Jon Iverson

Audio Video News
Spreading the Digital TV Gospel Worldwide
Jon Iverson  |  Apr 18, 1999

Last week, an important milestone in the development of broadcasting in China was marked with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the <A HREF="http://www.dvb.org">Digital Video Broadcasting Consortium</A> (DVB), a group committed to designing a global family of standards for the delivery of digital television, and the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television of China. The ABS is a research organization responsible for formulating recommendations for digital-television standards for China.

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Audio Video News
Audio/Video Hard-Disk Technology Announced for HDTV Applications
Jon Iverson  |  Mar 14, 1999

Using hard-drive technology to store audio and video data has become a growth industry of late, with startups <A HREF="http://www.tivo.com">TiVo</A> and <A HREF="http://www.replaytv.com">Replay</A> taking the lead (see <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?353">previous</A> articles). Consumer-electronics giant Sony has also gotten into the act with its <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?321">announcement</A> last December that it will team up with Western Digital to develop hard-disk-based products.

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Audio Video News
CableLabs Certifies the First Consumer Cable Modems
Jon Iverson  |  Mar 07, 1999

Competition to dominate the market in providing high-speed data connections to the home keeps heating up. In an effort to make cable modems broadly available, the cable industry has recognized the need for the modems to use a common interface. Thus was born the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) process. Just as computer owners today know they can buy a modem that will work on any phone line, cable-industry leaders want their subscribers to be able to buy a "CableLabs Certified" modem at a retail outlet and know it will work with any cable system that uses the DOCSIS platform.

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Audio Video News
A Bug's Life Becomes First All-Digital DVD Release
Jon Iverson  |  Feb 14, 1999

In a joint statement by Steve Jobs, chairman and CEO of <A HREF="http://www.pixar.com">Pixar</A>, and Thomas Schumacher, president of <A HREF="http://disney.go.com/">Walt Disney Feature Animation</A>, it was announced that <I>A Bug's Life</I> will be the first feature-film video release on DVD to be created entirely from digital data. Video releases of previous "completely digital" films, such as <I>Toy Story</I>, were created through an analog film-to-videotape process. The DVD for <I>A Bug's Life</I> is the first to be created using the original digital computer data and an all-digital process. The DVD release presents the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is due for release on April 20, 1999.

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Audio Video News
TiVo Inks Deals with HBO, Showtime, and The Weather Channel
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 31, 1999

Amid a flurry of activity last week, <A HREF="http://www.tivo.com">TiVo</A> announced new agreements with several content providers to help support its new hard-disk-based A/V recording and playback system. As reported during last month's Consumer Electronics Show <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?338">coverage</A>, TiVo and rival start-up <A HREF="http://www.replaytv.com">Replay</A> intend to market digital devices with sophisticated software that finds and time-shifts TV programming, giving viewers more control over selecting and watching television content.

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Audio Video News
ProjectorCentral Prepares to Light Up
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 31, 1999

In a world of Amazon.coms and Wal-Marts, it takes a well-funded, compelling idea---or a very sharply defined niche market---to successfully set up shop. In the spirit of tightly defining a selling space, a new website has been launched by <A HREF="http://www.projectorcentral.com">ProjectorCentral</A>. The site is designed to create a very "vertical" Internet-based marketplace for buyers and sellers within the A/V and projection industry. It's intended as a "community environment" where industry professionals can trade ideas and information as well as products and services.

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Audio Video News
Connecting the Home Networking Dots
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 24, 1999

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.philips.com">Philips</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.sun.com">Sun Microsystems</A> formally announced plans to collaborate in connecting Sun's Jini technology with the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?317">Home Audio-Video interoperability</A> (HAVi) architecture, which is being developed by several consumer-electronics manufacturers. According to a joint statement, the companies plan to provide a solution that links HAVi-compliant appliances in the home to services provided by Jini technology over a network.

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Audio Video News
Philips Announces DVD-Video Recording Technology for Consumer Use
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 17, 1999

Buried in all the hoopla and exciting digital television news at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month was the answer to many DVD fans' prayers: <A HREF="http://www.philipsusa.com">Philips Electronics</A> announced that it has developed a technology for real-time recording of DVD-Video discs. According to Philips, the recorded discs can be played back on existing DVD-Video players, offering up to four hours of record/playback time at various levels of quality.

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Audio Video News
First HDTV Broadcast of 1999
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 03, 1999

1999 started off in fine detail for the thousands of early adopters who have picked up a high-definition television. January 1, the 110th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, was broadcast to digital-television viewers for the first time in full 1920x1080 HDTV. Tribune Broadcasting's <A HREF="http://www.ktla.com/">KTLA-DT</A> transmitted this year's parade in hi-def using a <A HREF="http://www.nmtv.com/">National Mobile Television</A> (NMT) remote broadcast truck, known as the HD-2.

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Audio Video News
Runco to announce 200-disc DVD changer at CES
Jon Iverson  |  Dec 30, 1998

We knew it <i>had</i> to happen---it was merely a matter of who and when. Sony or Pioneer seemed likely candidates to first blaze the multi-DVD trail, maybe with a five-disc changer to ease us into the concept, but high-end video-projection company Runco has gotten a jump on both of those giants.

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