<I>Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Estella Warren, Paul Giamatti. Directed by Tim Burton. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 (English), Dolby Surround (Spanish), THX. Two discs. 124 minutes (film). 2001. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 24543 02896. PG-13. $29.98.</I>
As evidenced by the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, plasma screen television sets are steadily gaining market share, with every major consumer electronics manufacturer showing a variety of sizes and features. The thin displays look poised to dominate the market in coming years, providing resolution continues to increase and prices continue to drop.
Home Theater's Joe Hageman loved RBH Sound, Inc.'s Signature Series loudspeakers. He may want to revisit the company's offerings now that they've launched the T1, a new flagship product.
The T1, which debuted at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, is intended "to provide the ultimate in performance in large-scale home theater systems." Capable of handling 500 watts of power, but boasting a sensitivity of 90dB, the T1 features four 6.5" aluminum cone midwoofers and three 1" tweeters, and is capable of putting out clean sound at an astounding 120dB sound pressure level---similar to a jet engine at takeoff. Low-end cutoff frequency is said to be 45Hz.
The top of the home theater market is a very attractive niche. Scottsdale, AZ-based Accurate Imaging Technologies hopes to establish itself as a major player in the upper end of the market with a series of easy-to-use but no-compromise products. Among them are several new CRT projectors, and an HDTV upconverter. The company plans to introduce high-rez plasma displays and DVD players with SACD compatibility later this year.
First it was shark attacks and the Gary Condit debacle, and then came September 11. The year 2001 wasn't a great one overall, but it was pretty good for high-definition television (HDTV), which continues to make steady advances despite the drooping economy.
The players are in position, and the pieces are now on the board. But this is not a chess game, and the stakes are even higher than in the richest of Grand Master tournaments. This is the beginning of another video-recorder format war, but unlike the VHS vs. Beta conflict of the late 1970s and early '80s, there are three competing formats.
Robert Allen Zimmerman. Charles Foster Kane. We'll bet you five you're not alive if you don't know their names. Bob Dylan and Orson Welles ran away with top honors in this year's S&V Entertainment Awards.
Audio buffs have been known to lock horns over all kinds of things - CDs vs. vinyl, Dolby Digital vs. DTS, tubes vs. solid-state, DVD-Audio vs. Super Audio CD, and on and on. But one of the hottest debates of recent years has been over which kind of speakers work best for the rearward surround channels in a multichannel setup: monopole (a.k.a. direct-radiating) or dipole?
Last year, despite the relative lack of properly equipped sports fans, CBS broadcast the Super Bowl in HDTV. <A HREF="http://www.fox.com">Fox Network</A> is broadcasting this year's professional football championship game from New Orleans, but its video resolution will be scaled back due to cost constraints.