pioneer Archive

  • Pioneer bringing Pandora to the dashboard with new iPhone app

    Pioneer bringing Pandora to the dashboard with new iPhone app

    Posted on May 24, 2010 | No Comments
    Pioneer is taking a big step in bridging the two landmasses of Internet radio and vehicle entertainment. By utilizing a free iPhone app, Pandora Link, the company is bringing Pandora to two of its latest systems, the Pioneer AVIC-Z120BT and AVIC-X920BT navigation systems. Simply run the app and connect the iPhone to head unit with the USB cable; the in-dash radio system will then displays all of Pandora's trademark functions like thumbs up and thumbs down formatted in Pioneer's great-looking interface.

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  • Carnaby: Pioneer’s very special car navigation mini robot (videos)

    Carnaby: Pioneer’s very special car navigation mini robot (videos)

    Posted on May 20, 2010 | No Comments
    What do you get when you cross a car navigation system with a wacky mini robot? You get Carnaby [JP], a very special piece of hardware developed by Pioneer and robot venture iXs. The in-car robot may look weird, but it actually serves a good purpose: it makes car navigation systems more accessible for the elderly and those with hearing disabilities.

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  • New Pioneer speaker system can link to 2 iPods or iPhones

    New Pioneer speaker system can link to 2 iPods or iPhones

    Posted on May 11, 2010 | No Comments
    Pioneer is about to release yet another iPhone-compatible speaker system. The company yesterday announced [JP] the XW-NAC1 in Japan, a speaker system that can connect to and alternately play music from two iPods or iPhones. The XW-NAC1 has two iPod/iPhone docks that charge these devices simultaneously.

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  • Pioneer outs four “Works with iPhone” certified speaker docks

    Pioneer outs four “Works with iPhone” certified speaker docks

    Posted on April 27, 2010 | No Comments
    iPod speaker docks are still big business and Pioneer just announced three solid high-end contenders. Whether you're looking for an audio-specific model or a feature-packed system, one of these models will likely fit the bill -- as long as you can pony up the cash for the high admission cost.

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  • Pioneer lets you control its new Blu-ray players with your iPhone

    Pioneer lets you control its new Blu-ray players with your iPhone

    Posted on April 20, 2010 | No Comments
    Pioneer may have shut down its display business to focus on producing more car-related equipment instead, but that doesn't mean they have given up on the home entertainment segment altogether. In Japan, the company today unveiled a number of new devices actually, including Blu-ray players [JP] that can be controlled with the iPhone/iPod touch.

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  • AS-iP70: Kenwood’s iPhone/iPod-compatibe 7-inch “multimedia system”

    AS-iP70: Kenwood’s iPhone/iPod-compatibe 7-inch “multimedia system”

    Posted on March 24, 2010 | No Comments
    Kenwood Japan has announced [JP] the AS-iP70 today, a swiss army knife of sorts for various media. The device serves as a dock for your iPhone or iPod but can also be used as an AM/FM radio, music player, alarm clock, and a digital picture frame - thanks to its 7-inch LCD screen.

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  • Pioneer outs the low-priced, surprisingly competent VSX-820-K and VSX-520-K AV receivers

    Pioneer outs the low-priced, surprisingly competent VSX-820-K and VSX-520-K AV receivers

    Posted on March 1, 2010 | No Comments
    Pioneer's latest home theater receivers aren't amazing. They're not jam-packed with all crazy one-off audio modes or loaded to the gill with connectivity options. But that's fine. It does HDMI 1.3, works with an optional $99 Bluetooth streaming thingabob, has enough power, and supports the main HD audio codecs. Oh, and they're only $229 and $299.

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  • Pioneer’s “Cherry” and “Leather Belt” Earphones

    Pioneer’s “Cherry” and “Leather Belt” Earphones

    Posted on February 18, 2010 | No Comments
    I don't know what it is about Japan and earphones, but this country does offer some unique ones. Today, it wasn't some weird little company but Pioneer that announced strange earphones: One is cherry-shaped [JP], the other looks like a piece of a leather belt [JP] for some reason.

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  • Pioneer shutting down its Premier car audio line at the end of 2009

    Pioneer shutting down its Premier car audio line at the end of 2009

    Posted on November 2, 2009 | No Comments
    The car audio market isn't what it used to be. The days of half-din radios and crappy stock speakers are long gone. As OEM systems increase in quality, the aftermarket scene is slowing down. So much so that Pioneer is killing its 20-year old Premier label at the end of 2009. It's truly sad news for long-time car audio geeks.

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  • Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Pioneer’s awesome 3D display “Floating Vision” (video)

    Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Pioneer’s awesome 3D display “Floating Vision” (video)

    Posted on October 27, 2009 | No Comments
    Pioneer has showcased the Floating Vision at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo (that ended Sunday), another 3D display that doesn't require you to wear glasses (yawn) to view 3D images. It's not bad at all though, even though visitors flocked to Sony's booth to see their stereoscopic 3D display (which was a bit cooler). You can connect the Floating Vision to a PC via USB 2.0 to view images or videos "floating" over the display (5.7 inches, 640 × 480 VGA resolution). What's pretty cool is that you can "interact" with the image, as the device detects your hand movements. It's also possible to "control" an image with your voice (the device has a mic on its front). Both Windows PCs and Macs are supported.

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  • Woot! Pioneer Blu-ray player for $135

    Woot! Pioneer Blu-ray player for $135

    Posted on October 15, 2009 | No Comments
    Some people are jerks about their AV gear. They simply must have certain brands. If that’s you and Pioneer is your company of choice, head over to Woot for a surprisingly good deal on a modern Blu-ray player. When I first saw this model on Woot, I thought that it was probably one of their earlier [...]

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  • Pioneer outs the first 12x Blu-ray writer

    Pioneer outs the first 12x Blu-ray writer

    Posted on September 30, 2009 | No Comments
    BDR_205Behold, the Pioneer BDR-205! Thrill to the 12x write speeds on double layer Blu-ray media! Marvel at the 50Gbytes of storage capacity! Be amazed by the low, low price of $250 United States dollars! Click on through to read the entire exciting press release!

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  • Pioneer sells another batch of Laserdisc players, in Japan

    Pioneer sells another batch of Laserdisc players, in Japan

    Posted on July 29, 2009 | No Comments
    Remember Laserdiscs? Those large-size video mediums almost no one outside Japan bought in the 1980s and 1990s? I never thought I would write another post on LDs after the one in January this year in which I reported about Pioneer stopping the production of LDs players forever. But yesterday the same company (which manufactured the best hardware) issued a new press release [JP], saying it still has some players in stock, the DVL-919 ($1,000, pictured on the left) and the CLD-R5 ($400, pictured after the jump). The main difference is that the R5 only plays LDs and CDs, while the 919 also can be used for DVDs (region 2).

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