Audio Video News

The <A HREF="http://www.hdmi.org">High Definition Multimedia Interface</A> (HDMI) organization announced last week that the draft specification version 0.9 defining <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1274">HDMI digital interface</A> for consumer electronics is now available for review at the organization's <A HREF="http://www.hdmi.org">Website</A>. The HDMI members include Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson Multimedia, and Toshiba.

The final curtain has fallen for the financially troubled Vidikron, as the company's dissolution has been announced by its secured creditor, Markland Technologies. As <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?490">reported</A> nearly three years ago, in August of 1999, Vidikron narrowly escaped bankruptcy at that time by arranging a line of credit and was then <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?516">independantly financed</A> by a group of international investors one month later.

A surprise announcement from the nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer may put the decline of videotape into hurry-up mode.

The video display market has been revolutionized in the last few years as plasma screens and video projectors have gained widespread acceptance. Smaller, lighter, and brighter projectors are translating into healthy market growth: Worldwide unit shipments are expected to reach 2.7 million in 2006, a 24.6% compound annual growth rate from 2002&ndash;2006, according to figures released by analyst <A HREF="http://www.idc.com">IDC</A>.