July 1 - The very highly anticipated Blu-ray player from Onkyo now has a general release date. In an announcement from Onkyo, they detail a release date sometime in “late 2008″.

There are only very scant details about the product itself, except that it will support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound formats with 1080p video playback.

Onkyo had previously thrown their lot in with the now defunct HD DVD camp, making some very quality HD DVD players. These high-performance HD DVD players have served to generate quite a stir about the potential quality of an Onkyo Blu-ray player, making this one of the more highly anticipated products of 2008 among home theater enthusiasts.

There is no confirmed price or further specs available at the moment.

 Back to the News

July 1 – Onkyo has unveiled its latest addition to the very well-received line of receivers of TX receivers.

The new TX-SA706X is a 7 channel receiver with a wide range of features. On top of a very powerful output of 200 watts per channel, the TX-SA706X receiver will include support decoding for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

In typical Onkyo fashion, they have also thrown in 5 HDMI 1.3 ports and the highly acclaimed Audyssey Dynamic EQ processing.

Unfortunately, Onkyo’s latest receiver has yet to receive a US release date, but the unit is available for sale right now in Japan for about $1,800.

Back to the News

[Via EngadgetHD]

May 29 - The Marantz website is now listing the upcoming AV8003 networking preamp/processor and the MM8003 8-channel amplifier as “coming soon”. Apparently, this could actually be quite soon. Engadget is reporting on rumors that this could be released in Canada as early as next month.

 If this is the case, the US release would either follow very shortly afterwards, or actually be launched before the Canadian release.

Suffice it to say, it appears as if this beautiful pair could be available very soon. Check out some of the features on the new AV8003 and MM8003 here.

The AV8003 is expected to cost $2,600 at launch, with the MM8003 running around $2,400.

Back to the News

May 27 - Amazon has given us a sneak peek on the upcoming Sony Bravia KDL-40Z4100 LCDs.

This model, also available in a 46-inch version, will be Sony’s new flagship model of the Bravia LCD line.

It will come equipped with a range of features indicative of a flagship LCD including 1080p panels, 4 HDMI ports, 120Hz refrsh rate through Motionflow technology, and a Bravia Engine 2. Sony’s Bravia line of LCDs has already been incredibly popular on a global scale, and these new flagship models appear to have the necessary features to be equally as successful.

Amazon has listed these sets as available starting as early as June 1 for around $2,300 and $2,800 for the 40-inch and 46-inch models.