<A HREF="http://www.jvc.com">JVC</A> should soon release its CU-VH1, a portable high-definition player/recorder intended to complement the company's GR-HD1 and JY-HD10 HDTV camcorders.
<I>Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Surround (English). Two discs. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment 01209. NR. $29.95.</I>
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<I>Picture</I> **
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<I>Sound</I> ***
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<I>Film</I>** 1/2
Universal remote controls can be great for integrating the control of a home theater system. However, all infrared (IR) remotes suffer one significant drawback: they must be pointed at the component they are controlling, with a clear line of sight. If components are hidden and/or located in several different areas of the room, it's difficult or impossible to operate them in an integrated manner. Of course, you can spring for a high-end control system from a company such as Crestron or AMX, but we're talking big bucks there.
Pioneer
Fresh from CES comes the VSX-D814, one of Pioneer's new A/V receivers. This receiver features Pioneer's multichannel acoustic calibration, which lets you easily and accurately set up your speakers based on your room. The VSX-D814 delivers a rated 100 watts of power to each channel and offers component and S-video switching to allow both progressive and interlaced NTSC and HDTV signals to pass to your TV or monitor. It features the standard array of Dolby and DTS processing modes. The included remote features Quick Setup to produce easy, accurate sound depending on the size of your room and the number of speakers. You can have all this for $365; just set aside a dollar a day.
Pioneer
(800) PIONEER www.pioneerelectronics.com
DVD: The Great Gatsby—Paramount
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 1
A great book does not necessarily make a great movie, as anyone who ever seen Demi Moore's version of The Scarlet Letter will certainly attest to. There have been three big-screen adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby since 1926; if any of them had the most potential, it was the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. The script was written by Francis Ford Coppola (fresh off The Godfather), and the studio spared no expense on the budget required to reproduce the lavish Roaring 20s Long Island lifestyle. Unfortunately, this version of The Great Gatsby is pretentious, boring, and utterly lifeless—in other words, it's a lot like the elite socialites who make up most of the cast of characters.
Listings compiled by Peter Pachal Photo by Tony Cordoza Nothing's more frustrating than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole - except possibly trying to play a multichannel Super Audio CD on a DVD-Video player.
Pioneer buying NEC Plasma: NEC announced Friday Feb 6 that it would sell its plasma display panel (PDP) manufacturing business to Pioneer. NEC plans to concentrate its efforts on "network solutions and semiconductors," according to the announcement. The deal, estimated by Japanese analysts at about $379 million, could make Pioneer the dominant player in the hot plasma display market. The company projects that its PDP market share will rise from 14% to 22% as a result.
"Targeted marketing" is one of the most powerful buzz-phrases in the advertising lexicon. In its most benign form, it means simply offering information about products and services to those most likely to want them. In a more malevolent form, it means prying into private citizens' activities to discover what really captivates them.