese-exclusive products are going to be available that include Pure Malt Speakers and headphones. Hopefully these stores will follow the yellow brick path paved by Apple Stores and not follow Circuit City’s road leading to the bowels of hell. → Read More
Let’s say your name is, I don’t know, Jonathan Peters or Jojo Flores or Armand Van Helden. As a DJ you need a pair of solid headphones, ones that not only sound good but look good. (It’s a vain industry, DJing.) Are these Pioneer HDJ-2000 headphones what the doctor ordered? Who knows—I haven’t heard them yet—but given Pioneer’s pedigree I’d say there’s a good chance that, yes, these are quality. → Read More
A federal jury found yesterday that Samsung willfully infringed two of Pioneer’s patents covering plasma televisions. As such, the Korean electronics giant will have to cough up (“cough up” is the technical term, mind you) some $59 million, payable to Pioneer. As you might expect, Samsung plans to appeal the ruling forever and ever. Sorta interesting: a Japanese corporation taking a Korean corporation to an American court for redress. We’re so globalized! → Read More
Pioneer is making two Limited Edition Kuro HDTVs available to lucky Euro A/V trash this Holiday season. It seems these editions are simply the KRP-500A with a different color bezel options. They sport the same external set-top box style input receiver, extreme black contrast ratio and the rest of the stellar Pioneer specs. Only 1,000 KRP-500ABG beige models and 1,500 KRP-500AW white models are going to be produced. No word on price yet, but it will probably be higher than the standard edition. → Read More
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