LATEST ADDITIONS

Barry Willis  |  Feb 02, 2004

The completion of two more films will close the books on a long-running partnership between Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Company. On Thursday, January 29 Pixar announced that it had abruptly ended discussions with Disney and would not renew its distribution agreement when it expires in 2005.

 |  Feb 02, 2004

From couch potato to desktop tuber: If you can't get enough TV even while toiling away at your computer, <A HREF="http://www.ati.com">ATI Technologies Inc</A>. has a family of video graphics cards just for you. In late January, the Markham, Ontario company announced new additions to its "All-in-Wonder" line of graphics cards. Among them are the All-in-Wonder 9600XT, All-in-Wonder 9600, and All-in-Wonder 9200. The All-in-Wonder 9600XT delivers more multimedia features via a graphics engine clocked at 525 MHz, with 128 MB of memory running at 650 MHz. Priced at $299 (US) this new multimedia solution includes an "FM-on-Demand" feature to receive and record favorite FM radio stations. It also offers dual VGA monitor support, integrated DVD authoring and burning, and comes bundled with MPEG-4-enabled Multimedia Center 8.8 software.

Jamie Sorcher  |  Feb 01, 2004
Sonnefeld photos by Michelle Hood Barry Sonnenfeld is the master of droll. You can see it in his work, from John Travolta's suave, minivan-driving gangster in Get Shorty to Tommy Lee Jones's slow-burning G-man in Men in Black to Patrick Warburton's oblivious superhero in The Tick.
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Feb 01, 2004
The TSS-750 speaker system adds a new chapter to the entry-level guidebook.

Ah, the life of an audio reviewer is a glamorous one indeed. Lugging around speakers and subwoofers. Continually connecting systems, checking levels, tweaking placement, checking levels again, yada yada yada. Spending hours sitting in a room listening to movie and music tracks that you've watched and listened to so many times, your brain is suffering from burn-in. Yep, with all of this glamour, it might come as a surprise for you to learn that even we audio reviewers fall into the dreaded rut now and then.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 01, 2004

As the age of digital television dawns, one link in the signal chain remains stubbornly analog: the video connection from the DVD player to the display. However, that is about to change. Many displays are starting to appear with a Digital Visual Interface (DVI) input. Now all we need is a DVD player with a DVI output to keep the signal entirely in the digital domain from source to screen&mdash;at least with fully digital displays.

Steven Stone  |  Feb 01, 2004

<I>Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, D.J. Qualls, Richard Jenkins, Tch&#233;cky Karyo, Bruce Greenwood, Alfre Woodard. Directed by Jon Amiel. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 (English, French). 134 minutes. 2003. Paramount Home Video 860233. PG-13. $29.99. </I>

Steve Guttenberg  |  Feb 01, 2004
Innovative Engineering + Dual Concentric Driver + SuperTweeter = Magical Sound.

Take a close look at the new Tannoy Sensys DC speakers. Notice anything unusual? Anything at all? I suppose that little gray pod sitting atop each speaker will catch your eye first. It's home to a SuperTweeter that's designed to extend the speaker's response out to a range that only dogs and bats can hear, claimed to be all the way up to 51 kilohertz. Look again and scrutinize the 7-inch woofer with bull's eye circles in its center; that's another, albeit standard, tweeter. Tannoy dubbed their "tweeter inside a woofer" design as Dual Concentric, a hallmark of the company's upper-end speakers that dates back to (gulp) 1948. Dual Concentric is a really big deal because it generates minimal off-axis phase shifts over its nearly full-range frequency response: High and low frequencies originate from the same point. The Dual Concentric breakthrough led to a range of legendary speakers in the pro audio and high-end markets for more than half a century.

Adrienne Maxwell  |  Feb 01, 2004
Pioneer and TiVo go on the record.

It baffles me that the digital video recorder hasn't caught on with mainstream consumers. Everyone I know who's spent 10 minutes with one of these gems is instantly addicted. It has a VCR's functionality, a digital cable box's user-friendliness, and a computer's brain. As far as I can tell, only two things are preventing the DVR from making it big: price and permanent storage.

Geoffrey Morrison  |  Feb 01, 2004
DLP, CRT, and LCD battle to the death.

I blame myself. Two years ago, I was strapped into a 767 surrounded by screaming babies, seat-kicking toddlers, and former senior technical editor Mike Wood. We were on our way to CEDIA, and Primedia was nice enough to book us first class. No wait, that's a lie. We were in steerage. At one point, I innocently turned to Mike and mentioned that we had several rear-projection TVs at our Woodland Hills studio and maybe we should have a Face Off. I recognized the look that crept onto Mike's face. I tried to bolt, but there's only so far you can get when there's a seatback 3 inches from your kneecaps. (Sorry to whomever was sitting in front of me.)

Pages

X