Scott Wilkinson

Here's something that won't be at CES this week, but could well appear at the show in years to come. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England are working on a new video-projection technology based on holographic techniques. Now, don't get too excited; the images are 2-dimensional, not 3-D. But the technology is plenty interesting nonetheless.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.sw.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=200 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT><I>What are the three most important AV products of the last 10 years?</I>

Ever since they first appeared, I've been a big fan of DVD recorders. You can jump to any point almost instantly, and the discs take up much less shelf space than VHS tapes. The only problem is the limited amount of material that will fit on one disc: At the highest-quality setting, you can record only one hour on a single-layer DVD.

Digital video recorders (DVRs) have become the central icon of a new religion I call TiVoism. Although TiVo is not the only brand of DVR on the market today, it's by far the most recognized, and has already entered the popular lexicon as both noun ("I just got TiVo!") and verb ("Don't worry; I'll TiVo Law & Order while we're out."). Those who become TiVoists (also known as TiVot&#233;es) are highly devout and tend to proselytize at every opportunity, with good reason: If you watch TV at all, a DVR can dramatically change your life, as it did mine.