Media device

[Administrator]

Tannoy to keep Prestige speaker production in Scotland



Following Tannoy’s takeover by Music Group, and the rumours suggesting moving production to China, the company has said it will keep production in Scotland and is considering a brand new factory
Uli Behringer, head of Music Group, the owners of Tannoy, has said production of the Prestige range of loudspeakers, as well as other high-end speaker models, will remain in Scotland.

However, the company is considering investing in a new facility in Scotland, away from its existing Coatbridge factory.

Behringer said: “We are planning to relocate manufacturing to a new plant in Scotland which will deliver modernised and streamlined operations while continuing our involvement in local communities providing employment in the region. We are excited about the future of Tannoy and we believe we have developed a sound strategic direction to protect its rich history and heritage."

Back in April this year rumours suggested the Scotland factory would close and production would be moved to Music’s manufacturing plant in Zhongshan, China.

In our minds, this is good news for the illustrious speaker manufacturer, which is celebrating its 90th birthday this year, and commemorating the event with a limited edition Prestige GRF 90 speaker.

[Administrator]

Technics explains what's so good about the SL-1200G turntable


Let this Technics video try to convince you to buy the new SL-1200G turntable.
The new Technics SL-1200G turntable should finally go on sale later this month.

After first revealing plans for a new Technics SL turntable around this time last year, Technics has spent most of the year attempting to explain the price tag of the SL-1200G, which at ?2,799, is more expensive than most anticipated.

Now you can get what is probably the most thorough explanation so far, thanks to a video released by Technics. The video focuses on the build, design and materials, which together, Technics claims, will help deliver a level of sound quality that more than merits the price tag.

Convinced? You should be able to shell-out your hard-earned on the new Technics SL-1200G some time this month. If you were holding our for the special edition SL-1200GAE, you've sadly missed the boat...

[Administrator]

FCC restructures set-top box proposal, now wants pay-TV providers to supply 'cable' apps

The Federal Communications Commission earlier this year introduced a proposal that would give consumers more choice when selecting a set-top box from their cable or satellite provider.
In a nutshell, the FCC wanted to give customers the option of selecting from an array of set-top boxes rather than the single option they’re forced to rent from their provider. To accomplish this, they wanted pay-TV providers to hand over programming information to third-party device makers who would then be in charge of loading their own user interfaces over the cable content.
Unsurprisingly, this proposal received plenty of pushback from industry influencers. The two sides reconvened and have seemingly come up with a solution that better caters to both sides’ interests.
Under the new proposal, pay-TV operators will instead create apps that would allow subscribers to watch their programming on a set-top box like a Roku or Apple TV device. The implementation would be similar to how you watch Netflix or Hulu on those devices today. What’s more, cable programming would be globally searchable alongside other apps.
For example, if you wanted to watch Dexter, the search query would return all of the online places you can watch it as well as when episodes air on pay-TV.
This approach would cut down on the fragmentation that currently exists between online and pay-TV sources and eliminate the need to lease a box from a provider to be able to watch the content you pay to access each month.
The savings could be significant. According to FCC estimates, the average household in the US last year paid $231 in set-top box rental fees.
The problem I see with this solution is that you’re changing the delivery vehicle of pay-TV from traditional coaxial or satellites to an Internet connection. Today’s Internet connections are pretty speedy on average but they aren’t perfect. Even with a fast connection, there will be times that you experience buffering or a drop in image / audio quality and I’m willing to bet that you’d be looking at a minute or so transmission delay at minimum.
What’s more, streaming television in your home is only going to slow down the connection for other family members that might be using the Internet at the same time. Plus, programming would count against your monthly data cap (unless such data is exempted). Furthermore, it means that you’d have to have an Internet connection to watch pay-TV. While that’s very common, there are still some people that don’t have a need for home Internet service but would still like to watch pay-TV (grandparents, anyone?).
Sure, I suspect traditional set-top boxes will remain an option for years to come but you have to think, at some point in the future, it’s all going to move to the Internet.
The FCC will vote on the proposal on September 29.