Fred Manteghian

Dolby was showing us something we'd heard about at Cedia, but which they weren't quite ready to show last fall. This time, using video from three different programs, they did a before and after demo of how Dolby Volume equalizes disparities between sources. It worked well enough in the demo and one thing I did note was that it <i>wasn't</i> heavy handed. For example, the program that was clearly lower in volume in the "before" condition, was still softer than either of the other programs.

No, not a classical rhapsody, or even a Rhapsody in Blue, but RealNetworks Rhapsody music service. With over 4-1/2 million songs in their burgeoning library, Rhapsody will be integrated to Philips' GoGear line of portable MP3 players and also with Philips' Streamium home audio products. The Streamium™ NP1100 is the first in the Philips' home product line to incorporate the Rhapsody touch. Price was not announced.

Panasonic added the DMP-BD50 to their line of Blu-ray players. The DMP-BD30 is profile 1.1 and can decode and output lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™ (the last is new if it truly is Master Audio and not just the DTS core), but you'll have to wait until I get to their booth to find out if it can <i>pass</i> either of those as bitstreams for decoding in a newer receiver.

Kenwood is working with LG and their MPH (mobile video) project team to develop a mobile digital television receiver, and I don't mean a 13" Sanyo on a hospital cart either. Hook up a Kenwood receiver to an LCD in your car, and you'll be able to zoom around the country picking up digital TV signals optimized for easy reception while traveling. I'll know more soon (like what it looks like), but seeing it work in their booth won't tell me how well it works driving around city streets or cruising down the highway. Vroom Vroom.