LATEST ADDITIONS

They've almost become ubiquitous, these 16:9, 34-inch direct-view HDTVs. When the first one came out in 1999 from Sony, it cost $8000, in part because it was the only direct-view HDTV available. In the five years since, most other manufacturers have jumped into this market. Prices have plummeted, and the general quality of the offerings has soared (although that original Sony remains the best one I've ever seen). Most manufacturers are now offering third- or even fourth-generation products in this category.

Are movies more important than life? Are women magic? These two questions, repeatedly posed in François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973), often seem to be at the heart of French cinema, especially in a big batch of recent DVD releases.

Television viewers in Southern California are among the first in the US to receive high definition signals via cable.

The <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov">Federal Communications Commission</A> (FCC) will likely raise limits on ownership of television stations when it releases new regulatory proposals on Tuesday June 2, according to reports from Washington.