<I>Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Brennan, Edward Arnold, James Gleason. Directed by Frank Capra. Aspect ratio: 4:3 (full-screen). Dolby Digital mono. 121 minutes. 1941. Image Entertainment B000007SFA. NR. $19.95.</I>
You want to believe. I want to believe. We all want to believe that, some day, a tiny chip the size of a 35mm transparency in a video-display device the size and weight of a slide projector will be capable of producing a moving video image so exquisitely filmlike that it will banish bulky, expensive, tweaky CRT projectors to the trash heap of technological history.
The music industry may be in the dumps, but the home video business is soaring, according to a January report from trade journal <I>Video Business</I>.
Looking for a elegant way to mount your plasma display? Draper Inc. has announced a new series of stands and mounts for flat screen monitors that offer a solution for almost every conceivable installation.
<A HREF="www.dlp.com">Digital Light Projectors (DLPs)</A> are clearly coming into their own this year, based on what we saw at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. Joining Sharp and its groundbreaking XV-Z9000 ($10,000)—and also based on Texas Instrument's 1280 x 720 DLP chip—are the new Sim2 HT300 ($14,995), the DWIN TransVision 2 ($12,999), and the Marantz VP12S1 ($12,499).
FireWire, or IEEE1394, as it is technically known, has been bandied about as a leading contender for transmitting digital video for several years now. HDTV FireWire demos started popping up as <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?189">early as 1998</A>, but to date, little actual product has emerged for the consumer to buy.
With the advent of DVD, the death of videotape has been widely predicted. Standard VHS may be going the way of the dinosaur, but tape is re-emerging as a format for high definition movies. Some folks are even predicting that DVD may be relegated to a "mid-fi format."
<I>Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0 (English, French). 152 minutes (film). 1987. Warner Bros. 89391 17532. PG. $24.98.</I>
Too many home theater enthusiasts have an arsenal of remote controls. The arsenal—not the remotes themselves—can be the cause of everything from minor annoyances to full-scale domestic battles.