Some of the most welcome news to come out of the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was Sumiko's announcement of BARCO's return to the North American market. BARCO has long been a leader in professional and industrial DLP and CRT products, and has now developed a new line o f consumer-oriented DLP projectors called CineVERSUM.

Arizona-based Rockford Corporation announced last week that it has acquired loudspeaker designer Now Hear This (NHT) from Recoton Corporation. Previous Rockford acquisitions include Fosgate, Hafler, Acoustat, and MB Quart, and the company says that specific terms of the new agreement are confidential.

Brillian Corporation announced last week that it has entered the 720p and 1080p high-definition television product market. Having developed its first 720p rear-projection HDTV platform in the third quarter of 2003, the company says it is now offering its liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) Gen II microdisplay-based digital television to brand-name original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), who will be offered an opportunity to rebrand Brillian's digital televisions.

Once again, home theater fans can help themselves and others at the same time by participating in The Cable Company's eighth annual "Summer Against Hunger" campaign. The Cable Company and a wide cross-section of its vendors (listed below) have set up a program by which up to 10% of The Cable Company's August sales are donated to CARE and the International Rescue Committee, with contributions to be used to assist the worldwide disaster relief efforts of those humanitarian organizations.