LATEST ADDITIONS

When José, the Fed Ex guy, rings my doorbell, the transaction is well scripted. He gives me the box containing the Next Thing to Review, and I give him the box containing the Last Thing I Reviewed. One glance at the Next Thing box tells me which link in the audio/video chain I'll be scrutinizing for the next few weeks. Like I said, it's highly choreographed.

There are a variety of reasons you might want to watch a DVD while listening through a pair of headphones: You're on a plane, you need to be quiet while others sleep/work, or you've got a portable DVD player and no decent sound system to hook it up to. But there's also one big reason you wouldn't want to use headphones: no surround sound.

Recordable DVD has been struggling through a swamp of obstacles, from movie studio restrictions preventing DVD back-ups of movies to expensive, hard-to-find DVD recorders. Computer-based systems offer a popular alternative to pricey stand-alone units, but the real barrier to consumer acceptance of a recordable DVD format is likely the multitude of competing approaches fighting for domination: DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW.

The rollout of digital television will continue to be hampered, unless the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov">Federal Communications Commission</A> (FCC) assumes a stronger leadership role, according to a semi-annual report filed November 7 by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA).