September 18 - 12:55am EDT   Pioneer recently announced it would start selling its LCDs in North America and Asia during the first half of 2009, after unveiling the 32- and 37-inch models in Europe last month. CE Pro reveals that Pioneer will follow up the North American and Asian releases with Japan in 2010, opting to focus mostly on small- and medium-sized LCDs for the Japanese. Pioneer also said it would offer a high-end range of LCDs, manufactured with Sharp LCD panels. [full story]

September 15 - 3:50pm EDT   XM's XMp3 handheld satellite radio has surfaced today in a Best Buy listing that confirms much more about the device. The device is now known to have been made by Pioneer, which made the preceding Inno, and will work as a traditional MP3 player as well as a tuner. A microSDHC slot should hold at least 8GB of MP3 or WMA tracks, including those recorded from XM itself. [full story]

September 4 - 10:15am EDT   Pioneer's efforts at the CEDIA show were unveiled today and focused on updates to its Elite Blu-ray and plasma lines. The releases are led by an addition to its Elite Blu-ray players of the BDP-09FD, its new top-end reader. The device is claimed as a first in the category and adds a new 16-bit imaging engine that it says improves video decoding, particularly for upscaling; most high-end readers still use 14-bit hardware. It also stands as Pioneer's first Blu-ray Profile 2.0 player with the option of Internet features as well as upgrading the player's firmware online. [full story]

August 5 - 3:45pm EDT   Pioneer today revealed that it has already developed a major improvement on optical technology it created just last month. Having already established a 400GB disc, the company now says it has produced a disc read by blue lasers made up of 20 25GB layers, fitting exactly half a terabyte of data on a single-sided disc. The size and technology are described as technically compatible with Blu-ray and could be used in a future reader able to recognize that amount of data. [full story]

July 29 - 9:30am EDT   Sirius and XM today formalized their FCC-approved merger, ending an approximately 16-month wait since the union was first proposed early last year. The combined entity will now be called Sirius XM Radio and has about 18.5 million total subscribers, turning it into the second-largest radio outlet in the US. The company says it will quickly live up to its promises announced at the start of the merger and will let subscribers to either Sirius or XM service subscribe a la carte, hand-picking channels rather than requiring a set block of stations. [full story]

July 7 - 7:25am EDT   Pioneer this morning promised to expand removable storage with one of the largest confirmed optical storage capacities available. By cutting back on the potential for interference from different layers on a given disc, the electronics maker says it can manufacture readable discs with 16 layers; at 25GB per layer, this equates to 400GB on a single disc. [full story]

June 24 - 11:45am EDT   XM Satellite Radio is gearing up to launch a handheld radio and media player combo that would finally take over from the phased out Pioneer Inno (pictured) and Delphi's Sky-Fi radio, according to a leak floated by Orbitcast. Codenamed Phoenix, he portable would be smaller than the Inno but put in a jogwheel for navigating stations and tracks much like the iPod as well as Delphi's Sky-Fi 2. [full story]

May 14 - 1:40pm EDT   Pioneer is likely to release mid-size LCD TVs, the company said late yesterday when discussing its latest financial results. Breaking with its tradition of selling plasma TVs almost exclusively, the Japanese electronics maker says it will start offering LCDs larger than 40 inches starting from August. This will most likely include a 46-inch set, the company adds. Sharp is producing the actual display panels while Pioneer handles much of the design. [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]

May 7 - 11:10am EDT   Pioneer USA on Wednesday announced the Elite BDP-05FD and Pioneer BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Disc players have been added to its line-up. Both receivers are said to offer the next generation in Blu-ray playback quality, with HDMI 1.3 technology, four Wolfson Professional Audio 12-bit digital-to-analog converters, and 1080p / True 24fps output. The players are designed to complement Pioneer's other home theater products, including the KURO line of plasma HDTVs and Elite receivers, to bring users a movie-theater like entertainment experience. [full story]

May 7 - 10:00am EDT   Pioneer this morning overhauled its KURO and Signature Series lines of plasma HDTVs as well as introducing a new 1080p projector. While not going into specifics, the Elite line now has better contrast ratios to produce deeper black levels as well as improved colors; the new models are also much more customizable and also pack an Optimum mode that automatically checks both the environment and the content itself to adjust both the image and audio quality on the fly, saving viewers from having to make manual adjustments at different times of the day or as they switch channels or movies. [full story]

April 25 - 11:50am EDT   At the High End trade show today in Munich, Pioneer announced its return to the projector market with the KURO KRF-9000FD home theater projector. The Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) KRF-9000FD is capable of displaying 1920x1080 pixel progressive video at sizes up to 14.5 by just over 8 feet. This translates to a TV screen size of 200 inches, with the minimum projected image equivalent to a 60-inch TV screen. A 2x motorized zoom lens allows a large image to be displayed in smaller rooms. The contrast ratio, at 30,000:1, is one of the best in the industry. [full story]

April 21 - 3:15pm EDT   Pioneer has started the week today with introductions for three high-end AVIC navigators. The DVD-equipped F900BT and Premier F90BT, as well as the CD-only F700BT, all offer in-dash mapping on a 5.8-inch wide touchscreen and support comparatively advanced GPS features such as Traffic Message Channel and support, an advanced voice command system, and text-to-speech to read out street names. Each, however, is built just as much for media playback: any can read discs with DivX, and MPEG-4 video as well as AAC, MP3, and WMA audio, while 2GB of built-in memory as well as slots for both SD cards and USB that provide both audio and video support from flash storage. Both ... [full story]

March 21 - 8:35am EDT   A patent infringement claim may lead to blocks against importing both Blu-ray technology as well as cellphones and other storage, the US International Trade Commission said today. The potential impasse has its roots in a complaint by patent holder and Columbia University emeritus professor Gertrude Rothschild, who claims that bringing numerous foreign-made devices with short-wave lasers and LEDs violates her own claims to the technology in the US. Most companies affected by the dispute are those producing Blu-ray optical storage drives and involve chief backer Sony as well as LG, Pioneer, Samsung, and Sharp. [full story]

March 7 - 8:30am EST   Pioneer on Friday morning said it would stop manufacturing its own plasma TV panels in an attempt to reverse mounting losses at the company. While the KURO maker intends to stay in the plasma TV industry, it hopes to create a "leaner" business focused primarily on design and will outsource production of the screens themselves to other firms. Current expectations have the company drawing on Panasonic as the source for Pioneer's displays. [full story]