CES News: Blu-ray, HTiBs, Surround Bars Set To Expand At CES

Along with iPod Docks, Internet Radio

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, December 15, 2008

LAS VEGAS — Blu-ray-equipped homes theater in a box (HTiB) systems, surround bars, Internet radio, networked audio and anything that docks with an iPod will take a high profile in the home audio aisles at January's CES, where dealers will find a growing selection of the devices from current players and newcomers.

In Blu-ray HTiBs, the number of suppliers will grow to at least four from two, and at least three companies will show their first iPod-docking tabletop HD Radios with iTunes tagging. At least two companies will show BD-equipped sound bars. At least seven suppliers will show their first iPod-docking speaker systems and clock radios with Apple's Works With iPhone designation. And multiple suppliers will expand their active surround-bar selection here at the show, while other companies unveil new active two-channel sound bars designed to enhance TV sound.

In Internet radio, at least six companies will launch their first tabletop Internet radios and clock radios, which will also stream music from a networked PC. They'll join at least a half-dozen other companies offering such a product.

Attendees will also find:

• at least three companies launching the industry's first HTiBs to access Internet content, including music and video, without a networked PC turned on;

• a small but growing selection of digital media adapters (DMAs) that stream Internet radio, and in some cases Internet video, directly to an existing A/V system;

• at least one more company (Links) joining Sonos and Logitech in offering a wireless multizone audio system that streams music directly from the Internet as well as from a networked PC or network-attached storage (NAS) device;

• new iPod speaker docks with wireless speakers;

• wireless subwoofers paired with surroundbars and with at least one iPod-docking tabletop radio; and

• volume-leveling technologies appearing for the first time in some HTiBs to even out volume levels when switching between different audio sources and different TV channels and when a TV program transitions to a commercial.

Some of the introductions, two-channel sound bars and multichannel surround bars in particular, are designed to boost the attachment rates of audio products to flat-panel TV purchases.

Major retailers' component-audio and HTiB attachment rates range from 5 percent to 15 percent at the time of a TV sale, and most report attachment rates of less than 10 percent at the time of the TV sale, said Polk Audio founder Matthew Polk. Sound-system purchases after the purchase of a TV boost the attachment rate to about 25 percent, Polk said in citing CEA factory-level sales statistics.

HTiBs have helped counter the drop in component audio sales during the decade, but "the real question is why [HTiBs] haven't been more successful. To me, the reason is that even though an HTiB comes in one box, it still has all the dissatisfiers of a component system but without the performance."

Active surround bars with and without DVD and Blu-ray players could provide a solution, other marketers said, because they deliver on the original promise of the HTiB: simplifying the purchase decision and simplifying setup and installation. Surround bars also eliminate a key objection that holds back home-theater penetration — the placement of surround speakers — suppliers noted.