In the era of DVD, videotape gets no respect—some might say deservedly so. But according to the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) VidTrac program, considered by some to be the most accurate video rental point-of-sale tracking technology, the 2001 year-end rental revenue market share for VHS was 83.4% while DVD accounted for 16.6%. This variance means that VHS rental spending outpaced that for DVDs by $5.6 billion.
<I>Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Philip Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting, Ray Winstone. Directed by Franc Roddam. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround. 114 minutes. 1979. Rhino Home Video R2 976624. R. $24.99.</I>
Proving to be one of the brightest spots in HDTV broadcasting, <A HREF="http://www.hd.net">HDNet</A> is adding another sport to its lineup of regular high definition television broadcasts. The company says that it has finalized plans to broadcast 80 Major League Baseball games in HDTV during the 2002 regular season. HDNet says the broadcast schedule begins with the Detroit Tigers–Minnesota Twins game on April 13.
Liquid crystal displays have been around a long time, but only in the past year or so have they gotten the engineering attention they deserve---as potentially movie-quality displays.
Speaker wiring is one of the most problematic aspects of any home theater installation. Many of the best grades of speaker cables are big and bulky, making them impossible to hide. It's a problem custom installers and system designers have to work around every day, and it's one that adds enormously to the cost of any system installation. The advent of multichannel audio has only made the problem worse.
May 1, the federally-mandated deadline for US television stations to begin digital broadcasting, will come and go without the full participation of many, according to a March 18 report in the trade journal <I>Multichannel News</I>.
<I>Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay, Siobhan McKenna, Ralph Richardson, Rita Tushingham. Directed by David Lean. Aspect ratio: 2.35 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French). Two discs. 200 minutes. 1965. Warner Home Video 6557. PG-13. $29.98.</I>
In the past three years, Chinese-made DVD players have flooded the market, bringing low-cost, high-quality video to millions of consumers. Their success has also brought millions of dollars to Chinese electronics manufacturers. Now those same manufacturers are being asked to pay their fair share for the technology that is making them rich.