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Francis Ford Coppola wants to make you an offer you can't refuse: the five-time Academy Award-winning writer/director and winemaker says he is now turning his creative talents to the Internet and e-commerce. His Napa Valley winery, Niebaum-Coppola, has recently launched a new <A HREF="http://www.niebaum-coppola.com">website</A> that proffers videos, food, and wine, along with contests for movie items from Coppola films.

Every few months we receive news that someone else is trying to bring 3D TV to consumers (see previous stories <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?408">1</A> and <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?362">2</A>). Last week, <A HREF="http://www.ddd.com">Dynamic Digital Depth</A> announced that it will preview its version of 3D cable television, delivered through a <A HREF="http://www.gi.com">General Instrument</A> DCT-5000+ advanced interactive digital consumer terminal, at the Western Show this week in Los Angeles.

A demonstration of digital television broadcasting in New York City last week may have laid to rest fears about the viability of the Advanced Television Standards Committee's transmission technology. The technique, known as 8-VSB, has been under attack from some quarters, particularly Sinclair Broadcasting, as being inadequate to prevent severe multipath distortion, which results from reflected signals arriving at a receiver slightly later than direct signals. In digital TV, multipath can cause a screen to go blank.

The popularity of DVD and home theater is driving sales of big-screen television sets to new heights&mdash;despite the fact that the rollout of digital television may make them obsolete in the near future. Sales of big-screen sets are up 13% over 1998, according to the latest statistics from the <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A>. Ninety percent of the approximately 1 million units sold in 1990 were equipped to display only NTSC analog signals&mdash;or "legacy video," as industry insiders call it.