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AV Receiver Reviews
Harman/Kardon AVR 7000 A/V Receiver
Chris Lewis  |  Oct 28, 2000  |  First Published: Oct 29, 2000
No matter which side of the receivers-versus-separates debate you find yourself on, it's simple to understand why A/V receivers have the broad appeal among home theater buyers that they do—they're easy, period. A well-executed receiver is easy to purchase, easy to set up, and easy to use. These are commodities that go a long way in any market today, regardless of bottom-line performance. And let's face it, the performance of receivers has improved considerably in recent years. You're still not going to see dedicated theaters or music rooms built around a receiver, but you won't get laughed out of the room anymore when you start comparing its performance to that of comparably priced separates. Context is key in the receiver game. What do you really need, where do you need it, and how much are you willing to pay for it?
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In-Wall Speaker Reviews
It Came From Above
Bruce Fordyce  |  Oct 28, 2000  |  First Published: Oct 29, 2000
Installing a multiroom in-ceiling speaker system. Let's face it, gang: Many of us spend our lives swinging through the work week like modern-day Jedi Knights, slicing through red tape and stupidity only to languish for 45 minutes inching through vicious gridlock to get home. The only thing keeping yours truly from eating the business end of a Browning pistol is knowing that, when I get home to my suburban stucco castle, I can slip into a nice sixer of Harp lager and listen to the soothing melodies of classic Dead Kennedys.
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Projector Reviews
Runco Reflection VX-101c Front-Projection System
Mike Wood  |  Oct 28, 2000  |  First Published: Oct 29, 2000
We've often said that a projector is only as good as the processor that feeds it. The most expensive projector on the planet won't save your picture from a bad video processor. Until now, most people bought projectors and processors like dim sum: à la carte or piece by piece. With few exceptions, they would buy a projector from one company and a processor from another. Runco is looking to change all that by tailoring their processors to work with specific display devices so that you can get the most out of both.
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How We Test
HT Measurements Explained: We've Got Some Explaining To Do - Speaker Measurements
Mike Wood  |  Oct 27, 2000  |  First Published: Oct 28, 2000
Wondering what those confusing charts in our gear reviews are really telling you about a product? Just ask senior technical editor Mike Wood. This month, he explains speaker measurements.

Unless you're looking at a powered speaker (with built-in amplification), the power-handling rating (which is often incorrectly referred to as the number of watts a speaker has) will tell you little about how the speaker integrates into your system, let alone how it sounds. This isn't to say that the spec is useless. After all, some people like to play music really loud—I'm talking head-near-the-speaker-stack-at-a-rock-concert loud. In those rare cases, this specification may be useful. However, for the rest of us, this is probably the least necessary information, even though it's usually the most common question we get about speakers.

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Audio Video News
InFocus Corporation Unveils Three-pound DLP Projector
HT Staff  |  Oct 24, 2000
Video projectors are massive and cumbersome, right? Think again. How about a projector the size and weight of a desktop telephone, with full HDTV capability? That's what Wilsonville, Oregon-based InFocus Corporation is promising with its new UltraLight X350, part of its Proxima line of products.

At only three pounds, the X350 is among the most portable projectors ever made. That alone would be sufficient incentive for most corporate buyers. The UltraLight, however, is aimed at a bigger market: the millions of movie fans who have the enthusiasm but not the space for a traditional projector. Proxima makes its incredible performance: weight ratio possible by incorporating the latest "smart" electronics and Texas Instruments-developed Digital Light Processing technology.

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Audio Video News
Broadcom's New Chipset May Presage HDTV Breakthrough
 |  Oct 22, 2000

One of the major obstacles to wider acceptance of high-definition television is the lack of affordable HD receivers. Almost all HD-compatible equipment in consumers' homes is priced above $5000.

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Audio Video News
Canadian TV Market Strong; Zenith Makes Effort in North
 |  Oct 22, 2000

Canada's consumers may have a bigger per-capita appetite for high technology than the US, according to recently released statistics. The northern nation is one of the world's strongest markets for televisions and related technology, representing a $1.1 billion market annually for such products. DVD players, for example, are the hottest consumer-electronics products in Canada. More than 202,000 machines were sold in 1999, a 121% increase over 1998, with approximately 500,000 expected to be sold by the end of this year.

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Audio Video News
Masters of Russian Animation, Vol.1 Comes to DVD
Wes Phillips  |  Oct 22, 2000

A<I>nthology of prize-winning animation shorts made in the USSR between 1962 and 1968. Includes: </I>The Story of One Crime<I>, </I>The Man in the Frame<I>, </I>My Green Crocodile<I>, others. Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (full-screen). Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono). 133 minutes. 2000. Image Entertainment ID5525FJDVD. NR. $24.99.</I>

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Audio Video News
More than One Ticket to the E-Cinema
Jon Iverson  |  Oct 22, 2000

Now that e-cinema&mdash;using a non-film, digital projector in a movie theater&mdash;has started to take off, several companies are offering new technologies for getting the high-resolution data to the movie house. Last week brought news of the new <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?837">FMD 100GB disc</A> from C-3D, while this week we focus on news concerning the use of a high-bandwidth satellite to do the job.

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Audio Video News
National Semiconductor Announces Next-Generation DVD-on-a-Chip
 |  Oct 22, 2000

Moving the consumer-electronics world a little closer to a universal high-end DVD player, <A HREF="http://www.national.com">National Semiconductor</A> announced last week the second generation of its DVD-on-a-chip product family, the Mediamatics NDV8501. National reports that this is the first chip on the market with progressive-scan video support and DVD-Audio capability in one package.

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