LATEST ADDITIONS

When it comes to surround-speaker systems, good things rarely come in small packages. Microsatellites and little subwoofers typically sound thin and anemic, with poor tonal balance and low volume capabilities. Yet there are many situations (e.g., small apartments, dorm rooms, guest rooms) in which such speakers would be ideally suited, if only they produced a reasonably good sound.

Caving to competition from direct broadcast satellite operators, Time Warner Cable plans to offer its customers a digital set-top box (STB) that will let them record, pause, and play back live television programs, much like the devices made by TiVo, Inc. and SonicBlue's ReplayTV division.

When Tom Norton reviewed the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?19">Toshiba 50H81 HD-ready 16:9 rear-projection television</A>'s 40-inch baby brother, he raved about the picture quality. In the May 2002 issue, Norton sets out to see if the 50-inch upgrade continues the Toshiba tradition.

<A HREF="www.thomson-multimedia.com">Thomson Multimedia</A> announced July 12 that it has joined the Motion Picture Engineering Group Licensing Authority's (MPEG LA) LLC MPEG-2 patent pool as of July 1. The MPEG LA LLC licensing program was launched in 1997 to assure the growth and interoperability of digital video by "providing fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory access to worldwide patent rights that are essential for the MPEG-2 Video and System standards," the announcement stated.