Audio Video News

According to the latest estimates, released last week by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA), unit sales to dealers (note: not sell-through to consumers) of digital television (DTV) displays and integrated sets achieved 625,000 in 2000, accounting for $1.4 billion in sales. The CEA projects that unit sales of DTV sets and displays will show 80% growth in 2001, reaching 1.125 million or $2.1 billion in sales. The trade group also forecasts unit sales of 2.1 million in 2002, 4 million in 2003, 5.4 million in 2004, 8 million in 2005, and 10.5 million in 2006.

Although electrical systems and broadcasting standards vary from country to country, visionaries have always imagined that one day worldwide technology would adhere to one set of specifications. That may never happen. The electronics industry's hope that the DVD would become a universal format, the video equivalent of the CD, may be scuttled by Chinese manufacturers seeking to avoid paying royalties to the format's designers, according to several stories appearing in industry publications in the wake of the recent Consumer Electronics Show.

Until recently, movie fans on the go had to shell out a few grand for laptop computers with DVD playback capability. Such units typically weigh a several pounds and offer far more functionality than movie fans need.

Projectors are where the home theater action is this year. Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing micro-mirror technology has been adapted by many manufacturers in their new projectors, which offers amazing gains in brightness over earlier models. Sim2 S&#233;leco, a projector company based in Pordenone, Italy and Miramar, Florida, has several beautiful projectors, including the sleek HT 200 and HT 250 models, which are capable of brightness levels of 800 ANSI Lumens and 900 ANSI Lumens respectively, and resolution levels of 800 x 600 (SVGA) and 1024 x 768 (XGA) respectively. The S&#233;leco projectors boast a lamp life of 4000 hours; the HT 250 includes an IEEE 1394 input.

Home theater isn't a huge draw at Alexis Park, home of Specialty Audio exhibits, but some manufacturers have video and surround-sound demos going here. Martin-Logan had one of the best-sounding multichannel rooms we have visited so far, with a "Theater" center channel beneath a Runco PL-50C plasma display, a pair of "Ascents" front left and right, a pair of "Scripts" for the side/rears, a "Cinema" in center rear, and a prototype subwoofer handling low bass duties.

Space constraints are among the biggest obstacles retailers encounter when selling home entertainment systems. Many people object to the proliferation of equipment needed to play several different formats of video and audio recordings.

Both <A HREF="http://www.cbs.com">CBS Television</A> and <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A> report that they have recently entered into an agreement for CBS to produce the upcoming 2001 Sony Open golf tournament live in HDTV on the CBS Television Network starting January 20.