LATEST ADDITIONS

Big-Screen Megabargains
Al Griffin  |  Mar 31, 2005

Here's a message if you spend time squinting at a small TV: big screens are better for watching movies and most everything else. And I don't mean those puny 50-inch sets most folks consider "big screen." I'm talking about pictures that make you feel like you're actually in a movie theater - pictures 100 inches or larger!

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Audio Video News
DVD: Not Dead Yet
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 30, 2005  |  First Published: Mar 31, 2005

According to market research and analysis firm <A href="http://www.in-stat.com">In-Stat</A>, the future of DVD looks bright despite the emergence of new digital delivery services, such as video-on-demand (VOD) and online downloading. The company's latest market-research report predicts that the worldwide value of all published DVD products will increase with a compound annual growth rate of 18.2%, from about $33 billion during 2004 to $76.5 billion by 2009.

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Audio Video News
Intercontinental Digital Cinema
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 30, 2005  |  First Published: Mar 31, 2005

Earlier this month, a new distribution system for the delivery of digital-cinema content across continents was tested between the US and Singapore. The system, called Cross-Continent Digital Content Transmission, or CCTx, is the result of collaboration between the Singapore government, an industry association called Singapore infocomm Technology Federation Digital Media Chapter (SiTF DMC), and the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at the University of Southern California. Other partners involved in the pilot program included Thomson Technicolor (consulting); GlobeCast, StarHub, and 1-Net (international and local circuit and data storage); and Christie, Dell, Texas Instruments, and XDC (technology).

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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Mar 28, 2005
Soundations
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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Mar 28, 2005
DVD: Cellular—New Line
Abducted Jessica Martin's frantic wire-connecting on a smashed-up landline phone finally connects her with cell-phoned surfer-dude Ryan (Chris Evans) in Cellular, an action thriller that has just enough cool touches to make it effective. After Jessica (Kim Basinger) is threatened by three men looking for her husband, she is forced to protect her child, give up his locale, and beg this skeptical stranger to believe her and help her. Ryan eventually does and is determined to aid and not lose their tenuous phone link. Part Speed, part Phone Booth, this ride is filled with crashes and chases and is a high-octane trip that's a taut 95 minutes.
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Meridian G68ADV Surround Processor & G98DH DVD Player
Fred Manteghian  |  Mar 27, 2005

Meridian, noon, the sun's highest point in the day, a reference for mariners, the pinnacle of light. I almost hated putting the gorgeous Meridian G68ADV surround processor and G98DH DVD player to work in my Salamander Synergy cabinet. For a week, before Ken Forsythe of Meridian America arrived to help me set them up, the two units sat atop my bar in a position of prominence. With fine, architecturally interesting lines and finished on all sides (only the rear panel speaks strictly to function), these star Meridian designs were far more handsome in person than in print. Still, this $8999 processor and $5999 DVD player were here to perform. And what a virtuoso performance.

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AV GlossaryHDTV Tech
LCD and DLP Explained: What Goes on Here?
Peter Putman  |  Mar 27, 2005
Flat-screen imaging technologies like LCD and DLP are slowly toppling the cathode-ray tube (CRT) from its pedestal. How much do you really understand about these new ways of watching TV?
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The Notebook—New Line
Christy Grosz  |  Mar 26, 2005
Video: 5
Audio: 5
Extras: 5
A sweet, charming story of enduring first love, The Notebook follows Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams), two teenagers who indulge in a heated summer romance that Allie's mother frowns upon. However, despite efforts to keep the couple apart, a chance meeting seven years later brings the twosome back together again.
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Get Shorty Collector's Edition—MGM/UA
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Mar 26, 2005
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
Fresh off his success in Pulp Fiction, John Travolta cemented his mid-'90s comeback with Get Shorty, a fun, clever adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel about a loan shark who decides to get out of the business and into The Business, aka movie-making. Travolta so thoroughly inhabits the character of Chili Palmer that it's hard to believe he initially turned down the role. It was Quentin Tarantino who ultimately convinced Travolta to take the part. (Where was he when Travolta decided to take Battlefield Earth?)
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Fast Times at Ridgemont High/Dazed and Confused: The Ultimate Party Pack—Universal
Gary Maxwell  |  Mar 26, 2005
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
Films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused come along about once every 10 years. Both manage to cut through the sexual hijinks and drug jokes inherent in all so-called "teen flicks" to really capture what it was like to grow up in a particular time and place. I can watch both of these movies over and over, and that's why I love them: I get older, and they stay the same age.
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