AV Companies that Died or Survived Obsolescence

[gene]

Some AV products were game changing at their release date, but quickly faded into obscurity. I bet you can name a few without even hesitating. But what happened to the companies? Did they go bankrupt or survive and thrive? Here are a few of our top picks for AV companies that had products that were great at their time, faded away, and made a comeback. Read on to see if you agree with our list. Here are a couple of Jerry Del Colliano's top picks.

Read: AV Companies that Died or Survived Obsolescence

We recommend revisiting our article on the Biggest Failures in Consumer AV.

So what are your votes for products that were fantastic at one point in the history of AV and now are barely worthy of using as a doorstop?

 

[lovinthehd]

Kaleidescape never seemed a worthy purchase to me particularly, let alone that video processor, not really the equipment's failure, but seems rather the purchaser's thinking things through or not? Seems a majority of av products do work quite well, tho. I'm cheap, tho....and can't think of anything I was particularly unhappy with except perhaps one Samsung bluray player that gave up early. Not a $30 or $15k proposition, tho....that's just not something that's particularly interesting at all for one piece of gear....av just isn't worth that much to me.

 

[Bobby Bass]

Thanks for the article. Got me thinking of all the AV equipment I’ve purchased over the years. Would have to say my laserdisc player would be #1. Yes kids, look it up, at one point for about 15 minutes laser discs were the latest and greatest in AV. Think CDs replacing cassettes. Laser discs replaced VHS tapes before DVDs and blue ray. Bought about 20 discs. Mostly music movies or concerts. The machine broke down and was too expensive to repair. Still have the discs. They’re the equivalent of vinyl picture discs so the cool look factor still appeals to me. Maybe someday I can donate them to an AV museum. Lol.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Kaleidescape seems a success among high-end users. Definitely doesn’t appeal to most people due to cost.

So maybe their secret is catering only to the high-end.

 

[Movie2099]

K-scape is definitely not for everyone. If you can afford one, you should look into them. Sure, the cost to get into them is a tad high, but they are very nice. Having all your movies, TV shows and music at your finger tips rather than sifting through your physical disc collection. And this is coming from someone who collects 4k discs.... My shelves are getting full! haha. Now K-scape is releasing new titles the same day they hit streaming and digital release. Which is about 40-60 days before physical copies. They run promotions all the time. So you can pick up the entire Marvel collection for as low as $10/movie! If you wanted to. I've seen the entire Bond collection go on sale. Which K-scape has every Bond movie in 4k. I would suggest going to AVS forums and checking the classified section of the forums. You can get some very nice deals on some gently used gear. People who barely used their K-scapes dishing out very nice deals.

 

[prerich]

Worst ever....HD-DVD player. I really thought initially that they would win the format war. I bought the unit that attached to the X-box but hooked it to my PC and played HD-DVD's from there. I became Blue when I listened to a BD that was also released in HD-DVD....no contest.
I'm shocked at the listing of the Faroudja video processor...at the time, those were almost necessary components. I understand that now you can surpass that with UHD TV's however - if I understand correctly, Madvr is successfully marketing it's video processing. I use MadVR via JRiver and even though I have 4K monitors and a projector....you can see the difference between having MadVR on and off. As for the Kaleidoscape - that's the king of all UHD players - it's just very expensive. Yes we can stream movies - but Kaleidoscape gives you lossless Atmos. The sound from streaming can't compare (i.e. using the format that HD-DVD used....one of the reasons HD-DVD lost to Blu-Ray). Streaming has a way to go before it compete with the quality of K-Scape . I know for most people DD+ Atmos is good enough - but once you've heard lossless Atmos, nothing else will do. I wonder if the nerf'd audio of streaming is a scheme to get people back to the theaters again...It may backfire (people may sell their Home Theaters and concentrate on 2 channel audio ...and just wait for the movie to stream).

 

[Trebdp83]

There were DTHD and DTS HDMA HD-DVDs but many were DD+. There were also some HD-DVD players that did not support lossless multichannel audio. The XBOX 360 was HDMI 1.2 specced and so its HD-DVD drive was capped at DD 5.1 when used through it. Though, it could support HD audio when connected to a PC. I no longer have the XBOX 360 HD DVD drive but my Toshiba HD-A35 is still in service. As for laserdisc, I invested in hundred of titles and many players. The Pioneer LaserActive system was a fun yet very expensive and unreliable system. As an all in one entertainment machine with modules, It was perhaps the biggest home theater flop of all time.

 

[Trell]

Early UHD TVs were expensive and very soon unable to play UHD content due to old HDCP, making them obsolete.

 

[Eppie]

I can relate much more to the second older article on Biggest Failures in Consumer AV. Jerry's items are beyond the budget of the average home theatre owner and they did serve a purpose at the time. Worst for me was 3D TV. I never understood the appeal. You lost so much brightness and contrast in the 3D version of a movie that we would specifically avoid 3D releases and wait for the regular release. Some glasses worked better than others but for home systems they were often proprietary and the degradation in video was too much for my tastes.

 

[corey]

Becoming obsolete does not make a product bad. My Phase Linear 1000 Autocorrelator was a necessity back in the days of tape, but not needed in later digital times.

My nomination for worst component ever is the HDMI cable. Bundling copy protection into signal delivery is a bad idea from the start.

 

[Trell]

Becoming obsolete does not make a product bad. My Phase Linear 1000 Autocorrelator was a necessity back in the days of tape, but not needed in later digital times.

My nomination for worst component ever is the HDMI cable. Bundling copy protection into signal delivery is a bad idea from the start.

Forced obsolescence due to copy protection is for sure bad for the consumer.

 

[drinking12many]

You can do everything the Kaleidoscope did with other free/nearly free products so that is sure to kill almost any overpriced item. Plex/Jellyfin and a Nvidia shield does everything and more including full lossless if your devices support it.

 

[Movie2099]

You can do everything the Kaleidoscope did with other free/nearly free products so that is sure to kill almost any overpriced item. Plex/Jellyfin and a Nvidia shield does everything and more including full lossless if your devices support it.

But those items haven't killed the K-scape. K-scape business has only been growing. Lot's of people have left the ripping/plex world and joined K-scape. Convenience is key.

It's the same with MadVR. MadVR software is free. You just need to know how to setup up properly to integrate into your setup. 90% of people don't' want to do that. They want something to just plug in, go through some quick setup and BAM! ready to go. They are willing to pay the extra money to have it that easy.

 

[Trell]

Then there are the many cables manufacturers promising whatever. An evergreen, if there ever was one.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I would suggest going to AVS forums

That's a BIG NEGATIVE!!!!

We QUIT AVS like we quit Cable. We only like Audioholics here!

 

[Trell]

That's a BIG NEGATIVE!!!!

We QUIT AVS like we quit Cable. We only do Audioholics here!

So your better half reads your posts here?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So your better half reads your posts here?

I hope not.

 

[gene]

So I think some of Jerry's talking points are outdated a out Kaleidescape. A lot has changed since the system he has. I will update later tonight and put the changes here.

 

[isolar8001]

Kaleidescapes main strength is the quality of the files it plays. Better than anything commercially available.
Which are available only if you have a Kaleidescape.
Of course, their player is top notch also.....and, their files have never been pirated.

 

[gene]

Kaleidescapes main strength is the quality of the files it plays. Better than anything commercially available.
Which are available only if you have a Kaleidescape.
Of course, their player is top notch also.....and, their files have never been pirated.

Thanks I will add this into the update.