LCD televisions are making great strides toward truly high-definition performance - in particular, the newest models in the Aquos line from <A HREF="http://www.sharpusa.com">Sharp Electronics</A>.
Steven Stone reviews the <A HREF="/accessories/604camelot">Camelot Technology Dragon 5.1 Plus DVD/CD jitter-reduction device</A>, explaining that "it promises to do for DVD players what the Audio Alchemy box did for CD players: make them sound a lot better."
Preamp/processors of the world: be scared...be very scared. Anthem Electronics is unleashing their newest preamp/processor/tuner - the AVM30 - on the audio/video world, and this baby is determined to kick plenty of posterior and take plenty of names. "What," asks you, the entertainment-hungry homeowner the AVM30 was designed for, "is so special about this three thousand dollar (actually, $2,999, but who's counting?) pre/pro/tuner (aside from the obviously gorgeous cosmetics which include a brushed-metal front-panel with a blue vacuum fluorescent front-panel display swimming with blue and red LEDs)?" Of course, I'd like to know why you ask such long questions, but we need to get back to the main story...
Back in the bad old days of early digital sound, most CD players produced horrendous amounts of jitter—mistiming of the bits in the digital bitstream. Some high-end audio companies came up with devices for reducing jitter that were often referred to as "jitter boxes." Audio Alchemy was among the most well-known of these specialty makers. AA ceased operations long ago, but one of their principal designers, Doug Goldberg, has created a similar device for Camelot Technology called the Dragon 5.1 Plus. It promises to do for DVD players what the Audio Alchemy box did for CD players: make them sound a lot better.
New technologies for time-shifting TV have been multiplying in recent years, making the VCR seem as old-fashioned as the Victrola. Most people know about TiVo and ReplayTV - hard-disk video recorders that seek out and store programs based on your viewing habits. But now there's also PC software like Snapstream's BeyondTV 3 that lets you capture shows on your computer hard drive.
Jerry Goldsmith, the film composer who created the accompanying music to everything from radio shows to memorable films such as <I>Patton</I>, <I>Planet of the Apes</I>, <I>In Like Flint</I>, <I>Chinatown</I>, and <I>The Omen</I> (for which he won the Academy Award), died July 21 after an extended battle with cancer.
