Audio Video News

It's the dream of home-theater fans and TV addicts everywhere: Video-On-Demand, better known as VOD. The concept is simple: Viewers pick movies or shows from a list and watch them via their cable, satellite, or Internet connection when they want to—no waiting for the program to start at the top of the hour, or recording something that is broadcast only while you're on vacation. But getting VOD to work, especially in anything approaching DVD quality, is another issue altogether, and has become something of a Holy Grail for VOD developers in the broadcast industry.

If you're in the market for a disc spinner compatible with all current DVD and CD formats, Theta Digital has just what you're looking for. The Agoura Hills, CA- digital pioneer has announced its new "Carmen" transport, said to be state-of-the-art in third-generation DVD technology.

Locally broadcast high-definition television <I>won't</I> be coming to a home theater near you anytime soon. That's the consensus of participants and observers at congressional hearings on the subject in late July, when long-simmering disagreement over a technical standard for terrestrial transmission finally got its day in court.

West Coast&ndash;based consumer-electronics chain <A HREF="http://www.goodguys.com/">Good Guys</A> will be one of the first retailers in the nation to carry <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com/">Panasonic</A>'s new video recorder. The DMR-E10, capable of recording Dolby Digital 2-track audio and MPEG-2 video, will arrive in all 79 Good Guys locations beginning in late September.

Build it and they will come&mdash;to take it apart. Modifying original equipment has long been one of the most popular activities among electronics hobbyists. Hard-disk video recorders from <A HREF="http://www.tivo.com/">TiVo</A> are the latest consumer-electronics products to go under the hacker's knife and emerge with upgraded capabilities.

Décor-conscious movie buffs dismayed by big, black rear projector sets have something new to look at. Marantz has come up with the PD4290D widescreen plasma monitor--it's only 3.5-inches deep, but offers wide-angle viewing from its 42-inch diagonal screen. Mounted on a wall (with cables hidden) or on its tabletop stand, the $14,999 PD4290D makes an unequivocal statement about melding technology with high style.

Home theater fans looking for one component that will do everything should look no further than Denon’s new AVR-5800 receiver. With seven channels of high-wattage amplification, a subwoofer output, and high-resolution internal digital-to-analog converters, the AVR-5800 is also the first home theater product designed to accommodate DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, the recently-announced surround sound format from acoustic effects pioneer Digital Theater Systems.