They say you can't please all of the people all of the time, but Sony's newest DVD burner aims to do just that. Sony's new DVDirect (which Sony asks that you pronounce as "DVD Direct" even though they left out a "D" and a space) is "the first in the world capable of stand-alone, real-time DVD recording, as well as computer-attached burning." As such, Sony hopes it will appeal to those camcorder owners with poor or negligible computer skills who still want to be able to archive precious (and typically quite boring) family memories on DVD while at the same time fulfilling the needs of more computer-savvy members of the household.
At just 48 years of age, Drew Snodgrass had already become a digital dinosaur. While many of his contemporaries were in Circuit City drooling over 60-inch flat-panel HDTVs and the latest laptops, Drew and his wife, Chris Monty, curled up in front of a trusty 27-inch Sony wedged into a corner of the family room, a mass of wires running to a VCR and DVD player.
I love George Lucas. There, I said it. Even though I have to give him a lot of awards these days, it's not so bad 'cause I get to make fun of him in a way that he seems to like.
The much-discussed convergence of computers and home entertainment took a big step toward fruition with an October 12 announcement by Microsoft Corporation. Touting new products, new software and a website, Windowsmarketplace.com, for those eager to learn about digital entertainment, Microsoft also launched its own online music store. The announcement included the debut of two new logos—"Designed for Windows" and "PlaysForSure"—that the company hopes will assuage any doubts about the reliability of the new products.
Motorola parts with Proview: Motorola' plan to return to the television market after more than 30 years has been derailed by a rift with Proview International Holdings Ltd's Moxell Technology, the Chinese manufacturing company hired by Motorola to make its flat-panel sets. Proview is the world's largest assembler of computer monitors, according to the electronics industry press.
CEATEC stands for Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, and is the largest Asian exhibition for the communications, information, and imaging fields—roughly equivalent to a Japanese CES. I recently had the opportunity to visit CEATEC Japan 2004 courtesy of Panasonic, which flew journalists from all over the world to Japan not only to visit the show, but also to attend a kickoff meeting for the Blu-ray Disc Association (see the <A HREF="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/news/101804bda">accompanying story</A>), find out more about Panasonic's products and future plans, and tour some of their Japanese facilities.
The first meeting of the new Blu-ray Disc Association, or BDA, a larger, more formally organized version of the original Blu-ray Disc Founders group, was held in Tokyo, Japan on October 4, 2004. It was formed to promote the Blu-ray format and finalize its technical standards.
After six months of pushing, pulling, schlepping, measuring, and listening, Keith Yates wraps up his in-depth, three-part look at some of the most ambitious subwoofers on earth. We gave him a break last month, but now he's back to have a look at the final four candidates. For your room-shaking pleasure, he gives you the scoop on state-of-the-art contenders from CoDrive, Snell, Triad, and Velodyne.
