Hollywood studios' efforts to win large blocks of voters in the annual Academy Awards may have backfired on them. Free DVD screening copies sent out to voters may have found their way into the hands of offshore pirates, possibly costing the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue.
DVD: The In-Laws—Warner Brothers
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
It's often hard to see the remake of a classic movie without immediately comparing the new with the old. Lucky for me, I haven't seen the 1979 version of The In-Laws, as many tell me it's a comedy classic. Classic is not the word I'd use to describe the remake, though.
Theta Digital
Here's looking at you, Theta Digital; or, more specifically, your new Casablanca III Music and Cinema Controller. (Come on, that joke was just too easy.) The Casablanca III features Theta's Open Architecture, which consists of a motherboard for signal routing and several daughter boards for various function-specific circuitries. The company says that the Casablanca III takes customization to a new level, offering hundreds of crossover options like Linkwitz-Riley and phase-perfect. Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS ES (in both Matrix and Discrete 6.1 versions) are standard. Prices range from $9,000 to $20,000, depending upon configuration. The Casablanca III will definitely have you asking Sam to play it again. (Sorry, we couldn't resist.)
Theta Digital
(818) 597-9195 www.thetadigital.com
Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) is the latest twist on venerable LCD technology, and the latest twist in rear projection televisions. Claimed by some home theater fans to be easier on the eyes for long-term viewing than plasma display panels, LCoS offers flicker-free high resolution images without a visible pixel grid.
<A HREF="http://www.sim2.com">SIM2 USA, Inc.</A> has announced the addition of a second generation remote "DigiOptic" Image Processor (DOIP) to the new HT300 LINK DLP front projector to provide greater installation flexibility and a wider choice of inputs. The advanced technical solution is said to provide quality connections to video sources up to 1600 feet away.
Direct broadcast satellite services <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com">EchoStar</A> and <A HREF="http://www.directv.com">DirecTV</A> are expanding HDTV programming and hardware options for their subscribers. The news should help boost subscriber growth for both companies, whose combined viewers now total more than 20 million.
DVD: Scarface Two-Disc Anniversary Edition—Universal
Video: 3
Audio: 2
Extras: 2
Don't be fooled by the silver packaging. Scarface is still five years shy of its quarter-century anniversary, but it remains one of the most unsettling crime dramas ever—the rise and fall of iconic tough guy Tony Montana, played with mucho gusto by Al Pacino.
Dwin
We won't even begin to suggest that $10,500 is just pocket change that everyone has lying around. However, when you realize that Dwin's TransVision 3 projection system features both a projector and a video processor, the word value might come to mind. The company says that the separate-component design offers greater installation options and reduces double video-signal processing. The 720p DLP projector uses Texas Instruments' Mustang/HD2 DMD technology and Prism Free Optical light-path architecture for maximum picture contrast. The Carl-Zeiss zoom lens allows for a throw distance from 1.41 to 2.1 times the screen. Meanwhile, the digital video processor accepts 10 video inputs: two DVI with HDCP, two RGB, two S-video, two component, and two composite. It also delivers 720p DVI signals to match the projector's native resolution.
Dwin Electronics
(818) 239-1500 www.dwin.com
Barry Willis | Sep 22, 2003 | First Published: Sep 23, 2003 |
The nation's biggest video rental chain and biggest movie club are reportedly discussing a merger. Blockbuster could join forces with Columbia House as a hedge against falling video rental revenue, according to mid-September reports in <I>The Wall Street Journal</I>, <I>The Hollywood Reporter</I>, and elsewhere.
Little noted in the hubbub about AOL Time Warner dropping the "AOL" from its corporate moniker is the news that Time Warner Cable has delivered over 150,000 TiVo-like devices to its customers—without the extra expense.
Hollywood's efforts to keep its products off the Internet are misguided, according to Philips Consumer Electronics president and CEO Lawrence J. Blanford. Proposals offered to date won't work and will hurt both consumers and electronics manufacturers, Blanford told Congress on September 17.
New York—September 2003—After the resounding success of Home Entertainment 2003 in San Francisco this past May, Home Entertainment 2004 will take place in not one but two locations—New York City and San Francisco. Consumers on the East and West coasts will have an opportunity to see, firsthand, the latest in consumer electronics and home entertainment products, and to meet the companies and retailers who sell them.