CEDIA Expo 2008: Denon Upgrades Firmware ForA/V Components
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 9/5/2008
DENVER — Denon is highlighting its networked audio products and recently shipped custom-oriented separates here at CEDIA Expo, where it is also announcing its first firmware upgrades for a quartet of networked audio products.
The audio products, three A/V receivers and a preamp-processor, are Microsoft PlaysForSure-certified for streaming music from a networked PC. They also stream Internet radio stations directly from the Web.
For the $1,699-suggested AVR-3808 and $2,699-suggested AVR-4308, Denon is offering a package of five upgrades at $100 to existing owners and free to consumers who buy the AVRs beginning Oct. 1, said senior sales and marketing VP Joseph Stinziano. Another package of three upgrades is available free to existing owners and future purchasers of the $5,500 AVR-5308 flagship receiver and the $7,500 AVP-1 flagship preamp/processor.
The package of five upgrades adds Audyssey's Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ features, the basic HDMI CEC feature set, Rhapsody's subscription music-streaming service and Sirius-ready capability, joining built-in XM-ready circuitry. Rhapsody would be the first music-subscription service available through the AVR-3808 and -4808, Stinziano said. The 15 basic HDMI CEC features set includes on/off, stop, and play but not video input switching, Stinziano said, because different TV brands implement the feature in different ways.
The AVR 5308 and AVP-1 pre-pro are already equipped with Sirius/XM-ready capability and Rhapsody, so the software upgrade for these devices adds only Audyssey Dynamic Volume, Audyssey Dynamic EQ, and the basic HDMI CEC feature set.
