Audio Video News

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Audio Video News
Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jan 30, 2004  | 
DVD: Uptown Girls—MGM/UA
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Eight-year-old Ray (Dakota Fanning), the daughter of a wealthy but inattentive mom and a father on his deathbed, never had a proper childhood. Molly (Brittany Murphy), the suddenly penniless daughter of a deceased rock icon, seems to have never entered adulthood. When Molly is recruited as a nanny to the obsessively clean, wise-beyond-her-years girl, they both learn how to act their ages.
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Audio Video News
Harmony SST-688 Remote
HT Staff  |  Jan 28, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 29, 2004  | 
The remote control is one of the great inventions of the 20th century but one in severe need of refinement. Many consumer polls have demonstrated that remotes remain among the most confusing and frustrating devices in common use.
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Audio Video News
JVC's Big Video Ambitions
HT Staff  |  Jan 28, 2004  | 
JVC hopes to make a major splash in the video market this year. The company has announced plans to release a variety of new products in the coming months, including plasma displays, LCD TVs, DVD recorders, and big-screen rear projection HDTVs using displays its "Digital Light Amplification" (D-ILA) technology.
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Audio Video News
Interactive TV Nearing Reality?
Barry Willis  |  Jan 26, 2004  | 

Most of the early marketing studies done on the potential of interactive TV demonstrated that most consumers wanted nothing more than to order movies and possibly pizza. Most of the interactive features currently available to cable subscribers are low-key offerings like local movie schedules.

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Audio Video News
New Video Products
 |  Jan 26, 2004  | 

Home theater products continue to get better and cheaper. One example is <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A>'s new PT-AE500, a high-definition widescreen LCD projector. The PT-AE500 incorporates several advances, including integrated cinema quality circuitry, full 10-bit digital processing and gamma correction, and new "smooth screen technology." Many of these advances derive from research and development and collaborative work done at the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory in Hollywood, California, with top Hollywood studio colorists who helped ensure the projector's color fidelity.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Jan 26, 2004  | 

DLP done right? Joel Brinkley gets some quality time wth the <A HREF="/videoprojectors/1203runco">Runco Reflection CL-710 DLP projector</A> to find out just how close to the CRT ideal the technology has come. Thomas Norton adds his comments.

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Audio Video News
Faroudja's New Technology
HT Staff  |  Jan 20, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 21, 2004  | 
A legendary name among high-end video companies, Faroudja isn't content to sit on its many laurels. The Silicon Valley company demonstrated several new products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Foremost among them is the recently introduced DVP4000 digital video processor.
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Audio Video News
Vidikron VP-42HD
HT Staff  |  Jan 20, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 21, 2004  | 
Vidikron's PlasmaView family has a new sibling. Officially introduced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, the VP-42HD is a high-resolution 16:9 plasma display monitor ("PDP"), boasting a native resolution of 1024x768. The VP-42HD is "a high-resolution alternative to the enhanced resolution VP-42," states a company announcement.
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Audio Video News
Industry Roundup
Barry Willis  |  Jan 19, 2004  | 

St. Louis&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.charter.com">Charter Communications, Inc</A>. has become the first cable provider in the US to rollout an all-digital network, according to a January 16 announcement. The new service was implemented without the use of analog set-top boxes, using an existing HFC (hybrid fiber-coaxial) network. The service, in Charter's Long Beach, CA system, combines digital programming with basic analog programming. The bandwidth-intensive service is made possible by use of a digital compression system consisting of "<A HREF="http://www.harmonicinc.com">Harmonic</A> DiviCom MV 50 variable bit-rate encoders and third-generation DiviTrackXE closed loop statistical multiplexing system," according to the announcement. For Charter subscribers, the new digital service can be activated "remotely and instantly" without the need for in-person service calls, said Charter vice president of engineering Wayne Davis.

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Audio Video News
Multichannel Products Proliferate
Barry Willis  |  Jan 19, 2004  | 

As any SGHT reader knows, home theater is one of the electronic industry's growth areas. Related niches&mdash;DVD, HDTV, and multichannel audio&mdash;are equally hot and getting hotter. Cutting-edge manufacturers are pushing into the market like never before, with fascinating innovations.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Jan 19, 2004  | 

Robert Deutsch and Thomas J. Norton provide us with follow-ups on a pair of classic HT products with <A HREF="/videoprojectors/1103dlp">Take Two: Marantz VP-12S2 and SharpVision XV-Z10000U DLP projectors</A>. Two different reviewers and two different systems. Will they get the same results as noted in the original reviews?

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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Jan 16, 2004  | 
Rotel
We usually don't believe that old adage about looks being deceiving. More often than not, things are exactly as they appear. So imagine our surprise when we heard about Rotel's new RSDX-02, an all-in-one DVD receiver with a 5.1-channel digital surround amplifier. This sleek component features 80 watts per channel for its five speaker outputs. The RSDX-02 offers Dolby Digital and DTS multichannel decoding; Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo:6 for two-channel sources; and an All-Channel Stereo mode for evenly spreading the sound. The internal DVD player also plays CD-Rs/-RWs, MP3- and JPEG-encoded CDs, and DVD-Audio discs. The RSDX-02 has coaxial and optical digital audio inputs and wideband component video input/output facilities that allow you to integrate your source components with the newest TVs, including HD-ready sets. This deceptively simple-looking piece is yours for $1,499.
Rotel
(978) 664-3820
www.rotel.com
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Audio Video News
Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jan 16, 2004  | 
Mel Tormé, George Shearing—A Vintage Year
Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass—Velvet & Brass
(SACDs, Concord)
Having seen Mel Tormé perform at Carnegie Hall in the last few years of his life, I can vouch for his vocal virtuosity, incredible energy, infectious charm, and ability to toss off a Buddy Rich drum solo. The first of these two hybrid SACD/CD releases captures him with pianist George Shearing live at the Paul Masson Mountain Winery in 1988. On the second, a studio set recorded in 1995, he pairs off with a big band, just a year before the stroke that would end his career.
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Audio Video News
Primedia Announces The Connected Guide To The Digital Home
HT Staff  |  Jan 15, 2004  | 
Primedia has announced The Connected Guide To The Digital Home, the first consumer magazine dedicated entirely to adopting and integrating audio, video, information, telecommunications, security and other personal and home technologies. Formerly known as Audio Video Interiors (AVI), the standard-bearer for the home theater revolution, The Connected Guide To The Digital Home is being introduced as the natural evolution of AVI.
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Audio Video News
Primedia Announces The Connected Guide To The Digital Home
 |  Jan 15, 2004  | 

Primedia has announced <I>The Connected Guide To The Digital Home</I>, the first consumer magazine dedicated entirely to adopting and integrating audio, video, information, telecommunications, security, and other personal and home technologies. Formerly known as <I>Audio Video Interiors</I> (<I>AVI</I>), the standard-bearer for the home theater revolution, <I>The Connected Guide To The Digital Home</I> is being introduced as the natural evolution of <I>AVI</I>.

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