It looked good on paper and at the demo: Digital Television and HDTV would revive the video market and create a wave of demand for new sets and playback equipment. Then there were the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?785">8VSB versus COFDM</A> and <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1237">copy protection</A> flaps, leading to shifting connection standards and uncertainty both on the manufacturing end and in the marketplace.
Excessive caution over copyrights could inhibit the already slow rollout of digital television, electronics industry executives told a US Senate committee last week.
Just a week after a consortium of electronics companies announced its commitment to a new <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1228">high-capacity DVD</A>, the DVD Forum voted to approve the use of low-bit-rate compression for high-definition DVD. The vote was approved by 11 of the Forum's 17 members, with Matsushita, JVC, and Philips abstaining.
Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology has been gaining ground in the home theater market over the last several months, in large part due to the implementation of Texas Instrument's native 16x9 display chip as seen in Sharp's popular XV-Z9000U projector, released late last year.
Can direct broadcast satellite services make good on their promises? Representatives of EchoStar and Hughes Electronics Corporation (owner of DirecTV) have promised federal lawmakers that if their merger is approved, they will roll out broadband digital services, retransmit local television signals, and generally saturate the nation with satellite television—all within three years.
After you've spent your life savings on electronics and furnishings, are you still unhappy with the sound of your home theater? Perhaps you should have budgeted a little something for room treatment.
Denon has introduced a new series of DVD players that ought to be taken seriously by all home theater fans. The model 9000, due in March at $3500 retail, is certain to cause a stir.
HDTV fans rejoice: The magic formula needed to bring high definition video into millions of consumer homes may be near. Nine of the major audio/video consumer electronics companies announced last week that they have jointly established the basic specifications for a next generation large capacity optical disc video recording format called "Blu-ray Disc."
Sears and CBS Television announced an agreement last week under which Sears will sponsor high definition television coverage of the 2002 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. This marks the third consecutive year that CBS has broadcast the Final Four in HDTV.
Here's a formula for an experiment pre-determined to prove there's no demand for downloadable movies over the Internet: Offer two films that nobody wants to see, and make them playable for only 24 hours.
The Supreme Court's recent announcement that it will review an extension of copyright terms enacted during the Clinton administration has won praise from the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A>.
<I>Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes. Directed by Steven Lisberger. Aspect ratio: 2.20:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. Two discs. 96 minutes. 1982. Walt Disney Home Video 23569. PG. $29.99.</I>