Audio Video News

According to new statistics released by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA), manufacturer-to-dealer sales of video products in January grew by 8% over the first month of 1999 and totaled nearly 3.5 million units. Sales of DVD players, projection televisions, and camcorders were the major factors contributing to this growth, according to the trade organization.

Late last week, <A HREF="http://www.intel.com">Intel</A> and <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A> announced that they intend to collaborate in an effort to give consumers the ability to share electronic content between PCs and various consumer electronic devices, including home entertainment systems (digital televisions, set-top boxes), digital cameras, digital camcorders, and portable music players. Intel says that the effort is part of the companies' vision of the "e-Home" of the future, in which the Internet will be available throughout a range of devices.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.thebroadscreen.com">thebroadscreen.com</A> announced that it has laid all of the groundwork to begin MPEG-2 production of digital news and entertainment over what it terms "broadband Internet connections." The company says that the format will be dubbed iDVD (Internet Digital Video Disc), and is intended to be downloaded into the new DVD-RAM recorders or played live over cable and DSL connections.

At a press conference last week, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com/professional">Sony Electronics</A>' professional division outlined the company's strategy for the broadband network era, and announced a number of new broadcast and professional products that will be on display at the upcoming <A HREF="http://www.nab.org/">National Association of Broadcasters</A> (NAB) show in April.

Last week, before its appeal had been denied by the FCC (see <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?641">related story</A>), the <A HREF="http://www.sbgi.com">Sinclair Broadcast Group</A> announced that it had demonstrated live, over-the-air digital television (DTV) reception last week in Washington, DC, "in response to numerous Congressional inquiries." These demonstrations were "intended to demonstrate to members of Congress the flaw in the DTV standard."

On the heels of aggressive lobbying by the Sinclair Broadcast Group (see <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?639">related story</A>), the FCC today released a letter denying a Petition for Expedited Rulemaking, filed by Sinclair, requesting that the Commission modify its rules to allow broadcasters to transmit Digital Television (DTV) signals using COFDM modulation in addition to the current 8-VSB modulation standard.

A federal court in Denver hosted a DBS David vs. Goliath scene the first week of February, when <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar Communications Corporation</A> filed an antitrust suit against its rival <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A> and Thomson Consumer Electronics, charging them with conspiring to keep EchoStar's products out of electronics stores.