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Speaker wiring is one of the most problematic aspects of any home theater installation. Many of the best grades of speaker cables are big and bulky, making them impossible to hide. It's a problem custom installers and system designers have to work around every day, and it's one that adds enormously to the cost of any system installation. The advent of multichannel audio has only made the problem worse.

May 1, the federally-mandated deadline for US television stations to begin digital broadcasting, will come and go without the full participation of many, according to a March 18 report in the trade journal <I>Multichannel News</I>.

In the past three years, Chinese-made DVD players have flooded the market, bringing low-cost, high-quality video to millions of consumers. Their success has also brought millions of dollars to Chinese electronics manufacturers. Now those same manufacturers are being asked to pay their fair share for the technology that is making them rich.

Things continue to look up for HDTV fans wedded to a cable provider. Following close on the heels of a similar <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1244">recent announcement</A> from Comcast Cable, <A HREF="http://www.charter.com">Charter Communications</A> announced last week that high definition television (HDTV) programming will be made available to some of its customers during the second quarter of this year.