Audio Video News

Hollywood studios are going to have to defend their jealously protected distribution systems in an antitrust suit filed in US District Court in Los Angeles.

On September 13, San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories announced the availability of a new reference multichannel decoder, the <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com/products/DP564/">DP564</A>. The new tool is able to decode every Dolby&#174; consumer format, making it the "perfect solution for monitoring in DVD, digital TV broadcast, and postproduction applications," according to an official announcement. The DP564 debuted at the International Broadcasting Convention held September 13&ndash;17.

The television broadcasting picture could change substantially if a bill drafted by US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) becomes law. Among the bill's most drastic requirements is one forcing broadcasters to return their analog TV channels by 2006, for probable auction to wireless services. The <A HREF="http://www.nab.org">National Association of Broadcasters</A> (NAB) is expected to campaign strongly against any such legislation. The Commerce Committee's ranking Democrat, John Dingell of Michigan, helped draft the bill.

<I>Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Breckin Meyer, Bradley Whitford. Directed by James Mangold. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. 118 minutes. 2001. Buena Vista Home Entertainment 25391. PG-13. $29.99.</I>

An advancement in integrated circuit technology could boost the recording capacity of single-sided optical discs from 4.7 gigabytes to 27GB, according to a September 9 announcement from Irvine, California&#150based <A href="http://www.intersil.com">Intersil Corporation</A>. One likely result is the rapid development of consumer HDTV and PC-based optical recorders.