Audio Video News

Ongoing financial losses to the Indian film industry from widespread video piracy provoked a one-day strike last week in the city of Bombay. On Tuesday, August 14, about 5000 people---including actors, producers, directors, and technical workers---streamed into the city's business district in a protest march from the suburb of Bandra. The strike was led by the Film Makers Combine, an industry association that called on the Indian government to step up enforcement of copyright laws.

It's been a glorious week for folks who rent or buy open-DVD videos. <A HREF="http://www.paramount.com">Paramount Home Video</A> and <A HREF="http://www.foxhome.com/">Twentieth Century Fox</A> have each announced a string of releases that signal their entry into the open-DVD market. Both companies, relative laggards in the rollout of the new format, have said that copyright issues are the delaying factor.

The format war is heating up. <A HREF="http://www.circuitcity.com/">Circuit City</A> has enlisted a third ally as it prepares to go nationwide with the launch of Divx. On August 11, Denver's 30-store <A HREF="http://www.ultimateelectronics.com/">Ultimate Electronics</A> chain threw its weight behind the pay-per-view format. California-based retailer <A HREF="http://www.goodguys.com/">The Good Guys</A> has been a Divx partner since early in the game.

In the comic books of the 1960s, "X-Ray Specs" were hot commodities in the back-page ads. The mail-order eyeware supposedly enabled users to see through walls, doors, and ordinary clothing---a compelling motivation for millions of adolescent males who saved their lunch money for weeks to buy them. In what was probably their first introduction to marketing hype, the disappointed boys discovered that the specs were a fraud.

Sandor Hasznos of Denver, Colorado, purchased a television on July 31, and it was delivered last week. This might not seem like a big deal---unless you consider that this was the first HDTV officially sold in the US. The set, a <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A> PT-56WXF90, was the first one bought at <A HREF="http://www.ultimateelectronics.com">Ultimate Electronics</A> during an HDTV preview event that drew over 4000 digital-television enthusiasts.

A lawsuit filed Friday, July 31, in a Los Angeles US District Court could delay by many months <A HREF="http://www.seagram.com/">Seagram Ltd.</A>'s widely publicized takeover of <A HREF="http://www.polygram.com/">PolyGram NV</A>. The international mega-merger, valued at $10.4 billion, has ground to a halt because of a $100 million suit brought by <A HREF="http://www.image-entertainment.com/">Image Entertainment Inc.</A>, a video distributor based in Chatsworth, California.

The set-top box could eventually become the center of your attention, which is why several turf wars have broken out to win control over this part of the home-theater market. With DTV on the horizon, cable and satellite companies will be upgrading the services that feed your TV with some mix of standard and high-definition digital audio and video. And as movie distribution moves toward a pay-per-view future, the gateway to these services---the set-top box---will have more prominence in most home-theater systems.