Audio Video News

The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org/">Motion Picture Association of America</A> (MPAA) has lauded a ruling by a Washington, DC federal appeals court. On Friday, February 16, the court upheld by a 2-1 vote a 1998 law that extended copyright protection for intellectual properties works by two decades. The extension was pushed through Congress by former president Bill Clinton, with strong backing from the Walt Disney Company, which feared that copyrights on icons like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck would soon move into the public domain. US copyright law now agrees with its European counterparts as a result of the revision.

DVD: Solaris—20th Century Fox
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
"This isn't your father's science fiction," says James Cameron, who produced this dream-like adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's 1961 novel and who's suddenly showing up more frequently on commentary tracks. He's right. There are no aliens in makeup. There's not even a proffered explanation of the strange happenings on a space station orbiting the pulsing, gaseous world Solaris. It's left for viewers to decide whether the planet's ability to create, in corporeal form, loved ones from a person's past, including the suicidal wife of investigating psychiatrist Chris Kelvin (George Clooney), is a blessing or a curse.

As of August 1, a premier trade association of hardware and software companies has a new name and a renewed mission.

Thomas J. Norton hopes you don't peek at the product's price before reading his reveiw of the expensive <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?139">Mark Levinson No. 40 preamplifier-processor</A>. But even if you do, TJN notes "there's real value in knowing what's possible at the very tip of the home theater pyramid."

PSB
You know that a product is going to be good when the designer is also the company's founder. Such is the case with PSB's new Platinum Series, designed and developed by founder Paul S. Barton. The line includes seven new models: the T8 and T6 towers, M2 minimonitor, C4 and C2 center channels, S2 bipolar surround, and SubSonic 10 subwoofer. The PSB Platinum T8, the flagship tower, uses three 8-inch woofers, two 4.5-inch midrange drivers, and two 1-inch tweeters. The front tweeter faces forward, while the other tweeter is rear-firing. The midrange drivers and front tweeter are arranged in a D'Appolito array. According to the company, this arrangement produces a large horizontal and vertical sweet spot with outstanding clarity. The enclosure measures 10.5 by 46.5 by 16 inches and is available in black ash or cherry, with a die-cast aluminum base, top, and side extrusions. The T8 is available at a suggested retail price of $6,500 per pair.
PSB Speakers
(888) 772-0000
www.psbspeakers.com

Flat screens are the hot item in video displays, and Thomas J. Norton reviews one of the hottest screens available, the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?137">Fujitsu Plasmavision SlimScreen P50XHA10U high-definition plasma</A>. TJN notes, "The new Fujitsu goes for just under $11,000 and may well represent the state of the art in 50" plasma displays."

<A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov">Federal Communications Commission</A> (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell has been rebuffed twice recently by the US House of Representatives.