March 12 - 12:30pm EDT   Onkyo has launched a trio of new AV receivers that are topped by an industry first. The TX-SR607 is the first to include Dolby Pro Logic IIz support and can add a vertical dimension to the sound in movies that support it: the element lets home theaters with two extra, elevated front channel speakers register sounds that would appear above the movie viewer, such as an aircraft. It additionally brings support for 7.2-channel surround at 90W per channel with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio as well as a rear port for add-ons like an iPod dock or HD Radio tuner. [full story]

November 4 - 3:40pm EST   High-end home theater maker NAD has made a late entry into Blu-ray players with the launch of the T 587. The dedicated player quickly catches NAD up to rivals with both Profile 2.0 support, which adds support for BD-Live and other Internet-related special features, as well as a quick startup time. Unlike even some high-end players, the T 587 is said to load movies in under a minute versus times from rivals that creep over this mark. [full story]

May 12 - 2:40pm EDT   Creative expanded its lineup to the underserved notebook audience with the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1. The USB device is claimed as the first to both boost audio quality and output in full 5.1-channel surround sound; Dolby and DTS movies, as well as games that support surround through DirectSound or OpenAL, automatically have their video processed and split across a speaker setup. Compressed audio is also cleaned up through the Crystalizer hardware that Creative says restores lost details. [full story]

May 7 - 12:10pm EDT   As part of its home theater product launch on Wednesday, Pioneer USA introduced four new A/V receivers to its Elite line. The SC-07, SC-05, VSX-03TXH and VSX-01TXH feature 7.1-channel surround sound connections and support DTS HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus lossless audio formats. The SC-07 and SC-05 benefit from the same Direct Energy HD amplifier with ICEpower analog class D technology Pioneer uses in its flagship SC-09TX receiver. [full story]

April 10 - 10:10am EDT   DTS today said one of the longstanding criticisms of the PlayStation 3 would be addressed with a firmware update next week that adds DTS-HD Master Audio for movies on the Sony game console. The addition allows Blu-ray movies and other HD titles to output 7.1-channel surround at a 96kHz, 24-bit quality at up to 24.5 megabits per second. At this rate, the stream virtually equals the sound created in the studio masters that give the DTS format its namesake, according to its creator. [full story]