LATEST ADDITIONS

One of the benefits of talking about home theater all day every day is that I get to hear people ask questions like this: "I'd buy a DVD megachanger if there were a way to keep track of my hundreds of discs, but what choice do I have?" Apparently, the spies from Escient were eavesdropping. Their FireBall DVDM-100 DVD and Music Manager has been designed specifically to integrate with the latest generation of super DVD jukeboxes to help identify and organize all of the movies and music stored inside, with a little help from the Internet. You can find a specific DVD in a hurry, sort through all of your comedies, or visually search through all of the covers, right from the sofa.

If you're anything like me, you have a pile of VHS tapes lying around, gathering dust. Perhaps they're neatly organized, or maybe they're thrown in some boxes in the garage. They might be precious home movies of the tykes growing up, or they could contain rare TV appearances by celebs of a bygone era. In my case, they're mostly treasured TV shows that I captured to enjoy over and over again. The only problem is that they take up way too much space, and they're on videotape, which makes it almost impossible to find the spots I want to watch.

Score another breakthrough for HD DVD. On June 23, Apple Computer announced the ratification by the DVD Forum of the "H.264 Advanced Video Codec" (AVC) and its inclusion in the company's upcoming software releases. The standard will be included in specifications for the High Definition DVD format, the next great leap forward for the 5" optical disc.

John J. Gannon reviews the <A HREF="/directviewandptvtelevisions/504pioneer">Pioneer Elite PRO-730HD rear-projection CRT TV</A>, noting that the company will soon be converting their CRT assembly lines exclusively to plasma production. "If you've had your eye on an RPTV from Pioneer, the cupboard may be full now, but it won't be restocked. Ever."