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The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Gary Frisch  |  Mar 18, 2001  | 

R<I>ichard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Antonia Moreno. Directed by Jack Arnold. Aspect ratio: 4:3 (full-screen). Dolby Digital 2.0. 80 minutes. 1954. Universal Home Video 20760. NR. $29.98.</I>

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Audio Video News
EchoStar Reports Record Growth
Barry Willis  |  Mar 18, 2001  | 

Decreasing losses are often greeted as gladly as increased profits. <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar Communications</A> has reported that its net operating loss decreased from $792.8 million in 1999 to $621.2 million in the year 2000. Total revenue for the year ended December 31 amounted to $2.7 billion, an increase of 70% over 1999's $1.6 billion. The direct broadcast satellite operator reported revenues of $805.1 million for the final quarter, up an impressive 56% from the same period in the previous year.

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Audio Video News
Mitsubishi Announces FireWire-Equipped HDTV Sets
Barry Willis  |  Mar 18, 2001  | 

Bucking a proposal by the film and television industries to incorporate a non-recordable digital transmission standard, <A HREF="http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/">Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America</A> (MDEA) announced in mid-March that, later this year, it will introduce high-definition television sets equipped with IEEE 1394 ("FireWire") connectors. The official timetable for the delivery of the new products, and a schedule of projected retail prices, will be announced in May.

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Audio Video News
Target LRW Racks: Ideal for Video
HT Staff  |  Mar 17, 2001  | 
You've got a gorgeous new 16:9 CRT or plasma display. Sleek and modern, it looks totally at odds with your old wooden furniture. Now, you need some sturdy high-tech apparatus to put it on.
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Audio Video News
$900 JVC Player Does Hi-rez Audio, Progressive Video
HT Staff  |  Mar 16, 2001  | 
Not too long ago you couldn't find progressive video output on any DVD player for less than $2000. Ditto for 96kHz or 192kHz digital sampling rates in the audio section. Now you can have both for substantially less than a grand.
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Audio Video News
PSB Image Series Loudspeakers Offer Mix/Match Possibilities
HT Staff  |  Mar 16, 2001  | 
Loudspeaker designer Paul Barton of Canada's PSB Loudspeakers has been at his craft a long time. In his more than 25 years of research, a good part of it at the National Research Center, l he has reached some compelling conclusions about what sounds good. His latest creations, the Image Series, offer a solution for almost every home theater---from those created in old libraries with shelving on all the walls, to those custom-built from the ground up. No matter what size your room, some combination of Image loudspeakers is likely to work for you.
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Audio Video News
20th Century Fox: The First Fifty Years
Wes Phillips  |  Mar 11, 2001  | 

J<I>ames Coburn, Dana Andrews, Cary Grant, Gene Tierney, Henry Fonda, Bette Davis, Julie Andrews. Directed by Kevin Burns. Aspect ratio: 4:3 (full-screen). Dolby Digital stereo. 129 minutes. 2000. Image Entertainment ID767FSDVD. NR. $29.99.</I>

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Audio Video News
Blockbuster/Enron Entertainment-On-Demand Deal Falls Apart
Jon Iverson  |  Mar 11, 2001  | 

Both <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com">Blockbuster</A> and <A HREF="http://www.enron.net">Enron Broadband Services</A> announced last week that they have terminated the exclusive services agreement the companies launched only three months ago (see <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?894">previous story</A>). In spite of the setback, both companies claim that they will continue to develop "entertainment-on-demand" (EOD) services independently.

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Audio Video News
Simple DVD Descrambling Code Spreading Quickly, to MPAA's Dismay
Barry Willis  |  Mar 11, 2001  | 

Is computer code that allows a user to violate a copyright a protected form of free speech, or is it an "illegal device"? The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org/">Motion Picture Association of America</A> (MPAA) has aggressively pursued legal action against internet entrepreneurs, such as <A HREF="http://www.2600.com/"><I>2600, the Hacker Quarterly</I></A>, that promoted DeCSS, a 57-kilobyte code, invented in 1999 by 15-year-old Norwegian student Jon Lech Johansen, that allows DVDs to be copied onto computers' hard drives and then transmitted over the internet.

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Audio Video News
DWIN TransVision DLP Projector and Processor Take HT to the Next Level
HT Staff  |  Mar 06, 2001  | 
If thirteen thousand bucks doesn't sound too steep for a video projector and processor, DWIN Electronics has just what you're looking for. The Burbank, CA-based manufacturer has packed the most advanced features into its TransVision DLP projector and dedicated processor for what are claimed to be "film-like images."
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Audio Video News
Parasound 12-Channel Amp Solves Multi-Room Problems
HT Staff  |  Mar 06, 2001  | 
Parasound doesn't make a huge distinction between "Home Theater" and "Custom Installation." In most cases, if you have one, you have the other.
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Audio Video News
What Could He Possibly Have Been Thinking?
Wes Phillips  |  Mar 04, 2001  | 

F<I>red A. Leuchter, Jr. Directed by Errol Morris. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 2.0. 91 minutes. 1999. Lionsgate Films 20717. PG-13. $24.98.</I>

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Audio Video News
Blockbuster Will Share Retail Space with RadioShack; Will Distribute Universal Flix
Barry Willis  |  Mar 04, 2001  | 

Many of <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com/">Blockbuster Inc</A>.'s 5100 US video outlets will soon become satellite stores for <A HREF="http://www.radioshack.com/">RadioShack Corporation</A>, thanks to a partnership agreement announced by the retailing giants February 27.

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Audio Video News
Study: Cable Stumbles While Satellite Leaps Ahead
 |  Mar 04, 2001  | 

The direct broadcast satellite industry is making great progress over cable providers in the digital TV arena, according to a recently published study by research firm <A HREF="http://www.strategyanalytics.com"> Strategy Analytics</A>. Worldwide, more than twice as many new subscribers to digital television signed up with DBS services than with cable last year, the study finds.

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Audio Video News
Apocalypse Yet Again
Jon Iverson  |  Mar 04, 2001  | 

Obviously taking the concept of a "director's cut" quite seriously, Francis Ford Coppola announced this week that he will soon be releasing a radically different version of his 1979 classic <I>Apocalypse Now</I>. The new version of the film will feature 53 minutes of new material and will debut at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in France May 9&ndash;20.

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