Audio Video News

Until recently, movie fans on the go had to shell out a few grand for laptop computers with DVD playback capability. Such units typically weigh a several pounds and offer far more functionality than movie fans need.

Projectors are where the home theater action is this year. Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing micro-mirror technology has been adapted by many manufacturers in their new projectors, which offers amazing gains in brightness over earlier models. Sim2 Séleco, a projector company based in Pordenone, Italy and Miramar, Florida, has several beautiful projectors, including the sleek HT 200 and HT 250 models, which are capable of brightness levels of 800 ANSI Lumens and 900 ANSI Lumens respectively, and resolution levels of 800 x 600 (SVGA) and 1024 x 768 (XGA) respectively. The Séleco projectors boast a lamp life of 4000 hours; the HT 250 includes an IEEE 1394 input.

Home theater isn't a huge draw at Alexis Park, home of Specialty Audio exhibits, but some manufacturers have video and surround-sound demos going here. Martin-Logan had one of the best-sounding multichannel rooms we have visited so far, with a "Theater" center channel beneath a Runco PL-50C plasma display, a pair of "Ascents" front left and right, a pair of "Scripts" for the side/rears, a "Cinema" in center rear, and a prototype subwoofer handling low bass duties.

Space constraints are among the biggest obstacles retailers encounter when selling home entertainment systems. Many people object to the proliferation of equipment needed to play several different formats of video and audio recordings.

Both <A HREF="http://www.cbs.com">CBS Television</A> and <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A> report that they have recently entered into an agreement for CBS to produce the upcoming 2001 Sony Open golf tournament live in HDTV on the CBS Television Network starting January 20.

A<I>rnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, Robin Toney, Rod Steiger. Directed by Peter Hyams. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. 123 minutes. 1999. Universal Collectors Edition 20721. R. $26.98.</I>

It has repeatedly been predicted that video rental stores are heading for the graveyard, most recently with the advent of small satellite services and online rental competitors such as Netflix. The latest foe that, pundits claim, is likely to deal the fatal blow to rental stores is video-on-demand over high-speed networks.